Earlier in the month I had an interesting one with a specialist bike insurer, did the usual on line quote comparison, picked the 'Bike' specialist because it was 'sure' to understand that Bike and Car insurance had different requirements. Anyway the online quote also said phone us and we may be able to do a better rate, so I did, they did the whole hundred questions thing over the phone and came up with a slightly better price. We compared it with the other on line prices I had got and the actual cover included which had to include riding other bikes not belonging to me, as per the online quote which they confirmed would be the case. I agreed and paid the almost £600 by phone, they would send me a summary of the policy to be electronically signed and al would be good. Except the exclusions which included no cover when riding bikes not belonging to me, back on the phone to complain another wait for almost half an hour to answer and be told that the on line quote was a computer error and the minimum cover for riding other peoples bikes was not something they could offer, it then took them another half a hour to try different insurance syndicates before again saying it was not something that they could offer. Eventually they agreed to cancel and refund, which they did on the same say as the payment was taken.
Moral of story, read all the documents as soon as they send them to you, don't except anything from the quote or what they have said on the phone and if you have any doubt get it clarified in writing.
The particular reason for wanting cover to ride any bike is that my son is looking to buy his first bike, had I assumed that the information disclosed by the insurance company both on line and by phone was correct I could potentially have ridden his bike without the minimum legal insurance cover.
news.sky.com
)
