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  • Wheelies Insurance replacement – cash alternative is -20% ?
  • xiphon
    Free Member

    Anybody else had to deal with wheelies for insurance replacements?

    Just spoke to them on the phone, who said if I opted for a cash alternative, it would be -20% (and again, minus the excess).

    I’ll have to dig out the insurance policy (was with M&S), but I don’t remember anything specifically to do with Wheelies (just “cycle insurance up to £4,000”)

    treaclesponge
    Free Member

    Wheelies are the ‘chosen’ supplier of replacement kit with most insurers from what I can gather. Dealt with them for a replacement Stumpjumper and found it very difficult to claim for anything other than a bike. They didnt sell the pedals I had so couldnt replace them etc. Lost about £300 in total extras. Found them awkward and fairly unhelpful. Their attitude seemed to be ‘there’s the offer, take it or leave it’

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Yeah I’ve been dealing with them recently.

    They have been really nice and helpful, if a but difficult to get hold of.

    Email me (address in profile) for the gory details.

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    Drac
    Full Member

    I dealt with them years ago for a crash replacement, found them to be very helpful and even asked if I was sure I hadn’t damaged anything else in the accident as this would allow them to give me a higher value.

    MartynS
    Full Member

    Been there done that quite recently..

    If you CHOOSE the cash its 20% less than the valuation offer as you know.

    However as you have a like for like policy, if wheelies can’t replace exactly (if that’s what you want) then you will get the full cash settlement.

    You do want the same again, don’t you…..?

    cb
    Full Member

    I just went to the lbs when I had a claim with M&S – was 7 years ago though – perhaps changed?

    agentdagnamit
    Free Member

    Same for me, but I was able to get the full cash value of a few items I wanted that Wheelies couldnt supply. In theory the discount reflects the rate that M&S / AXA would say they have negotiated with Wheelies (and which you benefit from), but I found their website more expensive than most, and it was a better deal in some cases to take the cash – 18% and buy elsewhere.

    Friendly company to deal with though, and the guy who does the custom builds seems to know his stuff.

    Yeah me too. 3 companies dealt with my claim as wheelies could only supply a third. Originally they were fantastic, very polite and allowed me to transpose the cost of an item they would order to a new fox rp23 from mojo. To me that was fantastic – 3 weeks went by and I was getting peed off. Eventually I demanded the claim to be sent back to lloyds tsb and would claim the cash from them. This seemed to kick them into gear (no pun intended) and they sent it next day delivery.

    Best part was they had a discount on the rp23 (though they didn’t have it in stock) that I knew nothing about and sent me a chq for about £45

    Fantastic experiance

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    They couldn’t replace like for like (2 bikes not made anymore) insurance law states you shouldn’t be worse off after a claim, which -20%is would make it, armed with this i spoke to M&S direct ready for an argument but when i asked for cash they just said cheque or bank transfer? And it was in my account 3 days later just less the policy excess

    I was advised on this by a friend who works in insurance compliance

    Carbis
    Full Member

    I had to deal with Wheelies after my road bike got damaged at work. After many e-mails/telephone conversations over a few weeks trying to get a replacement frame, I agreed to a frame/forks/headset/seat post package that wasn’t quite like for like but I thought would be a good substitute. The delivery turned up, the frame was marked, there were no forks or headset and the seat post was wrong. So I called them, was met with mild indifference, so sent the package back rather than hope they would sort it out – 5 weeks at this stage.

    At this stage I phoned M&S and stated Wheelies were unable to provide a suitable like for like replacement so they told me to get a quote from my local bike shop including build costs. I did this and the cash settlement I received was about £150 higher that I would have received from Wheelies.

    I have used Wheelies to buy an Orange 5 for the wife using a corporate discount and some other bits and they were great for that, but you get a very varied service depending on who you speak to on the phone – the custom build guy was great but sounded a bit overloaded.

    captain-slow
    Free Member

    Rocketdog, pleased to hear you got a good result, but others should be aware that their policy will cover them for what it covers them for. In English this means that if your policy states that your insurer can “repair, replace or make a cash payment at its discretion” then you won’t necessarily get a full cash settlement if they are able to offer a reasonably equivalent alternative replacement.

    If you have been lucky/wise enough to buy a policy that says that the choice between repair/replacemet/cash is at your discretion then of course the answer will be different…

    rOcKeTdOg
    Full Member

    key thing in my claim was that they couldn’t physically replace the stolen bikes, both treks and both not made anymore, so effectively like for like wasn’t possible, hence the full cash replacement

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    “repair, replace or make a cash payment at its discretion”

    I don’t see that this would allow them to force you to accept a replacement that was not like for like ? (no experience or expertise in the area but I’d fight it if “they” tried with me)

    xcstu
    Free Member

    Yep had the same thing.. was forced to take a bike I didn’t want in the end and then sold it straight away on ebay to get my money back… They won’t particularly helpful if you had a bike they don’t stock or have kit that breaks the norm spec on a lot of bike ;-/ don’t rate them thats for sure!!!

    xiphon
    Free Member

    Thanks for all the info everyone, much appreciated.

    The like-for-like policy can apply (they make the same bike 14 years on, albeit 2012 version…). When I spoke to them, the ‘spec’ of my old bike was passed to their custom builds person (who they politely said “We won’t fob you off – we have one custom build person, and he’s taken the day off.. so nothing more can be done.”

    rocketdog – interesting note about M&S asking for where to pay the money – thats the first question (after security) they asked me… before I explained what I was claiming for!!

    flatpat
    Free Member

    Just turned their offer down – wasn’t bad but most of the bikes on their website weren’t in stock. Cash deal was less but last year’s model discounts or mail order can make up for that. The other thing was, when I expressed interest in a bottom of the range Trance, they couldn’t change the fork spring for me, not even if I paid for it. If that’s the extent of their helpfulness, what would they be like for warranty etc?

    One interesting thing, though. My old frankenbike I valued at £600 – probably what you’d pay for it on ebay. Wheelies valued it at £1650 on the basis of adding up the component prices and finding an equivalent model. So the moral (or not) of the story is that I should have been less honest and insured it for nearer the new equivalent price.

    xcstu
    Free Member

    One interesting thing, though. My old frankenbike I valued at £600 – probably what you’d pay for it on ebay. Wheelies valued it at £1650 on the basis of adding up the component prices and finding an equivalent model. So the moral (or not) of the story is that I should have been less honest and insured it for nearer the new equivalent price.

    I find you should always list the value of the bike you have for a like for like (new) and not a secondhand / custom built over time price

    mildred
    Full Member

    Can’t be bothered reading everyone’s posts above but I had a similar thing with M&S in 2006. I was in my local Leisure Lakes, where I’ve been a customer for years, and mentioned it to the manager who suggested I ring M&S and explain I would rather get the bike from them. M&S were great, and just asked that LL email them with the replacement quote. They did this and 2 days later I received a cheque to the quote value, made out to LL. because of this I could’ve spent it any way I liked in the shop. Just give them a ring and speak to the insurer.

    jockmcallister
    Free Member

    Just found this thread after looking for info on wheelies replacements- had two bikes stolen recently, insurance with johnLewis who wanted to arrange an interview for the details of the theft, 20mins before the scheduled interview they called to say they were too busy and they have instructed wheelies to settle it. They offered me a 2013 Giant composite 2 (£1549) and Scott Scale 40 (£1649) to replace an 09 Cube LTD race and GF Big Sur. Pretty fair replacements but wasn’t what i wanted. Called John Lewis and asked for cash settlement, No probs but will be -20% less than the Wheelies Valuations……..which turned out to be the a truer value of the two bikes which were stolen. Happy overall i’d say.

    bland
    Full Member

    Wheelies prob come across unhelpful as they turn over around 800 bikes per week on insurance replacement! Hence if you want something swapping they tell you to go swivel.

    Which from their part is fair enough really, they will be selling bikes to insurance companies at massive discount so fine tuning each order is totally impractical.

    All you need is a friendly person in a bike shop or two to do you 2 full RRP quotes on new for old and then take the cash settlement. The crate of beer you take along will pay dividends when the cheque lands!

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