It gets worse - my bike wasn't insured!

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the reluctant cyclist

Über Member
Location
Birmingham
It looks like the house insurance covered my stolen bike but only if it was stolen from the house or garage - not if it was stolen from somewhere else!

I left stuff like that to my husband and he is usually so good at this sort of thing I'm shocked he got it so wrong!

I am absolutely gutted - the quotes for a replacement have come in at £800, £900 and £1,000.00 and I shall have to foot the bill myself by the looks of it!

It turns out that as I bought the bike on the cycle to work scheme the bike didn't even belong to me anyway so now work are chasing me for a final payment to make it mine! I haven't told them yet it isn't insured!

My husband (who also works here) wants work to claim on their insurance (as it was taken from work premises on work time and work actually own the bike) but I'm not very hopeful at all - my immediate boss has made it clear that they will not claim - they won't do another cycle scheme here either!

I'm struggling in and out to work on my Giant XTC3 at the moment which is okay but not the same as my road bike!

Looks like I'll be waiting a long time for a replacement now! I could cry!
 

upsidedown

Waiting for the great leap forward
Location
The middle bit
What is it and whereabouts was it stolen from ? I'm normally all over Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country. If it's something distinctive there's always a chance.
 
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the reluctant cyclist

Über Member
Location
Birmingham
It's a Trek Pilot 1.0 and it was black with mudguards fitted - the front mudguard was fitted very badly with some horrible metal struts that always looked a bit naff - also the front forks were not the standard bontrager ones.

It was nicked from The McLaren Building in the centre of Birmingham last Monday at 11.00 am by a little kid that looked about 12 to me! (CCTV).
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
I would have thought if there are no signs in the bike/car park indicating "left at owners risk" then your company is liable.
 

summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
Really bad luck on the insurance front:sad:. Have the police seen the video yet? Any chance of them recognising the child and attempting to recover the bike?
 
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the reluctant cyclist

Über Member
Location
Birmingham
I don't know as of today but as of Friday the Police hadn't come to pick the CCTV up - it's a shame because if they had collected it earlier there may have been a hope (albeit a v.slim one!).

There are signs up saying bikes parked at owners risk etc etc - the only reason hubby is trying to get work to claim is because they still officially own the bike and could claim if they were minded (a very long shot I know)

The only up side to all this is that I have now secured an indoor much more secure parking space for my bike. I now take it up in the goods lift and keep it in a storeroom at work where hopefully it will be safer than it was - although my daughter (who also works here) put a sign on it that said "You Smell" the other day!
 

brokenbetty

Über Member
Location
London
Oh hugs to you :tongue:

I do think the cycle to work scheme has been a boon to bike thieves - so many new, expensive bikes locked in the same place every day. 4 or 5 have gone missing from my work since they started the scheme earlier this year (not from our carpark but from public racks just outside).

Whether or not you get the insurance, maybe rather than replacing it with the same bike you could find a second hand road bike that won't hurt quite as much to lose?
 
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the reluctant cyclist

Über Member
Location
Birmingham
brokenbetty said:
Oh hugs to you :hello:

Whether or not you get the insurance, maybe rather than replacing it with the same bike you could find a second hand road bike that won't hurt quite as much to lose?

Thank you so much.

I'm hoping that now I have a better place to park it it will be safer. I'm keen to replace it with the same level - especially after seeing what it is like on a not so good bike again for the last week! I will absolutely make sure it is flipping covered for full value on the insurance this time though!
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
C2W is a finance agreement just like buying a car or tv. If car is nicked you are still bound by the finance agreement. Unfortunately it is your responsibilty to see the item you have puchased on finance is adequately insured. You could try suing your employer that they were negligent but since you said they have installed CCTV that might be difficult to establish or maybe they knew there was a problem with bike theft from their site but installing CCTV was not sufficient perhaps they should have been more proactive.

What lock did you use? Some crappy £3.99 cable jobby from Halfords? If you didn't use a decent D-lock, such as an Abus Granit X Plus D-lock, then not wanting to be too harsh, you really can't expect your bike to still be there when you get back. Cable and combination locks are a waste of time and money, string is more secure. You need a decent D-lock.

As regards your home insurance always check the small print for what is NOT covered just as throughly as for that which is. Is blaming hubby fair? It is your bike after all?

I'm afraid it might well be that on this occasion you have to stand this loss yourself unless the police can recover your bike and catch the scrote that half inched it.
 
Location
EDINBURGH
That sounds like the insurance trying to get out of its responsibility, I have never heard of a cycle insurance that only covers theft from the home, I would go through your insurance schedule really well and query that issue as being unreasonable.
 
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the reluctant cyclist

Über Member
Location
Birmingham
I haven't actually blamed husband or shouted at him or anything! I asked him a few time over the years if the bikes were insured and he assured me that they were - he likes to do things like house/contents insurance himself so I don't interfere!

I did have a rubbish lock on it apparently - I didn't realise that the one I had was so bad - I just trusted that the lock would work and on top of it the security at work would be enough to make sure nobody took it.:hello:

I am sort of resigned to forking out to replace it myself now and will just have to get on with it - I was only looking for a little sympathy from people whose bikes meant a lot to them too!!! People at work can't understand why I would be so upset about a bike!!!
 

Maizie

Veteran
Location
NE Hertfordshire
I'm sympathetic!

I'm also grateful - I'm picking up a new bike on Saturday. I know that my home insurance won't cover it as standard because of its value. So this has reminded me to phone up and sort it out, prior to Saturday!
 
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