Insurance following crash.....

blaze591

Had a bit of an incident this weekend... I'm battered and bruised but the bike, a Stumpy FSR, is in much worse condition than I am. I suspect that the frame is cracked around the headset, the front wheel is smashed to pieces. The forks look okay but will be going back to Fox before i get on it again.

I have insurance with Barclays, so I phoned them today to make a claim. The guy told me that they deal with bike repairs through Halfords :shock: .... this has frightened me more than the crash I think for fairly obvious reasons. I explained to the insurance guy that Halford were neither a supplier of Specialized bikes, nor qualified to have anything to do with them. The bike itself is now back at the original supplier, the frame will go back to Specialized and forks back to Fox for inspection. I explained that I want the bike to be repaired, not replaced, and he insisted that in this case Halfords will liaise with the original supplier, but he was really light on details.

Does anyone have experience of insurance claims processed via Halfords? Am I right to be worried? How will it work? Will Halfords try and replace my Stumpy with something they stock?

Scubar

You should really find out more from barclays. Did you crash the bike then ? im amazed they are even willing to let you claim if its your own fault and not a problem with the bike.

supersonic

If the frame its cracked, its dead. Halfords do not supply said bikes, but they do work with other companies for insurance purposes. If the claim is successful, halfords will supply you with a voucher or an equivalent frame, But as above,as you stacked, you will be very lucky!

Scubar

Wow apparently Barlcays do cover accidental damage to pedal cycles providing they arent being used for racing,trials or pacemaking. Pretty neat cover. They do mention in the policy wording about sourcing and dealing with other companies for claim purposes.

supersonic

I'm off to barclays!

blaze591

Yep, nothing in the policy which says they won't cover for accidental damage. Which is exactly what it was, and exactly why I'm paying for it. Before I took out the cover I asked specifically if it was covered if I wrapped it round a tree or it dropped off the back of the car and was told yes. But they didn't tell me they dealt with Halfords and that frankly puts the fear of God into me. Last thing I want is a voucher, just want them to pay for the Stumpy to be fixed. I'll phone Barclays tomorrow and see what the QT is - hopefully they'll just deal with the original supplier and pay them for the repairs.

supersonic

How much you pay for that then?

blaze591

It's around £43 per annum as a part of my house buildings and contents insurance. A lot cheaper than anything else I could find - but it maxes out at £1500 - which was a little shy of the cost of the Stumpy. But I figured if everything went t*ts up I would pay the difference. The policy was hundreds of pounds a year cheaper than anything else I could find. So I guess we'll see how good it is.

Looking at the damage I'm thinking about £50 for the front wheel, £400 for the forks if they are knacked - and I don't see how they can't be, and God knows how much for the front half of the frame, supposing Specialized have half a frame in stock......

Scubar

So how did you crash then ? Im interested to know how you managed to screw up an entire bike lol.

skyliner

I have worked in the bicycle replacement sector of the insurance industry, and IIRC, Halfords use Terry Wright for some of their insurance business. They have AFAIK Cytech trained staff building bikes for insurance replacements.

If you're lucky enough to catch a good mechanic on a good day, you'll get a well prepared replacement cycle.

The problem is, they will then courier the bike to you. And I've seen couriers walking over bike boxes to get at other parcels, and throwing them off the back of trailers during transit.
I've seen a few total "write offs" that were never ridden due to this.

If you can, get the cash equivalent, and pay the extra to use a shop you trust to build it.

blaze591

I was at a well known North Wales trail centre, almost back to the trailhead, going quite fast (the GPS says 24 mph) over a downhill section. There's a little crest, so I got a bit of air over the crest, screwed the landing, but managed to keep upright. At this point I ran out of trail and into the "off piste", which consisted of bracken, branches, tree roots etc etc. I kept going for a bit, but I assume the impact on the bike was full frontal onto a fallen tree because the front rim was fractured, not just bent. The impact of me (all 18 stone) stopping suddenly and going over the handlebars I guess was enough to distort the frame around the headset. Ouch and indeed opps.

Scubar

Sounds like a good day out, well least your ok so thats the main thing.

blaze591

Yes, it was going great until then.... Well, I suppose there's no point in having it just to sit in the garage and look nice, occupational hazard etc etc.

Scubar

Yea, i came off mine on saturday, not a scratch on the bike, i managed to save it by taking the hit impact instead, got nice cuts and grazes on my shoulder and legs now but thats all part of the fun of biking.

blaze591

Good news. Got a call from Halfords, spoke to a guy there who was, I have to say, very sensible, helpful and reasonable. I described the damage, he agreed that it seemed little point in recovering it to a Halfords branch and has asked my prefered repairer to quote for the job. So this is great news, hopefully the bike'll be back soon, fully repaired and free, other than the £75 excess - which is just my tax for riding like a eejit.

Mr bump

I had my Demo 8 stolen. That was sorted through the insures and halfords. I think they use halfords to price up replacements because i was given a cheque for the amount of a new bike after talking to halfords.

blaze591

So, the quote from LBS arrived today, some 8 days after I took the bike in. The Stumpy needs a new front wheel, new forks and a new frame. Unfortunately the 07 frames are no longer available so the only option it would seem is an 08 frame and forks. Expected delivery date from Spesh is mid to end of October for an XL frame.... not too happy with this but I suppose it's my own fault.

However I have to report that Halfords Insurance have been extremely good, no messing about at all, made a decision with 90 minutes of getting the quote faxed through. So fair play to them and I'll play with my Phantom in the meantime....