What do UK insurers actually require?
Every guide to locks and trackers ends with the same four words: check with your insurer. Nobody tells you where to check, or what you will find when you do. This does.
Read this first
Your own schedule overrides everything on this page. We set out to build a table of what each insurer requires and found that, for most people, no such table can honestly be written. Outside specialist cycle insurance these conditions are not company-wide rules at all — they are endorsements written onto an individual schedule at quote stage, and they differ between two customers of the same broker.
Direct Line said so itself in a policy booklet: if a tracking device is required, you will see it under Endorsements in your car insurance details. LV= the same — your schedule will confirm if one is required. So this page tells you where the binding term lives, what the certification actually means, and what the Ombudsman has decided when a claim was refused. It does not invent a rule that is not published.
Specialist cycle insurance, 6 insurers
This is the one category where the requirement is genuinely written down in a document you can read before buying. Every row below comes from the policy wording named in the last column.
| Insurer | Sold Secure grade | Threshold | Locked to | Time limit | Proof wanted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BikmoUK Ride V12 | Gold or Diamond | No threshold — flat requirement | Through the frame, to an immovable object | 24 hours | Lock receipt and a photo of the key |
| LakaPolicy wording v2.3, 1 Feb 2024 | Gold | No threshold — flat requirement | Immovable object | Per schedule (24h in public per their help centre) | Photo of the lock is mandatory |
| Yellow JerseyUltimate Bicycle policy wording | Silver under £1,500, Gold or Diamond above | £1,500 | Frame and both wheels | 18h Ultimate, 12h Essential | Lock receipt |
| ETACycle policy, March 2026 v1.1 | Silver under £1,500, Gold above | £1,500 | Through the frame | 18h (24h at a station or workplace) | Lock receipt |
| PedalSurePolicy document 08/24 | Silver under £1,000, Gold above | £1,000 | Through the frame | 12h (24h at work or a station) | Key AND lock receipt |
| PedalCoverPolicy wording | Silver under £1,500, Gold above | £1,500 | Frame plus at least one wheel | 18 hours | Lock receipt |
Bikmo: Changed to a flat requirement on 1 July 2025; it was value-tiered before. Bikmo runs several wordings at once and they are not calendar-dated, so which applies depends on when you bought.
Yellow Jersey: A superseded 2017 wording with a £1,000 threshold is still live on their site. Check the version before relying on it.
PedalSure: Underwritten in Guernsey, so not covered by the FSCS.
PedalCover: Its definition says “pedal cycle locks”, which on a literal reading may exclude a lock certified only under Sold Secure's Powered Cycle category. Worth asking about if you ride an e-bike.
Retrieved and checked September 2026. Wordings change without announcement — open the linked document and check the version before you rely on any row.
Bikes on home insurance: almost nobody names a grade
We searched the full text of these wordings for “Sold Secure”. In most it does not appear at all — the condition is simply that the bike is locked to something immovable, or inside a locked building. That is easier to satisfy than a graded requirement, and it is worth knowing before you spend £150 on a lock your policy never asked for.
| Insurer | Grade named? | What the wording actually says |
|---|---|---|
| Direct LineHome booklet, September 2025 | No grade — generic lock condition | “in a locked building, or locked using a bike lock to an object that couldn’t be moved” |
| AvivaNHDHG15498, September 2021 | No grade — generic lock condition | In your custody, or locked to an immovable object, or in a locked vehicle boot, or in a locked building |
| NFU MutualBSKPLBK001, 29 September 2025 | No grade — generic lock condition | “in a locked building; or securely locked to something that can’t be moved” |
| John Lewis MoneyProduct page (we could not confirm this inside a policy wording) | Grade named | Value-banded: any D-lock to £1,200; Bronze/Silver/Gold £1,200–£2,000; Gold above £2,000 |
| AdmiralNot obtainable | Wording not obtainable | We could not retrieve the wording. This is not the same as there being no condition. |
“Wording not obtainable” means exactly that and nothing more. We could not retrieve the document, so we do not know either way — it is not evidence that no condition exists.
Two things the packaging gets wrong
“Sold Secure Gold” means nothing without the category
Sold Secure certifies within 22 separate specifications, and — in its own words — not all of them have all four grades. The Powered Cycle specification has only Diamond and Gold. And this is the part almost nobody knows, stated by Sold Secure itself: Powered Cycle Gold and Pedal Cycle Diamond offer the same level of security, tested with the same tools, the same attack methods and the same time limits.
So the real ladder runs:
Powered Cycle Diamond > (Powered Cycle Gold = Pedal Cycle Diamond) > Pedal Cycle Gold > Silver > Bronze
Which means a lock badged “Gold” might be the second rung or the fourth, depending on a word most listings omit. A handful of locks hold grades in both categories at once. And Sold Secure does not publish its attack times — so any page telling you Gold equals a specific number of seconds did not get that from the certifier.
There is no such thing as a Thatcham approved lock
Thatcham’s own Q&A puts it flatly: it does not certify mechanical security products. No Thatcham approved D-lock, chain, disc lock, ground anchor, steering lock or wheel clamp exists. Its current criteria are Category 1, 2, 2-1 and 4 alarms and immobilisers, plus S5 and S7 trackers — and Category 4 is locking wheel nuts and bolts, not wheel clamps.
Two insurers we read nonetheless ask policyholders to fit “a Thatcham approved motorcycle lock”. If your policy says that, it is worth asking them in writing what would satisfy it, because on a literal reading nothing can. Thatcham is also explicit that its certification does not guarantee insurer recognition, which is negotiated separately between manufacturers and insurers.
Four hurdles an insurer has to clear
“Wrong lock, no payout” is how this is usually described and it is not accurate. We read nine Financial Ombudsman Service decisions on security conditions, and they went both ways. The pattern that emerges is closer to four tests.
- 1
The condition had to be clear before you bought
The Ombudsman has said conditions should be highlighted in the product information document or on the schedule — it is not enough that they appear somewhere in the policy document. One complaint was upheld because an endorsement headed “Immobilisation Warranty” would not be clear to someone outside the insurance industry.
- 2
The breach has to be evidenced, not assumed
In an upheld complaint against an insurer that demanded proof of purchase for a lock, the Ombudsman observed that owning a lock would not prove it had been used. Demanding evidence that could not establish the point does not help the insurer.
- 3
It should be connected to this particular loss
The Ombudsman's own guidance is that claims should only be rejected where a breach of conditions is actually connected to the theft. Separately, the Insurance Act 2015 prevents an insurer relying on a breach if you can show it could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually happened.
- 4
A security condition is suspensory, not permanent
Under the same Act, failing to use a lock on Monday does not void cover for a theft on Friday when the lock was on. The protection is suspended while the breach continues and revives when it stops.
Decisions also went the other way, and the reasons are instructive: a bike locked by its wheel rather than through the frame, where the requirement had been shown with diagrams at the point of sale; a tracker that was fitted but whose subscription had lapsed, so it was not “in operation”; and a garaging endorsement that said “at all times” and was bolded on the schedule.
This is general information about how these conditions work, not legal advice, and we are not insurance brokers. If a claim has been declined, the Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use and its decisions are published. Read your own schedule first — it is the document that binds you.
Answered plainly
Is a Sold Secure Gold lock enough for my insurance?
It depends entirely on the category the grade was awarded in, and on your own schedule. Sold Secure rates within 22 separate specifications, and not all of them have four grades — the Powered Cycle specification has only Diamond and Gold. Sold Secure states that Powered Cycle Gold and Pedal Cycle Diamond offer the same level of security, tested with the same tools and time limits. So a lock marked 'Sold Secure Gold' could be either the third rung or the second rung of the ladder depending on which specification it was tested under. The word Gold on a box means very little without the category next to it.
Is there such a thing as a Thatcham approved lock or chain?
No. Thatcham's own Q&A answers this directly: it does not certify mechanical security products. There is no Thatcham approved D-lock, chain, disc lock, ground anchor, steering lock or wheel clamp, and any product marketed that way is using a term the certifier does not recognise for that category. Thatcham's current criteria are Category 1, 2, 2-1 and 4 alarms and immobilisers, plus S5 and S7 trackers. Category 4 is locking wheel nuts and bolts, not wheel clamps. Confusingly, at least two insurers ask policyholders for a 'Thatcham approved motorcycle lock' — a product category Thatcham says it does not certify.
What is the difference between a Thatcham S5 and S7 tracker?
Not what most retailer pages say. Both require a 24/7 monitored centre, so S7 is not a self-monitored or app-only category. The published differences are that S5 specifies a driver identification device — so the system knows if the vehicle moves without its key present — along with GPS, motion detection, data logging and two-way transmission. S7 is defined on location performance instead. Neither specification mentions remote immobilisation.
Does my tracker have to be professionally installed?
Thatcham does not require it, and its Recognised Installer list has been discontinued in favour of TASSA. Your insurer may still require professional installation as a condition of your own policy, and several do. The important point is that this is a condition of your schedule rather than a rule of the certification scheme, so the answer is in your documents and not on a product page.
My claim was refused because of a lock. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily, and Ombudsman decisions show refusals going both ways. An insurer generally has to show that the condition was drawn to your attention clearly before the sale, and that the breach actually happened rather than being assumed. In one upheld complaint the insurer demanded proof of purchase for a lock, and the Ombudsman noted that owning a lock would not prove it had been used — so the demand did not help establish anything. In another, an endorsement headed 'Immobilisation Warranty' was found not to be clear to someone outside the insurance industry. In law, the Insurance Act 2015 also makes security conditions suspensory rather than fatal, and an insurer cannot rely on a breach that could not have increased the risk of the loss that actually happened. This is general information, not legal advice — the Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use.
Why can't you just tell me what my insurer requires?
Because for most people it is not published anywhere. Outside specialist cycle insurance, security conditions are written onto individual schedules as endorsements at quote stage, and they differ between two customers of the same broker. Direct Line's own booklet said as much: if a tracking device is needed, you will see it under Endorsements in your details. That is why this page tells you where to look rather than pretending to a rule that does not exist.
Compiled and reviewed by Stephen Hall, Data lead, Swift Assist, September 2026, from policy wordings, the certification schemes’ own published material and Financial Ombudsman Service decisions. Every source is linked above. If we have something wrong, or your wording says otherwise, tell us and we will check it and correct it.
The products these conditions are about
Sold Secure bike locks
What the grades test, and why the category matters more than the colour.
Read more →Trackers
What S5 and S7 actually specify, and the subscription nobody quotes.
Read more →Steering wheel locks
Size, drive side, and which scheme actually certifies them.
Read more →Alarmed disc locks
False alarms, batteries, and the trap in the battery compartment.
Read more →Every security guide
Each defence matched to what it actually stops.
Read more →Vehicle crime where you live
Police street-level records by town, refreshed monthly.
Read more →