MCE fallout

[The Spin Doctor]

In the meantime I’ve been mucking about with quotes with and without garaging and it does make a big difference in price. A lot of companies won’t even quote unless it’s garaged.

I had all sorts of issues since I live in a Victorian terrace - I couldn't get cover. The attitude on the phone was "wait, you mean you don't HAVE a garage?" No, none of the houses in the street have one...

"Well, can't you build one?" What planet are these people on?

It won't be government that kills biking, it'll be the insurance companies. Over the last few decades they've got bigger and bigger as they merge and buy out competitiors. Time they were compulsorily broken up.

[Yorick]

Playing Devils advocate, I wouldn't be happy insuring a bike in open view.

[Scotsrich]

Playing Devils advocate, I wouldn't be happy insuring a bike in open view.

Oh I can quite see their point, they don’t know how each individual bike is stored so a blanket ban makes sense.

My bike is stored in (admittedly) a wooden shed but lined in 12mm plywood with security hinges and hasp all fixed with coach bolts. To get to it you go through 2 locked gates and it’s overlooked by my neighbours on either side and surrounded by a 6 foot fence.

But that is lumped in with someone who’s bike sits out in the open in their garden.

[Felix]

Would security levels not be based on the value of the bike? Rather than hit you with a high premium due to paying out more in a theft they would rather request more security. I on the other side of the coin have no problem getting insurance having my 1500 quid shitter sitting in the front garden with a chain.

[wull]

Did I not read somewhere that all indoor storing of bikes regardless of whether it was a wooden shed or not was going to be classed as a garage? Thought I read that somewhere.

[The Spin Doctor]

Most bike theft is actually down at the low end of the market - scooters and 125s. Bigger, top of the range bikes ARE lifted but they don't make up the numbers.

[The Spin Doctor]

Did I not read somewhere that all indoor storing of bikes regardless of whether it was a wooden shed or not was going to be classed as a garage? Thought I read that somewhere.

I suggested I got one of those lockable metal bike storage shelters, but no - the insurer insisted on a brick-built garage. Quite where I am supposed to build it, I have no idea. I suspect Brent Council would be unhappy if I put it up in the road.

[Scotsrich]

More hunting about.

Bikesure give you a bigger set of options than most including sheds and a not too bad price.

Part of Adrian Flux so I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

[The Spin Doctor]

More hunting about.

Bikesure give you a bigger set of options than most including sheds and a not too bad price.

Part of Adrian Flux so I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Thumbs up for Adrian Flux for four wheels. They were very efficient sorting my no-fault claim out on my camper. A woman managed to lose control of her car when the dog she was taking to the park to walk it for a sick neighbour jumped onto her lap from the back seat, hit the back of my partner's car which was duly rammed into my camper. The woman's car and my partner's car's were write-offs, mine was driveable and repairable.

The camper is a Japanese import and they let me select my own bodyshop, who had to get a tailgate from Japan, which took about four months.

So it was a fairly complex claim, and they kept in touch to see how the repair was going. All sorted very painlessly actually.

Just a bummer bike and car premiums went up the following year, despite protected no claims... ho hum.

[Felix]

Flux get wank reviews round the campervan pages. Great quotes but like to wriggle on claims and shit customer service

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-revie ... rian-flux1

[The Spin Doctor]

Flux get wank reviews round the campervan pages. Great quotes but like to wriggle on claims and shit customer service

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-revie ... rian-flux1

All I can say is that absolutely wasn't my experience... and I was expecting it to be long and painful.

They actually get a reasonable overall rating too. "Adrian Flux is rated 3.28 based on 249 reviews"

[Scotsrich]

I’ve just been looking at quotes for my GS and MCE comes in well under anything else at £249.

Bennetts is next at £477.

I think I’ll keep looking. £249 isn’t bad…but it’s MCE.

I’m disappointed at Carole Nash which was nearly 600quid. They were always cheapest for my ZZR but when I got the Sprint they got too expensive and the GS 1200 was no better.

BMW used to offer decent insurance rates for BMWs, always found them to be competitive. Definitely used to offer very good discounted rates on the second one. (Obvs figured out that you can only ride one at a time ).

I just tried them and the woman couldn’t get any quotes for me. She did accept my shed as ‘garaging’ so it might be due to the value of the bike.

Anyway she’s getting back to me tomorrow hopefully with some results.

In the meantime I’ve been mucking about with quotes with and without garaging and it does make a big difference in price. A lot of companies won’t even quote unless it’s garaged.

It’s all theory just now anyway as I don’t even have a reg number yet

Well I heard back from BMW.

A pretty decent quote with a few benefits and at £444 is just a bit dearer than the next best which is Bikesure at £320.

BMW insurance seems to be part of Devitt.

[Scotsrich]

Well BMW were out because my bike doesn’t come with an alarm or tracker which was a condition for them.

so I got insured with Be Moto for 300 quid which I’m quite chuffed with (through Axa)

Quite happy with a wooden shed as well.

[Tricky]

They've just gone pop for the second time- dunno what this means yet for anyone with an MCE policy...

https://sabre.co.uk/mce-insurance/?fbcl ... d9jcyMdm4g

[Demannu]

Flux get wank reviews round the campervan pages. Great quotes but like to wriggle on claims and shit customer service

https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-revie ... rian-flux1

All I can say is that absolutely wasn't my experience... and I was expecting it to be long and painful.

They actually get a reasonable overall rating too. "Adrian Flux is rated 3.28 based on 249 reviews"

That's because you were claiming off the 3rd parties insurance, not your own. They just acted as a claims management firm and duly charged the 3rd party for 'phone call to our client...........£12.95'

[McNab]

They've just gone pop for the second time- dunno what this means yet for anyone with an MCE policy...

https://sabre.co.uk/mce-insurance/?fbcl ... d9jcyMdm4g

Oh dear. When they went down the first time, the cheapest replacement I could get was the new MCE, but come renewal time it was 3 times more expensive so I changed companies.

[The Spin Doctor]

According to the FCA...

18 July 2023 update: Currently the MCE Insurance telephony service is experiencing technical difficulties. The administrators are working to rectify the issue and hope to restore full service as soon as possible. In the meantime, customers are directed to use the Self-Service portal. We will update this page once all technical issues have been fixed.

That's a lucky coincidence!