Insurance - tips/proof of bike purchase?

oxford_guy · Post by **oxford_guy** » 27 Jan 2009, 12:41pm

I need to sort out some insurance for my bike *and* the flat I'm renting, which I share with a friend. I've heard that specific bike insurance often isn't worth it, but was wondering:

1) Which general home contents insurers are good for bike insurance (i.e. will pay out without imposing ridiculous conditions) whilst still being not overly expensive?

2) Whether the fact that I can't find any proof of my bike purchase (i.e. receipt) will be a problem? I've contacted the bike shop where I bought it from, in case they had records, but their hard disc crashed last year and lost all older sales data... :-(

Does anyone have any tips for proving ownership?

I was also thinking of tagging the bike with an Immobitag http://www.immobitag.com/uk/ to aid recovery, if the bike is stolen - I actually had my bike stolen recently, but amazingly recovered it more or less unharmed (long story), but actually *proving* that it was my bike was quite tricky!

Thanks

gbnz · Post by **gbnz** » 27 Jan 2009, 1:31pm

Ask the bikeshop to provide a duplicate receipt, hand written if necessary, take a photograph of the bike and you, scan and store both on an internet based document storage provider (Email accounts will do, I.e. hotmail, gmail, yahoo or office.com). Particularly useful if you're abroad, as all you have to do is connect online via someones computer/net connection

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 27 Jan 2009, 3:46pm

I don't think that insurance companies are over-concerned about you proving it is your property, especially if it is something you have named on the policy, but rather they seem worried about claims being inflated by reports of imaginary property being stolen. I've helped people with burglary claims where they have ended up using pictures from their family album with the relevant item in the background to prove that it existed. A good photo inventory of your decent stuff is always worth while and it is useful for the police to circulate, especially if the property has a distinctive appearance.

It is always likely to be difficult to prove the ownership of recovered stolen property if ownership is disputed. Even having a detailed receipt is only evidence that at sometime you bought the item, not that you had not subsequently disposed of it.

If the ownership cannot be resolved, there are ways under the Police Property Act for a magistrates' court to be asked to decide, or proceedings can be started in the County Court for higher value stuff (but I cannot remember the name of the procedure. :oops:

)

It's my impression that the various tracker systems for bikes are OK in theory but in practice the low priority given to reuniting lost / found property with the owner means that it is not particularly successful.

pete75 · Post by **pete75** » 27 Jan 2009, 4:00pm

thirdcrank wrote: A good photo inventory of your decent stuff is always worth while and it is useful for the police to circulate, especially if the property has a distinctive appearance.

.

A jest surely?
Round here it's a real effort to get a crime number for a burglary never mind any attempt at investigation or recovery of goods.

pal · Post by **pal** » 27 Jan 2009, 6:07pm

When my last bike was nicked the insurance company were happy to have photos as proof of ownership. (Actually, I think they were a bit surprised at the number of photos I had of my lamented pride and joy... ) The bike was data-tagged too, and registered with immobilise.com, but no-one -- including the police -- seemed particularly interested in that.

I was then, and still am, insured with the Co-op (as part of my home contents insurance): they cover bikes up to £1000 (per bike), in and out of the house. If (/when) the worst happens, they arrange the replacement through Evans, or allow you to sort it out directly with your local bike shop (rather than trying to fob you off with some dodgy internet discount job, as happens with some other insurers). They're not the cheapest, I suspect, but the service is good.

oxford_guy · Post by **oxford_guy** » 27 Jan 2009, 7:07pm

pal wrote:When my last bike was nicked the insurance company were happy to have photos as proof of ownership. (Actually, I think they were a bit surprised at the number of photos I had of my lamented pride and joy... ) The bike was data-tagged too, and registered with immobilise.com, but no-one -- including the police -- seemed particularly interested in that.

I was then, and still am, insured with the Co-op (as part of my home contents insurance): they cover bikes up to £1000 (per bike), in and out of the house. If (/when) the worst happens, they arrange the replacement through Evans, or allow you to sort it out directly with your local bike shop (rather than trying to fob you off with some dodgy internet discount job, as happens with some other insurers). They're not the cheapest, I suspect, but the service is good.

Thanks for the tip, though am considering getting a tourer at some point, which could well be over £1k...

oxford_guy · Post by **oxford_guy** » 29 Jan 2009, 10:42am

I've rung about 4 insurance companies so far, including M & S and Norwich Union, but they all seem to have a problem with the fact that I share my rented flat with a friend (who incidentally has her own contents insurance through Adrian Flux, but I've no idea what they're like for bike cover) - they're saying I either need to put her on the policy (which I don't want to do) or go on hers (which she doesn't want to do) - duh!!! What's so difficult about us having our own policies?! Grrr....

I might try Endsleigh, as I remember them being quite flexible about contents insurance back in my student days. Does anyone else know any other insurance companies who have good bike cover, but are also flexible about living arrangements?

geocycle · Post by **geocycle** » 29 Jan 2009, 11:41am

oxford_guy wrote:I've rung about 4 insurance companies so far, including M & S and Norwich Union, but they all seem to have a problem with the fact that I share my rented flat with a friend (who incidentally has her own contents insurance through Adrian Flux, but I've no idea what they're like for bike cover) - they're saying I either need to put her on the policy (which I don't want to do) or go on hers (which she doesn't want to do) - duh!!! What's so difficult about us having our own policies?! Grrr....

I might try Endsleigh, as I remember them being quite flexible about contents insurance back in my student days. Does anyone else know any other insurance companies who have good bike cover, but are also flexible about living arrangements?

Try Environmental Transport Association (ETA). They seem like very sensible people, have few restrictions and offer a recovery service, no-claims discount, etc. Stand alone policies come in at around 10-20% of the bike value depending where you live but have the advantage of not affecting your house insurance should you need to claim.