I had four bikes of different types and qualities stolen from my back garden last night, and now I am wondering what rights I have with respect to insurance.
The last time I lost bikes was about ten years ago, and the insurance company just went straight to Wheelies, and the shop called us and told us what we could have.
Not knowing any better, we just said okay, and so we were saddled with a bunch of bikes that didn't work very well for us for the next number of years.
Now, I know that my policy only covers up to £800 per bike, so I am going to have to top up significantly to replace my mountain bike, but can I just ask them to release the money to me? Or do I have to just use Wheelies and take what they offer?
For example, one of the bikes was an older mountain bike that had belonged to one of my kids, but my wife had started to use it in recent months. I was wondering, therefore, if it would be possible to replace it with something more suited to her, but in the same value range.
My commuter was a hybrid that I quite liked, but now that it is gone, I wouldn't mind topping up a bit and buying a CdF or something similar.
Is any of this possible?
How does it all work?
Wheelies are likely to offer you an equivalent bike.
You can request cash but you will have to accept a lower valuation for cash as the insurers get huge discounts from wheelies.
If the bikes offered are not suitable or they cannot offer an equivalent then you can reject the offer and in that case you get the full amount in cash.
Oh ****, more stuff been nicked.
Can't advise but hope the thieving c***s are found and you are given the opportunity of separating them from their ball sac - in your own time, no hurry.
I had 3 bikes stolen from my garage in 2014 - a zesty, an xtc advanced and an old Scott.
Unfortunately they were only insured up to the value of 1500 quid each. In the end the insurance company (more than) replaced the old Scott with my choice of bike from wheelies for £1200 (their valuation of a modern equivalent) but because I didn't have the other 2 bikes valued at full value (stupid me) they settled at 3,000 cash for the two.
To be fair I didn't feel too aggrieved as I'd only paid £200 for the Scott .
(Edit - re the question about your wife's bike, I was allowed to choose anything up to the value of my claim. The Scott was an old full sus, which I replaced with a hardtail)
Had two bikes stolen from our shed 2 years ago. The road bike was just replaced through wheelies. They don't mind what you replace it with. We put extra money in and upgraded it.
The mtb was built up by me and so the insurance company have me a cheque for the new replacement cost of each component. Which was nice.
We had two S Works stolen in the Summer. Had my doubts about using Wheelies but they were very good from start to finish. Even let us order a 2017 model for one of the replacements.
I've had to use Wheelies twice, found them excellent the first time (meaning I got back more than I lost after some negotiation over what was an "equivalent" bike to the one I had stolen). 2nd time I had to settle for a Ragley Blue Pig as a replacement for a Prince Albert I built up myself, but was pretty happy with the outcome.
Hopefully you'll be happy too.
As above, you can insist on a cash settlement, but most likely you'll receive less than the new value of what you had stolen.. So probably best to opt for a replacement.
If you dont like the way it is going, you can always raise the topic of the Insurance Ombudsman, Twitter outrage etc, but best to negotiate in a friendly way!
Find an excuse to complain about the wheelies service (I didn't have to find an excuse they were utterly useless in dealing with my emails and calls), then ring your insurance company and complain about wheelies, talk about the emotional stress of being burgled and now wheelies causing stress on top of it and say you aren't happy about it. I did this, got ano apology and an offer to send a cheque for the value agreed and they added the excess back on by way of apology.
Worth a go if forced down the wheelies route.