[Closed] Alterative To M&S Insurance?

Not sure anyone offers the same cover, let along competitively.

Barclays Finer were almost half the price of M&S for us and the bikes are covered home and away including abroad.

Hiscox is worth a go.

Have you tried bumping the excess up- I've just renewed with m&s, and changing the excess from 0 to 200 more than cancelled out the annual premium hike plus the cost of specifying a 4k bike.

Tried with an excess of £250 but it's still £300 more. 😐

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Anyone else?

I recently went with Direct Line. You have to ring to get a quote and give details and value of your bikes but still worked out less than half what M&S wanted for a renewal. When I've had car insurance dealings with them in the past they've always been good, but hoping I never find out how good they are!

Barclays for me were silly cheap including bikes.

Anyone else want to add any more suggestions?

I have direct line home plus. Bikes are treated as contents so not specified items as long as on the premises, so have the same value limit as all contents, I have individual 15k on valuables. Every year on renewal I telephone and check this is still the case
Away from house £1k limit, so I never let them out of sight...

The Co -Op for us this time around, seem happy to put individual bikes on, although I only have one right now. Properly valued and described on the policy. More than adequate household insurance, think it's about £300 / year. 3 bed det in s/w midlands.

The AA were about half the price of M&S renewal for me, including specifying £7K worth of bikes. And you also get a years free AA breakdown.

Beware AA is not new for old, and theft from a vehicle is limited to £1000 minus excess.

Most are not new for old if you read the small print...?

What do you expect when you try and insure 300 bikes??

It's ok getting 'half the price' quotes but if the worst happens and bikes get nicked, how much do those companies take off the value for wear and tear?
Would you lose more money in the payout for the bike/s than the increase in the premium for M&S.......?

Just saying like, it's something that I'll be taking into account as I'm sorting out my renewal anyway.

Bonesetter.

I'll have you know i've sold at least 3 bikes in the last 3 months.
So only 297 bikes now. 😉

granny.
TBH after looking at a few different companys last night i'm thinking the same thing as you.
It may be more expensive but it does seem the best cover out there.

I use AA Stu (for my quiver... well - 4)

Let us know what you decide, moving house soon and started wondering about going with M and S again. That said I'm sure the cover is now different if a new policy holder versus continuing.

Tesco but only 2k per bike

If the limit is 2k on the policy, is that they will only pay out upto 2k per bike or does that mean if the bike *was* worth more than 2k (in 2009) then it is not covered at all?

Bike will be covered, but be honest - don;t try to save money by undervaluing your bikes.

I found it barely added anything to cost at under £2k vs £3k values.

They say as i understood can only pay 2k max per bike.. In my future purchases i will have to limit the value of the bike to £1,500 + blings = £2000 ... Something like this

I found specifying 3 expensive bikes with M&S added £26 per month to the policy which was a lot less than bike specific insurance. The old policy doesn't end for a month though, so I'm scurrying off to Barclays to see what they have to offer.

I found it barely added anything to cost at under £2k vs £3k values.

Until you start adding multiple bikes...

My M & S policy doubled in price. I want good cover, don't want to be offered £50 for a Ti frame. Peace of mind for me and my 5 bikes.

Stu, I used jukes insurance as a broker with Allianz as the insurers, when I added the SC LTc nothing added to premium

M&S do pay out tho! I can't fault them.

Just got my M & S renewal - took the advice of above and previous threads this year 😮

A quick check on the net had More Than with what looked to be comparable cover for about the same money (£450 - buildings & contents).

Hiscox was £800+ without specifying the bikes 😯

AXA - would have needed a phone call for details.

So I phone M & S, specified 3 bikes, each by frame name and then noted 'custom' for 2.5, 3 & 3.5 K, that added £200 to the quote !

So increased excess from 50 to 200 and it was a net increase of £20.

Fairly happy with that 🙂

Steel, Are you're bikes/frames still available to buy new or are they older models?
Good point noting the use of 'custom' tho.

gr - one is still available although mine is a 2011/12 frame, the other 2 aren't although they are both 2012 frames & forks. One was dropped by Sepcialized this year and the other doesn't have a direct replacement by Ragley.

When I phoned and said there was one concern - the first thing the person I was speaking to asked - was it the bicycle insurance ?. Obviously knew the drill and agreed with the method of describing. Advised to have up to date photos of them as well as the bikes weren't 'off the shelf'.

Ok cheers, I'll do that as well.

If this helps anyone else out in a similar situation I've just had an email reply from M&S and they have said that for valuating my bikes I should use the costs of what I paid for the 2nd hand frames and mix of new and used parts to work out the total value.