So I’ve got receipt and numerous receipts for upgrades , plus a quote from local bike shop validating the value . Why is the preferred retailer questioning the worth , surely in the retailers interest to have me take the dearest option. My loss is all I want back and no more , any body had dealings with insurance and preferred retailers who work closely ?

Bump

When I had mine nicked, I was dealt with through the insurance by Wheelies. I had the original receipt and a build list from the shop I bought it from as proof and this was accepted no problem. They did want me to have a Tracer as a replacement, but as mine was a single pivot I declined and held out for the cash. Once I explained it was a build and you couldn’t replace it by just walking into a shop ( same as the original purchase) they accepted the bike shops valuation to replace.

In your case it might be that the original bike build is an off the shelf one and they are not taking into account the upgrades, hence questioning its worth?

Not sure if this is useful but I had a custom made bike nicked once. Insurance wanted me to pick one from wheelies or whoever they are but I stood my ground and insisted on a replacement. They gave in and eventually provided me with two cheques. One made out to the frame builder and one to my LBS for the parts.

Stand your ground and hopefully they’ll play it your way.

Thanks for replies , what sort of timescale did your claims take ? should I refuse the offer how much longer should I be expected to wait . By accepting dealing with a store ( Wheelies ) how long did your claim take to process. Painful having your pride and joy stolen particularly when you’ve made many upgrades. Brand stolen is not stocked by Wheelies they do have a similar spec different brand do I hold out for that or except a lower spec on cheaper platform ?

Timescale – coup,e of phone calls, then about a week for the payment iirc

Sounds similar to my situation in that the replacement they are offering isn’t like for like. IME it was a polite phone call to explain the most obvious differences, and the reasoning I chose the bike I did ( the one that got nicked) and why I was declining their replacement offer. After explaing in detail my bike, they made an offer based upon the bike shop valuation to replace. I was happy with that, so accepted and think it was a week for the bank transfer. Pretty painless TBH, which I was a big surprised at. I thought it was going to be a painful long drawn out process

Stick to the facts, provide evidence of cost to replace like for like, good luck?

Oh yeah, I also got £500 + extra for my time repairing the shed and replacement of two fence panels they some how managed to damage 🙂

Cheers Carlos you’ve put my mind in a better place. The bike stolen was a Whyte t129 , xtr 11 speed , renthal bars and stem , Rev 140mm fork , time atac peadal upgrades. List price of bike £2600 lbs values it at £3600 . In stock they have a Segment with almost all the same spec and travel , Zhou I take anything less?

If you’re not having joy with the direct replacement company just refer everything back to the insurer.

I think some people get on ok with Wheelies – I had a shite time with them slow slow slow and when they finally did value my bike (custom build) – that I’d gone to the bother to itemise and was backed up with photos – they’d under valued it by £1.5k. When I asked them how they’d arrived at their figure they said their process was in summary – ‘Your bike had a Deore rear mech, we sell a Giant with a Deore rear mech, we valued your bike as equivalent to the Giant.’

I just took the case back up with my insurers, not just on the basis of the valuation but also because Wheelies had wasted months giving the claim no attention.

This is what bothers me I know bikes , anyone who knows bikes would know straight away how much its worth new by visuals , receipts and my Lbs valuation. Alarm bells ring when a lack of communication, on their opening of my emails I would expect a reply!!!

Not the same senario but had a Stumpjumper 140mm travel nicked and wheelies offered me a kona hei hei 100mm travel full suss as a replacement because it was the same value, argued that it wasnt anywhere near the same bike , stood my ground and got a new Stumpy, **** chancers, them and the insurance companies!

Alarm bells ring when a lack of communication, on their opening of my emails I would expect a reply!!!

In the first instance I had to get the insurance company to chase them up as after a month Wheelies hadn’t even acknowledged me. With a shove from the insurance co they did….. but it was downhill from there.

Following a claim where my insurer wanted to use them, my considered opinion is that Wheelies are shit.

And mine is the opposite. For a claim for SEVEN bikes.

For my custom Merlin, the insurance company accepted a valuation from Mosquito bikes and sent me a cheque for the full replacement value without a quibble. That plus my Airnimal Rhino.

M&S directed me to wheelies, I sent wheelies pics and detailed list of upgraded parts. My bike was bought as a frame only and other parts to my spec.

after much back and forth with wheelies I called M&S and told them that wheelies were not offering a like for like replacement. M&S offered me a full cash settlement there and then just shy of £4K

Another Sunday without a blast on the local trails , week ahead without a bike to commute along the canal network. Giving that I’m p****** off hope to get it sorted may need my brokers help to put this one to bed. Bruneep how long did your claim take ? Did you get the vibe sooner or later wheelies weren’t on your side.

I took a partial settlement from wheelies, replacement of one of my stolen bikes.

Wish I hadn’t as they were appalling to deal with when I had warranty issues. Really terrible.

I kept asking for a like for like replacement. when they implied that a bike was a bike, thats when I dug my heals in. I want a part part replacement for bike that was stolen or cash settlement as per my policy.

Fast forward a year my bike was recovered in Liverpool taken from Aberdeen (top marks to the police for tracking me down via club website) I called M&S told them the police have recovered YOUR bike, gave them the crime no etc. what do you want me to do with it?

A few days later told just keep it, it was pretty much wrecked but salvaged some bits and sold on the frame.

All referred back to my insurance (axa) what sort of timescale should I expect, asking for a cheque payable to me or my Lbs?

Sadly I too had a very bad experience with Wheelies. They consistently did their own thing, sometimes over inflating the claim, sometimes telling straight lies and occasionally putting my safety at risk. Fortunately the insurance company agreed I could head to an LBS for a damage valuation (I had the damaged bike). LBS was brilliant, sorted out a quote and the insurers did a cash settlement.

I genuinely think Wheelies are good at direct ‘off the shelf’ replacements of low to mid range bikes. It’s an easy process for them to supply from stock. Where they didn’t have the competency is evaluating damage on components and sorting out higher end custom builds. If it’s highlighted anything, having and using a good LBS is worth paying a slightly higher price versus the online discounters.

My experience of m&s + wheelies was great. Wheelies couldn’t have been more helpful, really took the time to tell me the options available & how it all worked. They didn’t offer me any bike, just said you’ve got £x to spend with us, spend it how you like. Start to finish took about 12 days I think.

Bramble – how did they put your safety at risk??

I’ve come to the conclusion the system is to blame , preferred retailers are chosen to act on behalf of insurers as loss adjuster’s. Money saved on any one claim multiply by tens of thousands , a lot of money. Must I say I miss my bike I do get attached to them I make them my own with far too many upgrades, maybe not next time

As sheep shifter said.. It’s becoming a lot like car insurance were they will try to wriggle out if they can by fobbing you off.. They are obliged to put you into exactly the same position you were before the crash /theft etc.

If that means they can give you an upgrade or exactly the same spec, great, if not they need to be writing a cheque so you can rebuild a new bike.

Part of the damage was a carbon rim that had a huge lateral run out as a result of a big impact. I had sent a video with the measurements to the manufacturer and UK distributer. Both came back very quickly and advised it should be scrapped. Although it was not outwardly cracked, it was very likely compromised.

Wheelies decided (and I actually have this in writing from them) that the wheel should be returned to them and they would true it up no problem. I did question this and give them the opportunity to rethink their plan as it’s a bent carbon wheel, but no, they wanted to true it back up.

If I hadn’t appreciated and understood the process of carbon component replacement etc. I’d now be riding a rim that could go bang on the next hit thanks to Wheelies.

Needless to say we had a big falling out at this point as Wheelies decided to go against the recommendations of the manufacturer and industry best practice. A trip to my LBS resulted in an instant recommendation not to ride the rim and a replacement would be required.

I just had a brush with Wheelies, though my banks insurance. While they were easy enough to deal with, when it came to the valuation, they took 10% ‘commission’ to settle cash, because I didn’t want to replace the bike through them directly.

Hindsight: A custom / home built bike needs to be valued separately because the ‘stock’ build kits will not reflect the value of your build. I had a cap on my payout through the bank – my own fault.

I received a 1/3 payout of the bikes value because I didn’t insure fully. In the future, I will be working through a dedicated bike insurance company.

Whyte bikes don’t do supply on line you have to collect , also not stocked by Wheelies , I would like it to having a ford motor car stolen and being expected to replace with a Vauxhall . All this aggro could be avoided if the customer was priority (premium payer ) or household should pull out of cycle insurance altogether. Took a day of work today hopefully to sort this out can’t seem to push this to the back of my mind after all it was my pride and joy and of high value. Once again thanks for replies and sorry for your losses and injustice in customer car. Never never left out of my sight if its locked they’ll still have it away.

Really what’s in it for Wheelies to say that I implied my stolen bike had a full xtr groupset , when I only sent a receipt for a shifter. Now their inadequate valuation as my insurance sending me a letter from them questioning my honesty. Picture of bike , several receipts for upgrades why on this earth would I say its got a xtr groupset , im at the end of my tether !! Even my broker can’t make any inroads on this one. Regardless of me having a replacement of Wheelies do they do valuations for insurer , God help me.

Was pretty painless for me, i told them I wanted the same bike (nukeproof mega) they said they didnt stock that and then i got a cheque in the post.

I then spent that on a YT Capra 😀

Whole process took about 2 weeks, which was nothing compared to the wait for the Capra

Lbs did give me a quotation listing the wrong fork , really don’t know why they couldn’t have called me to rectify. Receipts for the correct fork was sent anyhow. Kinda know I ain’t gonna get my nett spend on this a offer on this eagerly awaiting, this all could have been sorted with a couple of phone calls , try harder springs to mind.

Hmmmm, thread resurrection!

I’ve just been pushed down the road of using a Wheelies to replace my stolen bikes and this doesn’t make good reading as four of the six were custom builds, right down to decals etc. I’ve sent a detailed schedule of each bike and receipts etc so it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.