Burglary at friends - our bicycle stolen

dfarry

Hi there... I think I know the answer... something along the lines of "Bad luck" but just in case I haven't considered something I'd welcome any suggestions on the following problem...

My wife went out for trip with her friends and kids on their bicycles, having returned my wifes friend offered to take her bike so that her husband could properly adjust the gears. This she did and her husband sorted the gears, the next evening their garage was broken into and their bikes (total cost about £2000) were stolen as well as my wifes (worth just under £500).

This was reported to police by the friend and she also spoke to her insurance company. The insurance company told her that as their bikes were all separately listed on the policy they would be covered, however as my wifes bike was our property and my wife was not staying there at the time then it would not be covered. Obviously everyone feels bad about this, but I wonder if it would have been any different if say it was laptop, or camera had been taken. As far as I am concerned the policyholder had "possession" of the bicycle making it part of the general home contents. I could understand if say the bicycle(s) were away from the home but not when they are in a locked garage that has been forced open.

Unfortunately we do not have cover for the cycle away from the home - it was never left unattended so for our own policy cover at home was sufficient.

Is this just a case of bad luck? my wifes friend has offered to pay some money towards the replacement but it wont cover the full amount... apart from anything else it's a really horrible thing that has happened affecting both of us...

Any thoughts please?

forgotmyname

Its part of the general contents but sounds like their policy had to have bikes listed to be covered.

If its not covered on your policy then it does sound like bad luck.

I had to list bikes on my cover, But i sold my expensive bike and the additional costs to cover the cheaper ones was not worth it.
But when listed it did cover them away from home, But i never read the smallprint on that regarding being left at another property.

System

If I were the friend I think my attitude would depend on the circumstances in which the bike had been left.
If I had let someone leave their bike in my garage as a favour then I would feel it was just bad luck, a bit like a car park with a customers' own risk disclaimer.
But if it had been entrusted to me for some purpose I would feel a moral obligation to pay for its replacement, the same as if I borrowed a book and the dog chewed it, or a car and it scratched it.

stephenni1971

dfarry wrote: »

1 Unfortunately we do not have cover for the cycle away from the home - it was never left unattended so for our own policy cover at home was sufficient.

2 apart from anything else it's a really horrible thing that has happened affecting both of us...

Any thoughts please?

1 You did leave it unattended - it was in your friends garage - so your policy was not sufficient.

2. I the grand scheme of things there are much more horrible things that could happen...

Your friend has been very kind to offer any sort of payment for your loss - for me personally I couldn't accept it as they were not responsible for insuring it.

Perhaps nowis the time to add to cover to your bikes away from

dunstonh

Unfortunately we do not have cover for the cycle away from the home - it was never left unattended so for our own policy cover at home was sufficient.

And that is your bad luck answer you were predicting. You didnt have the cover.

As far as I am concerned the policyholder had "possession" of the bicycle making it part of the general home contents.

They took out insurance to cover their possessions. Not yours. You need to take out insurance to cover yours (in the home and away from home)

ACG

Some policies include items in a garage/shed upto a certain value - can they not make the claim under general cover? This might not be to the tune of £500 (maybe £200 or so) but it might be better than nothing.

A lot depends on their policy and how good it was.

Dangermac

ACG wrote: »

Some policies include items in a garage/shed upto a certain value - can they not make the claim under general cover? This might not be to the tune of £500 (maybe £200 or so) but it might be better than nothing.

A lot depends on their policy and how good it was.

Dont think it really matters how good their policy was.

Their (the friend's) policy is designed to cover their (the freind's) effects/contents. The OP would need to claim on their own policy (if cover exists).

The friend has no insurable interest (financial interest) in the OP's bike. The fact it was stolen from the friend's house is irrelevant - it would still need to be claimed on the OP's policy

DM