Car keys stolen from house by masked men

Chorlton1000

Hello,

My car was stolen last week by 3 masked men who kicked down the front door demanding the car keys. The car and the house were both locked (it was only 7pm).

The break-in was heard by neighbours and reported to the police by someone I happened to be on the phone to at the time of the incident and the police responded within minutes. The car was spotted a couple of times by the police in the couple of hours after the theft but they were not caught.

It was a brand new car (Honda Civic R-Type, 3 months old) and my insurer provides replacement with a brand new car in the car's first year.

However, my questions are as follows:

1. As the car has of yet not been recovered, how long would it normally take an insurance company to settle?
2. As the 3 men were specifically targetting the car I would feel extremely unsafe (as you might imagine) getting an exact replacement and I would simply have to sell it immediately - will the insurance firm settle by cash instead if I explain my fears for my safety?
3. Also, I've never heard of a case of people breaking into a house while it's occupied and demanding the keys - will this be a problem?

Thanks

Paul

skint-student-nurse

As long as you have a police incident number, there should be no problem with this re an insurance claim. Im not sure if they will give you a cash equivilent, if you do sell it, if it is on credit, you might not be able to sell the new one on. i have heard of people demanding keys while people are in a property. i feel for you though, my bro in law had a type r a few years back, and it was keyed and damaged as they tried to break in to it. i hope this helps you and good luck x

Chorlton1000

Thanks for your reply. I saved up and bought the car for cash so there wouldn't be any complications with finance companies. As you might imagine, this incident has put me off high performance cars and I think I'll go for a more middle-of-the-road car in future.

skint-student-nurse

thats exactly what my bro-in-law did, it put him off hondas! im sure if you explain your concerns to your insurers they might come to some arrangement for you.

cogito

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. This must have been dreadful.

Get another R-type but fit a tracker and if it did get stolen, you'd almost certainly get it back.

HelzBelz

Chorlton1000 wrote: »

1. Also, I've never heard of a case of people breaking into a house while it's occupied and demanding the keys - will this be a problem?

This is a fairly well known, it happens a lot with people selling motorbikes and arranging meeting "buyers" at their homes, so your insurance company shouldn't have a problem.

maninthestreet

Chorlton1000 wrote: »

Hello,

Also, I've never heard of a case of people breaking into a house while it's occupied and demanding the keys - will this be a problem?
Thanks

Paul

Sorry, but isnt this exactly the situation that happened to you???

ianian99

maninthestreet wrote: »

Sorry, but isnt this exactly the situation that happened to you???

i just thought that. its obviously some kind of windup.

Chorlton1000

Obviously, I meant I have never heard of this happening to other people before. I came on the forum looking for advice and am surprised some people seem to think this is a 'wind-up' and take pleasure in twisting the words I have written. I can assure you, it is not a 'wind-up'.

ianian99

firstly you said

"My car was stolen last week by 3 masked men who kicked down the front door demanding the car keys. The car and the house were both locked (it was only 7pm)."

then you said

"Also, I've never heard of a case of people breaking into a house while it's occupied and demanding the keys - will this be a problem?"


you may never have heard of it but yopu reckon its happened to you so what do you think?

maninthestreet

Chorlton1000 wrote: »

Obviously, I meant I have never heard of this happening to other people before. I came on the forum looking for advice and am surprised some people seem to think this is a 'wind-up' and take pleasure in twisting the words I have written. I can assure you, it is not a 'wind-up'.

You aren't the first victim of this sort of crime, and you won't be the last.
Why you have never heard of this sort of crime happening before is not something we can explain. The immobiliser systems on modern cars makes it impossible to steal them without having the keys - determined criminals therefore force the owner to hand over the keys in the way you experienced.
Trying to prevent yourself being a victim of such a crime is very difficult.