Insurance: “garage” defined over the phone but nowhere in writing

SouthLondonUser

I can't answer your question because I have no idea whatsoever how people declare shared garages (or whatever you want to call them) when insuring their bikes. And, even if I did, it would be totally completely utterly irrelevant, because, again, the question was not: "what do most people do?" but "has there been any dispute on this and, if yes, how did it end?"

paddyandstumpy

SouthLondonUser wrote: »

I can't answer your question because I have no idea whatsoever how people declare shared garages (or whatever you want to call them) when insuring their bikes. And, even if I did, it would be totally completely utterly irrelevant, because, again, the question was not: "what do most people do?" but "has there been any dispute on this and, if yes, how did it end?"

I would suspect most people declare them as a secure carpark, as that tends to be an option on the aggregator sites for cars (so I assume motorbikes too).

By all means take the risk for the discount, if you want; and challenge it with the Insurer, FOS and Court if it ever came to it.

As posted it's doubtful there is precedent already on this as it's not likely to have been challenged before.

What is the difference in price if you declared it's a shared private carpark rather than a garage?

SouthLondonUser

£180 garage, £480 on the road. The bike is worth around £4 - 4.5k.

Also, confused.com only gives 3 options: driveway, locked garage, road. Of these 3, I'd say "locked garage" is the closest.

AdrianC

That says a massive amount about relative theft risks...


I'd be explaining the situation to the broker(s), and asking their advice.

SouthLondonUser

AdrianC wrote: »

That says a massive amount about relative theft risks...

Potentially but not necessarily. I have seen lots of anomalies with insurance quotes that don't make any sense. I have given up trying to understand - I have simply come to terms with the fact that these black box algorithms will spit out lots of nonsensical prices.

Last year there was no difference between garage vs road. This year one insurer quoted a higher price declaring the GPS tracker than without; another one quoted £6,000 for TPFT (my bike is worth ca. £4k) and £200 for third party only. Another one quoted only a £10 difference between garage and road (£490 and £500). Oh, and a rare but not incredibly powerful machine (an MV Agusta) was twice as much more expensive to insure than more expensive and more powerful superbikes (RR, R1, etc.) - TPFT only.

dacouch

What matters is exactly how the question about the garage is worded along with any explanations that accompany it.

Post this for us to give an informed answer

SouthLondonUser

I did. I posted the definitions of two insurers in post #4.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5820899
Ramasis specifies "private garage". Devitt does not.

dacouch

Two other Insurers is irrelevant, what matters is the EXACT wording of the question your own insurer asked you

Herzlos

Can you describe this shared garage to us? Is it a separate building? Does it have a locking door (with all 12 properties having keys?) or a barrier?
I'm struggling to picture what a communal garage is and how it differs from a secure car park.

Unless you can get them to submit something in writing, or have any evidence that you are keeping in a garage, I'd be looking elsewhere.

Car_54

The definition may not be in writing, but you seem to have been told exectly what it means (or in this case, doesn't mean). Doesn't that explanation (which no doubt was recorded) form part of your contract?