Bike stolen - I am not happy

dacouch

Actually I miss read their policy, it says for cover to be operative away from home the bike has to either be in a "building" or securel locked to an immovable item.

Are you sure you don't have personal possession cover / separate cover specifying the bikes as they are not covered otherwise.

If the claim is for a lowish amount eg £300ish they may well not bother looking into it properly and pay the claim irrespective

rev_henry

Well, the bike was in a building. I think they've decided that the hallway is part of the confines of my home, that seemed to be what the woman I spoke to went away to check when I phoned, and came back to say I'm definitely covered. Do you know if its likely they'll turn around and say I'm not covered at this stage?

dacouch

In theory they could decline it, however if it's for a lowish amount their is a good chance they won't now.

Here is the Aviva definition of your home "Home
The house or flat and its outbuildings,
used only for domestic purposes."

Their Policy has the following restrictions to theft cover.

"if You live in a self-contained flat and
the theft is from any part of the
building that other people have access
to; or

if You live in a non-self-contained flat,
unless someone has broken into or
out of the Building by using force and
violence or has got into the Building
by deception

rev_henry

Had a call this evening from iVal, who apparently sort out claims for Aviva. He confirmed all the accessories I had on the bike and said the bike team would contact me in a day or two to sort out a replacement. Hopefully I'll be able to negotiate for a cash settlement instead because if they replaced it I'd have an extra bike I now don't need and I'd presumably have to pay the £60 excess for it. According to this I should be able to anyway:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

Them declining the claim looks highly unlikely now, fortunately.

dacouch

I would let Ival replace the bike and then sell it, if you push for cash they will refer it back to Aviva to deal with. The chances are the handler won't know the ombudsmans guidance on cash settlements or will not have the authoriy so will refer it to someone more senior to handle. This increases the chance of them investigating further

rev_henry

iVal inform me they are now waiting on an email back from Aviva to proceed with sorting out a replacement (which I don't want - probably should tell them). They're just taking ages to get back to them. Which is annoying because its looking like they won't sort me out until after I go back to uni next week, when I need the bike.

bigjl

You could always keep the new bike at your non term residence, then you have a spare bike.

One thing on getting cash instead of the bike, they will have negitiated preferential prices from their suppliers so you may not get as much as you think in cash, they have to give you new for old, but not full cash value.

Also a lot of Insurance companies eye a person wanting cash rather than the insured possesion replaced with a little bit of suspicion.

Not saying this applies to you, just something I have noticed over the years.

Scooby_Doo.

bigjl wrote: »

Also a lot of Insurance companies eye a person wanting cash rather than the insured possesion replaced with a little bit of suspicion.

Not saying this applies to you, just something I have noticed over the years.

Do you work in insurance then or is that just from chatting down the local?

rev_henry

bigjl wrote: »

You could always keep the new bike at your non term residence, then you have a spare bike.

One thing on getting cash instead of the bike, they will have negitiated preferential prices from their suppliers so you may not get as much as you think in cash, they have to give you new for old, but not full cash value.

Also a lot of Insurance companies eye a person wanting cash rather than the insured possesion replaced with a little bit of suspicion.

Not saying this applies to you, just something I have noticed over the years.

I could... but then I'd have to pay £60 (excess) for a bike I don't really want which is probably not as good as the secondhand one I've just bought. I don't mind them giving me a little less in cash than the value of a new bike, iyswim, because I spent so little on the new secondhand one.
This makes for interesting reading:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/10/oct-repair-replace-cash.htm

rev_henry

Had a call from aviva yesterday to say I'm not covered, the first person I spoke to was wrong, surprise surprise. So I asked to follow their complaints procedure (about 3 times before she agreed to!), specifically stating I wasn't unhappy because they told me what I didn't want to hear, but that I was annoyed that they took over 3 weeks to say no, and that they and ival claim not to have received emails from each other, which is neither here nor there, its their problem if they decide to outsource claims handling.

Meanwhile I MAY be covered under my mothers policy as it covers 'pedal cycles away from the home'. Rang last night but they seemed totally amateurish, they're calling back today. The only thing is it says its new for old blah blah EXCEPT in the case of pedal cycles where something will be taken off for depreciation. Does this mean they'll only give me £30 or something ridiculous for my old bike? They were so incompetent they couldn't answer that last night, I dread to think what would have happened if my house had burnt down or something.