• This topic has 31 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 1 year ago by Keando.
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  • Home Insurance who are we avoiding?
  • joe-m
    Full Member

    so looking to renew my home insurance who are we avoiding when it comes to cover for bikes?

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    can’t comment on who to avoid, but just moved to swintons for a reasonable price including bikes as high value specified items. previously with e-sure but following my workshop getting broken in to and bikes stolen they imposed a lot of conditions which were over the top for a personal polciy and would of cost a fortune. their claims service wasn”t great either – paid up, but they made a meal of it an only resolved once i mentioned making a formal complaint

    Scienceofficer
    Free Member

    Reminds me I need to update my bikes with swintons.

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    Alex
    Full Member

    Timely. I just – 10 mins ago – renewed with A-Plan. We’ve been with a broker for years. The policy is AXA and it’s quite specialised as it covers any bike in the big shed for loss/damage both here and away from home. Since I have 4 quite expensive bikes(!) it’s way better than insuring them separately.

    Also you ring them up, someone knowledgable answers the phone, they answer your questions and know about the products they are selling. I know this doesn’t set the bar very high, but…

    hexhamstu
    Free Member

    M&S didn’t need the list of bikes and was all covered under your general contents so was spot on for us. You can add to cover them away from home but I didn’t think we needed that.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Timely. I just – 10 mins ago – renewed with A-Plan. We’ve been with a broker for years. The policy is AXA and it’s quite specialised as it covers any bike in the big shed for loss/damage both here and away from home. Since I have 4 quite expensive bikes(!) it’s way better than insuring them separately.

    Also you ring them up, someone knowledgable answers the phone, they answer your questions and know about the products they are selling. I know this doesn’t set the bar very high, but…

    This – been with them for 3 years now.

    M&S didn’t need the list of bikes and was all covered under your general contents so was spot on for us. You can add to cover them away from home but I didn’t think we needed that.

    I was with M&S but the T&C’s changed to uncover some real issues e.g. bikes insured “indoors” but not an outbuilding such as a shed or garage, and even if they were in the main house they would not be insured if it couldn’t be proven that a bike lock was used and forced/cut.

    Alex
    Full Member

    Yeah @kryton57 that’s what I heard as well. I think the policy we have was the only one for the bikes that

    a) covered them in a different building to you house

    b) did not insist they were individually locked in that building (we did fit alarm/big door locks/window locks/etc and provided evidence)

    c) covered them away from the house (and all over the world) for theft/damage

    Also the ‘kids’ have all their stuff insured at Uni, anything we take on hols (iPads etc) are covered as well. We do have a reasonable excess but it’d still be worth claiming if we got cleaned out abroad.

    timba
    Free Member

    TSB Pick and Protect bike cover is cheap enough. You choose the home cover elements that you want, rather than a bundle some of which you’ll never use

    mlltt
    Full Member

    TSB seem to suggest they only cover bikes upto £3.5k from the quote I’ve just done

    dc1988
    Full Member

    Who can cover bikes in a separate garage? Mine are locked but my garage is in a block and not next to my house. I don’t know if this needs anything special or whether it’s no different to them being in a shed in the bottom of the garden? None of them are >£2.5k in value

    timba
    Free Member

    TSB seem to suggest they only cover bikes upto £3.5k from the quote I’ve just done

    I’ll get two bikes and an evening at the pub for that 🙂

    hatter
    Full Member

    We moved away from M&S a few years back due to changes in thier T&C’s when they changed underwriters, went with Hiscox for a year but then they went up hugely in price.

    Now with Pedalcover, who seem to offer the best overall policy, they’re not ‘cheap’ but they are reasonable for what they offer if you have a lot of bikes.

    reluctantjumper
    Full Member

    I’ve just renewed with Nationwide as they are particularly bike friendly. All my bikes are named (over the £500 threshold as they do new-for-old) even though one of them cost me £80. They’re happy to remove certain bits of cover too as I live in a rented flat and don’t need some parts of standard cover. £240 for £10k worth of bikes and smart trainer, couldn’t get anyone else within £100 without going down the route of ground anchors etc depite my postcode being associated with one of the crime hotspots of Cardiff.

    johnnymarone
    Free Member

    No idea about the bikes aspect, but Halifax are very oor wjen it comes to paying out, IME. I’d avoid like the plague cos they wouldnt even pay out to cover a leak and pretty much accused us of carryong out an insurance job.

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    Reminds me I need to update my bikes with swintons.

    just called them to add another bike and they can’t cover it. luckily policy hasn’t started yet so able to cancel, but back to square 1 with trying to find cover

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I’m with Halifax, can’t remember the specifics but the bike cover worked for my needs. Haven’t ever had to claim though.

    submarined
    Free Member

    M&S renewal coming up. Last year they confined that bikes we’re covered in an outbuilding as long as it was <100m from house, and they didn’t have to be locked to a solid object as long as the building was locked.
    I shall be ringing to check that’s still the case!

    BillMC
    Full Member

    LV insured my bike and stipulated when out of the house it had to be locked to something.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    I went with Aviva, tell them the value of your most expensive bike, only around £3.5k ish in my case, and all others are covered.
    Mine are kept in a locked brick-built lean-to accessed via my porch.
    I also took the extra on my van insurance (Adrian Flux) to cover them in there, another £25 IIRC,house insurance might cover them in there but no harm having the extra, I’d rather be over insured than under insured.
    Neither cover them abroad though

    sofaboy73
    Free Member

    LV insured my bike and stipulated when out of the house it had to be locked to something

    after my false start with swinton, i’ve just taken out an LV policy with £15K of bikes as specified items giving me the cover that i need. not the cheapest as about £550 for the year with buildings, contents and bikes as specified items, but at least the cover is decent

    nationwide and Aviva needed to refer it due to value of bikes and a theft claim for the bikes this year, which was going to take up to 2 weeks(!) and could only get through the the high net worth team at A-plan who’s min premiums were more than LV (someone was / is due to call me back, but needed to sort today)

    desperatebicycle
    Free Member

    Avoid : Legal & General, Zurich.

    L&G cos they tried to blacklist me.
    Zurich cos they ripped me off for many years.

    Now with Quotemehappy. Seems very reasonable. One max price, all bikes insured to that.
    They’re all con-men though 😛

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    @andrewh – I’m with Flux, is there a specific add-on to insure bikes inside the vehicle? Thanks

    I’ve just had a £430 renewal from Nationwide (up from £380), have just been shopping around and getting similar quotes for fairly mediocre cover. Also not that convinced with Nationwide wording, suspect by bikes are covered for the insured value when away from home, but default back to outbuildings limit when at home.

    Anyway, just tried Pedal Cover with the CyclingUK 15% discount and they are coming in at £327, a bit more sticky over approved locks but if your garage is properly secured they don’t need locking separately, but the conditions are nice and clear, basically all the bike conditions are in a separate section and explicitly excluded from the usual valuable possessions/outbuildings waffle. Just had two webchats and very concise easy replies too that have been noted should I proceed with the policy

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Now with Pedalcover, who seem to offer the best overall policy, they’re not ‘cheap’ but they are reasonable for what they offer if you have a lot of bikes.

    Gone back to them, as they offer fair cover for a fair price, and I know they don’t try to shaft you on claims.

    I’d advise anyone considering them to talk through their situation carefully, regarding secondhand bikes, needing receipts etc. to see if it suits them. They are very patient IME.

    richardthird
    Full Member

    Recommend Aviva. 6k ebike (and all other cycles in household up to this individual amount) for extra £50 instead of about £200 for their stand alone policy. And you get to speak to a human.

    Also, locked to immovable object when away with no lock-type stipulation AND immovable object with Aviva DOES include locking to the chassis of a touring caravan when on holiday. I phoned a couple of stand alone cycle insurers and they were very firm that a touring caravan, on site, even occupied at night, was not an immovable object.

    switchbacktrog
    Free Member

    I used to be with Pedalcover but their new underwriter decided I was in a flood risk area (I’m not) so I couldn’t renew. None of the other quotes I got considered my property to be at risk of flooding ……..Went with M&S.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    Spooky, yes, personal belongs cover I think it was. £25 IIRC.
    I spoke to them on the phone about it and specifically asked about bikes and she went off tk check and then came back and said yes it does cover them.
    I can’t remember if they are normally covered but not up to enough or just not covered but for that price it seemed daft not to

    njee20
    Free Member

    Sorry, bit of a thread resurrection, but these tend to remain topical and this was the first Google hit, so I’ll just add my latest views here. Just been around the merry-go-round with ours trying to get the best deal. We’d been with PedalCover, but then moved after the price rose and they invoked the 50% limit on bikes over 5 years old or whatever it was. Been with Hastings Premier for a couple of years, but M&S Premium have now seemingly out done them (not least as the Hastings renewal was up 30%).

    Looks like M&S have changed underwriter again. The house is specifically said to include the garage and outbuildings. You don’t need to name bikes unless you want cover away from home, when you just specify the value of the most expensive one, and all others are covered automatically up to that value. You don’t actually name any of the bikes. No stipulations on locking at home. For cover away from home it just has to be in a locked building or locked to an immovable object. Premium was the same whether that limit was £3k or £5k, so went £5k to be sure!

    blackhat
    Free Member

    Over many years and different pathways the best answer has always returned to AXA.

    Rich_s
    Full Member

    Looks like M&S have changed underwriter again

    It’s Aviva.

    fazzini
    Full Member

    Avoid Esure. Absolutely bloody awful when we had to make a claim. Fought tooth and nail over settlement. Dreadful claims people who were quite happy to tell bare-faced lies even when quoting their own policy wording. Never had an issue with Halifax, or Barclays (though never had a claim with Barclays)

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    Nationwide as they are particularly bike friendly. £240 for £10k worth of bikes

    I have £15k on mine currently with Nationwide @ £330 but their auto renewal quote is £450 (with no claims made), I know it’s partly a lazy tax but as I’d have to ring them up to negotiate anyway I may as well shop around. I might give Pedal Cover another chance (I switched a couple of years back after they changed T&Cs).

    Main thing for me is not needing to provide receipts (I’m not sure I’d find them…), not having to be locked when in the adjoining garage and some sort of away from home cover

    Keando
    Full Member

    Similar issue to Switchbacktrog. I was with Pedalcover when their new underwriter decided that the area was a subsidence risk. None of my neighbours know anything about there being a risk, nor any one else I approached.
    Went with Esure, but reading the previous comments I’m hoping I never have to claim…

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