Insurance

Paul Boyd said:

Currently my bikes are insured under my home contents policy which
covers their value if stolen from the house, but only a much reduced
value if stolen elsewhere. It's really time to get this sorted.

I know about most of the specialist bike insurers so finding one isn't a
problem, but what I'm interested in is the service in the event of a
claim. I'm looking for one that doesn't try every trick in the book to
avoid paying, but just pays up with no fuss once they have all the info
they need. It would also need to be replacement value if possible,
rather than current market value. Each bike is around £800 to replace
with a new equivalent.

Our home contents (M&S) covers for the full value if stolen elsewhere.
They're all covered without particulat details required up to £4k. I
don't know about the service as we've not had to claim. That's new for
old, not "current market"

The main point in its favour over Cyclecover (and from what I've seen
toehr specialist bike insurers) is that all our bikes are covered, and
our house, and the garage, and all of their other contents (except, for
some surreal "reason" the kayaks), for a lower annual premium than
Cyclecover charged us for the two 'bent tourers, the freighter and the
folder.

So maybe look at alternative house contents.

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/

Paul Boyd said:

Another post has just reminded me about this (nothing to do with bent
Thorn bikes, honest!)

Currently my bikes are insured under my home contents policy which
covers their value if stolen from the house, but only a much reduced
value if stolen elsewhere. It's really time to get this sorted.

One thing to look out for is the insurers replacing the bikes (with new
ones) rather than paying you the value.
I had two bikes stolen (still sad about my lovely Orange P7).
The insurers have a tame bike shop, who offer you equivalent bikes, or
the same model if they happen to be a dealer in that range.

The drawback is that I didn't get to see the bikes before delivery - so
sizing etc. could be a problem.

Thanks Peter & John

Perhaps it is time to change my contents insurer. Both bikes are still
available - Raleigh Randonneur & Orange P7, just to rub it in, John :-)
- and I would be happy with a replacement rather than a cheque, but not
an equivalent. I wouldn't want a Dawes Galaxy, for instance, instead of
the Randonneur. Mind you, are current Randonneurs still "handbuilt in
the UK"?

The last time I had a bike stolen was from a locked shed, about 15 years
ago. The police arrived, an insurance assessor arrived and a week or so
later a cheque arrived. At the time, the bike cost £1200 to build up,
but I only got about £900 back :-(

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Peter Clinch said the following on 02/05/2007 10:01:

Quoted message said:

Our home contents (M&S) covers for the full value if stolen elsewhere.

Looking at the M&S website, it appears that they don't do a "Contents
only" policy - I rent the house. Shame, because Cyclecover just quoted
me £122 to cover both bikes. That's more than my entire contents insurance!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd said:

Peter Clinch said the following on 02/05/2007 10:01:

Quoted message said:

Our home contents (M&S) covers for the full value if stolen elsewhere.

Looking at the M&S website, it appears that they don't do a "Contents
only" policy - I rent the house. Shame, because Cyclecover just quoted
me £122 to cover both bikes. That's more than my entire contents
insurance!

They're not the only game in town, of course. Other folk have had good
results from the AA, amongst others. There can start to be gotchas at
various price levels, with £1,000 or 1,500 seeming to be pain barriers,
but if the bikes are under those levels individually I would think you'd
find something.

Long ago (late 80s) now, but under Bank of Scotland contents covered my
ancient hack new for old with a very generous concept of what it was
actually worth (I got £400 because it was a "14 speed racer", it was an
old Raleigh Olympus with a 7 speed block squeezed in, and worth about
400p "market value"😉. Contents insurers aren't all bad, by any means,
even if the shopping around is a PITA. Only stopped using BoS when I
bought a house and getting the mortgage at the time was less painful if
I switched insurance to the lender.

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 the following on 02/05/2007 15:36:

Quoted message said:

They're not the only game in town, of course. Other folk have had good
results from the AA, amongst others.

M&S was just where I started!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd <usenet.dont.work@plusnet> wrote in news:46384c8c$0$8711
[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Another post has just reminded me about this (nothing to do with bent
Thorn bikes, honest!)

I loked at ING's new home insurance package a while back - it looked like
it might cover the bikes, but I can't remember the details.
(makes note to self!)

Quoting Paul Boyd <usenet.dont.work@plusnet>:

Quoted message said:

Currently my bikes are insured under my home contents policy which
covers their value if stolen from the house, but only a much reduced
value if stolen elsewhere. It's really time to get this sorted.

I have Nationwide home insurance, and this offers optional bicycle
insurance. I am paying L6.23 pcm for bikes up to L900; this covers as many
bicycles as I own, provided I avoid having more than one stolen/trashed in
any given incident outside the home.

When my Brompton was stolen, I had failed to tell them about my change of
address for _six months_. They changed the address on the policy and
agreed to pay for a new equivalent-specification Brompton immediately;
mine was second hand when I got it and had acquired a few quirks over the
years.
--
OPTIONS=name:Kirsty,menustyle:C,female,lit_corridor,standout,time,showexp,hilit
e_pet,catname:Akane,dogname:Ryoga,fruit:okonomiyaki,pickup_types:"!$?=/,scores:
5 top/2 around,color,boulder:0,autoquiver,autodig,disclose:yiyayvygyc,pickup_bu
rden:burdened,!cmdassist,msg_window:reversed,!sparkle,horsename:Rumiko,showrace

In message <[email hidden]>, David Damerell
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoting Paul Boyd <usenet.dont.work@plusnet>:

Quoted message said:

Currently my bikes are insured under my home contents policy which
covers their value if stolen from the house, but only a much reduced
value if stolen elsewhere. It's really time to get this sorted.

I have Nationwide home insurance, and this offers optional bicycle
insurance. I am paying L6.23 pcm for bikes up to L900; this covers as many
bicycles as I own, provided I avoid having more than one stolen/trashed in
any given incident outside the home.

Yup, we are with Nationwide as well.

Not had to claim with them for bikes yet, but they settled a claim for a
stolen bag/ camera etc. last year efficiently.

To the OP, just shop around the different companies until you find one
that suits. Standalone insurance is juts silly money really for the
cover you get, esp. once you start having multiple bikes.
--
Chris French

chris French said the following on 03/05/2007 08:40:

Quoted message said:

Yup, we are with Nationwide as well.

That's two votes for Nationwide - they're added to the list!

Cheers

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Perhaps not of use to OP given the value, but for info to others, NFU
Mutual's standard home contents policy now includes cover as standard
for unspecified bikes worth less than 500 quid each (obviously, value
has to be included in the global sum). Many contents policies these
days require ALL bikes to be detailed and paid for individually, even
kiddy bikes.

IME NUF Mutual are not the cheapest company, but their service is
excellent, the call centres is in Scotland, all the folk who have
answered the phone to me have been both very helpful and very polite -
and they always give their name and extension number so any query can
be taken up with the person who dealt with the issue originally.

--
Tim Forcer [email hidden]
The University of Southampton, UK

The University is not responsible for my opinions