Road Bike Insurance Claim

jfrankland1991

I have recently been involved in an accident with a car on my road bike a few weeks ago. Luckily it is covered upon my home insurance upto the value of the bike. My insurer is Bradford and Bingley and they use Legal & General as a broker who then pass the details onto Wheelies bikes in Swansea who specialise with bike claims. It appears that I can get a direct replacement through the bike shop but I would prefer to go through my local bike shop in Gloucester for several reasons. I can get a bike fit included if i go through my LBS and if anything goes wrong I don't have to take it all the way to Swansea.

Does anyone have any experience of going through their home insurance and getting a replacement through Wheelies?

Does anyone have any experience of having a claim through their insurance then getting a replacement through their LBS?

I can't see of any reason why I couldn't go through my LBS as long as I specified this with my insurance but if anyone has any experience or advice then that would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

londoncommuter

Your insurance company may insist you go through Wheelies as they'll have negotiated a discount with them (LV did with me). They'll probably offer a cash alternative but this will have an amount knocked off e.g. you can have a £900 bike from Wheelies or take £700 cash.

Fair enough really as they just want to put you back in the same position as you were before at the lowest cost to them. There was an interesting bit on Money Box the other week though about them insisting on people using only one or two high street jewellers when trying to replace antique or unusual bits that they'd would never be stocked there. Anyway that's completely off topic!

Good luck with your claim and if it helps at all I found the whole process with LV really straightforward and quick (of course they did then ramp my premium up.....).

fast as fupp

assuming the car driver had insurance and they were to blame- why are you claiming thru your own insurance instead of theirs?

injuries?

epo.wks

Your insurer is Legal & General, not the building society.

Sadly, the scenario you find yourself in is what happens when you go for a run of the mill policy when trying to insure something as specialist as a high value bike.

As one poster has quite correctly stated, you need to use Wheelies because L&G have an account with them which provides them with cheaper than average prices in return for a constant flow of business.

If you're happy with having to use Wheelies then you should tell the claim handler. Explain that being restricted to somewhere that is not local to you and that you don't have a relationship with is not treating the customer fairly.

jfrankland1991

So if I went for the cash alternative I would be losing out on £200? I have heard fairly good reviews from Wheelies so I’m not too worried about getting a replacement bike (obviously if they accept that my old one should be written off!). It’s just if I have any problems after that I’m slightly worried about and actually not getting to sit on the bike before it gets delivered.

On top of the claim for my damaged bike I am going through a personal injury claim which is claiming through their insurance.

Well to be honest I am lucky I had my bike insured on my home insurance or else I wouldn’t have been able to get anything at all. I may look into some specific bike insurance after this.

I may go back to Legal & General to say that I would prefer to go through my LBS, whether they agree or not is another matter.

Thanks for the help by the way.

epo.wks

I must ask why you're going though your own insurer and sacrificing any no claims bonus that you've accumulated as opposed to running the claim through the motorists policy?

fwgx

Oddly I am also making an insurance claim through Bradford and Bingley, and then on to L&G and they have passed it on the Wheelies in order to make an assessment of the bike's value for my bike that was stolen. So far I have found them to be very good.

I told the guy at L&G that I wasn't interested in a replacement and I'd want the cash in order to buy the bike from my LBS. He agreed that that was fair and they won't try to force a like-for-like replacement upon me. I made an argument that being 6'5" meant it was really important I get to try the bike on for size. He didn't mind. Just waiting for them to come back and tell me how much I'll get back.

londoncommuter

Yes, I'm a bit confused now. The solicitors claiming against them will be obsessed with personal injury as that's where the money is but just remind them you'd also like to claim for the damage to your bike.

jfrankland1991

Well I hope you are successful with your claim as well, I think I will wait for a decision back from Wheelies as I have sent photos of the damage and also a couple of letters from bike shops saying they consider the bike to be unsafe. Hopefully they will then decide to write the bike off based on this information and send me a new bike.

I decided that claiming on my insurance would be the best way forward at the time and doing the personal injury claim through solicitors, I consider that adding my bike damage to that claim it may become a very long winded process and leave me without a bike for potentially a long period of time

epo.wks

jfrankland1991 wrote:

I decided that claiming on my insurance would be the best way forward at the time and doing the personal injury claim through solicitors, I consider that adding my bike damage to that claim it may become a very long winded process and leave me without a bike for potentially a long period of time

Not quite. Earlier this year, I had a full settlement from a motorists insurance within a week. If liability was admitted by the driver at the scene, then pursue his insurers. If you have a reg number, go to www.askmid.com and it will give you the insurer & policy number so you can report accordingly. You don't need to involve any solicitors in this part, especially as you have various letters form bike shops quoting the bike is unsafe etc.

Alternatively, speak with L&G, explain the situation and ask if they can subrogate from the drivers cover. This means that L&G will pay out to you & then pursue the third parties insurance company for their outlay. If the recovery is a 100% case then it won't affect your renewal.

jfrankland1991

Well unfortunately liability wasn't admitted by the driver at the scene and I do not know if they will or have accepted liability - I haven't spoken to the driver since the accident and just let the solicitors deal with that - I decided that was the best way forward, we all have different ways of dealing things but at the time (bearing in mind this was the first time this had happened to me) I thought it was the best course of action.

Norfolk Hill Champ

Your contract is with Bradford and Bingley and you need to make sure your claim is being settled on the basis that you have been paying for. They can't force you to get a replacement bike through a certain supplier if this leaves you in a worse position financially (the principle of indemnity says that you should be placed in the same position as you were before the loss). If you have the bike insured on a reinstatement basis (it might be called new for old) then you should get enough to replace your bike with a new replacement. Don't let them force you to go through a certain supplier if the settlement doesn't fit the cover you have paid for and in the future get insured by a company that rates highly on customer satisfaction in the event of a claim rather than price*

* Disclaimer - I work for an insurance company that will never be one of the cheapest but regularly rates as one of the best for customer satisfaction.

staglad

I've just used wheelies for a replacement bike after a claim on my insurance.
I found them quite good to deal with. I had a crack on my chainstay(carbon frame) after an accident and sent them photos. The initial response was to say that it probably looked like they'd replace the frame but to send the bike and they'd have a full inspection and go from there. They arranged for a box to be sent to pick up the bike.
The inspection was duly carried out and they said that a number of parts would need replacing and it would be more economical to replace the whole bike and I had so much money(the cost of replacing with an equivalent specced bike) to pick what I wanted from their website(more than I actually paid for the original bike!?).
I chose the new bike and it was delivered the next day. I was also told that my insurance company said that I could have my original bike back for £15 p&p if I wanted, which I did too. Lots of parts on it are still useful.
No complaints from me on the whole process.

mattsccm

First. Can Wheelies supply the same bike? If so why worry. sizing isn't an issue as you already had it.
I had a similar situation while back. Turned out that wheelies couldn't supply anyway so I got retail value.The 200 quid is a vague example of principle.

I might suggest that you get this dead clear first. If claiming from the third party demand the same bikes value in cash then shop around.
If claiming from your insurers then read your terms first. They may state that you have to use their preferred supplier. If thats the case you agreed to it so you live with it.
Of course they may not be able to supply in which case you argue for a local supplier.
check that the bike you are offed is the same spec. Often manufacturers introduce a model and over the years down grade things to keep the price down. Eg it comes you with 105 but drops to Tiagra . Insist on a matching level of spec by which I mean model not just gears. New Tiagra is probably better than 105 of the exposed cable era.
Maybe when you know who is paying and what exact terms you are under you can ask again and get more accurate answers.

MichaelW

the replacement bike should be at least as good as your damaged bike.
If you need seatpost/stem swap for sizing, they should supply the correct ones of equiv quality. You should have a record of your bike fit position (pedal/saddle/bars).
If you made any upgrades (eg tyres/saddle/pedals), make sure the replacement has equiv quality.
Claim for ALL damaged accessories and clothing/equipment.

bernardmcdonald

if a solicitor is handling your PI claim on a no win no fee basis then it is very likely that the motorist (or his insurer) will be liable - solicitors are choosy as to which claims they take on. assuming this is the case then it is completely incomprehensible why you are claiming on your home insurance.

you will give details to your insurers, and they will likely go after the driver's insurer to recover their costs.

the only person losing out here is you having to deal with a bike supplier you'd prefer not to and getting less than you are due out of the transaction.

call your solicitor and consolidate your claims if it's not too late.