Slight differences in models

lisyloo

My question is - would you be insured if there are slight differences in the model numbers of your vehicle and insurance e.g. colour.

Our situation is that we are trying to buy multi-bike/multi-rider insurance.
This is so that a married couple can share vehicles.
A common requirement on cars but quite difficult to satisfy on bikes.

We have only found one company to quote so far and that's ebikeinsurance. The problem is that they do not have the exact model version. We have an SE (special edition) which is blue and we have modified with a top box. They have the EE (extended edition listed) which is red and comes with a top box as standard.
We have of course been trying to contact them but they are quite difficult to deal with because they are an on-line company who don't have phone numbers for customer service and only deal with emails. They have sent some unnecessary replies e.g. asking for information that was already provided and also taken their time, meanwhile the deadline is looming.
What would the situation be if we specified a slightly different model number where the only difference is paint colour?
Would a refusal to pay out a claim be thrown out by the ombudsman?

Unfortunately there is no mirroring of NCB in the bike world, so our only alternative is to take out a third policy with zero NCB. We each already have our own NCB but that would be exhausted on two bikes.

Thanks in advance

BTW - we have already sent ebike a complaint about their email handling, but thta doesn't help with the immediate problem of getting a policy started very shortly.

Just_Some_Guy

It does matter. Insurance companies have big lists of all possible vehicles and if yours isn't available to select it usually means they simply don't want to cover your bike for whatever reason, usually to do with engine size or attractiveness to thieves. It could just be an oversight on their part but you can't take this for granted.

The ombudsman covers many things but not customers deliberately providing false information. So fibbing about your exact bike model could land you in hot water if the insurance company decides to get funny about the incorrect bike model at claim time.

lisyloo

Thanks for your advice.
We are not fibbing :-) - but I understand what you mean - it's called deliberate non-disclousre.
We are desperately doing our best to contact an insurer who is not very responsive.
This does beg the question of why would you want to go with such an insurer, but in this case they are the only one who offers the feature we want which is very simply for a married couple to share a vehicle.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

My question is - would you be insured if there are slight differences in the model numbers of your vehicle and insurance............... What would the situation be if we specified a slightly different model number......

All the time and contributions you make here in the knowledge that you must have the correct particulars on your policy otherwise the insurance can be voided and a claim rejected, and you ask this one????

You need it from them in writing that your model is covered by your policy!