Insurance company want me to pay for Crime Report

geri1965_2

stevemarsh1976 wrote: »

The arguement ive had from some insurers is its up to the policyholder to prove forciable or violent conduct (which is normally the clause on theft they are trying to establish) and a police report goes someway to providing that evidence.

I dont necessarily agree with it but I understand the concept.

As for other costs loss adjusters etc, well in essence the policy holder does. Spiralling claims costs is seeing a rise in insurance premiums right accross the board, loss adjuster fees are part and parcel of the claims costs. Not what you were getting at I know but its something many people dont take into consideration.

Yes, but have the insurers you refer to asked the policyholder to pay for the police report? If so, I would be very interested to know which insurers are asking this, so I can avoid them when my policies are up for renewal.

duffpaddy

I think this is why I'm finding the whole thing quite confusing. I would have thought that accessing a police report was a fairly common enquiry that insurers have to make so why can't I just give my consent for a Subject Access Request (SAR) and let them get on with it. It's their investigation afterall.

Perfect example is when I've taken out 1-day car insurance. I get on the phone to the insurer, they get the DVLA online in a conference call, the DVLA ask me to consent to an SAR, I agree, DVLA passes info onto insurer - job done.

This insurer wants me contact my local police station, ask them to send me my crime report, pay the fee to get the report and then send the report to the insurer. This does not seem right. And I cannot believe for a second that every insurance company asks this of their policy holders to do this. When I asked my local police station about it they said thay I shouldn't have to do this as this information should be accessed by the insurance company themselves via the ICO. I can't find any information on the internet to back this up however.

Essentially, my insurer doesn't believe my version of events so they want to investigate my claim. It's their investigation, I've provided all my evidence, photographs and crime reference number so if they wish to corroborate it, they should pay for it.

Regarding the bike lock, I checked that the lock that I bought was one that the insurer recognised as a gold standard lock which cost around £80. I also added a front wheel lock as well which cost £30 and I am intending to claim for both. What's annoying is that if my bike had been taken off the street, my insurer would have paid out weeks ago as it would just be a theft. However, because it was in the basement of my building (and therefore safer?) it's considered a burglary so they now need to investigate it. For all I know, a neighbour or one of the on-site builders could have taken my bike and therefore didn't need to force entry. I don't care who too it, I just want to get back on the road!!

geri1965_2

duffpaddy wrote: »

They state that I should pay for the crime report because of the following condition in my insurance policy:

"All loses must be backed up by receipts for the insured property or for any costs incurred. The receipts must show the date, price paid, details of the item and name and address of the seller. You must provide valuations, reports, evidence, information etc. at your own expense if we request them."

This seems bonkers however as this condition clearly applies to information directly related to the insured item

I'm quoting this because I think you are right. I think some dweeb at the insurance company doesn't understand this point. Have you spoken to anyone higher up?

duffpaddy

Btw - the insurer I am with is The Equine and Livestock Insurance Co. Ltd (E&L) and they are quite frankly appalling so I would urge anyone considering using them to steer well clear.

Their bike insurance was cheap however there was a reason for this. The speed at which they process claims is woeful and their communication is appalling. I've never received a reply to any email/letter I've sent and they often refuse to put anything in writing after I've discussed it over the phone with them. 8 weeks after reporting my bike stolen, they've only now got round to asking me for the police report. It's embarrassing.

Once I've sorted this claim, I'll never use them again as I'd rather pay a little more and know that my bike is actually covered. Will probably use a contents insurance provider and then add a cycle policy to it as my friend has done. He has had two bikes stolen in London and on both occasions he was back on the road within two weeks of the theft. You have to pay for peace of mind unfortunately!!

duffpaddy

@geri1965

Not spoken to anyone higher up just yet. After the rather cryptic yet vague email I received from them yesterday I sent one back asking them to spell out exactly what they require me to do, the reasons why I need to do it and to identify how much they want in fees and who I need to make it payable to.

So far I have received two different stories from them after speaking to them on the phone so I want something in writing which is clear and precise so I can at least take it to the insurance ombudsman or something.

geri1965_2

Oh dear - that is really bad news, E&L are well known for trying to get out of paying claims (do a search on here or on Google and you will see what I mean).

I think you will have some difficulty in getting them to budge on the issue and you will have to threaten to report them to the Ombudsman (I think you can only do this once you have exhaused their own complaints procedure but no doubt someone else will be able to confirm this).

I had my bike insured under my household contents with Aviva and it was sorted out very quickly when it was stolen, although in view of the excess (£100) and the bike being worth only £300, I now have a seperate bike policy with Cycleguard. It is more expensive but there is no excess.

duffpaddy

Actually for those who are in the insurance trade, can you clarify the following:

The insurance company are trying to obtain my crime report because they want to check that forcible entry was used. I've already stated that there wasn't any forcible entry (that I am aware of) so if they police report confirms this, will they reject my claim?

The basement of my building is a communal area which all occupants of the building have access to but there are immovable bike stands for people to chain their bikes to flickr.com/photos/7948204@N04/4476506650.

I'm not casting aspersions but doesn't that very fact mean that the bike could have been stolen by other means other than forcible entry? 6 bikes were taken in total when they nicked my bike so they knew what they were doing....

duffpaddy

Great - I had a choice between Cycleguard and E&L and I chose E&L.

My awesome intuition strikes again!!

geri1965_2

It depends on the wording of the policy. I had a quick look at the wording on an NFU policy (as an example) and they cover bikes stolen from a locked building or "securely locked to something which cannot be moved".

duffpaddy

I'm hoping that is the case but I'm just a worried that they are going to try and wriggle out of this by saying that no forcible entry was used.

Found this document on the web btw: http://www.abi.org.uk/Information/24818.pdf

Under section 4 it seems to indicate that the fees should be absorbed by the insurer and not the insured particularly point 17.

It's not really explicit enough unfortunately but might just try quoting some of this stuff back at them and see what happens.