Attempted Theft / Broken Heart

shinyfeet

I am at my wits end! Sunday night someone tried to steal my car. I got up to go to work and discovered the passenger door all bent back so that they could get in and the steering column plastic covering smashed and the steering wheel moves alot when you wiggle it. Called the police, they sent someone round to check for fingerprints. Then the insurance co sent a claims assessor round today. I have now taken 2 days off work. The assessor has said that the damage is worth more than the car, as the market value of the car is only about £300. (checked on parkers.co.uk) I paid £1000 for it 3 years ago. The excess on my policy is £250. Therefore the insurance co will give me only about £50. I end up losing my no claims discount and having no car and no money to buy a new one. I am desperately trying to get myself out of debt, but there is no public transport to where I work and its about 20 miles away from where I live so walking/cycling is really not an option. I loved my little car but now it feels dirty and icky. I am tired and miserable and feeling nauseas evrytime I think about it. How on earth will I get to work tomorrow? Any support or advice would really be appreciated. Thanks

Stephen_Leak

:mad: May the flies of a thousand camels infest their backsides. :mad:

myke2007

I had my car broken into 2 years ago. Unlucky for the thief he picked the wrong car, I had badly fitted my CD player in and he couldnt get it out. So Unlucky for me has smashed my dashboard and made such a mess of my car. To make matters worse autoglass couldnt come to me until the day after. So It sat on the side of the road another night, with a bag covering the window. I had removed all my valuables including the stereo. Someone else broke in again that night and smashed some more of the car. I know it was someone else the police told me the person who had broken into mine originally was in custody (they caught him as he was leaving the scene)

I felt really sick and upset for about 2 weeks. Someone taking over your private space is not a nice thing. I got over it by not thinking about it. And not taking it personal. Don't take the break in personally to you, it could have been any car, thousands a night get broken into, just that night it was yours.

I know its easier said than done but the best course of action is to try moving on about the incident. It really will make you feel better.

As to getting to work. I can't really offer to much advice. I was lucky enough to get a lift from someone at work for a bit while my car was getting repaired. (Which I sold shortly after because I too felt yucky about someone else being in it)

After an event like what has happened to you it is normal to feel low. But take it from me it'll get better

albionrovers

My wife's BMW got nicked out of my drive way 3 weeks ago.

On the way out of my driveway, whilst driving my wife's car, the thief literally wrote of my garage, my BMW, my wall and my fence. I'm well out of pocket. I could have done without all of it.

All of this happened because a trusted tradesman's labourer nicked my wife's spare car key out of our kitchen and returned in the early hours to nick the car. He is a local 16 year old.

Life's a real b*tch sometimes but my wife and kids were unharmed. That's what really counts.

I'm glad the incident didn't wake me up because I would've been outside like a shot. And then who knows . . . .

Looking forward to my shiny new garage later this month. Life goes on.

ArsenalFC

1st of all so sorry to hear the bad news. Dont claim from the insurance company if you're only get £50 and ending up losing 2yrs ncd.

Try to sell your car as it is to a scrapyard and get whatever you can, borrow some money from family/friends & spend about £500 to get another small car, micra is decent. Hope you'll get your life back to normal soon.

h4zel

Hi... VERY VERY sorry to hear your story... I agree completely with the camel comment!!

If you need a short term (or long term) alternative to driving, you could try http://www.liftshare.org/ as means of getting to work?

Hope it all works out for you in the end :A

plane_boy2000

Hi - Please dont claim on your insurance. If they are not going to give yo much its not worth it. I know its not much help, but you will hav eto put this one down to experience. Either sell the car for scrap, or try ebaying it - it may be some use to someone as spares.

shinyfeet

Thanks for the advice, I am feeling a little better than I was. The insurance company (Fortis) have been really slow and unhelpful! I will not bother to claim on the insurance and will look at getting the damage fixed myself. My dad is quite handy with cars so hopefully most of the cost will just be spare parts. If when I total up the cost of the parts it costs more than a few hundred do you think I should just scrap it and spend a few hundred on another old car? Any sugestions about what small cars will be fairly reliable and not cost a fortune when bits start to go wrong as old cars do.
Thanks for your replies, it really helps having a bit of sympathy

saintjanet

I would look at something like a micra,the older ones seem to run forever,a mechanic mate of ours swears by them!!My neighbour had one for years,never saw him clean it or check anything but it never let him down.

anewman

For another car I would recommend a Skoda Favorit. Go for the later fuel injected model (93 onwards). You can get them for next to nothing as everyone is snobbish about cars (I got mine for nothing as it was destined for the scrap, and it cost only £95 to get it through the MOT [exhaust was corroded and a brake pipe corroded]), and mine is very reliable and quite fuel efficient in terms of the age of the car. It's also got plenty of power, appart from when it's going uphill.

I'm sure there are probably other cars you can get for hardly anything that are reliable as well.

Stephen_Leak

Don't knock Skodas. I used to rally marshal and, whilst they never came 1st overall, the Skoda teams regularly got the team prize, where all the cars in the team have to finish. Where most cars had to have reinforcing plates and bars added for rallying, Skoda had the panels x-rayed to show where the stress was going inside the metal, and then cut the "unused" bits out to make the car lighter! Someone locally still uses a Skoda for road rallying - and it sounds like a sewing machine when it goes by!