bleedin' insurance again...

Peter Clinch said:

we're just getting in quotes for the impending renewal of house,
contents and cycles in-sewer-ants.
[snip]
CTC Cyclecover remains
ludicrously expensive with some daft gotchas.

Cycle insurance is a rip off. You might like to try the following. Most
insurance policies have a premium that's around 10 to 15 per cent of the
cost of the bike.

If your racing bike costs 1000 pounds, open a high interest savings
account with, say, 150 quid and set up a monthly standing order to fund it
to the tune of say 120 quid a year or 10 pounds a month.

If your bike gets nicked after a year, then you'll wish you stumped up for
the expensive insurance. However, the longer it goes without being
nicked your are quids in. After five years you've saved more than half the
price of the bike and after 10 years you can flog the current one and buy
a new one.

If you can look after the bike for five years, you really can't lose.

Bin

Peter Clinch said:

we're just getting in quotes for the impending renewal of house,
contents and cycles in-sewer-ants. Someone suggested the chap in the
back of Cycle: well, I've tried but AFAICT, assuming this is Fern
Insurance, it no longer exists: 'phone gives BT Callminder, email
bounces, web stuff seems to be AWOL. Anyone have confirmed info on this?

Front runners otherwise are AA and Bank of Scotland/Halifax.
House/Contents was on Direct Line but their renewal quote is mucho £££s
more than last year, and CTC Cyclecover remains ludicrously expensive
with some daft gotchas.

Try First Direct too. You only have to insure the most expensive bike.

Peter Clinch said:

we're just getting in quotes for the impending renewal of house,
contents and cycles in-sewer-ants. Someone suggested the chap in the
back of Cycle: well, I've tried but AFAICT, assuming this is Fern
Insurance, it no longer exists: 'phone gives BT Callminder, email
bounces, web stuff seems to be AWOL. Anyone have confirmed info on this?

Hmm. I renewed with them 2 weeks ago. Mind you the renewal came from
Headley Insurance Services, although it always has done IIRC. Phone
01420 594242, web <http://wwwheadleyinsurance.co.uk> Not sure of the
connection between them and Fern, but I did speak to Chris at Fern
just the other day.

Tim

bin said:

If your racing bike costs 1000 pounds, open a high interest savings
account with, say, 150 quid and set up a monthly standing order to fund it
to the tune of say 120 quid a year or 10 pounds a month.

If your bike gets nicked after a year, then you'll wish you stumped up for
the expensive insurance. However, the longer it goes without being
nicked your are quids in. After five years you've saved more than half the
price of the bike and after 10 years you can flog the current one and buy
a new one.

If you can look after the bike for five years, you really can't lose.

Nice try, but unfortunately we're looking at over 5 grand's worth
between the two of us, 3.6 if just both the touring bikes went.
And that's not the sort of money we have on instant standby, aside
from the two months run-in we'd expect it to get the replacements.

Getting things on house contents isn't anything like 10% of the
cost of the bike, the main game is finding a policy that actually
believes something like a bike can cost 4 figures.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Tim Hall said:

Hmm. I renewed with them 2 weeks ago. Mind you the renewal came from
Headley Insurance Services, although it always has done IIRC. Phone
01420 594242, web <http://wwwheadleyinsurance.co.uk> Not sure of the
connection between them and Fern, but I did speak to Chris at Fern
just the other day.

Thanks Tim, I'll look into this...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

we're just getting in quotes for the impending renewal of house,
contents and cycles in-sewer-ants. Someone suggested the chap in the
back of Cycle: well, I've tried but AFAICT, assuming this is Fern
Insurance, it no longer exists: 'phone gives BT Callminder, email
bounces, web stuff seems to be AWOL. Anyone have confirmed info on this?

Front runners otherwise are AA and Bank of Scotland/Halifax.
House/Contents was on Direct Line but their renewal quote is mucho £££s
more than last year, and CTC Cyclecover remains ludicrously expensive
with some daft gotchas.

Pete.

Have you looked at CIS?
--
Michael MacClancy

Peter,

I used to work for Royal Insurance (now known as More Than) and can confirm
that they were able to underwrite pretty much anything including very
expensive bikes at reasonable rates. Having worked in the industry they and
Norwich Union are the two companies who stand out and being able to handle
claims without hassle. It's interesting but people always choose insurance
based upon only price, but in fact they should always be judged on how they
handle claims and what they're covering - there are major differences. The
only year I wasn't insured with More than I had the misfortune to suffer
some carpet damage due to a water spillage. The cowboy outfit my building
society were using looked for every possible way not to compensate me (long
term damage, poor plumbing maintenance) - then having accepted it was a
sudden event they started trying to reduce the amount by claiming that the
carpet was years old (it wasn't) and was of lower quality than it was. With
good insurers you usually get 'New for old' ie they replace your damaged old
item with a new one.

This doesn't by the way legitimise the argument that you're better off
putting money in a building society. Insurance is about transfer of risk.
If you put the money in a building society you haven't transferred the risk
at all. I once saw somebody fall apart because their £4 million nightclub
had burned down and they had cancelled the insurance to save money a year or
two earlier. Their entire life's work was in ashes because they hadn't
transferred risk - not nice.

I would certainly recommend you give More Than and Norwich Union a call.
More Than will give you a discount if your car is also insured with them.
Incidentally I would stay away from any Lloyds syndicates.

Hope this helps,

Jonathan

Specialist cycle insurance is by and large a very expensive way of doing
things and it is always cheaper to
"Michael MacClancy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch said:

we're just getting in quotes for the impending renewal of house,
contents and cycles in-sewer-ants. Someone suggested the chap in the
back of Cycle: well, I've tried but AFAICT, assuming this is Fern
Insurance, it no longer exists: 'phone gives BT Callminder, email
bounces, web stuff seems to be AWOL. Anyone have confirmed info on this?

Front runners otherwise are AA and Bank of Scotland/Halifax.
House/Contents was on Direct Line but their renewal quote is mucho £££s
more than last year, and CTC Cyclecover remains ludicrously expensive
with some daft gotchas.

Pete.

Have you looked at CIS?
--
Michael MacClancy

Zog The Undeniable said:

Try First Direct too. You only have to insure the most expensive bike.

And it has to be under £1500. Grrrrr.

And MoreThan are down at the moment, and CIS's online calculator seems
to be borked. Grrrrr.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article said:

expensive bikes at reasonable rates. Having worked in the industry they and
Norwich Union are the two companies who stand out and being able to handle
claims without hassle.

My car used to be insured with Norwich Union, after they took over CU.
When they failed to send me an insurance certificate on renewal, it
took over 30 phone calls forwarded from one call centre to another for
them to conclude that I wasn't insured with them after all.
A couple of days later, they found that I was after all, but by then I'd
cancelled the direct debit they had continued to take money out of,
and got insurance with someone else. Then they sent me a letter saying that
since I had ended the policy, I should send them the documents they hadn't
sent me. Then they sent me another letter saying that since they hadn't
been able to use the direct debit (good thing I cancelled it at the bank
instead of relying on them doing it), they were ending the policy (again),
and, again, I should send them back the documents they never sent me.

They still send me frequent adverts, but they go straight in the bin.

Michael MacClancy said:

Have you looked at CIS?

Have now, and they're not interested in 4 figure price tags, regrettably :-(
More Than seem to fall over there too as well. Waiting for the Headley
folk to call back, but otherwise it will rather ironically be the AA...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Michael MacClancy said:

Have you looked at CIS?

Have now, and they're not interested in 4 figure price tags, regrettably
:-(
More Than seem to fall over there too as well. Waiting for the Headley
folk to call back, but otherwise it will rather ironically be the AA...

www.eandl.org.uk

Lee Bringer said:

www.eandl.org.uk

Nul Points: by the time I've insured the 4 most valuable bikes I'm
looking at the total cost of buildings, contents and the 4 most valuable
bikes on either AA or Halifax/BoS.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Lee Bringer said:

www.eandl.org.uk

Nul Points: by the time I've insured the 4 most valuable bikes I'm looking
at the total cost of buildings, contents and the 4 most valuable bikes on
either AA or Halifax/BoS.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Mght be worth trying Marks and Spencers. Up to £4000 on any single item.
Includes bicycles.

HTH

Julia

Peter,

Disappointed to hear that More Than can't underwrite this anymore - when I
worked for them they didn't have a limit as far as I recall and underwrote
bikes at I think £4 per £100.

Sorry I couldn't help further.

Best regards,

Jonathan
"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Michael MacClancy said:

Have you looked at CIS?

Have now, and they're not interested in 4 figure price tags, regrettably
:-(
More Than seem to fall over there too as well. Waiting for the Headley
folk to call back, but otherwise it will rather ironically be the AA...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Jonathan said:

This doesn't by the way legitimise the argument that you're better off
putting money in a building society. Insurance is about transfer of risk.
If you put the money in a building society you haven't transferred the risk
at all. I once saw somebody fall apart because their £4 million nightclub
had burned down and they had cancelled the insurance to save money a year or
two earlier. Their entire life's work was in ashes because they hadn't
transferred risk - not nice.

Whether you are better off paying the price to transfer the risk or
retaining the risk and mitigating it by accumulating cash is entirely
dependant on the price and your personal exposure to risk.

IME, insurers seem to want 10% of the bike's value pa in order to
receive the risk. Let's, for the sake of argument, make the assumption
that this ensures a rapid and full payout if the risk matures. ie an
equal service level to self-insuring.

The insurer's assessment of risk, and therefore their price for
transferin the risk, is not based on your particular circumstances and
habits and I suggest that, for us sophisticated bikies with expensive
bikes, our exposure is appreciably lower than that of the wider
population. We use decent and multiple locks. We understand the
differences between "good" and "bad" places to leave a bike. We may
share local intelligence as to locations particularly prone to bike
theft. At home our bikes are more likely to be secured and/or alarmed.
Finally, if we self-insure and retain the risk, we do not have factor in
the cost of fraudulent claims.

I can't speak of the cost/benefit of nightclub insurance but I am clear
that there is no value in the current range of bike insurance. Far
better value to retain the risk, mitigating it with cash and minimising
it with locks and awareness.

JBB said:

Mght be worth trying Marks and Spencers. Up to £4000 on any single item.
Includes bicycles.

HTH

Hi Julia, I think it probably did...
Going through the small print now, but an initial online quote was
easily the best one we've looked at so far, to the extent that even if
we have to bolt a few options on we'll probably still come in with it as
the best price, and much less fussy than the others.

Ta, Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Michael MacClancy said:

Have you looked at CIS?

Have now, and they're not interested in 4 figure price tags, regrettably :-(

Quoted message said:

Pete.

They'll let you insure higher values as 'specified property'. You need to
speak with them. It's extremely good value.
--
Michael MacClancy

in message <[email hidden]>, Not

Responding (') said:

I can't speak of the cost/benefit of nightclub insurance but I am
clear that there is no value in the current range of bike insurance.
Far better value to retain the risk, mitigating it with cash and
minimising it with locks and awareness.

Certainly, where I live, in my opinion, I'm better off carrying my own
risk. Of course if all the bikes got stolen in one go it would be a
major hit, but that's why the good ones live in the house.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; I'd rather live in sybar-space

Not Responding wrote:
[...]

Quoted message said:

IME, insurers seem to want 10% of the bike's value pa in order to
receive the risk. Let's, for the sake of argument, make the assumption
that this ensures a rapid and full payout if the risk matures. ie an
equal service level to self-insuring.

"...if the risk matures..." is that the same as "...if my bike gets
nicked..."? I must admit I'd never thought of it as a positive
maturation of risk.

Colin