Insurance payout experiences in event of theft

[Sphere]

I've read people saying insurers pull out all the tricks in the book to avoid paying in the event of a claim, including claims relating to theft.

 

I'm curious about what people's experiences are when they've made a claim after having their bike stolen. Obviously some providers will be better than others, but broadly speaking am I likely to see a payout and is the value likely to be a reasonable one?

 

Fully-comp and 3rd-party-fire-and-theft are somewhat more expensive in my particular situation (London), but I won't bother if when it gets stolen I'm gonna be on a wild goose chase to see any cash from the provider!

Edited December 7, 2021 by Sphere

[Yorky]

No insurance company will pay a single penny if they can find the SLIGHTEST reason to avoid doing so. And they will dig very very deep to find that reason.

Robbing bas****s the lot of them!!

[Gerontious]

It was a long time ago (1995), but what happened was the claim was made and I had to give a crime number in addition. there was then a waiting game.. cant remember how long but it was over a month. I was told this was in case the bike was found. There was then the usual rigmarole of deciding on the value and so on. first offer, rejected. second offer accepted and the payout. As far as I am aware the bike was never found, certainly the police never got in touch with me about it. And that was that. I think, though im not really that sure about it, but I think it was about 3 months from the bike disappearing to the cheque arriving.

 

My insurer was Bennetts and.. just to give an idea of the time, they were based in offices above a shop close to the cathedral in coventry. and had maybe 5 staff at most. I used to ride over to there and pay the premium in cash.

[bonio]

When my bike was stolen last year, I was surprised how easily it all went. I think the fact that the bike was never found made it more straightforward. In all, it was about two weeks from theft to insurance payout in the bank. All they wanted, apart from the V5 and stuff, were some pictures of the bike, and the keys. They never received the keys - either they got lost in the mail or in their post room. But they paid out without a quibble. 

The underwriters were Markerstudy. The whole claim was arranged with them; I had almost zero contact with the insurance company themselves.