Bike Theft!!!!

[CaroleH]

The other half brought a Kona mountain bike on Thursday - it was knicked on Friday. It was outside where he works (Oxford Street!!!), and was locked using a motor-bike lock!!! The B******s knicked everything!!!! Very annoying being as he normally uses his Bianchi to go to work!!!! Does anyone know if there is anyway of retrieving some money out of this - the idiot hadn't insured it with bike insurance, although I wouldn't have thought this would have been covered anyway. HELP - the man is gutted (so am I cos I brought the bloody thing with the small amount of savings that I had!!!)

Carole H

[Alan M]

suggest that you set up an rss feed to pick up any kona MBs being sold on gumtree - at least one other has retrieved their bike in this way. Really difficult call this - not sure if insurance works though at usually 10% of the bike's value. Worth checking your house contents insurance in case it is covered as an item up to a particuar value. Worth reporting to the police particularly if you have its id number as sometimes they come across bikes as part of stolen goods. Almost certainly CCTV in Oxford Street ... so maybe.......

[Andrew G]

Bad luck Carole.

With the insurance DON'T LOSE HOPE check your home and contents cover. This often covers goods up to the value of about £1,500 any one large item. It should also cover outside the house as it's intended to cover things like laptops, expensive leather jackets/coats etc. AND bikes in garages/sheds with a locked door. Should also cover the bike if locked to an immovable object (railing etc).

In future, and with your bike, do get insurance for it. They will cover you, among other things, if stolen when out so long as it's locked up. I'm not sure how you or they prove that it was/wasn't locked, but a receipt/credit card bill for the lock may help. If the bike is nicked and the smashed lock is left behind, ALWAYS pick it up as it will help with your claim.

Some ease of claim may come down to value of the bike. If it's £500 - £1,000 then it's easier for the company to write off as acceptable / expected claims/losses. If you have a super expensive bike then they may want more proof of the security you employed. So long as you aren't a regular claimant then they will expect people to make a claim from time to time as an acceptable risk / law of averages.

Oh, and as Alan says make sure you report it to the police as you will need an incident number from them to give the insurers.

Report it, get a number, call your home insurance company. When you phone them don't sound cautious. Speak as though it is a perfectly normal and reasonable claim to make. Shouldn't make a difference, but some less scrupulous companies may pick up on any nervousness and use it to either refuse the claim (thinking that's what you're expecting) or knock down the value.

Cheers and good luck,

Andrew.

[CaroleH]

Will check house insurance - bike worth £700 (although paid £500!). The husband thinks he's invicible - never happened before so never will attitude!!! When he'd told me yesterday morning that he'd gone to work on the bloody thing I actually said 'well don't expect to see that again!!!' What a complete idiot!!! Small element of 'I told you so' but won't say it today 'cos I might be leaving the country!!!!

Carole H

[Andrew G]

[quote]bike worth £700 (although paid £500!).

[carl f]

Sorry to hear that carole,get to brick lane early if your going,you should be able to get it on contents,which usually covers up to £500.00 without adding on,good luck and keep an eye out on e-bay and all the usual places

[CaroleH]

[quote]oh what I'd have paid to be a fly on the wall for the moment he told you...

[Bo-Gilly]

was locked using a motor-bike lock!!!

I'd be interested in knowing which lock it was, do you know ?

They sound like pretty well kitted out pros. Not sure if they'd risk selling it on the Gumtree or in Brick lane - if it was brand spanking new, perhaps broken up and sold on Ebay ?

Do you have any other imfo. apart from it being a Kona ?

[Marek]

Contents insurance on the house should cover it. If it was not a named item then you can usually only claim up to 1,000 or 1,500. If you have something more expensive then a good idea to get it named on the house insurance.

Once you have a crime number then I am pretty sure that is all you need to get things progressing with the insurance company.

Cheers

Marek...

[Alan M]

Don't buy it back - If you see it offer money and take some large friends to help recover it

[CaroleH]

Good news!!! My husband is not as stupid as I thought (although still stupid enough to leave the bloody thing in London) - but he had bike insurance after all (the idiot didn't know!!!!!). We now need to convince the insurers that the bike was worth £700 but we bought for £500!!!!

Although has highlighted the fact that ALL my bikes are not insured under the house/bike insurance - are we the only idiots? - huge risk due to where we live. Saying that, the folk around here think the Apollo from Halfords is the best bike on the market!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for restoring marrital bliss in the Thong household!!!!

Carole H