Insurance: bike provided by insurance company

My insurance company (Prudential) is replacing my bike (an ~8 year old Raleigh Pioneer Spirit
hybrid) after it was written off following a front brake cable snapping on a steep hill resulted in
an apparently spectacular collision as I freewheeled straight into a passing car at the T-junction
at the bottom.

Rather than simply dish out some sum of money (bike was L300 originally but that was with lock,
pannier rack, mudguards & lights which are all recoverable) the deal seems to be that some other
company Prudential deals with will supply me with a "suitable replacement" (but so far I haven't
heard from them).

Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
everything work out OK ?

Thanks for any advice Tim

 

In article <[email protected]>, Tim Day
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
> everything work out OK ?

They will normally offer you a "replacement" from a company who gives them the biggest discount.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village http://www.sandymillport.fsnet.co.uk

 

Tim Day <[email protected]> wrote:
>My insurance company (Prudential) is replacing my bike (an ~8 year old Raleigh Pioneer Spirit
>hybrid) after it was written off following a front brake cable snapping on a steep hill resulted in
>an apparently spectacular collision as I freewheeled straight into a passing car at the T-junction
>at the bottom.

Was your rear brake not operational, or simply not adequate to the conditions?

[That's not a criticism - the maximum braking of a rear brake is rather limited.]
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Kill the tomato!

 

>Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
>everything work out OK ?

It's a fairly normal thing for an insurance company to do. They have contracts with suppliers so
they can get substantial discounts. Plus, it is one of the things they do to help prevent fraud
(again saving money) - the sort of thing where peopl put in a claim for something they haven't lost,
because they want some money. It happens. The insurance company may well try to offer you something
it thinks is "suitable" but you don't - be prepared to argue your case. Remember, insurance
companies do like to get your money but sometimes they don't like to pay out

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
Clean up the waste & get rid of the trapped wind to send a reply

Any speeliong mistake$ aR the resiult of my cats sitting on the keyboaRRRDdd
~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Tim Day" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
> everything work out OK ?

A few years ago our shed was broken into and my son's 2nd-hand Marin Palisades Trail was stolen. It
must have been 3 or 4 years old and I think he paid around GBP120 for it. The insurance arranged for
a replacement as you described and he was chuffed to bits with his shiny new latest model (list
price at the time was over GBP500). I hope you get a similar result.

Mike

 

If your insurance company uses a supplier called "Wheelies Direct" then take care. They may know
about mountain bikes, but they sure as hell never had a clue about road bikes when mine was stolen,
and even fitted the dynamo to the chain stay, as well as trying to fit very wide mountain bike
mudguards on a road bike when the everntually delivered it, some three months late, and only after I
had refused to deal with them anymore, and handed the whole thing back to the ins co. They also
tried to palm me off with a totally unsuitable replacement to start with.

Cheers

Rich "Tim Day" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> My insurance company (Prudential) is replacing my bike (an ~8 year old Raleigh Pioneer Spirit
> hybrid) after it was written off following a front brake cable snapping on a steep hill resulted
> in an apparently spectacular collision as I freewheeled straight into a passing car at the
> T-junction at the bottom.
>
> Rather than simply dish out some sum of money (bike was L300 originally but that was with lock,
> pannier rack, mudguards & lights which are all recoverable) the deal seems to be that some other
> company Prudential deals with will supply me with a "suitable replacement" (but so far I haven't
> heard from them).
>
> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
> everything work out OK ?
>
> Thanks for any advice Tim

 

On Thu, 8 May 2003 16:59:04 +0100, "Richard Burton" <[email protected]> in
<[email protected]> wrote:

>If your insurance company uses a supplier called "Wheelies Direct" then take care. They may know
>about mountain bikes, but they sure as hell never had a clue about road bikes when mine was stolen,
>and even fitted the dynamo to

Agreed in part. Wheelies originally tried to palm me off with a bike with a similar model number,
trying to convince me that it would be better. Seeing as my bike came with mudguards, dynamo lights
and 700C rims, and the model they tried to give me came without mudguards, dynamo light and ran 26"
wheels, I didn't see eye to eye with them.

However once they understood that I wasn't a spotty teenager who just needed a bike for a paper
round, they changed their attitude and came up with a non-identical but nevertheless an excellent
replacement.

I think like many "over-the-phone" companies, they will try and get away with whatever they can.

Love and hugs from Rich x

--
Two fish suddenly swim into a brick wall. Damn! To reply put only the word "richard" before
the @ sign

 

On Thu, 08 May 2003 05:57:39 +0100, David Damerell wrote:

> Was your rear brake not operational, or simply not adequate to the conditions?

It was pretty worn down, something not helped by a a kink in the wheel which seemed to have been
getting progressively worse over the last few months. Only a few days before I was thinking it was
about time to book the thing in for a service.

Tim

 

In news[email protected], Tim Day
<[email protected]> typed:
> My insurance company (Prudential) is replacing my bike (an ~8 year old Raleigh Pioneer Spirit
> hybrid) after it was written off following a front brake cable snapping on a steep hill resulted
> in an apparently spectacular collision as I freewheeled straight into a passing car at the
> T-junction at the bottom.

Yep. I had my main bike stolen a few weeks ago, and a company called CRC has been charged by the
insurers to replace it. They seem very keen, and happy to get anything we (another bike was stolen,
too) want up to the value claimed for, as long as it's by one of the companies who they deal with
(Dawes, Raleigh, Scott, Giant & Saracen), including getting just one bike for the whole cost.

I'll see how they end up delivering when I've decided what fits my needs best, though. I'm after an
undesirable (to thieves) workhorse that I can use for longer rides, too, for up to about 550 quid,
if anyone can suggest anything from any of those companies. Dynamoes, mudguards, etc are necessary,
and a brooks saddle & carradice saddlebag, should probably also come out of that price, too.

Suggestions gratefully received,

Ambrose

 

>Rich "Tim Day" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news[email protected]...
>> My insurance company (Prudential) is replacing my bike (an ~8 year old Raleigh Pioneer Spirit
>> hybrid) after it was written off following a front brake cable snapping on a steep hill resulted
>> in an apparently spectacular collision as I freewheeled straight into a passing car at the
>> T-junction at the bottom.
>>
>> Rather than simply dish out some sum of money (bike was L300 originally but that was with lock,
>> pannier rack, mudguards & lights which are all recoverable) the deal seems to be that some other
>> company Prudential deals with will supply me with a "suitable replacement" (but so far I haven't
>> heard from them).
>>
>> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
>> everything work out OK ?
>>
>> Thanks for any advice Tim
>>
>
>
In article <[email protected]>, Richard Burton
<[email protected]> writes
>If your insurance company uses a supplier called "Wheelies Direct" then take care. They may know
>about mountain bikes, but they sure as hell never had a clue about road bikes when mine was stolen,
>and even fitted the dynamo to the chain stay, as well as trying to fit very wide mountain bike
>mudguards on a road bike when the everntually delivered it, some three months late, and only after
>I had refused to deal with them anymore, and handed the whole thing back to the ins co. They also
>tried to palm me off with a totally unsuitable replacement to start with.
>
>Cheers
(Top post cut & pasted to the bottom for readability) I can echo the difficulties with Wheelies
Direct. I had a terrible time between them and the ins co concerning the bent frame on my tourer.
They know naff all about road bikes.
--
Peter Grange

Remove crude spam trap to reply

 

> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
> everything work out OK ?
>
> Thanks for any advice Tim
OT but my video got struck by lightning, and being black, which they are not nowadays I could not
get a replacement unless it was silver. The "chosen " firm who replaces stuff for the insurance
company would not fork out for a Sony as it was too expensive (£20 LESS than I paid for the original
vid). I eventually found a black one on the web, phoned the insurance company and they were only too
pleased to send me a cheque. My advice is to ignore the wide boy replacement company and write
direct to the insurance company explaining that you want what was lost replaced with the same thing.
My previous experience with bikes is that it depends on who handles the claim, sometimes all you
need is a page out of a catalogue with new bike + price and as long as it looks similar they will
stump up.(make sure you use Evans catalogue MIAOWW!)

 

On Wed, 07 May 2003 20:48:25 +0100, contributor Tim Day had scribed:
> Rather than simply dish out some sum of money (bike was L300 originally but that was with lock,
> pannier rack, mudguards & lights which are all recoverable) the deal seems to be that some other
> company Prudential deals with will supply me with a "suitable replacement" (but so far I haven't
> heard from them).
>
> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
> everything work out OK ?
>

Be very, very careful. Insist that the machine was delivered ready to ride and checked by a ACT
(Association of Cycle Traders) registered supplier who make the delivery, just as your original
bicycle was.

If you are member of a cycling club (CTC or BCF - the latter may have changed name), discounts may
be available had at some local bicycle shops, just find one and mention to the insurance company
that you can

just persuade the payment department to write a cheque in your favour (or that of a nominated
bicycle shop) instead of an unknown third party.

Gary

--

The email address is for newsgroups purposes only and therefore unlikely to be read.

For contact via email use my real name with an underscore separator at the domain of CompuServe.

 

I may be wrong about this but I was under the impression that the insurance company was bound under
regulations to return you to the position you were in with regards to you bicycle pre incident,
therefore you have the right to insist on a direct replacement, fully functional and ready to go, or
a cash settlement that allows you to return yourself to this point, at the discretion of the
insurance company. But whichever, do not be afraid to argue the point.

Ian

> From: Gary Knighton <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling
> Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:02:52 +0100 Subject: Re: Insurance: bike provided by insurance company
>
> On Wed, 07 May 2003 20:48:25 +0100, contributor Tim Day had scribed:
>> Rather than simply dish out some sum of money (bike was L300 originally but that was with lock,
>> pannier rack, mudguards & lights which are all recoverable) the deal seems to be that some other
>> company Prudential deals with will supply me with a "suitable replacement" (but so far I haven't
>> heard from them).
>>
>> Has anyone here been in a similar position ? Were you offered some complete piece of junk or did
>> everything work out OK ?
>>
>
> Be very, very careful. Insist that the machine was delivered ready to ride and checked by a ACT
> (Association of Cycle Traders) registered supplier who make the delivery, just as your original
> bicycle was.
>
> If you are member of a cycling club (CTC or BCF - the latter may have changed name), discounts may
> be available had at some local bicycle shops, just find one and mention to the insurance company
> that you can

> just persuade the payment department to write a cheque in your favour (or that of a nominated
> bicycle shop) instead of an unknown third party.
>
> Gary
>
> --
>
> The email address is for newsgroups purposes only and therefore unlikely to be read.
>
> For contact via email use my real name with an underscore separator at the domain of CompuServe.