Stolen car has turned up after four months

aljie

Hi everyone. I am writing on behalf of a friend whose stolen car has turned up after four months. At the time of the theft, my friend reported it to the police and insurance company. After four weeks, the police declared the car to be an unrecovered stolen vehicle and advised that the insurance company should pay out. The car had been under a finance agreement. All the car documents were sent to the insurer as requested. In the meantime, my friend bought another car as she needed it for work.

Now, four months later, the car has been recovered by the police, having been used in a robbery and sustained some damage. And guess what, it turns out that the insurer, Tesco, have never paid off the finance company, nor even apparently got in touch with them. They are insisting the car still belongs to my friend, that it must be repaired and, therefore, she must pay the excess on the policy and police storage fee. Having now bought a replacement car, also on finance, she is devastated.

She would be extremely grateful if anyone could advise on her legal position. Should the insurer have paid out in this time and who should be the legal owner of the car? Many thanks for any help you can give.

InsideInsurance

Her insurers wouldnt "pay off her finance" but if there is finance secured on the vehicle then the total loss cheque would be sent to the finance company. In a fair proportion of cases this is less than the outstanding finance, which is why GAP insurance exists.

She evidently needs to speak to Tescos and see what they have been doing for the last 4 months. Also ask why she is being required to pay the storage fees as this should be covered by the policy.

Archaediver

Thank you Inside Insurance. Your expectations of a policy are the expectations of most people I would think. The car should be written off or restored and returned to the owner.
To add to the complications regarding recovering the car from the Police Yard - the car is supposedly roadworthy, BUT has wrong numbers plates, is out of tax and out of MoT by now. It should be noted the car has GAP insurance on it too.
TESCO are aware and phone contact is futile.
The finance company are going to court for the outstanding amount, denying any contact from TESCO.

Dangermac

aljie wrote: »

Hi everyone. I am writing on behalf of a friend whose stolen car has turned up after four months. At the time of the theft, my friend reported it to the police and insurance company. After four weeks, the police declared the car to be an unrecovered stolen vehicle and advised that the insurance company should pay out. The car had been under a finance agreement. All the car documents were sent to the insurer as requested. In the meantime, my friend bought another car as she needed it for work.

Now, four months later, the car has been recovered by the police, having been used in a robbery and sustained some damage. And guess what, it turns out that the insurer, Tesco, have never paid off the finance company, nor even apparently got in touch with them. They are insisting the car still belongs to my friend, that it must be repaired and, therefore, she must pay the excess on the policy and police storage fee. Having now bought a replacement car, also on finance, she is devastated.

She would be extremely grateful if anyone could advise on her legal position. Should the insurer have paid out in this time and who should be the legal owner of the car? Many thanks for any help you can give.

Something about this doesnt sound right.

When the claim was initially made, the insurer would normally:

- wait a while (circa a month) before making a total loss offer - in case the car was recovered

- make a total loss offer. They would use this settlement to pay the finance company, and any residue would belong to the claimant.

Did the insurer do nothing for 4 months?

I think that you friend needs to speak with a manager/supervisor

If you friend wants the car repaired, and the claim hasnt been settled yet, this should be possible. Clearly, the finance payments would need to continue.

All sounds a little odd to me, but should be fairly easy to resolve.

DM

paddedjohn

Did your friend report the loss to the finance company or did they just stop making payments?

maninthestreet

So your friend reported this theft (and total loss) to Tesco insurance, and then never heard anything from them for 4 months???

BJV

Ok just trying to understand.

Your friend has their car stolen and the police say it is a write off.

Your friend sending everything to the insurance company and then nothing until 4 months later.

Since then she has bought another car.

So did they tell the gap insurance company?

Did they tell the finance company?

Did Tesco's agree to write the car off?

Did she carry on with the finance payments on the old car or just stop?

Sorry to ask so many questions just want to make sure I offer helpful info.

aljie

Hi. Many thanks for your responses, which are very much appreciated. I have tried to clarify the situation with my friend.

From what I understand, my friend notified the insurer at the time of the theft. After 14 days, the police advised that the car was unrecovered and that the insurer should now pay out. She sent the "new owner" part of the car registration document to DVLA and the remaining part of the document and car keys to the insurer in an envelope it provided.

After four months, the car was recovered, damaged, but not enough to be written off. The problem seems to be that my friend had assumed that having undertaken all these procedures, the car was now the legal possession of the insurer. For this reason, too, she had stopped paying finance payments on the car.

In fact, it has transpired that, despite four months passing, the insurer had not been in touch with the car finance company, nor made a total loss offer. My friend says she made several phone calls to the insurer to chase it up but they were "uncooperative".

Having in the meantime bought a replacement car, my friend is now distraught that the insurer is insisting the car is still legally hers. As the insurer will not write off the car, she must pay the excess when it is repaired. I believe that action is being taken against her for the missed finance payments, and she has been asked to remove the car from the garage where it is currently sitting despite it now having no number plates (they were removed when it was stolen), no registration documents to allow her to buy new number plates, and now no road tax either.

A big mess, I am afraid. Misunderstanding on all sides, I expect. But any comments would be very gratefully received.

Just makes me hope my own car is never stolen. How long are you expected to wait until you can get on with life?

danlojo

aljie wrote: »

. After four weeks, the police declared the car to be an unrecovered stolen vehicle and advised that the insurance company should pay out.
*************************************************


After 14 days, the police advised that the car was unrecovered and that the insurer should now pay out. She sent the "new owner" part of the car registration document to DVLA and the remaining part of the document and car keys to the insurer in an envelope it provided.

4 weeks or 14 days???

aljie

Hi. It was 14 days. Sorry, was initially told four weeks.

InsideInsurance

Ok, so the story still isnt making sense.....

Car stolen 14 days ago, in that time the current finance company is taking her to court for non-payment? She would have needed to have defaulted before the car was stolen for that to be happening. Are you sure the theft wasnt arranged if she is having financial difficulties?

In 14 days she has also gone out and bought a new car on finance despite her seeming financial difficulties on the first car?

Lets ignore all the inconsistencies of the stories. Until the vehicle is total lossed it remains her property. 14 days is not a long time at all in either police nor insurance timescales. As it has been recovered with only minor damage the insurers are perfectly entitled to repair and return it.

The other question which I will undoubtably be slightly dubious of the answer for, how is she insuring the new car? What has she done re her NCD?