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Police and Vandal damage my car, yet I lost out!
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lfh-uk
Posts: 3 Newbie
My car was jumped on by a suspected thief trying to get away from the police, he jumped on the bonnet of my car then on the roof and then into the back of a police van! The police then arrested him on the bonnet of my car whist I was watching.
Damaged bonnet, roof and scratches on the side of the car. New roof, bonnet and respray was needed and the car was almost a write off!
Anyway, it went through court and the police were as useless as ever at keeping me upto date. First they promised to tell me when it would go to court then they didn't have a record of it!! In the end the suspect got off with £200 fine, I only found this out after lots of phone calls only to be told I the court hearing was two weeks before my phonecall and there was nothing I can do apparantly.
I had to pay £200 excess to claim on my insurance and lost 2 years no claims, swiftcover were useless too and no help. I think this was when AXA were buying them so it was changing departments between the two companies, it took me 6 months to actually find out they couldn't help!!!
I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is anything I can do about it now, I've had another insurance quote through and it's still affecting the offers I'm getting.
Only just thought about using this forum to see if anyone has any ideas on ways of claming anything back?
Thanks for reading.
Craig
Damaged bonnet, roof and scratches on the side of the car. New roof, bonnet and respray was needed and the car was almost a write off!
Anyway, it went through court and the police were as useless as ever at keeping me upto date. First they promised to tell me when it would go to court then they didn't have a record of it!! In the end the suspect got off with £200 fine, I only found this out after lots of phone calls only to be told I the court hearing was two weeks before my phonecall and there was nothing I can do apparantly.
I had to pay £200 excess to claim on my insurance and lost 2 years no claims, swiftcover were useless too and no help. I think this was when AXA were buying them so it was changing departments between the two companies, it took me 6 months to actually find out they couldn't help!!!
I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is anything I can do about it now, I've had another insurance quote through and it's still affecting the offers I'm getting.
Only just thought about using this forum to see if anyone has any ideas on ways of claming anything back?
Thanks for reading.
Craig
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Comments
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claiming from who.
Not the Police. It was not them that damaged your car. If you could bet details of the person, MAYBE you could claim against him ?? Only option, surely..0 -
oh they damaged the car as well. The arresting police officer had his knee in the suspects back and another 3 were in various positions on the car too, they kept scratching the car with their hand cuffs (obviously not deliberately). That's why the car needed to be resprayed as they scratched the paint off down to the metal. It wasn't fun watching that happen.0
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spending money pursuing a civil claim for compensation against a convicted thief is likely to prove a waste of time unless you have reason to think he has assetts. Normally they will simply stick 2 fingers up to the process and you will waste time and money.
What should have happened is this. You should have lodged a request for a compensation order with the court so that this could be added to his fine. i.e., £200 fine, £200 compensation order and £15 victim surcharge. It appears you weren't kept informed very well by the police though, so this never happened.
I am not a criminal law expert but I do not think the court can now revisit the case now. Some cases do get revisited, e.g. where the sentence is too leniant, but normally these are the cases that cause public outcry. I suppose the process must exist but whether they would hold another hearing for this, I do not know.
Trying to pin something on the police is a waste of time as well.0 -
Although the Police did cause damage they were only doing their job arresting a suspect and it was the suspect who caused 90% of the damage. Swift Cover legal support were useless, no one would return my calls until it was owned by Axa and that was after the court case!
If anyone else has any suggestions please let me know.spending money pursuing a civil claim for compensation against a convicted thief is likely to prove a waste of time unless you have reason to think he has assetts. Normally they will simply stick 2 fingers up to the process and you will waste time and money.
What should have happened is this. You should have lodged a request for a compensation order with the court so that this could be added to his fine. i.e., £200 fine, £200 compensation order and £15 victim surcharge. It appears you weren't kept informed very well by the police though, so this never happened.
I am not a criminal law expert but I do not think the court can now revisit the case now. Some cases do get revisited, e.g. where the sentence is too leniant, but normally these are the cases that cause public outcry. I suppose the process must exist but whether they would hold another hearing for this, I do not know.
Trying to pin something on the police is a waste of time as well.0 -
Try writing to the senior officer at the police station and explain the situation (Politely), they might (Although I doubt) it pay out for your excess0
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I presume you had legal cover on your policy... If so then the legal cover can be used to take the person to court to pay for the damage, however they will only do if it is economically viable to do so. Your insurer has decided against that which is there right to do so.0
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I presume you had legal cover on your policy... If so then the legal cover can be used to take the person to court to pay for the damage, however they will only do if it is economically viable to do so. Your insurer has decided against that which is there right to do so.
Why do you presume?0 -
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sharpy2010 wrote: »He presumes because it is added to most car insurance policies, but you have the choice of removing it if you feel that you don't want it.
I spent ages yesterday afternoon on the various insurance websites eg. Go Compare, Compare The Market etc looking for motor insurance quotations & Legal Protection is not usually included as standard. It is very much a tick box option at additional cost.0 -
sharpy2010 wrote: »He presumes because it is added to most car insurance policies, but you have the choice of removing it if you feel that you don't want it.
Why have you got to ask the question in such a rude way?
What was rude about it? You should never presume where insurance is concerned...you should know!0
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