Insurance - Is this normal? Shall I argue?

[DanHarper]

I recently had 2 bikes stolen from my locked garage. Both the bikes were specific items on my household insurance and I'd set values for them.

 

My insurance company passed me on to a 3rd party who asked me all the details of the bikes to find suitable replacements and ensure I wasn't passing £100 bikes off as higher value items.

 

One of the bikes was an eBike converted mountain bike, built from parts over 8-9 years, the replacement I was originally offered was coming in at around £2100, however I had only put £1500 down on the insurance - that is what it would cost me to build it form parts using the same Chinese eBike kit (which incidentally had done 3000miles without incident) on a middling-entry Hybrid.

 

The other bike was straight forward and the replacement offered at £2000 which was the same as the value I'd insured it for.

 

Realistically even if the company offered me their choice of eBike I'd not want it - the eBike was built from bits I had and wasn't fully tailored to the use which was commuting. I'd go for a hybrid or road eBike instead rather than trying to make an MTB in to a road going machine. And with the 2nd bike, a full suspension MTB I think I'd go for a hardtail if doing it again.

 

The company I'm dealing with have told me I can take cash - £3500 - my excess - 17% for 'reasons'? Or I can take a voucher at £3500 for this company (and presumably my insurance company will come chasing for the excess). I've done a few checks and it seems the prices on the companies website are not inflated like you'd suspect, so with the £3500 voucher I could probably get 3 bikes - a winter commute hybrid, a summer commute/summer ride roadie and a hard tail MTB. However if I had cash I'd probably just get the first 2... and keep change to electrify the winter commute bike if I wanted to later (I'm probably at the stage where I could commute without assistance, but it would probably take an extra 20minutes).

 

Really my sticking point is the 17%... if it were not for that sure I'd take cash - maximum flexibility with no downside. Is it normal for this sort of behaviour with insurance companies?

 

 

[davidwhite]

Surely your excess is exactly that the declared and agreed amount stated on your policy as the first part of the settlement figure however having only had to use a car insurance policy where I paid the first £100 ( I think it was fortunately quite a while back ) and a home insurance claim where once again I paid the first £200 in both instances these excess payment penalties were clearly stated a monetary figures on each policy, therefore it shouldn't make an iota of difference about which settlement option you choose

Edited 1 September, 2017 by davidwhite

[DanHarper]

7 minutes ago, davidwhite said:

Surely your excess is exactly that the declared and agreed amount stated on your policy as the first part of the settlement figure however having only had to use a car insurance policy where I paid the first £100 ( I think it was fortunately quite a while back ) and a home insurance claim where once again I paid the first £200 in both instances these excess payment penalties were clearly stated a monetary figures on each policy, therefore it shouldn't make an iota of difference about which settlement option you choose

 

I suppose. It does sound like a possible white lie to get me to 'buy' from them.

 

Thing is I'm not sure I want to poke the bear regarding the value on the bikes - they were both ~8-9 years old (frames anyway) and very different to their original specification, proving the values could be difficult - but if the company have already come up with bikes with an RRP higher than my limit anyway that should count in my favour!

 

May need to start with the claims department directly at the insurance company tomorrow.

[Gaz]

An excess is an excess.  With the settlement you'll be able to replace the stolen bikes with very good substitutes.  Not sure there's really any more to it than that.

 

Gaz