Thistle Insurance refuses to pay out for bike thefts on technicality

My 4 bikes are hung high up inside a room deep inside the house, on steel mounts which are bolted into 3 foot deep concrete walls with 4" long concrete bolts. The bikes are then locked onto the steel mounts with a combination of short length high security motorbike d-locks, bicycles d-locks and cables.

To remove these locks, you'd need to get 4-5 foot up off the floor to attack them, and you'd destroy the bikes in the attempt.

In the meantime, this would be such a PITA they'd probably just nick my home cinema system or PC, which i'd prefer to lose before my bikes

can i suggest people with multiple/high end bikes take a look at hiscox. of course, never having had to claim, i'm yet to subject the policy to the real acid test, but on paper it is everything that i could want for all my bikes both in and away from the home (in conjuction with a BC membership for additional 3rd party insurance etc)....

People will probably say I'm biased as we run a security company, but that all came about after an attempted theft and the realisation that a lot of non-compulsory theft insurance is over-priced and still a lot of hassle with uncertain result if you do need to claim. QED above. A decent house insurance policy will cover a lot of contents (we're with NFU Mutual) and a decent security setup will give a different kind of 'insurance'. Most thieves are effectively looking at their targets as business propositions, too, so if you make their rewards too small compared to their risks, you are more likely to keep your stuff ...and hopefully they won't come back again once they know you are not an easy target.

A successful theft, regardless of whether insurance paid out or not, is still likely to be followed by another theft attempt. Hence, insurance is not the ideal solution at the best of times and protecting your stuff is the only sound long-term strategy IMHO.

I'd still agree with the comment above that if you can't afford to lose it, you need insurance and you must be certain you are complying with all the terms. E.g. be wary of using locks that are not appropriately approved *on the day of the theft*. Locks that were approved at the time of purchase but aren't now can be disregarded in a claim situation. That is another bit of small print that insurers have used to avoid paying out.

Skippy, I'm away from the office until Tues but will drop you a line upon my return. There does seem to be some confusion in your post so it would be best to get to the bottom of things first!

Being very much aware of the " Profit driven motives of Insurance Companies ", i have opted to avoid the exorbitant expense of " insuring " bike equipment .

However , riding the roads on a " Bike " without 3rd Party Insurance , doesn't allow for a considerable risk to " life & !imb"! Personally i think that 3rd Party Insurance should be a Compulsory requirement for ANY form of transport .

When i disposed of a UK Registered Vehicle in 2013 and replaced it with an Austrian Reg. , i was taken to the Insurance Agents of the vehicle Vendor , where i placed Insurance on the vehicle and sought 3rd Party Coverage for ALL Aspects of 3rd Party liability .

With the 2nd May 2014 rear ending by a TFL D/decker , they appear to be cooperating , HOWEVER , with being rammed off the road on the 10th August , and the vehicle owner "suing " for replacement of the offending wing mirror and "Criminal Damage " , as MY Lawyer failed to lodge the Claim on him for restitution/replacement of Medical , Clothing & Equipment , the " Zurich Group " are saying i was NOT Covered for " Defending Myself !

At present " Zurich Group " are contending that MY Policy was for " Sueing NOT Defending " ! A clear case of hair splitting , if it was not so serious , AND , they are NOT offering to refund " Premiums " paid out , as they say it is the " Agent & Me " that are at fault .

I should be grateful IF " iamnot Wiggins " would contact me by email ............ skippi [at] ausi.com ......... HIS expertise in Insurance Matters would be appreciated .

My TT bike lives in the living room, behind the sofa, only comes out of the house for races. And even then I can't get an insurance company to touch it for less than what it costs to insure my Range Rover!

Insurance companies are utter robbers. What they do is a scam. If you went out in the street and offered their same service to someone, you would be arrested for running a Ponzi scheme.

my multi thousand pound bike, when not beneath my glutamous maximus is bolted to the structure of my house behind locked doors. I would suggest that anybody who leaves there equivalent valued pride and joy unlovingly unattended deserves to have it ripped off or stripped for spares. I would suggest, as an alternative view, that those who leave bikes bolted to inanimate objects either understand and accept the associated risks for the benefits of daily commuting by bike or look to take advantage feckless insurance companies who are far from being foolish.

Personally I choose to underwrite my own risk, unless the law states otherwise, rather than paying insurance companies who exist solely to generate profits by denying liability.

This is yet a further case of cyclists demanding attention and expecting the parting of the seas on their behalf.

If you have an expansive bike, i do, treat it with respect, leave it unattended at your own risk and do not expect a profit driven industry to bail you out and make up for your stupidity. There is evil out there and magpies collect shiny things.

@glynr36 - If you're the type of person that just looks at the £££ signs then yes, you're not covered for a lot and you will be subject to an insurer who will wriggle out of claims. However, if you actually value the cover then you can pick up some good policies with exceptional claims service.

@serguis - again, see my comment above relating to price & insurance. I'm covered anywhere in the world for loss, theft, accidental damage, malicious damage etc on an all risks basis which means that unless the loss is specifically excluded in the wording or by endorsement there'll be cover in place. I'm covered for all of the above when the bike is in use and when I race (if I chose to). My liability also covers ME worldwide for any damage I personally may cause to third party property or people. This cover also applies to my general belongings & anything on my person.

I'm a broker and use a Lloyds underwriting agency.

Stand alone bike policies cover a hell of a lot more than your contents though.

No idea - I insure them as part of an overall policy including my contents & watches etc. Far more competitive to do it this way than to take out one of these stand alone bike policies which are quite expensive.

I work for a very well known insurance company. Nothing to do with bikes. But the principle is the same.

Very very rarely would I ever genuinely advise someone to insure an item like a bike. In the long run you're just giving money away.

Put a bit aside in a separate bank account.

Certainly the approach i have followed. Car insurance fully comp. Motorbike tpft. Cycle none. Always declined gap insurance on a car.

I looked up the Cycleguard policy documents.

http://www.cycleguard.co.uk/

Under the menu option security requirements

They specify ;

"If stored in a communal outbuilding the bicycle must be secured using one of our approved locks, through the frame, to an immovable object. "

Their approved locks document specifies for bikes upto £1200

"any specifically designed bicycle/motor-cycle lock"

There is no wording in the policy about the order in which locks should be fitted, so as long as AG has used the combination of locks to secure the frame to the bike rack then that should be fine.

This is extreme nit-picking by the insurance company and I would take them to the Insurance Ombudsmen to pursue a complaint.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

As mentioned above, it is worth checking the small print of your insurance policy to make sure you understand when you are covered and what precautions you have to take.

It would also be really good if there was an independent website which could relate customer experiences of claims, a 'trip advisor' for insurance. Then you could avoid insuring with the awkward and difficult companies, such as Thistle.

Please tell me which country.
I would love to live there, provided it is also a free society.

The claimant's downfall was to claim twice on separate policies. Tsk, tsk! The second insurer rightly picked up on this.

The other angle to look at this is why the UK has gangs of thieves and a bike can't be left safely anywhere. I live in a country where kids are taught right from wrong by the schools. The teachers and government recognise that parenting is variable and so decide to engenda respect and team work, rather than competition. The results take 30+ years to wash through the population but one day those kids are parents and they then respect the schools and teachers.
Some people might call that brainwashing the kids - but better brainwashing the kids with responsibiliy and respect, than have a country where the criminal wins.

I love how these types of threads bring all the insurance "experts" out of hiding.

Well, I had a bike stolen years ago from outside my home, and only discovered that I actually was covered under my household policy when someone else suggested I check.

The bike that I received as a replacement was better than the one that was stolen, and they threw in lots of things such as lights when only the mounting brackets were needed. The insurance companies approved supplier was obviously quite happy to increase what for them was still a sale as much as possible

That household policy quickly become a lot less generous, until bikes were a pay only option, but I am proof that it is possible to be surprised the other way.