Shed Burgled, Insurance company refusing to pay out on an item.

BDB1

Hi,

Here is the scenario:

We have a shed in our enclosed back yard, the shed has a proper mortice lock, 6 weeks ago it was broken into, a drill, sand and mountain bike were taken, plenty of stuff was left such as quite expensive tools and kids bikes.

Obviously we contacted the police who visited, looked over the scene and issued us with a crime reference number.

I contacted our insurance company (Auto Direct - Brit Insurance) who took all the relevant details, who then passed it onto their claims investigation team (Crawfords).

I discussed at length the damage that had been done, what type of shed it is, what type of locks what had been taken etc etc, they then came back to me and asked for pictures of the shed, i obliged.

I was away for 2 weeks and came back to have an email from Crawfords asking me to provide proof of purchase for the Mountain Bike, i couldnt provide this as i purchased it from a friend for cash, the money from our second car sale funded the bike.

I bought the bike on the 12th June of this year, the friend i bought it from said it was only 3.5 months old when sold to me, the reason he sold it was he was going back to afganhistan for quite some months.

I explained this to Crawfords who then came back to me and said that they would require Proof of purchase, i asked my friend who said he didnt have it, his girlfriend bought the bike for him, i told Crawfords this.

Crawfords then asked for my friends contact details so they could contact him and get the purchase details from him directly, i asked my friend if this was ok, he replied that he didnt want to speak to the insurance people, he had enough on his plate etc etc.

I told crawfords this and the lady basically said "no proof of purchase- no pay out", i understand this and have come round to accepting it, however i am a bit narked that i am not being payed out on the bike because i bought an item for cash and my friend (who is now back in afganhistan) wouldnt speak to them.

I know that the bike was fairly expensive (£475 when 3 months old) but i am more than covered on my policy and didnt realise that items where proof of purchase is not available are not covered?

Any thoughts?

withabix

The fact that your friend is being evasive has rightly raised suspicions with the insurance compnay.

It is proof that the bike EXISTED that they want.

As far as they are concerned, the bike never existed and it looks like a fraudulent claim.

Put yourself in their shoes.

All you need to do is get proof of purchase and you will get paid out/get a replacement bike. Get the info from his girlfriend - if she did buy it, she only needs to tell you where from and on what date - the shop will be able to confirm from their records.

From my experience, if you give them the info they want and are entitled to, insurers will pay out.

I bought a bike from Bluecycle.com (when it was still open to general public) for £25, even though it was £300 new. It got damaged whilst on my roof rack and despite only costing £25, the insurers replaced it with a £300 bike.

dacouch

By any chance are Crawfords querying the age of the bike eg was it actually a lot older than 3.5 months old when you bought it ?

BDB1

dacouch wrote: »

By any chance are Crawfords querying the age of the bike eg was it actually a lot older than 3.5 months old when you bought it ?

I dont think they are querying the age at all, like Withabix said they are trying to establish that a bike even existed at all, as i stated in my OP i understand why this is happening its just very frustrating.

I buy a lot of goods second hand, usually from cards in supermarkets or even word of mouth and to find that some of these items may not be insured is quite disconcerting.

For example, the television we bought about 6 months ago is a Panasonic Plasma 42" jobbie, i paid £325 cash for it, it was advertised in a shop window on a card, i rang the chappie up went to take a look and went back and bought it the next day....is the TV insured, there is no way i could provide proof of purchase for it.

geri1965_2

I realise it is too late for you but I recently went around my house taking photos of things and I put the photos up on Facebook. If I was ever burgled, or lost them in a fire and I can't find proof of purchase then there is at least some evidence of their existence.

When I was burgled recently I had four watches stolen and I could only find purchase receipts for two. I found the manual for another, and a picture of the remaining one although the loss adjuster didn't actually ask to see the picture, he just accepted my word for them.