Insurance issues after thef…any experience out there?

So, to cut a long story short, whilst setting up for the bike show at the NEC 2 weeks ago, I got back to the car (parked in the secure car park) to find my car had been emptied of absolutely everything, and I mean everything. All in all, including bikes, I estimated they got away with about £19000 of kit, equipment and clothing.

Now, 3 bikes were stolen – 2 x £6000 race bikes and 1 x £1500 road bike. I had the bikes insured and itemised on my contents insurance with the explicit clause that the bikes were often taken away from home. When the policy was taken out, I was told they were fully covered.

The insurance are now saying that there is a discrepency in the policy and that there documents differ from mine. They are saying I have 1 bike insured for £3000, 1 for £1000 and the road bike for £1500 however they have valued the road bike at less that £1500.

They have now added to the stress by saying that I might not actually be insured at all as they have a policy that theft from an ‘unattended’ vehicle is only covered up to £1000 so thats the max I might get.

Has anyone had any similar experience and if so, how was it resolved?

There’s 3 things here:
1). If your policy documents list your bikes at 2 x £6k and 1 x £1.5k then you should have a good case with the insurance ombudsman if the company refuse to pay out solely due to this discrepancy
2). “I was told they were fully covered” do you have proof of this and is that proof specific? This could be a dodgy one unless you have clear evidence
3). If your policy docs have T&Cs that match theirs regarding unattended vehicle cover (and stuff like nothing being visible) then chances are they can get out of paying based on that. Most contents cover will differentiate items being “away from home” and “left in a vehicle” (the latter being a far higher risk hence often lower limits on cover).

I wouldn’t say it looks good for your claim based just on point 3, that probably overrides everything else and I’m not even sure if they’d do a goodwill gesture as although it’s their mistake in option 1 it probably means you’ve being paying less for your policy as a result

Continuing from above…

1) If the insurance co have provide you with information in writing that they are insured for the values you state, then you have a pretty decent argument about what you should expect to see in the event of having to claim. However…..
2) There is no such thing as “fully insured”, the insurance co will tell you this, your policy docs also explain exactly what you are or are not covered for. tbh, I wouldn’t even bother pushing this point.
3) As per Fuzzy’s post, you need to make sure you understand what’s covered when inside a vehicle. Very good chance it is not the same as “away from home”
4) “whilst setting up for the bike show at the NEC” you were setting up? These bikes were something to do with the show? If so, this isn’t a home insurance matter and if they find out your claim will be binned in no time

Thanks guys…some clarity needed I guess (it’s a pretty long winded situation so I’m trying to be brief)

1) When I took out the policy, I itemised the bikes so that they were fully covered while away from home and made sure of this. The policy documents are ambiguous because they say the bikes are covered, however the other items are only covered for up £1000. I have researched the Ombudsman and they say that it’s the insurance companies responibility to ensure the document is clear to read and understand….it isn’t
2)One line on the insurance say ‘theft from an unattended vehicle’ then on another page it says ‘theft from an unattended vehicle UNLESS the contents were concealed and the vehicle locked’ – they were
3) I was setting up the stand. My bikes were in the car because I was hoping to do some training during the week and then race on the Sunday without going home.
4) The NEC exhibitors car park is a ‘secure’ carpark with CCTV, barriers, patrols and car park attendants. On top of this, the scrotes have been caught and have now been remanded into custody. The NEC have a policy that they won;t be held liable UNLESS the items were concealed from view and in a locked vehicle…as I say… they were. Surely this carrys some weight????

So it’s possible you can make a claim against the NEC’s insurance? Have you told your insurers – if they think they can recoup their loss they may be more amenable. Or they’ll just tell you to claim against the NEC…

Gaz,

I’m not clear if you have a piece of paper that specifically says the bikes are covered to the value you’re looking for?

The NEC thing might be usable, but you will have to claim through their insurer if you went down that route, wouldn’t think your own covered would necessarily help here.

Is there a private message function on here? Gaz if you can think of a way to send me a copy of your policy and cert of insurance without me having to publicly post my email address I will happily have a look for you.

^ you can add it to your profile for a short period of time and then remove it again, rather than putting it in a post.

Ah ok thanks.

Gaz I’ve put it in my profile so if you want me to read the stuff send it over and I’ll take a look.

The NEC thing might be usable

Or your insurer may look at it that they are no longer liable, and kick your claim into the long grass.

if you can get hold of Dannybgoode, he’s another insurance expert. he helped me out with my claim a few years ago.
i still have the template letter he wrote for me which i sent to the insurer. if you’d like a copy let me know. email in profile

When making claims in the past I have found that many insurance companies suddenly state to have certain rules that are often not in the T&C’s and they seem to think this is acceptable. Or they interpret terms in very weird ways. We had this when our camper was broken into and the TV stolen. The T&C clearly said that they covered electrical and entertainment equipment but the insurance company said the TV was a personal possession even though it was permanently fixed into the van so should have been removed each night!!

Nothing in their T&C’s referred to this (my wife is an insurance broker so knows how to read them.) A letter off to the ombudsman and all sorted after a few weeks. However the insurance company refused to payout for the claim but gave us exactly the claim amount as an apology for the hassle. Fair to say they never got our business again. Al in all stupid on their part as the TV was only worth £120 and paid out just shy of £1000 to get the van all fixed.

Guys – thanks so much for the advice and offers of help

I’m glad to say most of the situation has been resolved in our favour. They are honouring the bikes so thats good although they are only paying out the £1000 for the rest of the contents.

I’m going to take that on the chin though as I really don’t want to have months of arguing over it

Thanks again