M+S Insurance – check your renewals

Just received a renewal notice for an M+S Premium Contents insurance policy which I have to cover my bikes in and away from home – £390. Had a few minutes spare so I thought I’d have a quick look on the M+S web site; put my details in and got a quote of £116 for exactly the same cover. So I called them up to ask about the huge difference between the quotes – they couldn’t explain it. Needless to say I’ve now cancelled my renewal and opened a new policy – £274 in my pocket rather than theirs.

Advice – if you have M+S Contents insurance ALWAYS check the renewal premium. 😀

That’s not just M&S. I have the same thing every year with my home insurance with Direct Line. Every year they quote me 30% + on last year, so I just cancel and get a new policy with the on-line discount.

It’s a ploy that virtually ALL insurers use, and the closest I’ve had to an explaination is that the 1st year of policies are generally discounted to attract new business in, (basically so that they can say “We gained X new customers this year), and they then hope that nobody will be bothered to check their renewal the next year. They want to attract new customers, and don’t care about the existing ones.

Cheers Tony. Now get back to work 😉

Mine was the same this year, after I did the cancellation and renewal trick last year..same cost as last year

Yup – across the board – I was with Lloyds last year, new premium came in at approx 60% increase year on year even with zero claims. Tried on their website and it gave a slight increase on last years but shopped around and we’re going with the all-singing, all-dancing M&S cover instead for less than last years premium.

Just ordered M&S insurance through Quidco last night and received £24.50 cashback!

Doug

Do they still cover very expensive bikes at no extra cost?

pedalhead any item up to £4k is covered automatically without needing to specify it.

fantastic cheers. I was actually with them a few years ago, but left because the renewal quote was so nasty. Didn’t think to re-quote on the website. Will take a look now.

How do you find out about what they cover bike wise on line? just did a quote and didn’t ask anything about protecting bikes away from the home, do you have to do all that stuff on the phone then??

If you take the “Contents away from home Cover” all your contents (including bikes up to £4k) are covered anywhere. There’s a note somewhere on the website specifically about bike cover.

I seem to recall not even having to declare the bikes. But, past experience suggests it’s wise to take lots of photos & keep all receipts in case you do need to claim. I do remember asking about their premium cover or whatever it is & they’ll cover the bikes away from home, even if stolen from your car. If you ride into a tree & break the bike, they’ll provide a new one. M&S record the telephone call when you’re taking out the insurance and keep it as part of your policy notes, which is why I asked those exact questions “for the record” so to speak. I was well chuffed with the cover, until the price went through the roof. We did have to claim for storm damage on the house as well & had no problems at all.

From the “Insurance Questions” section of the website:
“Do you insure bicycles?”
Yes, and you do not need to specially mention a bicycle unless it is valued at £4000 or more.

The Contents section will cover your bicycles when it is in your home, an outbuilding or in your garden. The Cover Away From Home section of the policy will provide worldwide cover when they are temporarily removed from your home, including being taken abroad.

GAHHHHH!

Just had a qoute. £729.04. Contents insurance only.

Although if i just accept that i’ll get 4k for my DH bike and not insure it for the full replacement value its a much healthier £376.75

Just renwed my M & S home and contents – saving £160, so thanks for the tip. Phoned them up about it but had to cancel my current policy and re-arrange a ‘new’ one online.

The only disadvantage seems to be that I don’t have my acrued no claims of 6 years, but then if that applied a discount it wasn’t worth having !

I cancel and renew every year with M&S

Yes, I have cancelled & renewed with M&S for the last 2 years, saving over £100 both times.

Although if i just accept that i’ll get 4k for my DH bike and not insure it for the full replacement value its a much healthier £376.75

If it’s worth more than 4, you haven’t told them, and it gets nicked, you might not get anything. Not sure that they’d ever do the working out to see what it’s value was though.

Having just had a claim for a stolen bike with M&S I can longer recommend them. They now use ival for replacement valuation & I cannot begin to tell you how useless they are. Yes after a month I got what I expected but 27 phone calls from me & not one from them despite saying they will call back 27 times. If I hadn’t chased them it would have gone on for months. I know they were good but the recent change to AXA has spoilt all that.

they used Ival when I replaced my camera with them about 3 years ago and Ival were fine.

Although if i just accept that i’ll get 4k for my DH bike and not insure it for the full replacement value its a much healthier £376.75

If it’s worth more than 4, you haven’t told them, and it gets nicked, you might not get anything. Not sure that they’d ever do the working out to see what it’s value was though.

Well its a custom build foes so its not really an off the peg bike, i’d just claim for 4k’s worth of it and take the hit i guess rather than pay another 300odd quid premium.

Aye fair enough, just thinking about how insurance companies sometimes look for any excuse not to pay up.

Well its a custom build foes so its not really an off the peg bike, i’d just claim for 4k’s worth of it and take the hit i guess rather than pay another 300odd quid premium.

You want to be careful underinsuring – I remember vaguely someone pointing out the argument that if the bike is worth £6K and you’re insured for £3K then effectively they’ll say you’re insuring only 50% of it’s value hence they’d pay out only 1/2 the claim and you’d get £1.5K. Does that make sense???? (Not sure I’ve remembered that or explained it correctly)