Lots of threads (including my own) asking for what to go for in the post-M&S doom.

Check out Direct Line Select (not normal direct line, you have to phone up to get a ‘select’ quote)

They have a minimum contents value of £100k (but this doesn’t matter, since over insured is better than under insured, and if it is cheaper, who cares).

Bikes are just possessions – covered at home and away, as long as they are locked up if you leave them away from home. No cap on value (I think they mentioned £10k when I really pressed them on that, but that isn’t in writing anywhere), and you don’t need to specify what bikes you have (like M&S used to do).

Best of all, if you tell them your ‘M&S Premium’ quote, they will match or beat it. My advisor had to go away and ‘talk to his supervisor’, but they dropped the quote by £300 to match my M&S renewal quote.

Dave

PS I’ve put this in the bike forum, because it is a bike issue – if any mod has a problem with that, then please feel free to move it to chat.

DL used to have a LOT of small print on their home insurance policies, definitely worth along sure you can cover all of it

DL will exclude most things and whack up you premium for year 2.

An ex DL loyal customer!!

NOT Direct Line… Direct Line Select!

Different phone number, different policies, different t&c’s.

Well the T&C’s look ok other than limited to £2,500 of contents ifstolen from locked vehicles & hidden from view. Also excudes damage caused by pets.

You can get an online quote for Select too – mine was nearly double what I’m paying at the moment with my bikes specified.

What a time hogging maze it is finding insurance. Spend 15mins talking through the same info multiple times to different suppliers only to find they won’t cover bikes over £2.5k (MoreThan), or the bike’s not covered while you’re riding it (AA), £3k maximum total insured in outbuildings (Sainsburys), or won’t offer New for Old for more than two years old bikes (NFU Mutual).

Another strong vote for DL Select over M&S. Premium dropped 30% as well with Select, and 3x bikes at 4,2.5,2.5k now all covered anywhere in the world for any eventuality. Tick.

they ‘dropped the quote to match M&S’? if my insurers had done that i’d still be paying 400 quid over what i am paying. just saying.

Another vote here for Direct Line SELECT offering the best deal at the moment.

Previously with M&S on old Ts&Cs.
Tried NFU mutual but they won’t do new for old over two years old.
Despite intially quoting a higher premium than NFU, when pushed to pricematch DL Select, they actually came in with a quote about £80 below the price match figure.

Yes it’s a £10k limit for each single item (no need to identify/list), worldwide.

You can get an online quote for Select too – mine was nearly double what I’m paying at the moment with my bikes specified.

obviously if that works for you, then go for it.

when I specified my bikes with M&S, it jumped from 500 to 900 quid. I do have a lot of bikes though! 😳

oh, and when I say they matched my price – the price they matched was the one without bikes having been specified 😉

alfabus – Member

NOT Direct Line… Direct Line Select!

Different phone number, different policies, different t&c’s.

lolz, calm down.

was just giving a gentle pointer to make sure you don’t get screwed by exclusions if you ever have to claim. But, as this is Direct Line SELECT, I’m sure they’ll cover absolutely every eventuality as insurance companies love handing out money.

😉

I’ve never bothered with bike insurance, sort of interested BUT…

how does it work? I bought my Five frame only and components have been transplanted from other bikes although I do have receipts for most things – I guess with all things brand new it would be in the regionm of £4k – always wondered whether they’d weasel out of it somehow based on that or try and give me a Halfords voucher or something??

new for old, based on the spec you tell them.

they may ask for evidence (receipts, photos etc)

I’ve never claimed for a bike, but (on my old M&S policy) I had a snowboard nicked. I had bought it for 100nzd from an irish bloke in wanaka. They asked the make and model, and gave me the retail price of the current equivalent – £400. Result 🙂

Dave

Right just been going through this painful experience. I’ve ended up with sterling, single unspecified item of £5k though as I had put the bikes on the compare tool they knew about them and asked a few questions about the security, wanting my Asgard shed alarmed which is fine with me. Covered away from home and in the car as long as forceable entry is shown. Limited contents and buildings amounts but should be more than enough of my small 2 bed, policy excess of 250. New for old as well.

Came out as 10% less than the initial M&S premium before I added not the bikes which then became a stupid number. Still not cheap but I’m happy with the level of the cover. I hope their renewals policy isn’t to whack on loads as this has taken the best part of 2 days to sort.

Now I have the joy of bloody virgin who have hiked their price for the third time this year.

I bought my Five frame only and components have been transplanted from other bikes although I do have receipts for most things

Just like mine, I’ve got a few key receipts but a lot of it is second hand off the classifieds too.

I guess with all things brand new it would be in the region of £4k

Yep, sounds reasonable but you might be surprised, mine came out more than that.

always wondered whether they’d weasel out of it somehow based on that

In the event of a claim they will ask you for some proof. Pictures and a list of parts plus costs would be OK but receipts would be better.

or try and give me a Halfords voucher or something

so you’ve got to ask them to confirm how they would settle any claim.
Direct Line Select and NFU both confirmed that it would be a cash payment to me.

Btw how are people getting nfu quotes? When I googled it was asking me to make a appointment at a local branch. I’m wondering now if I might have had the wrong NFU…?

Cheers for that Ian, our home insurance is due for renewal at end of Jan so I’ll have a look at adding the bike in then

Btw how are people getting nfu quotes?

This website:

http://www.nfumutual.co.uk/personal/insurance/Our-insurance-products/home-insurance/#

You can either pop into a branch or ask them to call you back.

I’ve just switched from M&S to DL Select too.
M&S renewal: £560
M&S have unlimited contents. Adding a bike at £3k to M&S added £60 to the premium, so that’s £620 with a conservative value on one bike and assumption of £2k max on the others.

DL Select came in at around £525 (with max contents of £100k – no problem with that), and covers all bikes for pretty much any value. Result.

Hmm.
Just spoken with DL select.
M&S renewal is £290, DL select quote is £462, and the lady said she couldn’t match the renewal quote because m&s is not a 5* policy.
The search continues…

@Dangerboy

Did you tell them it was an ‘M&S Premium’ quote (as opposed to M&S standard)?

Mine initially told me that they couldn’t match, but after I pressed him, he came back and matched it.

Try again!

Dave

I did. It was Katie that I spoke with.
I’ll try them again tomorrow.

I spoke to Sameer Patel for my price match.

Dave

Just found out about this too. My H&C policy went up to £920 after specifying 2 x £3500 bikes. I asked if I could just insure them for the £2k, but apparently that isnt an option.

My heart bleeds for insurance companies, they are always having claims apparently – cold weather, whiplash, floods, bike thefts – who’d have thought eh?!

Now waiting for a call back from Direct Line Select…..

Been with M&S for years and now their policy has changed with bikes i have moved to another company.
Spent all night searching on net, nearly went with DL Select and in the end went for Ensure and put up to 6k on has named bikes, very happy with their price…..

I was about to go with eSure due to them being the cheapest, however from looking through the policy and speaking to them on the phone you are only covered up to a total of 2k for outbuildings, sheds & garages even if you have the bike a list high value item.

DL have been good for me for the last couple of years but am in the middle of a situation with them at the moment. Basically when I rang to renew the price they wanted was about £150 more than the renewal notice they sent me. They’ve asked me to send all renewal docs back so they can investigate, so not cross yet but would like to stay with them as the price was good for the 4 bikes over £1000 which belong to the family.

Surely the test of the quality of their policies is how they behave when you have to make a claim.

A cheap policy is a false saving if they don’t payout and screw you over with the small print.

Does anyone have any experience of making a claim with Direct Line Select?

I’ve just gone with esure. Cheapest quote on confused. Com

They told me I didn’t have to specify any items under 10k.

All my bikes are covered in house and out the house. I just need to provide a receipt or letter from a bike shop detailing the value. I’ve taken detailed photos to document them.

They even said its insured even if unchained. I got him to double check as i was so amazed. The phone call was recorded by them and in the event of a claim I also took a recording as no doubt they will not be able to find their copy. (Yes, I let them know it was recorded at the start)

Touch wood I’ve never claimed in over 15 years but if I do I won’t let them riggle out of it.