I AM an insurance fascist and I've worked for both State and AMP in claims. State do about 5 different policy options but all of them will only pay indemnity (ie market) value for bikes cause they'e sports equipment. Where you can run into problems is if you break your bike while rdiding it it falls into 'sports equipment in use' and that damage is excluded. States main problem, and why I left is that they re-structure every 6 months or so, so staff turnover is high, this can either mean A) You get a feckless monkey who doesn't know what s/he is doing and they either pay out when they shouldn't or decline when they shouldn't or B) take 6 months and lose the file ... either way

AMP on the other hand have better more organised service and the policy pays replacement for bikes and more importantly if you stack and bust your fork you can claim for that.

Vero are also worth looking at, they do a lush policy at the top end but it's costly.

Your Vorb Public/professional insurance your going to need a good broker try and find one who specialises in IT or web site business.. it could be expensive tho'... the good thing about going thru a good broker is if he's got Vorb he'll see you as a valued client and work on your behalf with your personal stuff.

I work with a guy now who was a broker for a big firm in Welli, I'll see if he's got any suggestions for a good IT broker.

I've no experience with bike related claims, but for cars and household items I have expereiences relating to claims on State Insurance, AA, AMI and Tower (hell, with my years I've had the opportunity for lots of experiences). These experiences and stories of other I know have led me to the conclusions:

* Insurance companies are in business to make money.

* Some policy holders veiw an insurance premium as still there money and something they are owed through inventing claims, inflating claims and telling lies. This is wrong and causes insurance companies to be suspicious. Unfortunately companies are just groups of people and it is not easy for them to tell who is lying, but so many people do lie that these people become paranoid that all claimants are trying to srew the company.

* State has always had low premiums. Rule one says they must still make a profit - they do this by paying away less than other companies. I've experienced and heard of more people having difficulty with State claims than all other companies combined. The claim process gets so long and argumentitive that in the end even getting a pittence is seen as a victory.

AMI have had our business for the last 10 years, and apart from not telling us about credits we had earned that meant we did not need to loss a no claim bonus, I have nothing but good things to say about them. Even when we found out about the credits thing, they refunded the no claim bonus.

well I've done my ringing (actually not quite finished) and so far definitely haven't found any company what will do a REPLACEMENT on a bike.

They all allow individual items (a bike) to be specified on the schedule but it seems that that figure is the maximum figure they'll pay out less depreciation. It's sort of fair if you think about it I suppose....

When I was talking to state I was assured that on their premier plus policy you get replacement on the bike, but I read the policy and you don't. Could be a case of me getting someone new on the phone....

I've got a few to go but I'm not rating my chances and will probably just pick the cheapest in the end. Are people sure they are getting "new for old" on their policies?

PS. I've just got some info from the consumer website and according to them the only policies that give replacement for bikes are AMP (up to 2000) and AA (up to 1000 unless specified). ALL the rest say indemnity (that includes AMI).

blahblahblah wrote:I've got a few to go but I'm not rating my chances and will probably just pick the cheapest in the end. Are people sure they are getting "new for old" on their policies?

the reason they do new for old (usually with some exclusion newer than 5 years) is because its cheaper for them. they get a discout from the retailer they use, typically it was %20 where i worked. they're happy and your happy.

Having just been hit my car by an unsured driver I have nothing but good stuff to say about AMI. They are paying to get my car fixed even though I only have 3rd paty. I don't know if other insurance co's do this but really its just fantastic. I'd still be waiting if I was trying to get the money off the other party my self.

Have had no expierince with bikes and insurance. But have allways wondered what would happen if I got rear eneded with 4K (or maybe more) worth of bikes on the rack.

Hi

I see this thread is an old one but interested if anybody has had any more recent opinions on which insurance company is best for insuring bikes?

I have just been screwed over by State in that they said they will give me between $150 and $400 (depending when the other party claims liability) for my commuter that was valued at $1800. No where in their policy do the mention anything about depreciation of Market Value. I had accepted that I would not get the full amount but considering most of the parts have recently been replace and are less than 6 months old I would have excepted a bit more than $150. The accident wasn't even my fault.

The only thing that is actually damaged is the framed so I have ended up forgoing the insurance process and going to salvage as many of the parts I can to build up a new commuter. The ironic thing was that I had built the original with an old 10-speed frame to reduce the chances of it getting nicked only to get taken out by a car door.

Anyway, I am looking at changing insurance companies and will be doing a lot more asking questions about each companies policies but it would be interested to know if anybody had any opinions or comments regarding the different insurance companies in NZ?

AMI has been good for us, but they're being bought out by some megacorp (AIG?). Heard good things about AA as well.