Car theft claim nightmare

leedsgirl24

Not sure if there are any threads on this already, sorry if there are. My house was burgled on 18th December and lots of household items were stolen (including the presents under the tree) along with my car, they took my handbag that had my car keys in it. The house insurance people were great, really understanding and approved our claim quickly and are in the process of despatching new for old items, the car insurance is another matter entirely.
My boyfriend who is the named driver of the policy was the last user of the vehicle and the company dealing with the claim have already done a telephone interview with me and now want to do one with him. They are making us feel like we are the criminals when we were just the victims, we have complied with everything they have asked us to do, the police and home insurance company were clearly convinced about the burglary but whenever I try to find out what is happening they treat me trying to move the claim on with suspicion! The whole situaltion is a nightmare, just wondering if anyone else has had the same problems, tcf ltd are delaing with the claim for our insurers.

dogbot

Who are the insurers? Never heard of TCF ltd, on googling they are a manufacturing company?

The insurers are entitled to investigate the claim, but should also do so as quickly as possible. Have you sent any photos of any damage caused by the burglars on entry?

A UK vehicle can usualy only be stolen with the keys these days thanks to Thatcham standards. This tends to mean that a theft claim where all keys are not accountable for can set alarm bells ringing and set off proceedures of thorough investigation. Interviews are very common and certainly common to be with the last driver. It rather sounds like the insurer's processes are not appropriate in this circumstance, given that there is a clear genuine burgalary, and are causing undue delays.

When you say the firm are handling the claim for the insurer, are they dealing with the whole thing or just the investigation? I would suggest a written complaint direct to the insurer about the time delay, highlighting that your home insurers are satisfied the burgalary is genuine and fortuitous and the police are there to be contact to verify.

Lorian

Is he fronting the insurance for you?

dogbot

The BF is the named driver, not policyholder. I guess the insurer could be suspicious that the OP is fronting for him though, which would explain the insistance on interviewing the boyfriend.

leedsgirl24

He isn't fronting the insurance, I guess it's just unfortunate that he borrowed my car to go to work in on the day we got burgled! We both have (had in my case) full no claims so there would be no reason to "front". TCF motoring limited are the claims handling people on behalf of Sheila's Wheels although I should have got a feel for how things would be as their website describes how they are motor insurance fraud experts! I suppose the only thing to do is wait until after this inteview and if things don't start moving to start writing lettersof complaint. I can't take photographs of the damage caused because the police arranged for locksmths to come out that night to change the locks because we couldn't close the back door. Apparently the police have said that there have been a spate of these offences by a gang operating from Bradford. My handbag was discarded and later found 30 miles away minus my keys so if Iwas trying to defraud someone I am being very thorough!!!

dacouch

As you don't have a photo of the damage, just show the TCF employee the invoice from the locksmith. This along with the police reports etc should be sufficient.

Be aware that in these types of cases that the Insurers / TCF generally want to see the police report. The police (Depending on the particular force) can sometimes take weeks to provide this so it can delay your case.

JS101

Move South.

raskazz

TCF are a decent firm in my experience. I have dealt with them professionally for a while and the standard of their investigations and reports is generally pretty good.

I imagine that they will be instructed to investigate every fire and theft claim submitted - so don't fear that you are being singled out and suspected of fraud just because they are dealing with the case.

katskorner

I have had a very similar experience in November last year. We were burgled whislt sleeping upstairs and the car was taken along with items from the house and hubbys car keys too. Insurer was Sheilas Wheels and they treated us the same. TCF just provide them with a report that is all but Esure handle the claim as they are underwriters for Sheilas Wheels. They wouldn't even talk to me for three weeks after the theft and I only got the claim settled just over a week ago. Just be firm and consistent - you did nothing wrong and they should pay out fairly - make sure you get a fair price. I still have to settle the contents part of my car claim.

Anihilator

The insurer will simply want to convince themselves that the car was genuinely stolen, the facts given to them where correct and that the keys were genuinely stolen and spares accounted for.

I would suspect there concerned about fronting here and hence just want to check with your OH to make sure he isnt the main driver.

zxqyu

Sorry to hear about your burglary.
Have you had this resolved now?
I was robbed in my office in Leeds on February 24th. The robbers kicked in the entry door and forced me to hand over my car keys. The robbers took my car and various pieces of office equipment. The robbery was immediately reported on 999 (for which I have a call recording from the office phone system), immediately attended by the police, filmed on CCTV and under current investigation by the police. My car was recovered by the police 2 days later. I requested the insurance company to pick up the car and check it for damage. No damage was done to the car but the locks do need to be changed as unfortunately the robbers may still have a set of keys.
It's nearly 5 weeks since the car was recovered and TCF have still failed to authorised the claim. I have had 2 interviews and provided all the information they requested. Despite over 40 phone calls (all of which are recorded) to my insurer (Equity Redstar) and TCF, I have been given no explanation to the delay (I've received one letter which was incorrect and not a single phone call). In the meantime my car is still in the garage waiting for the locks to be changed.
Can anyone tell me what additional action I can take? At what point can I claim compensation? Is there anything I can do to try and prevent other people having the same problems in future?