M&S Home Insurance

Soni

I have read good reviews regarding M&S Home Insurance with regard to cover for bikes.

However, i'm now ready to renew my home insurance and just about to take the plunge with M&S however i've noticed within their exclusions they exclude accidental damage to tapes, cassettes, disks, record discs, laptops, or OTHER ITEMS DESIGNED TO BE PORTABLE.......

Does this mean they won't cover my bike if i crash it? As it IS 'portable'.....

Not trying to split hairs here but you know what insurance companies can be like.....when a claim comes their way....

GiantMike

'Designed to be portable' should refer to portable items such as MP3 players etc.

I have M&S Insurance and I assumed my bikes were covered. If you give them a call I'm sure they'll let you know 'straight from the horses mouth', and then you can let me know

jgsi

Others may know better, but when I took out this home insurance it was on the value that it gave a no quibble cover up to £4k for bicycles in case of burglary/damage at home.
I didnt assume that it would cover me if I totalled the bike on the road - for that you surely need bike specific cover from the likes of cycleguard etc?
That as rule of thumb is premium £100 per £1000 of bike value or slightly more.

alfablue

I think you have to pay for the extension to cover items outside the house.

keef66

I still don't think you'd be covered if you crashed it. If it was nicked when securely locked up, then you should be OK with outside the home cover, but not if you ride it into a tree.

Then again, if it includes accidental damage......?

alfablue

keef66 wrote:

Then again, if it includes accidental damage......?

it does, a forum member posted recently about claiming for bent wheels after an accident. Of course, if in doubt, ask them.

Gazzaputt

I paid a bit extra for accidental damage for my bikes on M&S insurance. Was only about £20 extra.

If I prang whilst out I can claim.

redvee

I've done the rounds on various comparison sites and M&S and have found very few that will touch me. A) because I'm an ex-con and I'm a discharged bankrupt. My bank Co-op will cover the flat but the price is a bit high according to my Dad, he's paying building and contents for a little more than my contents only but I'm in the centre of town which doesn't help.

Soni

Hi guys, i was going for the Premium over the Standard and also was going to go for the 'away from home' cover on top of that.

A few years ago i was with Norwich Union when i went under a Height Restriction with my mountain bike on the top of the car and did loads of damage to the car, which was covered by the car insurance, but the bike was totalled, somebody said to me to check that i'm not covered on my home insurance and i said i wouldn't have thought so, phoned them up that evening and 3 days later had a £750.00 Halfords voucher on my door step!

So if accidental damage is on an insurance policy, surely it will be the same if driven under a height restriction barrier or crashed in the road?

gregster10217

We recently changed our B&C insurance from Barclays to M&S, firstly due to the price Barclays wanted for renewal, but also as M&S included bike cover as part of their Premium cover.
I called them recently as was going to be taking the bike abroad, and just wanted to confirm cover.

IT DOES INCLUDE accidental damage, cover when abroad, theft etc, BUT DOES NOT COVER the bike to be raced (similar to car insurance then). I won't be taking part in any races, but it's reassuring to know that my pride and joy is covered whatever happens.

Cannot recommend M&S enough. (Even got £30 M&S vouchers for taking out their insurance!)

Soni

gregster10217 wrote:

We recently changed our B&C insurance from Barclays to M&S, firstly due to the price Barclays wanted for renewal, but also as M&S included bike cover as part of their Premium cover.
I called them recently as was going to be taking the bike abroad, and just wanted to confirm cover.

IT DOES INCLUDE accidental damage, cover when abroad, theft etc, BUT DOES NOT COVER the bike to be raced (similar to car insurance then). I won't be taking part in any races, but it's reassuring to know that my pride and joy is covered whatever happens.

Cannot recommend M&S enough. (Even got £30 M&S vouchers for taking out their insurance!)

Thats exactly what i'm after mate, don't want to be covered for racing, as my body wasn't built for racing anyway :oops: but just want peace of mind that if the unfortunate was to happen when out on the road and i bent the frame, that it would be covered....

By the way, how did you manage to get those vouchers? I did an online quote about 3 weeks ago and its valid until end of October, but need to get it sorted by Wednesday as thats when the old insurance expires, and i wasn't offered the vouchers?

brin

I took out M&S Ins 2 months ago, read all the small print, phoned helpline number, was told as long as you take out 'goods away from home' your bike(s) are covered up to £4k max for theft or accidental damage.
As stated previously it won't include accidents incurred during racing, as no domestic Ins Co will do that for obvious reasons.

Pretre

+100 for M&S - they've sorted out my cliam for a bit over £4K (the limit is for individual items - bought the bike as seperate components) with no hassle whatsoever.

sheffsimon

Soni wrote:

Hi guys, i was going for the Premium over the Standard and also was going to go for the 'away from home' cover on top of that.

A few years ago i was with Norwich Union when i went under a Height Restriction with my mountain bike on the top of the car and did loads of damage to the car, which was covered by the car insurance, but the bike was totalled, somebody said to me to check that i'm not covered on my home insurance and i said i wouldn't have thought so, phoned them up that evening and 3 days later had a £750.00 Halfords voucher on my door step!

So if accidental damage is on an insurance policy, surely it will be the same if driven under a height restriction barrier or crashed in the road?

Never mind

individual6891

gregster10217 wrote:

Cannot recommend M&S enough. (Even got £30 M&S vouchers for taking out their insurance!)

How did you manage to get this voucher?

Ands

individual6891 wrote:

gregster10217 wrote:

Cannot recommend M&S enough. (Even got £30 M&S vouchers for taking out their insurance!)

How did you manage to get this voucher?

Do you use Quidco? They are currently doing £30 cashback on M&S home ins.
http://www.quidco.com/insurance-finance ... insurance/

gregster10217

Apologies, only just got back to the forum after the birth of my daughter.

The vouchers were offered on a comparison site for taking out the insurance. They hadn't arrived after a few weeks so e-mailed the comparison site and they directed me to M&S. Phoned them, told them they were offered and they came through a few days later. I saw it as a reduction of £30 in my policy. Result.

plowmar

First thoughts on this topic are that if you already have satisfactory cover and your renewal appears high, then go to a comparison site and see what your insurers quote is on there.

Don't forget that M&S may up their premium on renewal above that offered to new customers.

Then, as I have done go back to your insurer and ask for the lower price - worked for me. Alternatively take the lower on line quote and a new policy cancelling the old.

JesseD

A friend of mine who is a user of this forum is the proud owner of a Cervelo S2 with full DA inc wheels after claiming for an accident with a car and claiming on his M&S insurance, he says they were excellent.

Pretre

Got the cash in my bank a/c today from M&S for my £2500 De Rosa Merak frame I wrote off in a crash & I'll get the replacement components mailed to me in the next day or so - it's a nightmare getting high-end De Rosa's (5+ months waiting time :roll:) so they had to pay me rather than replace it, which is their normal policy.
M&S have been really excellent - no questions apart from "what happened & do you have the police incident number to hand?", no issues with the claim coming almost 2 months after the accident (once I told them why - I could hardly move due to my injuries to pick up the bike from the police station to get it to the LBS to check) & really quick payment.

I have never praised an insurance company before (& very much doubt I ever will again!) but M&S are just brilliant - get it!