BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The bike crime battle is fought on many fronts. It’s not just about consumers getting a decent lock and remembering to use it, it’s also thieves targeting bike shops and bike shows – who could forget the £100,000 haul of bikes nicked from one bike retailer en route back from the London Bike Show back in 2014?
While there is no magic wand to stop bike crime, and hiring a bunch of bouncers for your shop is cost prohibitive, there are ways in which retailers can help protect themselves, not least with a new insurance product from cycle-specialist Cycleguard. We spoke with Cycleguard’s head Adrian Scott for the details of its new Cycleguard Retail product…
Did Cycleguard create the product in response to demand from shops, or did you see a gap in the market?
It was a combination of the two really. We are speaking to dealers who are part of our Cycleguard Partnership Scheme on a daily basis and we could see that there was a need for something specific for the cycle market. A cycle retailer isn’t like a standard shop, their day-to-day business offers a variety of services in addition to bike sales, and this means that a typical shop insurance policy may not provide adequate cover.
Have you shown it to any bike dealers yet? If so, what has the response been like?
Yes, we have spoken to several dealers about the product and how it is tailored to their business and it has gone down really well. What has been important is that the product has been created specifically to meet their needs, but is still competitive against a standard shop policy.
There are quite a few cycle-specific elements – is it fair to say there’s not much else available that serves the cycle trade so specifically?
There are a few other products out there created for the cycle trade, but not offering the unique proposition we have put together specifically for cycle retailers.
There’s a discount for businesses with training to Cytech level 2, which sounds very forward thinking indeed − are there any other headline cycle-specific elements you’d like to highlight? Demo bikes and hire bikes are covered too?
From the outset, we wanted to provide a product that catered specifically for a typical independent bike dealer so we have several unique covers in our product to really mean something to dealers, so yes, cover for demonstration and hire bikes are part of our standard product.
Other aspects included specifically for the market include ensuring customers bikes are covered whilst being worked upon or serviced in retailers’ workshops, as well as those dealers who display their stock outside their shop. These elements are included as standard, as they are the risks that a dealer is exposed to daily.
There’s cover for exhibitions too − what prompted you to include that? Was that always something you were going to offer? We’ve heard a few horror stories of bike shops having stock stolen at events…
From our early product research stage, it was clear that dealers are using exhibitions as a great way to develop their businesses without realising that stock taken to these events are not covered under their standard policies. We always had it in mind to provide this cover but our research as well as hearing about some of the recent stories about stock at events really hit home how vital it is to have this aspect as a core part of our insurance offering.
You offer risk management surveys − are they mandatory? Are they designed to help shops minimise risk of theft?
We do offer risk management surveys, and these are mandatory dependent upon the amount of stock you are looking to insure. Having access to these really help businesses to identify and assess the risks that they are exposed to day-to-day. We understand that most businesses are independent retailers so haven’t had the opportunity to have a risk assessment carried out on their business before, but we believe it is something that should be considered to help ensure adequate cover is in place.
How can dealers find out more about the product?
Dealers can call 03442 254 347, where our team will be happy to answer any further questions about the different levels of cover, or to provide a quote on commercial insurance. They can also email us at cycleguardretail@thistleinsurance.co.uk where we can forward more detail on the covers retailers have told us matter.
We currently offer a discount to retailers who are part of the Cycleguard Partnership Scheme, so if you are already a member, make sure to call us for a quote. If you haven’t joined yet, contact us on 03442 254 347.
