A lady on Sth Yorks Bikers has had her theft claim refused due to the fact her disc lock wasn't on......last paragraph
Just renewed my insurance with mce. Last year I mentioned a disc lock and it made no diff to premium, but did say I wouldn't get paid if it wasn't on at any point and I wasn't gonna carry it around everywhere. This year I said I didn't have one and they questioned it, but I insisted I didn't want it on the policy conditions.
not wanting to take side but if you declare these things then you have to use it. Otherwise, this will give the insurers the right to reassess your claim which is fair enough. What is ironic is that I also found that things such as declaring (or not) a disc lock does not change the premium!
Painful but that's the contract she has accepted. Cannot complain at that point. Reality is, as we all know, unless your pride and joy is chained to something solid, a disc/D lock has near zero impact of lifting the bike and/or quickly breaking it. Buyer beware springs to mind.
also avoid stopping in south London is the uk bike theft capital. wonder how much their premium is. but perhaps you have to be rich to live there
She was only asked alarmed where kept overnight etc, shes now fighting it no mention of disc lock,thats why I put it up for people to check the small print.
that was a good move pal encouraging people to double check which is what I did. my policy and cover docs do not mention this; only the immobiliser I declared. their policy doc is available on line if you want to check it out and looks different to the paper one you have. I was with MCE and reading the small prints, it says that even when bikes are in a locked garage, the steering lock must be on !!! it can all get too crazy
If she spoke with them and didn't do it online then she should get them to pull the call record. Often it suddenly appears to be missing and they make an ex gratia payment for "customer relations" reasons.
May need to buy a disk lock , not knowing much about them . Quoting different size pins ie 6mm 8mm 10mm etc , take it the pins are designed to fit through holes in the disk . Not sure what size I'll need as not got bike yet . Does it have to be a thatcham or insurance approved disc lock or it doesn't count ?
I have never used one Stevie. To be honest when I am out on my bike when I stop I don't let it out of my eye site. I can see theft being problematic for riders who tour or go to race meetings on their bikes. In my garage I have ground anchors and chains/locks. I have heard stories of riders setting off forgetting to remove the disc lock damaging their bikes due to falling.
I recently bought an Abus granit 8077. It's a disc lock alarm that sets automatically when fitted to a disc and utilises a movement sensor so unless you're deaf there's no chance of riding off with it still fitted. They're quite expensive but does the job of a disc lock and an alarm without the problems of battery drain. I got mine from Amazon. If you look on there by typing in Abus 8077 Jeune you will find some for about £105 instead of the normal £154
Interestingly, having my bike insured with Bennets I was informed that if the bike was stolen within 500metres of my garage (if my bike wasn't garaged at the time) the insurance would not cover the theft. I took out a new policy today with another company and was told if the bike was taken within 500metres of my garage (if the bike wasn't garaged at the time) my excess would double.
Just bought one as Bennetts seem to be the best quote for the new bike . Managed to get a small discount of 5% off from J & S
For the short time my bikes on "unsafe ground" it's not worth me paying out annual subs and £300/400. I thought hard about it but I'm not precious about my bikes so went for a disc lock alarm.
how strange. I went with bennetts this year because of the garage clause: bike must be garaged from 10 pm tp 6 am otherwise theft claim is not accepted but outside those hours, it can be anywhere. I think it comes down to which underwriters they use. mine is axa