car stolen from repair garage

MILLYMOLLY

Thanks don't think I can take any more stress

vax2002

Post the car details, colour make, reg ect, it is a big network, it could be parked on someone's street, it is your best interests to get the car back.

newfoundglory

The reg will surely have been changed by those who nicked it - because it will be on the police national computer as stolen and have been picked up by an ANPR camera by now....

dacouch

Millymolly, allow me top clarify the situation for you.

All Insurers treat theft claims with suspicion and will investigate them thoroughly as a high percentage are fraudulent.

The 1 hour telephone call is what's known as a "Cognitive Interview" the same technique is used by the police to gather information from witnesses or people they have arrested. Basically they will ask very detailed questions about the theft of the vehicle and the time leading up to it and the discovery. They will then ask very obscure questions about it for instance if your son dropped it off on the way to college they may ask what his first lesson was. They will then re ask a lot of the same questions in different ways.

Basically someone who is telling the truth will have no problem with answering very detailed questions or obscure questions eg what lesson. A liar will have made up a story and but will not have thought up detailed background for their story which this type of interview discovers.

It is in effect a way of detecting lies as the interviewer is trained to listen to the answers and ask questions based on the answers. It is common with most Insurers to use this for a theft claim and is nothing to worry about for your son if he tells the truth although he may find the questioning a bit tiring.

There is more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_interview

I would not suggest you take up the advice of requesting the questions in writing, this will ring alarm bells with the Insurers which will result in them looking into the claim further and they will also just hang the claim out until they are totally satisfied which could be many many months.

Do not be tempted to lie to the interviewer as they are very likely to discover it, the good thing about these interviews are that once they are done and the interviewer is happy they will send a report back to the Insurer suggesting they pay the claim if everything else is in order.

The suggestion that a motortrade Insurer can deny paying a claim because the client has a their own motor policy is rubbish.

For the garage to be liable for the costs, they will have had to have acted negligently which very roughly is could the actions of a reasonable person avoided the theft. You mention the thief walked in and out with the keys, do you have any evidence of this eg cctv. Is the garage in an area known for thefts etc.

I'm not sure whether the car is fronted eg insured in the parents name without the Insurer being aware the son is the main user. If they are aware it's not a problem, if they were not aware then the Insurer might void the policy. However this hinges on lots of information which you have not given.

The previous poster who states that as the theft has nothing to do with the son, is incorrect as it is possible for a policy to be voided and a claim not paid if the non disclosure was "Inadvertent" and the Insurer would not have accepted the policy if they had been aware of the correct information at the start of the policy. Obviously if the non disclosure was "Fraudulent / deliberate" or "Clearly Reckless" then the claim will normally not be paid and the policy voided.

For the record here is the Ombudsman's guidance on non disclosure which if the car is fronted they will insurer should abide by http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-ins-nondisclosure.htm

vax2002

You never know, it could have just been parked up with the keys in.
One found on this street was just so and the recovery driver found the keys in the bush next to it, it had been stolen from a guy scraping ice from it 2 weeks before.

newfoundglory

A good post dacouch, but i'd still tell em to send it in writing

dacouch

newfoundglory wrote: »

A good post dacouch, but i'd still tell em to send it in writing

The Insurer will just sit on the claim and keep fobbing the OP off, when customers do this. An Insurer will quite happily sit on a claim for upwards of a year.

It really is not a good idea to request the questions in writing as they will suspect something is amiss with the claim.

vax2002

They do it over the phone so they can use lie detector software on the call, which has not been proven to be accurate.
You are under no legal obligation to co-operate with such a stupid process, they can write and ask for a statement.
You have done nothing wrong, if the insurance covers the liability then they will have to pay up and not try to trick you out of it.
If they refuse, you can ask a legal expert to "tax" (inspect) the contract and if you are covered you can sue for it to be enforced.
Let them explain to the court that they wont pay because you refused a lie detector test...
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-1512762/Will-a-lie-detector-catch-you-out.html

pitkin2020

I do agree with dacouch if you get the insurers back up why are they going to move quickly with it, on the other hand though the longer they take the more it will cost. The op could be entitled to compensation from the garage insurance for the inconvenience caused, hire cars etc.

Vax they can use what they like but if they don't tell you they are using it, i.e lie detection software they couldn't use it if it ever went to court!!

vax2002

Insurance companies dont do good will, you are either covered by the contract or not.
If they refuse to meet their obligations in the contract you sue them, just as they would sue you for the same.
The OP would be better getting the contract policy terms read.
However from a Legal standing, I would say the garage is responsible for the loss and I would be looking at bringing litigation against them to establish liability.
My gut feeling is the insurance of the Op are looking to establish that the policy is not enforce for the circumstances of the crime and that the garages does not cover for such.
In which case it would not be an insurance of indemnity matter if no contract is in force to cover the losses and the negligence would lie with who left the keys in.
However this has yet to be established, fingers crossed it is insured
If this is not the case, finding and recovering the car must be the first priority.
Ads in shops, local BBC radio and newspapers, twitter and face book.
It must be somewhere, if it could be found all this could be avoided.