PedalCover Home Insurance

FYI

Following on from last years PedalCover thread we have just had our renewal through and unfortunately it appears that AXA have changed their cover again (as the underwriters) as the limit does not now cover the value of all of our bikes which it did last year

Theft claims from an Outbuilding is limited to £5,000 (Garages are not considered as an outbuilding).

– Outbuildings are defined as: Sheds, Greenhouses, Summer houses, other buildings (but not caravans, mobile homes, motor homes or structures made of canvas, PVC or any other non-rigid material)which do not form part of the main building of the home.

Hmmm – watching with interest, ours is due in the next couple of weeks.

Kind of understandable if people are keeping £10k worth of bikes in sheds (or greenhouses!), but I know not everyone has the luxury of a garage.

Going to change from them this year as apparently our paddle boards have to be insured under different insurance as they are viewed as craft or some other term. Cannot remember the convo I had, but was a little surprised.

There are sheds and then there are sheds 😉

Absolutely, but I suppose the issue is that AXA can’t differentiate between them in their policy terms.

TBH I thought there was always an issue with outbuildings

Hmm we need a new out building. I did wonder about garage vs shed.

Can a garage be made of wood?

OK reading that again I wonder if a garage could an out building if it’s not part of the house?

I checked. A garage is not subject to the restricted claim value even if not attached to house as long as it’s a proper garage (so doors you could get a vehicle through etc , and is brick or concrete.

If avoid them anyway after a shonky claim process and thier oddball ‘honest we pay you excess policy, policy’ and thier inability to even send us the correct paperwork.

Yep, seems like their underwriters no longer share their niche.

Had to move away last year when premiums got out of control. M&S seemed good at the time. Hopefully they’ll stay that way.

My policy was renewed a few weeks ago, I noticed the change (it is pointed out on the renewal documents) but mine are kept in a garage so no change, I was also pleased that the premium was virtually the same as last year (I have been with them about 4 years and the renewals are always the same give or take a fiver). I have never had to claim (thankfully) so not sure how good the actual insurance product is!!

Killer for us was the change from new-for-old to 50%. Whilst one can see why they’ve done it, it’s unfair on those who maintain a bike properly and won’t be enough to replace a stolen bike with an equivalent.

If avoid them anyway after a shonky claim process and thier oddball ‘honest we pay you excess policy, policy’ and thier inability to even send us the correct paperwork.

I think we discussed this before, I had a similar experience and in the end I put it down to a new member of staff struggling a bit.

Killer for us was the change from new-for-old to 50%.

Can you elaborate on this please?

and while we’re elaborating, some more info here would be good

matt_outandabout

Subscriber

If avoid them anyway after a shonky claim process

Thanks for the heads-up, OP. I’ll have to change providers this year then. Don’t have a garage and only getting 50% of value back is a killer.

shed! mine stay in the house ;) not happy with like for like change though. watching with interest.

only getting 50% of value back is a killer.

To be clear, that’s 50% of new value on a bike over ?5? Iirc years old. You’d struggle to get that on ebay and could in theory easily replace like for like at that.

^^having just checked my policy wording from last year the cut off for reduced cover is (or at least was) 10 years.

To be clear, that’s 50% of new value on a bike over ?5? Iirc years old. You’d struggle to get that on ebay and could in theory easily replace like for like at that.

Still sounds good to me tbh, even if not as good as it was (not that i’d imagine there are that many people wanting really good cover for bikes over 10 years old)

On balance it’s still a reasonable deal for what we wanted – I’ve just renewed at a slightly increased cost relative to last year.

Does anyone have any good leads on companies that cover expensive bikes in sheds?

I have never had to claim (thankfully) so not sure how good the actual insurance product is!!

I had to claim earlier this year for accidentla damage to bike and kit.

The claim process wasn’t too bad and I was paid out in about five or six weeks. The company who do the excess protect policy were hard work but once PedalCover chased them they paid out as well.

I was expecting the premium to be sky-high this year as it was a fairly big claim but it only went up by £30 or so.

Can’t fault them really.

To be clear, that’s 50% of new value on a bike over ?5? Iirc years old. You’d struggle to get that on ebay and could in theory easily replace like for like at that.

The 5 years is from the frame manufacture date, not the age of the bike. Supposing you bought a bike in the end of year sales, that frame is going to be a year old before you even get it home.

To some people bikes are like Trigger’s broom; the fork, tyres, handlebars, wheels, brakes, saddle and chainset will all get replaced with new over the first few years so after five years you’ve got a bike with a seven year old frame but brand new components. Won’t find anything anywhere near that on eBay for the 50% price.

and while we’re elaborating, some more info here would be good

As the quote below. The actual claim (an in-wall pipe upstairs disconnected from the back of the shower in the early hours) was settled within a few weeks, we only argued over one bit of furniture that was sprayed with water.

The issue was the paperwork to agree the claim was not forthcoming without chasing.

We then discovered the company name we had on the excess policy denied having us (or pedalcover) as customers. The certificate we had of insurance was basically fake. I believe pedalcover paid is back out thier own pocket as unlike the main claim there was no involvement of any other company.

Then, as said above, they had a member of staff dealing with us who was new and just didn’t get back to us, didn’t know what to do and generally properly crap. Eventually, a couple of months in and by accident, my call was answered by the boss chap who had us reimbursed within a couple of weeks.

A bit like brant and OnOne, out feels like one good person is holding things together. Get them, the experience is good. Don’t get them and be prepared to chase, chase, chase…

We got broken into last year but went straight to AXA rather than via Pedalcover. AXA were pretty good, we had 4 claims handling companies in the end (glazing, household, jewellery and electrical) some of who needed chasing more than the others, but the valuations and payout were all fine when we got there. The excess claim company wanted a bunch of extra details and they suggested we get pedalcover to deal with that bit which they did pretty quickly.

I’d be happy to renew with pedalcover as long as the premium doesn’t jump too much.

So it’s full new value if frame manufactured less than five years ago and 50pc if older?

If so, I can certainly live with that.

Unfortunately I had to change insurer because of these changes in December.

I feel bad for the pedal cover team because the changes are presumably outside of their control. They said many of their customers have already done the same.

I’m trying laka, with premiums ~50% of the quoted max being charged so far. I’ll stick with them for now.

We’ve been with them for a few years but had problems renewing last year and this year – last year they said they couldn’t find anyone to cover our house fabric insurance, they had tried 100 providers etc I ended up speaking to someone senior who noticed the insured value was set at £2m hence it being refused. Not helpful but eventually sorted out. This year was a less painful process but not simple

The 5 years is

Actually 10 years.

So has anyone found anyone who will be good for insurance of wooden “shed”?

Last year pedal cover asked for photos and then told me it was no problems with it, now we aren’t fully covered even though basically our shed is more secure than a brick garage.

Yes it’s 10 years based on frame age. I had a claim last year where the frame was over 10 years, everything else substantially less. The claim was reduced by 50%. That’s not new for old which is the cover I want for my bikes. To be fair, AXA themselves struggled to understand this and it only became clear once I read the T’s & C’s (who does that?) and an AXA Senior Manager got involved.

So has anyone found anyone who will be good for insurance of wooden “shed”?

Yellow Jersey cover sheds.

my policy wording from last year

This thread is because the policy wording has changed.

Actually 10 years.

“We will settle claims for loss or damage to pedal cycles and pedal cycle accessories which are beyond economic repair on the basis of cost as new, subject to the excess as long as:

-The pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories are no older than 5 years old and

-The pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories were purchased from new.”

-The pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories were purchased from new.”

I don’t have the policy to hand here, is it also 50% if the frame is secondhand?

“For pedal cycle(s) and/or pedal cycle accessories not purchased from new we will pay the value of the item immediately prior to the loss or damage based on the age and market value but no greater than what you paid for the pedal cycle(s) and/ or pedal cycle accessories. The age of a pedal cycle will be determined by the age of the frame, based on its date of manufacture.”

So if you do have a valuable old bike it might be worth selling it to someone and buying it back second hand!

Thanks. That’s very open to interpretation isn’t it?

I think I’d still come out of it OK personally though, having built my Orange up economically on a used frame.

This thread is because the policy wording has changed

Fair enough, I figured since it was quoting my earlier post the second had been missed

chakaping

Subscriber

Thanks. That’s very open to interpretation isn’t it?

I think I’d still come out of it OK personally though, having built my Orange up economically on a used frame.

Agreed on both points. Bought a second hand full build but then upgraded various items. I believe PedalCover can handle that sort of thing, hopefully will never have to test it!