Bke Insurance alternatives to M&S

Okay, just recieved my renewal and although last year they let me keep the old policy it seems that this renewal I’ve moved to the new terms meaning that I’ve lost any item up to £4K home and away. Basically the main reason for going with M&S.

They now need me to specify all my bikes and given that they are customs they need an inventory.

Whats my alternative?

+1 please, an extra £300 on my house insurance begs the same question, and I’m getting concious of the amount of looks in the street I get as I ride off from home on various Carbon/Ti machines….

Seems to me there are options up to £2.5k bikes but beyond that you need specialist cover which costs a lot more. I decided to cover mine to £2.5k and take the risk on the additional value. Barclays said this was OK.

My M&S policy has changed from any item up to 4K home and away to unsecified pedal cycles £2k.

I’ll play along for now head down to LBS and get an inventory done and see how much adding my two bikes impacts the already higher than average renewal price.

I’ve been told that specialist insurance runs at about 10% of the value of your bikes. Thats double my car insurance for the same period!

I’ve never claimed insurance of any sort in the past.

The alternative I guees is putting some money into a Bike fund and hoping the don’t get stolen (using appropriate preventative measures) – then if they do, use the bike fund as part of the money to replace them.

sheilas wheels is the way forward!

I’ve been told that specialist insurance runs at about 10% of the value of your bikes.

I suspect at that point, with 3 bikes in my garage worth more than £2k I’ll just end up not insuring them. That or going with the Barclays option mentioned above if that will cover a more expensive bike for £2.5k value.

Though what’s the situation with values and “new for old” cover? One of my bikes cost ~£3k to build 15 years ago – would doubtless cost far more than that to build something equivalent now, but realistically I’d probably not even get £1k for it if I sold it (the real value in a way now is rarity – effectively it’s totally irreplacable). Could I just have that covered as being worth less than £2k, or do I need to cover either the original or the replacement cost?

I’m also taking the (niaive?) view that I’m in the upper echelon’s of bike content now, and if they got nicked I’d probably just make do with a internet “special” (ie on offer Trance / EX8 / etc) and not replace what is essentially 8k’s worth of bikes.

supertacky – what did they say about custom build? did they tell you to get a receipt/quote for replacement from the lbs? and that would suffice as to the value of your custom build?

also supertacky – out of interest roughly how much has your policy gone up this year? just wondering if they are trying to get all old customers off the old terms now but stiffling the renewal prices/2k limit?

Sheilas Wheels require specification on bikes beyond £500 in value so Dont see the advantage? Can you expain? Or have I just wasted 10mins of my time reading the policy booklet?

OW
I mentioned the custom nature of the bikes. She only wanted a manufacturer/model/ age and value.
However , In the past I’ve been surprised at how easily the Value increases beyond initial guestimates. 😀
My LBS offer a service to do an inventory and record on headed letter incase of insurance claims later on. I just thought it would be prudent given that I suspect that if I had under valued my bikes in any way they may wriggle out of a claim on a specified item.

OW
My renewal price has increased marginally (less than 3%) but thats on the new (useless) policy. With the addition of my bikes its increased a further 20%, but thats me giving them an off the cuff value that I’ve yet to have confirmed.

GOD this really takes the fun out of biking!!!!

Nobby – Member

Just had a good look around as M&S had put ours up and then wanted a load more for specifying bikes over the £2k.

Of all the quotes I looked at the one from Allianz/Yourinsurancecover.co.uk came out £240 cheaper – I need to lock the bikes with sold secure approved locks but do that anyway so a no-brainier for me. Will call M&S again Monday just to see if they’re prepared to do owt.

Posted 1 day ago #

M&S wanted another £60+ to add 1 £4k bike! Just lapsed it & moved to save £300 🙂

cheers supertacky – so they will accept a quote/inventory with RRP prices then i take it? thats how to prove your custom build?

also have you done a quote online for m&s instead? may work out cheaper if you name them on the web quote and drop down from premier cover to standard with a bit extra excess?

i can get my yearly price about the same just doing a fresh quote and fully covering the bike at RRP – however i’d have to drop to standard cover instead of premier that were currently on

£60+ to add 1 £4k bike!

That doesn’t sound too bad, as long as they are competitive on the buildings/household bits!

I did notice that in Sept last year, it wasn’t worth cancelling/buying again online as it was the previous year.

OW hats a good shout. The auto renewal process can sometimes be bettered by lapsing and then reapplying.

I’ll try that later.

Nobby.

I’m nearly at the stage your at. Saving a couple of hundered quid and going for standard Buildings and contents and then just being super carefull. TBH My bikes are never out of my sight and when in my garage are locked to the concrete floor.

M&S wanted another £60+ to add 1 £4k bike!

That’s nowhere near as much as I was expecting, and not all that bad to be honest (I’m seriously doubting you can do better than 1.5% of value).

I might be being a bit thick here. No claims, no address changes, no policy changes – when i get my automatic renewal will they have changed my policy. It is due any time soon! Regards John

M&S wanted another £60+ to add 1 £4k bike!

That’s nowhere near as much as I was expecting, and not all that bad to be honest (I’m seriously doubting you can do better than 1.5% of value).

I think the point he’s making is that M&S arent exactly cheap in the first place.
We’ve all been paying much higher premiums already due to our adiction to shiney new bikes. Its £60 + the extra that its costs already to go with M&S which in my case is at least £150

Orangejohn – Yes!

Policy has changed for existing old policy members.

Where as old policy members had new for old home and away up to 4K we now have-

up to 2K on pedal bikes after that its secified items which attract extra premuim.

I think the point he’s making is that M&S arent exactly cheap in the first place.

They’re not so bad for me, so if that is the premium for a >£2k bike I’ll probably stick with them come renewal time (it’s less than the rate I was paying when specifying anything over £500 before moving to M&S).

Sorry, I should clarify. The £60+ was for the value in excess of £2k i.e. £2k and it was the best they could do knowing there was a better deal on the table.

@ supertacky – I’ve not gone for ‘standard’ cover but the best they offer plus a few of their add-ons. As a comparison, their (Allianz) cost to add full cover (at home & away) for the bikes exceeding the standard £1k limit (£5,200) was £65 – the actual premium for the rest of it was way better albeit I don’t have the “unlimited” buildings & contents cover M&S gave.

Sheila and her bloomin’ wheels won’t let you add more than five specified items without phoning them up.

Can’t be bothered at the moment…

Are you sure about the changes in the T&Cs for renewals? I renewed my M&S policy in the 2nd half of last year & called them up to ask specifically about changes in policy on unspecified items (inc bikes) up to £4k & was assured that for renewals the policy would remain the same…

It sounds like at your next renewal, they may change everything peachos. Hopefully there’ll be some good recommendations before I get mine (late Aug)

Thanks to whoever recommended Yourinsurancecover , £80 less(£200) on the main contents+building insurance than directline, and unlimited on the bike while in the home.

double post

Just discover my policy (LV) cover’s bikes up to £1500ea. Cycleguard is £75 a month 😯

I’ll call LV tomorrow (when working from home) to see what the increase would be to cover mines specifically.

Hmmm So LV will cover max £2500 (in total) if things are stolen from my workshop.

However if my bikes were inside the main house, they would be insured for up to 5k EACH!!

I think I’ll live with that and chain them up in the kitchen during holidays 🙂

As the Mrs is on Paternity and at home a lot I’ll await my next renewal (April) to see if I can get a better deal on the outhouse contents

Edit: it was £500 to add 6k of specific bikes btw.

Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) has no single item limit for bikes. A £10K total from an outbuilding, and unlimited from within the house (or adjoining garage with access door). I have not tested their away from home coverage. Insurance was not cheap, however.

I may try RSA in April…. 🙂

Try the co-operative insurance. Bikes less than £1000 are insured and I had to name a couple of my nice bikes that were worth <£2k. Premium for me was about £350.

Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) has no single item limit for bikes. A £10K total from an outbuilding, and unlimited from within the house (or adjoining garage with access door).

Our garage has door into main house, so sounds promising.

More-than cover ipb also underwritten by RSA
They just quoted me £355 for 2 specified £3k bikes or £568 with away from home cover comparable to old M&S policy cover
My M&S renewal was £632 (or £842 if taken as a new policy) so significantly cheaper

iain1775 – So the rest of the buildings/contents insurance was comparable to M&S?

“Our garage has door into main house, so sounds promising. “

Mines will if needs be…..

Just so you know, my renewal policy increased by £100 when I rang up to inform them of 1 bike over £2k just now.

Last year £750
Renewal quote £800
+ bike £900

Monthly payments of buildings and contents (inc away from home) of £75.

AlexSimon – Member
iain1775 – So the rest of the buildings/contents insurance was comparable to M&S

In terms of extras like accidental damage, legal cover, excesses etc, and specified items, yes directly comparable
In term of actual cover, no, because who actually needs unlimited buildings and contents cover?
Buildings £400,000 which is more than double what my house will cost to rebuild so more than adequate
Contents £75,000 which would cover everything I own
I was over insured with M&S and paying appropriately for it, but the previous bike cover made up for that

I’m with direct line – if your bike gets stolen from home (including from shed/outbuilding/garage) it is just included as contents and is covered, regardless of value, and does not need to be specified. Bike has to be locked up though.

This would be the only place my bike would get nicked – if it aint at home, i’m on it.

I’ve gone with the Co-op this time too – you specify bikes over £1k, and pay extra for those, but still seems cheap. They don’t appear to specify any particular types of locks either, just that when away from home, bikes have to be locked to a fixed object.