I’m due £300 from insurance company following theft of my bike and it sounds like they wish to give me vouchers to use at their suppliers.

As it will cost around £1000 to replace my bike I don’t have an extra £700 to put towards it so am looking to buy 2nd hand or Planet X etc.

Can they insist on me having vouchers? FWIW company is Ival???

Thanks

no they cannot – they want to because they get a discount from their suppliers

If your policy is “like for like”, can they guarantee your vouchers can be used to replace the stolen gear?

Not insist, bu tit depends on the bike. I had vouchers for the stock bikes and cash for bespoke. And yes, they get a significant discount from their suppliers, which probably makes their new for old policies a little better value.

It was one of the bikes that isn’t specified on my policy so can only claim £300 🙁 lesson learnt!

check how much your premium will go up by, you may find the £300 costs you far more

I think they can (I’m an insurance underwriter for my sins but a niche commercial product so a little rusty on personal lines) but depends on circumstance.

The insurer has to put you back in the position you were in before the loss and within the term, conditions and limits of the policy.

So, you have an Whatever Bike, 2007 model of average condition which gets nicked. The insurer could if they wanted just post an equivalent bike to you. They have fulfilled their obligations.

If your bike is more bespoke, they could if they wanted, phone the frame builder for example, work out a deal with them and sort it that way.

This is usually too much effort for them so they send cash or vouchers. If vouchers are sufficient to put you back in the position you were before the loss (that is you could go to an shop and buy an equivalent bike, or in this case buy an unspecified bike of £300 value) then yes, they have every right to insist on vouchers.

Cuts down on fraud somewhat (and note to OP I’m not for one moment suggesting your claim is fraudulent-its just an observation).

Cheers

Danny B

Thanks. Hopefully on the basis that the £300 won’t get me a replacement (Scott CX Comp now £1100) they’ll be happy to provide cash.

Best thing to do is write to the insurer with some classifieds for the bikes you’re thinking and explain why you would rather cash toward one of those than vouchers.

If you don’t ask you don’t get. If they get awkward then feel free to get in touch (email in profile) and i’ll see if I can help.

Cheers

Danny B

i’m in the process of making a claim on my house insurance to replace my DH bike that got stolen last week…the policy stated that any single high risk item up to the value of £3k would be covered…the bike cost me £3.5k…but since speaking to them they have now decided to inform me that the £3k limit only applies if the bike was taken from the house but as it was taken form the shed the max payout is £2k.
they have asked Wheelies in Swansea to process the claim on their behalf and they will now put a value on the bike before making a decision on what they will replace it with…
i get the feeling though that they will try to screw me over with a bike they say is worth the equivalent of my bike in terms of valuation but i reckon that they will have actually sold it to the insurance company for a discount so the insurance company still saves money…
as my bike was a bespoke custom spec, i will be pushing for a cash settlement so i can go and replace it with a bike of my own choice and similar spec…although what they will pay me wont even cover my initial outlay so it will most likely cost me even more…

@gonzy-drop me an email if you want, if can zap me over your policy wording and any key facts or summary of cover. I’m happy to review it and see if they have grounds to do this.

Can’t guarantee I’ll find anything but I have quite a high success rate challenging insurers (helps enormously being one!).

Email in profile…

Cheers

Danny B

cheers Danny, i could do with some expert advice

when i explained that i wanted the cover for the bikes and told them the value of the bikes the insurer said that to insure each bike as a specified item my premium would be quite high but having single high risk items covered up to £3k would be cheaper, i accepted this even though i would be losing £500 on the DH bike and i’m pretty sure they said high value items would be covered if they were taken from the property, which by my understanding would be anywhere on the property as opposed to just the house…they never mentioned that outbuildings had lesser cover…
i’ll have a look at the policy tonight and try and get a copy of the wording to you..

Happy to help if I can. Not all insurers are barstewards but there are some that will look to limit their losses where they can on the assumption (I think) that people will just give up…

Cheers

Danny B

Blame it on wheelies they have been ripping off the insurance industry for years and fraudulently supplying bikes way over valued to what they are.

now it looks like the insurance companies have had enough.
But wheelies have been making a fortune out of this little scam for years.

Blame it on wheelies they have been ripping off the insurance industry for years and fraudulently supplying bikes way over valued to what they are.

now it looks like the insurance companies have had enough.
But wheelies have been making a fortune out of this little scam for years.

i’ve been less than impressed by them so far as they have failed to contact me and its me who has had to chasing. the theft happened on thursday night and i informed the insurance company on friday. i got a letter from wheelies dated on friday saying that they had tried to contact me and now had resorted to writing to me…funny thing is i was at home all day on friday waiting for them to ring and they never did. when i finally managed to get through to them yesterday they left me on hold then told me that they were busy and would call me back..they never did so i called them again but this time they refused to speak to me as they had written to my wife..i told them to check the file as the policy was in both our names…i did ask them why they never called back and they told me the number i had given them was not working…i checked this number and it turns out that it was my old mobile number from 2 years ago even though i had given them my home number during the first call!!
the insurers have been ok so far apart from giving the wrong number to wheelies but then again they havent been asked to make a payout of any sort yet…
but Danny i think you may be right in this

there are some that will look to limit their losses where they can on the assumption (I think) that people will just give up…

Oh dear, its Wheelies who the vouchers would be for 🙁

Will wait to see what Insurance company says, they are waiting on me to provide photo of bike/receipt before processing. When I email them this info I’ll also mention about prefering cash for above reasons.

Thanks for your help.

dont worry wheelies will offer you probably a lot more than your bike is worth so they will make a lot more profit and thus rip off the insurance company with a made up value and made up discount.

its whats driving the insurance companies to start questioninig everything and to stop giving such good value policies.

But most people wont complain as they are happy to get a new bike worht more than their old bike.

danny – i checked the policy booklet with all the clauses and they are (much to my displeasure) correct as the wording says that anything in a shed, garage, greenhouse or any other outbuilding is only covered up to a max of £2k…
i think i’ll specify the bike on the renewal to make sure its covered and then keep it in the house just to be double sure…

@gonzy – drop me an email as per profile – may be ways to help still.

Various rules applicable to the sale of insurance and because it sounds like you specifically mentioned your bikes at the time the policy was agreed they may work to your favour.

Cheers

Danny B

ok i’ll scan the pages in the booklet and get it to you tonight….thanks

If you could let me have the Key Facts document as well – this is usually a couple of pages long and should highlight the significant features and exclusions of the policy.

Cheers

Danny B

Just to update my situation, as suggested when I emailed proof of ownership I mentioned about prefering payment as opposed to vouchers.

They called me up the following day to confirm reciept of email and that it is fine to have payment, a cheque should be with me in a few days.

Pleased with the whole way its been handled.

Thanks for advice.

Jase – glad to hear yours has been sorted….hopefully mine will get sorted soon…
danny – i’ll try and get the documents over to you tonight but if not then i should get them to you in the next few days…if i get a good outcome as a result of your advice i’ll have to buy you a pint or two if we ever meet… 😀

Danny – YGM