car stolen after keys stolen from open house

Welshdan

Not sure if this is any help but someone got into our house through the conservatory door without leaving a mark, which automatically made us think the door must have been left unlocked.

When we told the police officer we may have left the door unlocked he disputed it straight away and said unless patio/conservatory doors are double bolted they only need a sharp push/pull/kick and the door will come open. No more was said about this and the insurance company paid for new locks etc.

oldwiring

gyzmo wrote:

PS - just found out how to do signature - what do you think???

And do a spell check as well?:D A slight textual inaccuracy is in the signature. I'll leve you to finf it. After you have,:beer:

gyzmo

Ok, signature fixed (I think), now back to topic!

the whole issue regarding thefts and the "reasonable care" requierment in policies is a bit pie eyed. The intention is clear - to stop people doing silly things (like leaving your car open when unattended). But this is usually a simple case of negligence, that you were negligent in doing the silly thing. Insurance policies are designed to cover you for your negligence, and this is where the confusion starts (if it hasn't already).

If I leave my car doors wide open with lots of goodies inside for all and sundry to steal, I could not be said to be merely negligent, but wreckless. Acting in such a manner that you bring trouble upon yourself is different to making a mistake.

Wyndham

Please don't hit me again gyzmo! OK, OK, I'll agree to anything you say!!

gyzmo is of course right, and I was wrong to disagree with anything said by the greatest authority on insurance ever

Seriously, I think the insurer will at least argue a little bit, so Jud!th be prepared to stand your ground and quote the case law (always good, makes them that little bit afraid of you in case you are a lawyer) But you may not find it easy, I think they can still argue neglegance....

gyzmo

Flattery will get you everywhere!

I do agree, it would be a fight to argue your case. there is a chance you could succeed. There is a chance you may not. If the insurers dispute, they get legal help - it's fine quoting a legal case, but:

a: If the advisor hasn't heard of it in their scripts (and they won't) they'll just repeat some apology over and over again until you go away
b: Get legal help if they don't pay up. A legal professional who actually knows what they are talking about will do you more good than anything else.

Ps, Wyndham, thnx for the (incredibly sarcastic!) description of me - I will post you that cheque tomorrow!

boots_babe

kaya - what you said has concerned me somewhat...we have only ever had one set of keys for our car (bought 2nd hand from dealer). Surely if our car was ever stolen they couldn't get out of paying up just because we only have one set of keys?!

ArchieB_2

I can't see the motor insurer not paying up as after all, the keys were STOLEN. Your home ins may have a forcible and violent entry/exit clause but this has nothing to do with your motor insurer. What if the keys were stolen from a handbag that you left unattended for 20 seconds?

I would say that leaving your car key in your house and then having a thief come into your house and stealing them is not negligent, regardless if you locked up or not. Leaving your car keys in your car whilst nipping into a shop is clearly negligent yet there has been a number of FOS rulings that made the insurer pay out even in these cases.

gyzmo

boots-babe, don't worry! insurers ask for car keys to be returned to them where possible. Obviously, you cannot do so if they have been stolen! There are reasons that they ask about keys (fraud detection being one), but so long as the claim is legit then they will not refuse to pay out!

mrs_baggins

my house was broken into and we can only think that as my son was the last one in he forgot to lock the door. Not a great deal was stolen (we were in bed at the time and i heard something but assumed it was my son) but my bag including all personal id, driving license was taken which caused me no end of problems as someone was cashing cheques all over the place and runnign up £400 bills on a nice new cobntract they took out! I wasnt out of pocket for that but in the bag was my car keys and i thought they may come back for the car so had to get me car locks changed. I did this through car insurance and it took a week!! and just to add insult to injury I lost my no claims bonus and my premium went up! I was going to cliam off house insurance for other things but decided not to but just because I had informed them of a break in my premiums went up there too!!

you can never win with insurance companies!!

gyzmo

They have only done what you pay them to do. Insurers carry a risk, and must decide how much that risk is likely to cost them. the greater the risk, the more they will charge. If you make a claim, they charge you more as you represent more of a risk to them. For a few hundred quid a year, they are liable to pay a few million pounds resulting from your negligence. It may not seem fair, but it is.