Beware bike insurance loopholes [MoreTh>n]

[leyburnrunner]

accidental damage tends to be an extra cover and therefore an additional charge. if you are buying household insurance they will always try and sell you the AD cover (it's more money for them so why wouldn't they?) so if you don't take it that's the consumers choice.
AD coverage rends to be much abused with popular claims being the TV dropped down the stairs, paint on carpet and the annual sitting on your specs. many of these are fortunate and many aren't.

 

[davefb]

Not cycle related but watch for "accidental cover"on house insurance. I dropped a can of white emulsion on our landing carpet a few years ago and claimed on our house insurance. Apparently we weren't covered for accidental damage!! WTF is insurance for if it's not for accidents?? "OK, I did it on purpose", I sarcastically said to the person at the insurance company.

Apparently our policy covered us for what we dropped but not for what it landed on. Therefore I could claim for a £10 tin of emulsion but not the £300 carpet it redecorated. And this was with CIS who are a big name so I don't go with the stick to the big name suggestion either. I hate them all.

Buy cheap, take care and hope you don't have to use them.

yeah, just renewed.. i didnt get accidental for the house.. ( just contents)

if i put my foot through the floor in the loft, thats an accident.. if i drill though a pipe, thats an accident..

if the loft collapses due to water, thats NOT, if the pipe fails due to 'age' thats not..

i'll take the risk about the paint ...


i'll have to check the small print about the bike in the shed though, i thought i'd checked it , but the documents that have arrived dont 100% tally with the discussions i had on the phone ( gaaah)...

 

[Hop3y]

i work for an insurance company so ergo i'm one step removed from a paedophile, terrorist. i think you really need to re-calibrate your values and perhaps get out a bit more.

Amen to that. I work for an insurance company also.

 

[400bhp]

Not cycle related but watch for "accidental cover"on house insurance. I dropped a can of white emulsion on our landing carpet a few years ago and claimed on our house insurance. Apparently we weren't covered for accidental damage!! WTF is insurance for if it's not for accidents?? "OK, I did it on purpose", I sarcastically said to the person at the insurance company.

Apparently our policy covered us for what we dropped but not for what it landed on. Therefore I could claim for a £10 tin of emulsion but not the £300 carpet it redecorated. And this was with CIS who are a big name so I don't go with the stick to the big name suggestion either. I hate them all.

Buy cheap, take care and hope you don't have to use them.

If that's the case then why do you buy insurance that is not a legal requirement?

 

[400bhp]

Buying insurance is not that different to placing a bet in a bookmaker's shop. The trouble with insurance comapnies is that a lot try to wriggle out of their obligation when the worst happens. I am not a betting man, but whoever heard of a bookie who said, "Oh sorry, we can't pay out on that bet, because when you placed it we thought the horse was going to lose." I am not saying they are one step removed from scum, but a lot of people are rather unhappy with their performance when they have to claim, and rightly so.

The difference between insurance and placing a bet is that the insured has an interest in the risk.

This means, amongst other things, the insured can influence the frequency and severity of a claim.

Lay people don't understand insurance which leads to the mistrust.

 

[mumbo jumbo]

Really sorry about you losing your bikes but when you left them on your car over night were you not advertising them for somebody to pinch them. I think you did. You should have taken much more care over them and put a rain coat and leggings on and brought them inside. How do the insures know or not if you called your mates up and told them what's on offer tonight. I guess you have learnt a lesson on how to protect your bikes now because I do believe you have too much faith in humans. Next time you secure your bikes make sure you do what the insurers advise you to do.
Cafe stops are favourites with thieves and anybody who says they only left it for a minute are in the theft time zone.

It has been a salutory lesson indeed. They were locked up. I thought they'd be OK. Perhaps I was naive. I bought 2 m/cycle security chains for locking up the 2 new bikes on roof and the 4 tow bar mounted ones when we went on holiday proper. I've now got 3 anchor bolts plus another m/cycle chain on order [the bikes hang on the wall in the garage; I'll chain them up in pairs] and have got all the bikes security tagged with bikeshepherd.org

Re this line in particular "Next time you secure your bikes make sure you do what the insurers advise you to do" there's nothing you can do if you are transporting bikes on a vehicle. If the insurer says a vehicle is not an immoveable object, you're buggered.

I've checked M&S. They're very expensive. But I got a very good quote from the AA. I've been specifically checking bike issues and the AA have checked with the underwriter (Allianz) and they would have covered this loss. Be careful out there!!!

 

[Rebel Ian]

If that's the case then why do you buy insurance that is not a legal requirement?

Now I've learned my lesson I don't.

 

[subaqua]

I've heard of good experiences with M&S from others. But if the insurance is with the same company for bikes and household I would try the insurance ombudsman. Also have you looked at your car insurance to see if that would cover it.

I got mine insured through the broker that advertises in the back of the CTC magazine and they seem to be pretty good at finding good home contents policies that include bikes inside and outside the house all risks.

yeah wifey did that for all 6 of our bikes. CTC that is, very reasonable cost too. not had to claim yet and hopefully won't but thats the acid test

 

[cyco2]

Re this line in particular "Next time you secure your bikes make sure you do what the insurers advise you to do" there's nothing you can do if you are transporting bikes on a vehicle. If the insurer says a vehicle is not an immoveable object, you're buggered.

At the time you were storing them outside your house on top of your car at night. They were at the most vulnerable point in there lives. God knows what the police must have thought when you told them how you had safely stored them. I doubt very much they will be looking for them.
If you had asked them, the insurers would hardly of told you to lock them up on top of your car for the night, "They'll be ok".
There is a huge difference between transporting your bikes on the car and leaving them on your car over night without security. Locks are not actually secure. They just delay. The theft of locked up bikes is a challenge to thieves and they have become amazingly adapt at it.

I.e. A friends motorcycle was stolen from his locked garage which had a locked car blocking its removal. So, the bike was lifted on to a mattress on the car and slid over the top and popped in to a van.

 

[jansman]

More Than should rename themselves as Less Than!*

It's worth paying a bit extra to cover loss of personal items outside of the home.

More Than if I am correct used to be Royal and Sun Alliance-the same thieving motherf@&£!?s who sold me a crap endowment, and cost me another five yrs on my mortgage.The insurance/financial "services" are all scum suckers!
Rant over!



*[sub]or should than be Fewer Than for the grammar police?[/sub]

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

The difference between insurance and placing a bet is that the insured has an interest in the risk.

This means, amongst other things, the insured can influence the frequency and severity of a claim.

Lay people don't understand insurance which leads to the mistrust.

When in doubt , blame the customer?

 

[400bhp]

No, blame the idiot.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

No, blame the idiot.

Ahhh,


Don't explain your product properly ( to your advantage) then blame the customer, and call them an idiot!

 

[400bhp]

It was a curt reply to your curt reply.

I CBA to discuss on a cycling forum the intricacies of insurance.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

It was a curt reply to your curt reply.

I CBA to discuss on a cycling forum the intricacies of insurance.

Or even reply in the correct format!