Bike Insurance

Is there a maximum limit to the value of the build? What would happen if the frame/forks was custom made, and then you build up with your own purchased parts? Is the total sum of parts considered?

I guess so long as you have receipts for the parts, or at least pictures of the build they should pay for everything.
I just got the whole cost - custom frame/forks + all components + build cost from Condor and theyre giving me that figure....I can do what I want with the money!

Thanks - good to know!

Is there a maximum limit to the value of the build? What would happen if the frame/forks was custom made, and then you build up with your own purchased parts? Is the total sum of parts considered?

More Than insured mine for upto £1500 per item.
ie £1500 for the frame, £1500 for the wheels, £1500 for the stem :-s, etc etc.

All you have to do is provide proof of purchase and cost to replace quotes from a bike shop. They even paid the £10 it cost me to have my frame checked over...

From memory, M&S insurance covers single items like bikes up to a maximum of £4k.

Cool, this is just what I need to know - will be needing to sort something out soon and I was figuring that changing the House Insurance would be the way to go rather than specific bike insurance.

Am going through a claim with Butterworths (The LCC one) at the moment for the Brompton and I must say so far I'm not that impressed. Butterworths themselves were very helpful, however they use a different loss adjuster company called Merlin, who appear to be rubbish.
Butterworths state that unless your claim is received within 28 days of the theft then they close the case, so I made sure I got all the forms filled in, proof of purchase etc sent to them via recorded delivery on the 19th April.

I rang Merlin on the 3rd May to check they had received my claim and it was progressing as I hadn't heard anything - but understood that it had been Easter, and bank holidays etc. I was told someone would ring me back, nothing happened.

Rang back again next day, finally spoke to someone who seemed to be able to help me, I explained the situation, she said that they hadn't received any bike claims for a while, I explained that I had sent it on the 19th, she re-iterated that they hadnt received anything. I then read out the proof of delivery and the name on it stating that they had received it on the 21st April, she went a bit quiet (obviously recognising the name I had read out) and said that she would check with the admin dept and ring me back, that was last Thursday.

After getting sick of waiting I called back today, only to be told by the same woman, that they were still sorting out the mail from the Easter bank holiday! I mean whilst I appreciate that a company may get some extra mail after a bank holiday, I can't really accept that it takes over two weeks to sort it?
She said that she 'wanted to get it sorted this week as she was going on holiday' and that she would call me back as soon as she heard anything.

So far, I'm far from impressed and will be telling Butterworths as much.
I will update if and when this woman decided to find my claim and ring me back.

i need some..whose best?

Read the thread and you might find out

M and S all the way, the amount of people I know who have had bikes that suck stolen recently and M and S have paid out loads, they're all riding full carbon bike now. Not sure how long it will be this good though?

Sorry guys feel like a bit of a dick even asking this but you do mean m+s as in Marks and Spencer?

Yup.

I also feel a bit of a dick asking this, but would the M&S insurance cover damage? Like if I rode into a bollard and pretzeled the frame, or couldn't control my hulk transformation and crushed the bike beneath me like a polystyrene cup?

It is part of the Home Insurance so I'm not entirely clear if it includes damage or only theft.

just thought I'd share my insurance experiences:

ENDSLEIGH = GOOD
Got my forks stolen from my Bianchi, bike shop told me head tube got bent by it and as it was aluminim was a write-off. I was with Endsleigh and just got a signed letter from the bike shop and they gave me full pay-out no questions asked. They didn't even question which parts I could move over... But then my premium went up so much I couldn't afford them. Now I'm with https://www.eta.co.uk/insurance/cycle but I have no idea how they are as I haven't needed them yet (touch wood it stays like that).

CYCLEGUARD = BAD
BUT my (non-forum) friend just had her bike stolen, she is with CYCLEGUARD will not be getting anything, this is what she wrote to me:
'Apparently as it was locked up (with an approved lock, through the frame, to an immovable object) for more than 12hrs, it's classed as "abandonment" and I get zilch.'

12hrs = abandonment? WTF. What about people who work 12hr shifts...

Very handy thread. As I think is mentioned above the M&S policy does not suit all (well me anyway) as it requires that ground floor windows have key operated locks. Whilst this may not have much bearing on the loss or damage to a bike whilst away from the home, it does call into question the overall validity of what is a household policy in the absence of such security.

That aside, I would be keen to know whether anybody has any experience of the ETA claims service - in particular whether they readily make cash settlements or whether they try to offer vouchers.

Am going through a claim with Butterworths (The LCC one) at the moment for the Brompton and I must say so far I'm not that impressed. Butterworths themselves were very helpful, however they use a different loss adjuster company called Merlin, who appear to be rubbish.
Butterworths state that unless your claim is received within 28 days of the theft then they close the case, so I made sure I got all the forms filled in, proof of purchase etc sent to them via recorded delivery on the 19th April.

I rang Merlin on the 3rd May to check they had received my claim and it was progressing as I hadn't heard anything - but understood that it had been Easter, and bank holidays etc. I was told someone would ring me back, nothing happened.

Rang back again next day, finally spoke to someone who seemed to be able to help me, I explained the situation, she said that they hadn't received any bike claims for a while, I explained that I had sent it on the 19th, she re-iterated that they hadnt received anything. I then read out the proof of delivery and the name on it stating that they had received it on the 21st April, she went a bit quiet (obviously recognising the name I had read out) and said that she would check with the admin dept and ring me back, that was last Thursday.

After getting sick of waiting I called back today, only to be told by the same woman, that they were still sorting out the mail from the Easter bank holiday! I mean whilst I appreciate that a company may get some extra mail after a bank holiday, I can't really accept that it takes over two weeks to sort it?
She said that she 'wanted to get it sorted this week as she was going on holiday' and that she would call me back as soon as she heard anything.

So far, I'm far from impressed and will be telling Butterworths as much.
I will update if and when this woman decided to find my claim and ring me back.

I had the same issues with Merlin. Had to continually chase them up to confirm everything!

HI , do you good people specifically insure your bikes or do you put them under you're house policy?

ta

m

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/may/18/cycling-insurance-halifax-bike-shed

If I had house insurance I would probably insure my bike under that, that was what I used to do with Endsleigh until my bike became so specific I had to draw up a more specified insurance with them. (just cos I think if it's in your house insurance they only cover bikes up to £700 or something like that - might be wrong)

I really can't recommend Endsleigh enough. All of my claims were handled SO well. Really. They made a couple of minor errors but these were dealt with promptly and professionally.

Unfortunately I am so clumsy that after claiming about 6 cameras, several iPods and then my bike the premium finally hit the roof.

Now I have one insurance for my bike, one for my laptop and one for my phone. And the rest... I have to be more careful I guess...

Hi guys,
just wondering if anyone can recommend a company to insure my bike with?

endsleigh.

also I'd suggest reading through this thread...

Am going through a claim with Butterworths (The LCC one) at the moment for the Brompton and I must say so far I'm not that impressed. Butterworths themselves were very helpful, however they use a different loss adjuster company called Merlin, who appear to be rubbish.
Butterworths state that unless your claim is received within 28 days of the theft then they close the case, so I made sure I got all the forms filled in, proof of purchase etc sent to them via recorded delivery on the 19th April.

I rang Merlin on the 3rd May to check they had received my claim and it was progressing as I hadn't heard anything - but understood that it had been Easter, and bank holidays etc. I was told someone would ring me back, nothing happened.

Rang back again next day, finally spoke to someone who seemed to be able to help me, I explained the situation, she said that they hadn't received any bike claims for a while, I explained that I had sent it on the 19th, she re-iterated that they hadnt received anything. I then read out the proof of delivery and the name on it stating that they had received it on the 21st April, she went a bit quiet (obviously recognising the name I had read out) and said that she would check with the admin dept and ring me back, that was last Thursday.

After getting sick of waiting I called back today, only to be told by the same woman, that they were still sorting out the mail from the Easter bank holiday! I mean whilst I appreciate that a company may get some extra mail after a bank holiday, I can't really accept that it takes over two weeks to sort it?
She said that she 'wanted to get it sorted this week as she was going on holiday' and that she would call me back as soon as she heard anything.

So far, I'm far from impressed and will be telling Butterworths as much.
I will update if and when this woman decided to find my claim and ring me back.

Quick update on this, and things haven't improved, after waiting another two weeks I finally get a letter, asking for a few extra pieces of info and some photos of various things. I notice that at the bottom of the letter the claims manager has put her email, so I have a cunning idea and send her all the info, along with attached photos to her email address, thinking that this would stop any further delays as they can't seem to handle dealing with actual paper mail.
So I send the mail, nothing..
5 Days later, I send another mail - asking if she had received the previous one (there were some attachments that could have feasibly got blocked), I also add that if I haven't had a reply by the end of the week I would call her...nothing.
So I call this morning, explain the situation to her and get the reply 'Oh I haven't got to last weeks emails yet...'

Amazing.

I've already decided that whatever the outcome of this, I will be moving to another insurer who doesnt use Merlin and will be telling Butterworths why.

endsleigh.

also I'd suggest reading through this thread...

I am with them, for both home inc. 3 listed items and 2 iPhones, premium crept up after a couple of claims, which is fare enough, but now after trying to claim for a broken iPhone (the second broken iPhone claim) I have been told my excess has been raised to £200. Livid.

I have also just found out that my pet insurance doesn't cover anything over £500 and I currently have a bill well in excess of 3k, again notably livid.

For the money I pay in premiums I would of been better off without any insurance, usually the view of someone who has only ever made one claim of about £50 quid, but no, near 4k of expenditure, non of which I will be able to claim on, while paying a monthly premium, brilliant.

I may just invest an extra 1k to have all those involved killed.

Chris - try NFU Mutual for pet insurance - they have been very good for our 2 Greyhounds - several thousand pounds of claims last year and they only put the premium up by about £50 a year....

endsleigh.

also I'd suggest reading through this thread...

Quite. I wouldn't use Endsleigh again, after they would only insure my bike as a named item and then later tried to claim that it wasn't covered.

I like M&S. They were really helpful and reliable when I had to claim.