Car Stolen - Insurance Advice Please

hjb123

Sorry to hear of it. See what your insurance company says. Just a quick querstion though it you are in a private road did you not notice someone hanging about? They must have been awfully close to manage to get in to the car while you just got out to shut the boot?

mattymoo

At the end of the day insurers (with the possible exception of travel insurers ) are reasonable people and will take a realistic view on these things.

What is reasonable / unreasonable has been tested either in court or before the ombudsman in the past and insurers will follow that thinking if they know what is good for them.

A judge summed up "reasonableness" years ago by suggesting it would be the view of a man on a clapham omnibus IIRC. Peculiar breed these judges.

The example I gave of paying at a petrol station / leaving keys in car has been shown in the past to be unreasonable and claims can rightly be declined.

However, in this instance the engine is running but the owner is still with the vehicle. The same situation could arise if you
a) had to check something in the engine bay that needed the engine to be run.
b) pulled over to shut the tailgate / rear door after a warning light came on.

In the first it would not be possible to remove keys. In the second, is it reasonable to expect someone to turn off, remove keys, get out and check tailgate whatever, get back in and start car up again? I would suggest not and I believe the insurers should see it the same if they are happy with the circumstances as described.

Miss Bliss - be prepared to have to give a description of events 2 or 3 times or more. A lot of insurers use close questioning techniques to look for inconsistencies in the story. Some do it face to face, others over the phone.

ben500

mattymoo wrote: »

At the end of the day insurers (with the possible exception of travel insurers ) are reasonable people and will take a realistic view on these things.

quote]

I beg to differ insurers are not reasonable they are clinical. The only thing that will sway judgement is the likliehood of the FO overturning the decision which I might add is unlikely in this case, I would still recommend the op makes the claim however as the outcome will not affect premium calculations any different to the notification and at least there will be some chance of the claim being allowed albeit slim.

mightymouse

Hi

Then again, if I claim I could argue the vehicle wasn't left unattended

You will need to carefully examine your origional policy document and any amendments to the relevent paragraphs since the policy was taken out.

My opinion says it was not 'left' and it was not 'unattended' which will be linked to the phrase of keys in car.............not covered

You do not say how much your car is worth.

In my opinion you were not reckless but that is just my opinion and yes you can take this ultimately to the Ombudsman...........

It probably will be a telephone interview and ideally you need to prepare as regards the detail............

It is likely that your claim will be turned down then you need exact reasons why it should be paid to send to the ombudsman adjudicator.

Ask your insurer for copies of anything they record.

suffolkb

Nicky Clark on `Wake up to money` on radio 5 is always going on about how his car was driven off his drive as he left the engine running. His insurance did not pay out.
I wish you luck.

mightymouse

Hi

try this re leaving vehicle 'unattended'........

http://www.oxfordmail.net/mostpopular.var.1575236.mostviewed.man_in_loo_has_22_000_car_stolen.php


scroll down for comments!

Also

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/38/keys-in-car-38.htm

Miss_Bliss

Dear All, thanks for all your opinions.
The private road is round the corner to my block of flats, it runs off of the road I live in. My car is parked in secure parking i.e. behind a padlocked chain, which I had pulled out of and locked. My car was in the private road, where it is just off the public road.
There was no-one around. The road was quiet. I believe he may have been watching me and was behind a small wall with some grass around it, crouched down, hoping for opportunity.
He was very quick to the point if I was just a few seconds quicker I would of tried to drag him out the car. That's the point, it happened in seconds. I saw him climb in the car. He drove off with the door open and closed it on the way into the public road.

Perhaps I should be thankful as if he was watching me, he could of been planning to drag me out of it anyway!

Thanks for the pointing to the articles. I'm not looking for someone to tell me I was an idiot. Just for advice on the insurance.

I reported it to the insurance yesterday evening, so that's covered too.

The car was maybe worth about 3500-4000K.

mightymouse

Hi

Have a look at issue number 37 also

This link is old but still worth a read...........

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/1/keys-in-cars-case-studies.htm

missile

I think it will depend on who your insurers are. I have found (to my cost) that it does not always pay to take the cheapest quote. There have been some well published stories where insurers have refused to pay when keys are left in the vehicle.

I guess that spoiled your weekend? I wish you success, please let us know the result.

---lee---

OP - good luck with your claim. I don't think you were irresponsible. I think your actions were reasonable given that you stayed with your car. It's certainly food for thought.