Insurance Question - Possibly I'm just Paranoid

catbaier

Hi,

This is a general query really:

I've had three bikes stolen in the 10 years I've been in Bristol. The first (a lovely SS Inbred) from outside a bar. Yes it was locked, but it was a nice looking bike and the lock could have been better. The Insurance company told me to get stuffed.

Now is where it gets weird.

The second went from my garden, it was a retro steel Kona I built up with some lovely new parts. I had a valuation from my LBS, gave it to the insurance company, told them where I sotred it and then bam! It got nicked. However, since it was under cover the insurance coughed up.

Immediately after the claim, I had to renew and went to a different company. I got a new bike, build a shed, secured my garden gate, put the bike in the shed and used a motorbike hitching point to the garden wall. I told the insurance company all of this, to make sure I had coverage. A couple of days later the hitching point had been cut (must have been one HELL of a pair of cutters) and the shed had been demolished. This was no crime of coincidence. So there goes a Genesis Altitude 30. Damn. Still, the insurance paid up.

I got ANOTHER bike, and against my wifes wishes this one now lives in the house. And it's nowhere near as nice!

Anyway, for a week or two after the shed was torn to bits, the garden was "looked into" by theives a few more times. So I took the lock off the shed and made sure it had nothing interesting in it. The break-ins stopped and everything quietened down.

A couple of weeks ago I changed insurers again, and low and behold, my garden gets broken into 5 times in 2 weeks.

My bikes are always listed as seperately insured items.

Is this coincidence? A firend thinks not. He thinks unscrupulous scum in the insurance companies sells or gives info on homes with bikes to crime gangs. I dunno. But for what it's worth, watch out. Having your bike nicked is sh*t.

timpop

Wow, unlucky. I've had my bike stolen recently. I am sure they saw me arrive home with it as they knew exactly where to go. They lifted off the iron gate, scaled the 7 foot fence and ripped open my shed. They took two bikes: my wifes new Pashley and my GT idrive (also with lots of nice upgrades). Ar-se-wipes.

The thing about insurance companies that your friend stated is paranoia. They don't do that. What thieves do is work in a cycle (excuse the pun) as they know we'll claim for things if stolen. Once they know you've got a nice bike and then take it, it is always possible and perhaps very likely they'll be back again after you get a new bike. I've heard it happening before many times.

When I get my new one it'll be staying in the house.

I am thinking of how I can reinforce my shed with a steel door and cement in a thick steel post into the ground beneath the shed. Maybe install large automatic gun placements or buy a pack of ferocious hounds.

It's nasty isn't it. We work hard for our stuff and they think it's ok to just take it. :evil:

catbaier

Hi Timpop,

Where was it stolen from, as in which town/city? Just out of curiousity.

StillGoing

You could also have a very light fingered neighbour who knows exactly when you have a new bike. The insurance claim period is very common. A burglar knows most folk will claim on their insurance and as most policies are new for old, wil give it a short period before revisiting you to relieve you of the new items. You can get shed alarms and as an add on I'd install a sound bomb internal sounder. You can pick one up for around £6.00 that will emit 111db at 1m distance. More than enough to make your thieving scumbag start to feel unwell if he/she hangs around for long.

B3rnieMac

keep my 2k bike anywhere other than in my house is unacceptable for me. if it was in a shed, i'd be out every half hour checking it was still there. i cant believe your wife was against keeping it indoors after the series of thefts you've had...

bompington

B3rnieMac wrote:

i cant believe your wife was against keeping it indoors after the series of thefts you've had...

Maybe it's her?

cougie

You can do webcams very easily these days ? Just need to leave a program running and the camera pointed out at the garden. Then make sure you advertise this on the shed.

Of course you may get the laptop stolen too...

I think I'd be looking at moving.

cougie

You can do webcams very easily these days ? Just need to leave a program running and the camera pointed out at the garden. Then make sure you advertise this on the shed.

Of course you may get the laptop stolen too...

I think I'd be looking at moving.

Rushie

A metal shed is the way forward. I have one of these: http://www.biohort.at/en/products/garde ... uropa.html but Trimetals and others also do them and also specific metal bike stores. Not cheap but worth it for the peace of mind I think. If thieves really want to get into it they will do, but they're going to have to work hard at it and the noise of trying to destroy a metal shed will hopefully put them off or at least wake the neighbours.

dilemna

The day my nan died in hospital her house was broken into. There had been a number of similar such burglaries in similar circumstances. The Met police said it was fairly common for some dodgy hospital staff to tip off thieves who then went in. The plods did bugger all despite there being a huge boot print on my nan's highly polished red flagstone kitchen floor and blood on a broken window which was used to gain entry.

So it wouldn't surprise me if criminal gangs had people working on the inside in insurance companies tipping them off.

Or you just live in a really bad area.

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it. Some years ago on Corsica I dealt with a campsite owner who was storing our equipment. We and he were so sick of stuff going walkies that he got a cheetah which roamed loose in the barn. The thefts stopped :twisted: . We had to wait in the car while he got it back into it's cage before we could enter the barn.

rick_chasey

dilemna wrote:

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it.

You should look into moving house if that's the case.

Living somewhere where you daren't do perfectly normal and fine stuff for fear of crime shouldn't be tolerated.

MaxwellBygraves

Rick Chasey wrote:

dilemna wrote:

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it.

You should look into moving house if that's the case.

Living somewhere where you daren't do perfectly normal and fine stuff for fear of crime shouldn't be tolerated.

Not really as easy as that though is it...

rick_chasey

MaxwellBygraves wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

dilemna wrote:

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it.

You should look into moving house if that's the case.

Living somewhere where you daren't do perfectly normal and fine stuff for fear of crime shouldn't be tolerated.

Not really as easy as that though is it...

Looking into moving house is easy.

dilemna

Rick Chasey wrote:

MaxwellBygraves wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

dilemna wrote:

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it.

You should look into moving house if that's the case.

Living somewhere where you daren't do perfectly normal and fine stuff for fear of crime shouldn't be tolerated.

Not really as easy as that though is it...

Looking into moving house is easy.

The system is so set up that normal people who play by the rules get screwed. As has been suggested it is not quite as simple as you first think short of nuking them. The system is do designed that these scrotes are effectively untouchables. As a normal person playing by the rules you get screwed by the system if you lodge complaints with the various authorities as when you come to sell, who wants to live nearby benefit scrounging drug dealing scum families? They are toxic waste. And now the Government have made it even harder for normal people to get away from such scum scrotes as if you make a report to the police it now shows up on the crime map for your area . Anyone looking to buy a house in your area is going to think Oh-oh! The best thing to do is to keep your head down, avoid contact, keep your possessions well secure and move without creating anything that is discoverable by a potential purchaser of your property carrying out a search meaning they would not even get out of the car if they came around to view. I even lock my bikes when I go out despite them being indoors. I have a few Muvi cams placed discreetly around the house least I am burgled. It all went pear shaped about 9 years ago when a house a few doors down was sold to a frikin' scum housing association and before all the inane comments start, all but one of the tenants (who were a lovely couple who had just come back from Spain to be with their family and were actually looking to buy, but the chap died of bowel cancer. Tragic) have been scum causing awful problems.

Ollieda

dilemna wrote:

I have had a scumbag living nearby for the last 4 -5 years. I daren't take my bikes out when he or family (benefit scroungers) or his acquaitances are outside. I tend to go out really early when they are still in bed and come back late at night when it's dark. My bikes live in the house although I have a garage and a shed. I would NEVER keep a bike in a shed as you are asking for trouble unless you had a cheetah in it.

So when you say there's a scum bag a few doors down from you, I take it he has a well documented history of theft and other crimes and has made it clear he will break into peoples houses to steal their items despite them knowing who he is and you see his family regularly going to the job centre to collect their JSA and other benefits.......or did you mean scumbag in the sense that you just don't like the look of him therefore he must be a nasty criminal and family must be on benefits?

Karl2010

If your getting broken into as often as you say then i think you NEED CCTV

A mate of mine caught 2 chavs trying to brake the stearing lock on his scooter, so they could steel it. He had the Camera indoors pointing at his front garden, dunno what he was using to record but its on You Tube somewhere.

StillGoing

It's wrong to say you can't do anything about problematic neighbours. Where these cases usually fall down is through the reluctance of victims and witnesses to give written evidence. In criminal matters if the case hasn't been dealt with satisfactorily, write to the Chief Constable and tell them. Tell then you'll also be contacting the press locally and nationally. If it's a local authority issue, do the same with their CEO. If it's benefit fraud, my advice is always use the anonimous tip off as the DHSS have too much history of revealing complainant details.

For an insurance company to have staff involved in burglaries relies on them being based locally to the victim. If you live near a call or claims handling centre, then yes maybe, but otherwise, you're verging on paranoia.

mousetoo

Anyway, don't insure your bike under your house insurance policy cause it will cover almost nothing

That's a bit of a sweeping generalisation. I have my bike as a separate named item on my house insurance and teh one time I had a bike nicked the insurance company paid out in full, bar the excess.

StillGoing

mousetoo wrote:

Anyway, don't insure your bike under your house insurance policy cause it will cover almost nothing

That's a bit of a sweeping generalisation. I have my bike as a separate named item on my house insurance and teh one time I had a bike nicked the insurance company paid out in full, bar the excess.

Same here. Named specific item on the household policy. Covers against theft and damage when stored in teh home or when out and about.