Pedelecs are currently all the rage. Especially nowadays, many people have turned to an electrified bike with a motor to get around with. These treasures, which cost several thousand euros, are popular stolen goods, so e-bike insurance makes perfect sense. When comparing prices for my new E-MTB, I came across a wide variety of prices and I want to tell you how you can save a lot of money without having a disadvantage in terms of performance.
E-bike insurance: take a closer look when choosing
Suddenly it went very fast. I found the eMTB that suited me in a bicycle shop, it was even on offer and since it was an exhibitor, the price was rounded down. A great deal for me – and certainly also for the seller. But then came the question of how and where I can insure my chic and very expensive pedelec. Household contents insurance only covers a very small part – if you have one at all. That’s why I started looking and quickly came across Hepster. Cool start-up, wants to revolutionize the insurance market and came up as a recommendation at Check24. Seems okay – I thought to myself. Until it came down to the prices.
I got my bike much cheaper than it cost when it was launched. Instead of 4,399 euros, I ended up paying 3,000 euros. I wanted to enter exactly this value in Hepster’s premium calculator until I noticed that Hepster only wanted to insure the recommended retail price. Curious, that’s not the case with cars and motorcycles either. Why should I insure something for more money than it actually cost? Can’t be right, can it? Quickly looked at the most frequently asked questions and found an answer there that I don’t like:
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At Hepster, you should actually state the new value of the pedelec. Instead of the 3,000 euros that I paid, I am supposed to insure 4,400 euros, which increases the premium considerably. I actually wanted to take out the “damage / wear and tear and theft” tariff. At a value of 3,000 euros, that would have cost me 77.01 euros per year. A fair price that would be okay with me. But if I have to specify the EIA, and this is what Hepster prescribes, since it is a “unique selling point” for the company, the fun suddenly costs me 140.25 euros a year. So I would have to pay almost double the premium for insurance that insures a bike for a value that I didn’t even pay for. Is that normal?
With this disappointment, I looked around for an alternative and quickly found it Ammerländer Insurance landed. There you can insure the actual value that you actually paid. Just like I do with a car or motorcycle. Costs 89 euros a year with wear and tear, but is significantly cheaper than the 140 euros I would have to pay at Hepster, although I don’t want it. With Ammerländer Versicherung you also have the option of insuring the EIA. So that’s not at all a unique selling point like the one Hepster sells. Instead, Hepster takes away the customer’s choice and forces him to pay higher premiums right from the start.
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For me personally, it was important that I only insure the value that I actually paid for. Everything else doesn’t make sense to me with a pedelec. I’m not buying a used Mercedes S-Class from 2010 and I insure the RRP of over 100,000 euros. No, I insure what I really paid for. In the best case scenario, the insurance is not even used. You just feel more comfortable with such an expensive pedelec if you take your eyes off it. At this point in time, I cannot assess whether claims processing will go smoothly when the worst comes to the worst.
Hepster, Ammerländer or another insurance?
Personally, I have now decided on Ammerländer Versicherung. But that doesn’t mean it is the best choice for you. If the purchase price of your Pedelec corresponds to the RRP, Hepster is cheaper and a good choice. But if you bought a pedelec at a significant discount, as was the case with me, you can save a lot of money every month with another insurance company. So look very carefully at the details so that there are no unnecessarily high costs later. For me it was the first e-bike purchase and also the first e-bike insurance that I took out. If the worst comes to the worst, I will take up the subject again and report. Until then, I’ll be cycling happily through the country and hope that you will too.
