Anyone know if they offer cash in place of vouchers when paying out on an insurance claim?

There’s not a single bike that I want from their stock, even allowing for a few compromises.

More importantly, these reviews don’t instil confidence.

I’m aware that I can just ask them directly but suspect I’ll be given the run-around.

Legally if you request cash alternative they have to honour that

Edit: you have to request it from the insurer

Just what I needed to hear, thanks!

They will, but you have to be insistent to get a cash settlement as they don’t like it.

So much so, they remove I think around 10% or 25% of the final value (% value IIRC – it was nearly five years ago for me when I did it).

It was enough for me to double check the prices of what they had in stock, beut bear in mind that they don’t allow insurance replacement bikes to come from the ‘on-sale’ range.

Given all their pricing is full RRP, taking the haircut is worth it to go directly to your LBS 🙂

Be aware that what you are offered in Wheelies vouchers, you may not get in cash payout.  A few years ago my max cash payout on my policy was £2500.  They offered £3250 in Wheelies vouchers as an alternative, my transaction with Wheelies was simple enough.

Also, bear in mind that Wheelies are VERY good at valuing your bike at very high value. I had a final payout of around £10k for bikes pinched – they do new for old valuations with no real receipts needed – they were happy for me to send pics of the bikes and all the components so they could verify ownership.

This worked very well for a parts bit special Cotic I built for next to nothing – I ended up with it being valued at £2,500 as the RRPs at the time for everything (XTR, Fox, DT Swiss etc) was so high.

So as long as you’re happy with the valuation, ask for the cash alternative and take a view on whether it covers replacing what you had previously.

If there is a suitable replacement and you don’t want it then you get cash but its discounted. If they cannot find a suitable bike then you get the full value

What the others said.

Wheelies have a sweet racket valuing bikes very highly, then offering you more in vouchers than in cash.

Don’t be fooled, their prices are high anyway so you can probably do better spending the cash wisely. And their after-sales service is probably the worst I’ve experienced. An utter shambles and nobody there cared.

Thanks all.

So Admiral may offer a cash settlement if I force the issue, and Wheelies may do the same if I’m not happy with the vouchers?

Have I got that right?

I can’t remember exactly how it worked but I took one third vouchers and two thirds cash in the end.

Wish I’d taken all cash.

Quits a few years back I had a mtb nicked.
Claimed on Ins
Got processed through Wheelies
Offered a VPP Intense as a replacement to a single pivot Heckler
Back to Ins and explained the replacement offered wasn’t like for like
Ins asked for a replacement build cost
LBS sorted that out and I submitted it to Ins
Week or so later and after 1 phone call, money was in my bank (full build cost)
Headed off to LBS and ordered another one

I would take a pretty hefty hit if it meant never dealing with Wheelies. It would be worth every penny.

Still waiting for an exact offer after sending proof of ownership.

Wheelies obviously don’t offer Bird. They also don’t really have an alternative to a Clockwork 137S.

If I take cash then they’ve explained that I’ll take a 17% hit, which is something I’m happy to argue about.

That said, I’m pretty tempted by the Process 153. I could take the full valuation in vouchers and then spec the hell out of it.

That would leave me all the OE to sell – brand new, never used. Potential drawback being the stock levels, as it does look like everything is ordered on request from the suppliers. So I could maybe be in for a long wait before receiving everything.

I’ve done it as an exercise already. To hit my presumed voucher limit – after speccing things out – I had to throw a pair of forks in my cart.

So if it comes to it and someone wants some shiny new kit at a discount… 🙂

Anyway, hopefully it’ll all be sorted tomorrow.

If wheelies cannot supply you with a particular bike or one you are happy with then its back to the insurer. its nothing further to do with them. they are a supplier your insurer uses. thats all

Again if they cannot supply you with the correct bike then you do not have to accept a discount. thats only if you choose vouchers / cash rather than if wheelies cannot supply it

My dealings with wheelies were fine. they looked at the spec of the bike I had had stolen. Offerd me what they said was an equivalent. I said no to that. they then offered me any bike up to a certain value – I was more than happy with that.

Do not accept a discount because they cannot supply a bike.

I went through this all recently when some moron drove into me. Here is what I learned and played out after quite a bit of research.

Your contract is with the insurer – not wheelies.

Your insurer is getting a deal from wheelies so it’s better for them. Remember this.

Wheelies will try to do a good deal for you so it’s a good deal for them, and you, so you take a bike from them.

For some people this may work ie you have a Specialized stolen. They would offer you an equivalent new Specialized (assuming your policy is new for old). They will likely offer a good level of equivalent spec. This might be fine for some people.

If you have a bike that wheelies can’t supply (i.e. Trek, because Trek won’t deal with them) then wheelies will try to offer an alternative from their stock (because that’s good for them). Again, they will probably offer a good equivalent spec/model etc as it’s in their interest to do so to get a sale from insurance company. Again, this may work for some people and they will be happy with this. They have some nice bikes and might offer something good. Be very careful to weight this up against what could be bought for cash.

If neither scenario work for you, then you should immediately stop dealing with wheelies and start dealing with your insurance company directly. Explain to them firmly that you are not obliged to use their retailer, and that you would like the appropriate cash settlement to pay for an equivalent spec bike. Supply them with details of the exact equivalent, maybe get a local shop to help if needed. Keep calling them every two days and be firm and polite. They will give you the cash and you can buy what you are rightly entitled too, assuming you have a new for old policy.

Be nice but be firm with the insurance company, and don’t believe anything wheelies tell you. Only use wheelies if they genuinely offer you a good deal. Don’t take vouchers from them and don’t believe that you have to take a reduced amount for a cash settlement.

You can lead a horse to water, eh?

Just to further what TJ and Chrisdb have said, do not for the love of God allow or instruct Wheelies to do a custom build. It will not end well. I fact it will end so **** badly you will still be bitter about it 15 years later (how time flies).

[their trustpilot score does little to convince me they have done anything to change]

Hahaha. Join the club.

We could start a support group Squirrelking.

Weirdly, wheelies is one of the reasons I got into mountain biking.

My low end Giant hardtail got nicked, I got directed to wheelies, who offered me a slightly better Giant hardtail.

When I got it I realised that it was a bit better in everyway. Up until then I thought a bike was a bike, which started me down the path of another better bike, which I then upgraded and on and on…

I also bear some psychological scarring from having to deal with Wheelies a few years back. I would pay quite a lot of money to never do it again.

One other thing to bear in mind is that they list most things as “in stock” on their website when what they actually mean is “we think maybe we can get hold of one of these at some point in the next six months” – IME even that was beyond them.

If wheelies cannot get a suitable replacement and you don’t have to accept a discount for cash. Wheelies could not get the same brand, explained that to insurance company and they have me the full cash amount that wheelies quoted. Took a few phone calls to get them to not take a few % off.

Wheelies quoting is crazy. For the one bike wheelies could provide replacement I asked for cash. Even with a discount (15%?) I still got a massively upgraded bike. The quote was so high I actually raised it with the insurance company, they did not care!

Quick update. Wheelies contacted me this morning with a valuation. They’ve valued the two bikes in total at £500 over the total insured value.

They can supply an alternative for one of the bikes and not for the other.

The cash alternative for both is the total amount, minus excess, minus 18%. Which actually isn’t too bad thanks to the over-valuation in the first place.

I’ll be £300 out of pocket over what I’d get if I got the full cash amount from Admiral. But I’m expecting that since Wheelies do actually have an almost exact alternative, Admiral will be questioning me about why I want the cash instead. It’s hard to argue that I don’t want a Clockwork Evo in place of a Clockwork 137S when the policy is like-for-like and they’re essentially the same bike.

So I’m inclined to just say ‘yes’ to Wheelies and take the cash hit. It’s three weeks since I lodged my claim and I really need to get back on a bike. Rather than face a protracted argument with Admiral. I’ve reserved a Remedy at my local Trek dealer and they can’t get any more stock. The longer I wait and the closer to Christmas it gets, I’m sure that stock levels will dry up even more.

Something else to think about is that I was going to sell the Orange anyway. So to take a £300 hit from the value new is actually a pretty good outcome overall.

I actually found the Clockwork on eBay last week. It sold for £1k less than its new/insured value…

I had a dh bike stolen.

Weelies valued it fairly. I didn’t want any of the bikes they offered.

Eventually I got the full cash price for the stolen bike.

They were fine to deal with.

Did you manage to find the person who was selling your bike?

By the time I went to look in to it properly the listing had been removed. Originally the bike was marked as sold and was clearly mine due to the customisations. They’d changed the saddle but that’s about all.

There aren’t many around and the guy clearly didn’t have a clue what he was actually advertising.

Location was Kendal, so a fair few miles from where I am in the Peak District.

So hang on – Wheelies are over-valuing bikes, and then charging over the odds to supply their replacements?

How the hell is that not scamming the insurance companies?!

Because they dont charge the insurance company full price.

Still a racket, IMHO.

Insurance customer gets full price of bike and is happy.

Wheelies sell a box and make a profit

Insurance company pays about the going rate (after a discount from wheelies) for said bike without having to employ bike experts or sort anything other than the bill.

That would explain why it was wheelies who sorted out insurance from my stollen bike in 2003 and again for one in 2017. 3 people win.

@eyestwice where does the -18% come from? Wheelies should not be the ones offering you a cash settlement. Pretty sure if you speak to the ombudsman they will tell you this is a big no no for the ins company/wheelies to pull.

Can you not accept the suitable replacement but go back to your insurance company for cash on the other one they can’t replace?

Yes you can, we had our bikes stolen, road bikes were replaced like for like but my MTB was a transition scout and anything they offered I basically said wasn’t what I wanted so I got cash (money transferred)