NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T

Here is an interesting and actually somewhat alarming story sent in by a reader, which we thought might be of general interest...

...I have been riding bikes for more years than I care to remember and until September 2021 I had never made a claim on any motorbike insurance policy.
I live in an ordinary 3 bed semi in a quiet cul de sac in a semi rural village to the east of Kingston upon Hull.
I am now retired and have plenty of time for a bit of fun with bikes, riding and general fiddling about with them, (it's a bloke thing!). I have a 650 Interceptor and also I now have an 883 Sportster.
By law I am obliged to purchase insurance if I intend to use them on the road. I could buy 3rd party only cover, but I have always thought the most prudent option for me would be to buy fully comprehensive cover even though I would hope to never need it.
So every year the first thing I do is to find someone to insure the bike(s) I always look on insurance comparison sites and for the past 3 years have chosen to use one of the larger companies. They are not the cheapest by any means, but they are a household name in the biking fraternity and they offer 'multi-bike' insurance. I have previously used them when I wanted an agreed value on a classic BMW I restored

General Runabout
Anyway, in January 2020 I purchased a brand new Honda Sh125 Mode from Miles Kingsport of Hull, thinking I would use it as a general runabout. I asked  my insurance company to add it to my existing policy which was only 2 months in. At renewal Ist November 2020, during the first covid restrictions, I went online and paid in full for 1 year's fully comprehensive cover for the 3 bikes.
The Honda Mode sat in my garage virtually unused throughout 2021 and had exactly 144 miles on the clock. A near neighbour knew I had the bike and asked if he could have a look at it with a view to buying it. I agreed but I don't really like anyone looking around my garage so on a sunny September afternoon I wheeled it out, parked it in my front garden next to my car and locked the steering. The neighbour lives diagonally opposite so I thought he'll see it there and he'll come across when he's ready.

Ten Minutes Later...
No more than 10 minutes later, I'm sitting in my living room looking out when two guys arrived on a black scooter, themselves all clad in black with masks and black helmets: I later found out that their scooter had cloned number plates. One of them sprinted into my garden, peered into my living room and then jumped onto the seat of my bike.
I rushed into the garden to see him vigorously kicking at the handlebars thus breaking what I now know is a totally useless steering lock.
My first thought was to try and pull him off the bike but fearing for my personal safety and not knowing if he was carrying a weapon I let him run off down the road with it. I was thinking sooner or later he would run out of puff as I had the keys and an automatic bike would not 'bump start'. How wrong was I. He pushed it for about 40 yards, it fired up and away he went!
I went back indoors absolutely stunned at the sheer audacity and phoned the police. All they did was to give me a log no. and to ask in which direction the thieves went.
Within the hour I phoned the insurance company's claims line to report the theft.
A little later I received an email from another third party company,  not my insurer, acknowledging my claim and giving me a PDF outlining their privacy policy.
The following day (8th September) I received a telephone call telling me that the claim had been passed to the underwriters and I was given a  reference no. and also an underwriters reference no.
I DECIDED AT THIS MOMENT THAT I WOULD MAKE A NOTE OF EACH AND EVERY COMMUNICATION, AND TO EMAIL IT TO MYSELF AS A CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD WITHOUT HAVING TO WRITE SEPARATE NOTES.

Update
On the 14th of September I telephoned for an update and was told that the underwriters were "considering the claim" as they felt the bike should have been in the garage.
   On the 21st of  September. I telephoned again and again was told there was an issue because the bike was not in the garage when it was stolen. At that point I asked if it meant that I could never actually use the bike because it was uninsured whilst out of the garage. (no reply).
I have subsequently contacted the Financial Ombudsman who in turn has told me they would allow 8 weeks for the underwriters to give a final response.
That deadline came and went and 5 months since the theft I am still awaiting a final response from the underwriters and an update from the ombudsman.

Well what a sad and sorry tale, thanks so much for sending it in and we wish you the very best of luck with getting your insurance payout for a bike which you actually saw being stolen!!
Does anyone else have anything to contribute re insurance and how it panned out for you? We'd love to hear it if so, drop us a line either email us at - [email protected] or drop us a message on Facebook