Bike insurance scam

aquilaalba

Hi all! Whilst on a quest to cut down costs I've come to a conclusion that a bike would be highly efficient thing to run instead of a car, especially on short runs. How wrong I was - as it turns out.
Bought a cheap Chinese bike (Haotian - in all fairness, had least problems with the bike itself, nice ride), went to insure it and hit a brick wall. No one wants to insure a Chinese import, apart from few dodgy scavengers.
Went with Bike Sure that turned out to be Adrian Flux, that turned out to be Marker Study (well, the underwriters of the policy anyway).

Paid on 24/10 £42.81 initial payment, 22/11 - £30.73 - first installment. Premium according to the policy is set to be £175.42 incl. ins. prem. tax. On top of that is the policy excess protection cover for £39.99 that I was talked into, tried to resist, got beaten in the end

Due to the lovely weather we have around here in Wales I decided to sell the bike, as it wasn't getting enough use, and it took me 5 mins to unlock it all up, 4 mins to lock it back at point B. Then looking out if it's still there every 10 mins.
Phoned the insurance guys, told them I've sold it and been told I'd have to pay £150 for cancelling the policy. Told them I'll get another bike and continue with insurance on it just for the sake of the fee. I was informed that I've got 14 days to update that. After 6 days they've cancelled the insurance (based on 14 days since I said the bike was sold, not since I phoned them - forgot to mention that bit).

I am now given a bill of £158.44 to pay for cancelling the policy. Is this legal? Cause if it is, I'm starting a Chinese bike insurance company. They break long before being stolen or have accident, so I can live of cancellation fees only!

All this comes up to £73.54 already paid and £158.44 to be paid, which gives me £231.98 for a policy for a bike worth £300 that I've had for two months! And I had to buy an approved lock for it (another £40) - this wasn't said either - I was told lock I had was enough, but then found a note in policy documents that I confirm that I have Thatcham / Sold Secure approved lock fitted and I can produce receipt for it once required? (ended up with four different locks on it anyway, but hey...)

Do I have any options here (and I don't mean transfer, cash or plastic...)?

Quentin

All insurers don't cover all bikes or all cars.

You should check out the insurance costs when choosing a new vehicle before you buy it.

If your broker is acting in accordance with the ts & cs there's not a lot of options but if not use their complaints procedure to dispute the charges and escalate if you are not happy with the reply.

Buzby

I've found Bikesure/Flux to be one of the fairest, and ave even with them for years.

As to your problem - you took out an annual policy and chose to pay it up monthly, which costs more. For reasons unrelated to your insurer, you then want to cancel your policy. They then have to calculate the cost for the short period of cover (always expensive) add the cancellation fee (ditto) and then seek any balance owing that was not covered by the payments made.

The fact the bike was Chinese is irrelevant, as was your need for security. Short term insurance is always an expensive game and this needs to be factored in to your costs of abandoning your original plans.

aquilaalba

I agree to that, but had similar situation with my car, which turned out to be a Japanese import - had to close down my policy with Cooperative Insurance and they didn't charge me a penny, actually there was a small refund from last instalment. My brother in law sold a car month ago and had to cancel insurance with Tesco, again, no horrid charge was applied, didn't get a refund as he was into half month between payments and cancellation fee was £15. I can agree to some cancellation fee and to some costs involved, but not cost that go over the whole policy value, this is why I can't go with it. I'll check the T&C, as it's all dodgy - started with BikeSure, ended up with Adrian Flux and Marker Study plus Premium Credit (instalments). Wish I'd know that in the first place.

aquilaalba

BTW: What frightens me is that my car policy is with the same people (Adrian Flux) and asked about that one, to close this one - I'm not, but if I'd chose to - I'd have to pay again, around £160 to cancel. This ain't normal. Been with Swiftcover, Tesco, CIS, Churchill in the past and none of them would charge as much. Again, got stuck as bought a car that turned to be an import and again, no one wants to insure them for some reason - bog standard car from Japan, right hand drive from new, but still.

RaymondTerrific

I'm confused as to why you were prepared to pay £175 to insure a bike only worth £300. If it were me, I'd be happy not to insure it and know that as long as it's not stolen within 2 years, I'm quids in.

BertTheRaccoon

RaymondTerrific wrote: »

I'm confused as to why you were prepared to pay £175 to insure a bike only worth £300. If it were me, I'd be happy not to insure it and know that as long as it's not stolen within 2 years, I'm quids in.

Nice sentiment there, so you are saying that you would basically not bother insuring a motor vehicle you use on the road and hope for the best?

Quentin

BertTheRaccoon wrote: »

Nice sentiment there, so you are saying that you would basically not bother insuring a motor vehicle you use on the road and hope for the best?

Nothing to do with any " nice sentiment"!

Raymond has mistakenly thought the grumble refers to the cost of insurance for a push bike!

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

.......Raymond has mistakenly thought the grumble refers to the cost of insurance for a push bike!

at least one would hope so

forgotmyname

When i was 19 i had a little 1L hatchback. I bought a 3.5L V8 Rover, My insurers fainted and said no way would they cover that car.

I had no option but to cancel and go elsewhere, These things happen.

Shouldnt be any issue covering a chinese bike. They were listed on most of the websites i checked when i got quotes for a bike.
Maybe its your postcode?