Insurance trouble

pnicholls

Hi guys,

Recently bought my 1st road bike (Giant Defy 2 2011). Managed about 30 miles before ending up in a ditch trying to avoid an oncoming car!.

Anyway I'm hoping someone can shed some light upon what I can expect from my insurance. The bike is covered on my contents insurance, happy days, or so I thought. The insurance company want to use their supplier (Wheelies) but they can't supply the original Giant parts (carbon forks, wheel, saddle). They have offered me a mix of new parts from various brands. This is obviously altering the look of the bike which I'm not happy about.

I've been able to source the Giant parts myself and received a quote for the work from a Giant dealer which is more than the quote from Wheelies. The insurer is saying they will only pay up to the amount of the Wheelies quote, hence leaving me out of pocket unless I opt for their original offer.

Has anyone any experience of a similar situation? Should I insist on the repair using the original Giant parts?

Hope you can help so I can get back on the road soon.

Cheers
Pete

Slow Downcp

It depends on your policy - if you have new for old/like for like insurance then it should be original spec parts. If you have "replacement cost" then as long as the parts being offered are a comparable spec then they are within their rights to offer the Wheelies option.

tmg

If you can source the parts then why can't wheelies? If they are your insurers preferred dealer then surely they are used to having to repair bikes from all manufacturers.

I'd be pushing the insurer, if the bike is still covered by warrenty then that will be invalidated if you put non Giant parts back onto the bike.

thescouselander

What insurance policy have you got - might be handy if we could look at the policy wording.

Rouge Penguin

Will they cut a cheque for the cost?

Then do it yourself.

sungod

check the policy wording

unless it explicitly states that replacement is *not* as new (for example it offers "equivalent" instead), then you should expect replacement with identical items as long as they are commercially available - if the policy is ambiguous, then by law you should expect a reasonable interepretation in your favour (they wrote the contract, it's their fault if it is ambiguous)

i went through the wheelies thing with my insurer about a year ago, someone pulled out in front of me, it caused about 2000 quid of damage to bike and clothing

the insurer wanted me to use wheelies, i tried, but quickly decided i wasn't happy with this

called the insurer, in a polite but firm discussion, i said:

i) i want the damaged items replaced with identical, it's not my fault if wheelies can't supply

ii) i'm not willing to let wheelies do the work because when i talked to them on the phone i had no confidence that they knew what was involved, and as they were not an approved dealer for my bike they'd invalidate my warranty

iii) i'm perfectly willing to let wheelies confirm the price of the items to be replaced, and i sent the insurer a list of these, also i gave photographic evidence of damage, and said if they want me to, i'll send the stuff to them to check i'm not fibbing

they just agreed to pay, next day the money went into my bank account, nothing went via wheelies

btw this was m&s

pnicholls

Thanks for you replies. It looks likely that I'll go down the route as described above. My insurance states:

How we will settle your claim
Most insurance companies can get discounts on replacing items. This helps to control claim costs and therefore premiums charged. It is at our option that we will:
pay the cost of repair;
replace the item as new; or
pay the cost of replacing the item as new. (This may be restricted to the discounted replacement price we would normally pay.)
If your claim is for loss or damage to household linen, clothing or pedal cycles, we will take off an amount for wear and tear.
If the cost of replacing all the contents as new (less an allowance for wear and tear for household linen, clothing or pedal cycles) is greater than the insured value shown on your Statement of Insurance, we will pay only that proportion of the loss which the insured value bears to the total value of the contents insured.

Only states as new and not equivalent which is what Wheelies are offering. Am I being dumb or should I be entitled to get the bike back to its original condition?!

Cheers
Pete

thescouselander

I woud have thought if they were to return the item to an as new condition they would have to use parts that meet the same specification as the originals - I would argue that specification would include the paint scheme and look - ie the proper giant parts..

If the insurer wont play ball you need to raise a complaint with them - make it clear you are raising a complaint and state your case. Once you go through the complaint process they will make a final decision. If that decision doesn't go your way you could try to escalate your case though the Financial Ombudsman Service. Hopefully it wont come to that though.

rafletcher

Rouge Penguin wrote:

Will they cut a cheque for the cost?

Then do it yourself.

rarely happens - too much fraud happens that way, that's wht approved repairers are used.