Security and insurance of your robot mower

Robot mower Insurance, 3 things to consider.

So you’re thinking about buying a robot lawn mower but are worried about it being stolen…read on.

Thefts from gardens are increasing so it is worth considering:

1. What you can do to minimise the chance of you robot being stolen
2. If it stolen having it recovered
3. If it isn’t recovered, having appropriate insurance to make sure you are covered.

Although most robots have security features, it is worth thinking about the simple things you can do.

Simple security measures to keep you mower safe

Most robot mowers spend the majority of their time in the base station so when deciding the position the base station don’t just think about the ease of installation but also consider a place that:

1. Is not visible to passers by
2. Can’t be easily accessed from outside of your property
3. Is lit at night – maybe install a security (PIR light)
4. Can be seen from the house (good for peace of mind)

Robot Mower Garages/ Kennels

There are a number of robot mower garages available on the market which not only can ‘hide’ your mower but are also useful to put the transformer in and can be painted to match your house, garage etc.  You can easily make one yourself…here’s one I made earlier.

You can also buy them either from ourselves (i.e. an Ambrogio garage) or from Amazon, ManoMano etc. Just google ‘Robot Mower Garage’.

2. Have it Recovered

Many mowers have security features such as alarms if they are picked up…that’s great if you are close by but unfortunately, thieves don’t tend to strike when you are close by.

If you are worried about theft, then we would recommend have a mower which has GPS and is connected to the internet i.e. has a mobile SIM and hence is trackable.  Another useful feature is a geofence i.e. if the mower goes outside of a predetermined area, you are alerted on your phone App.

The majority of the Ambrogio robot lawn mowers have these features…just look out for the ‘Control from Anywhere’ feature.

3. Robot Mower insurance

Buying house insurance can be a nightmare even with comparison sites. Finding house insurance that covers robot mowers moves it up another level as I found out.   

When I bought my first robot mower I contacted our house insurer, I naively thought just involve paying an additional premium.   After explaining what a robot mower was and that it was meant to stay out in the garden (‘can’t you just take it in at night?’) they contacted their underwriter. 

I received a call about an hour later to say that they couldn’t cover it and would be cancelling my insurance!  A bit harsh even if they did give me a week to find another company and it was recorded that I had cancelled the policy so it didn’t affect any future applications.

Unfortunately,  house insurance that includes cover for robot mowers is not something that you can easily search for, so it took a while.   

The best solution I found was using confused.com to get quotes applicable to our house and then for each quote, click on the ‘More Info’ button, scroll to the bottom and there is a section on most quotes called ‘Garden & outdoor cover’. The amount of ‘Contents in the open’ is what to look for. 

Having just renewed our insurance (June 2020), I went through the same process again.  The table on the right shows the Coverage in the Open and the relative annual cost of the policy. I only found two policies which provided unlimited cover (Aviva and Marks and Spencer) and two which provided £5000 worth of cover (AXA & John Lewis)….although I would always  recommend checking the policy wording before committing yourself,  the definitions of what is covered vary greatly.

Feedback

I hope that is useful,  it’s based on experience rather than theory,  if you have found any other insurance companies that cover robot mowers or have any other tips on security, please get in touch and I’ll add them.

Have look at our other articles and frequently asked questions.

Paul