Help! Car was impounded and now the lender has it

missile

Mza123 wrote: »

I’ve literally gone through every reply individually and replied? Lol

So who took your car?
A friend / relative or a stranger?
How did they get your keys?
It seems you reported it stolen the morning after the car was stopped. Why did you not report it sooner?

macman

The fact that you owned a home at the time of taking out the policy is not relevant. If you have changed address without informing your insurer, then that is a clear breach of the policy T&C's. So the insurer is not being 'funny' about it.
How did the police trace you if the car is registered at an old address-or did you inform the DVLA, but not the insurer?
The fact that the keys were out of your possession (and not stolen from you) would certainly be a factor in any insurance claim, so you should be grateful that the police stopped him before he trashed it.

spadoosh

missile wrote: »

So who took your car?
A friend / relative or a stranger?

Mza123 wrote: »

Taken at a party, by a friend of a friend, I wasn!!!8217;t in a fit state to drive my car home so took a cab.

missile wrote: »

How did they get your keys?

Mza123 wrote: »

Unfortunately I left my key and it led to all this

missile wrote: »

It seems you reported it stolen the morning after the car was stopped. Why did you not report it sooner?

Mza123 wrote: »

Yes I reported it stolen the next morning, I received a call from westbrom police telling me they had my car

<snip>

The police at the time didn!!!8217;t know he car was taken without my permission, they found out the next morning.

Im working on the basis they did not know the car was missing until a) they tried to collect it or b) the police rang the owner telling them to collect the car.

As meticulous as you are with your questioning, your observation and comprehension skills require significant improvement.

Sorry OP, no knowledge to help you. Im guessing missile can solve your problem now they have those answers though?

Mza123

macman wrote: »

The fact that you owned a home at the time of taking out the policy is not relevant. If you have changed address without informing your insurer, then that is a clear breach of the policy T&C's. So the insurer is not being 'funny' about it.
How did the police trace you if the car is registered at an old address-or did you inform the DVLA, but not the insurer?
The fact that the keys were out of your possession (and not stolen from you) would certainly be a factor in any insurance claim, so you should be grateful that the police stopped him before he trashed it.

As I mentioned earlier... I didn’t change address on my insurance because my insurance was at my parents address. I was a homeowner but my insurance wasn’t registered to the home I own because I don’t live there.

Not once did I say the car wasn’t registered to my address, that’s just you adding decoration.

I misplaced my keys and they were taken

Mza123

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

Out of curiosity, how does this work? When you turn up at the police station with your insurance documents etc., do they then contact the insurer and discover some sort of discrepancy with addresses that the OP had not notified them about? I mean how does the insurer find out that the OP is "no longer a home owner"? (Or presumably had changed address).

You usually turn up to the police station proving th car is yours usually with the V5, prove valid insurance cover and a valid licence.
They then call your insurer check this all through and give you a stamped piece of paper you take to the recovery centre.

The under writers may sometimes question you about your policy, obviously when they asked about my home I told them I don’t own the home my insurance is registered to, but I did own a home at the time of taking the policy.

He then said I’d need to prove this using either a title deed or mortgage statement before he can validate my police and verify cover with the police

Mza123

missile wrote: »

So who took your car?
A friend / relative or a stranger?
How did they get your keys?
It seems you reported it stolen the morning after the car was stopped. Why did you not report it sooner?

It was a friend of a friend, stranger to me
The keys were left at my friends place, I didn’t realise this till the next morning.
After checking my friends place the next morning and seeing my car missing I rang the police. I got a call within the hour telling me where my car was. Went to the station the same day to get the release documents

AdrianC

Mza123 wrote: »

As I mentioned earlier... I didn’t change address on my insurance because my insurance was at my parents address. I was a homeowner but my insurance wasn’t registered to the home I own because I don’t live there.

Hmm, that's a very subtle distinction, and one that goes against the implicit meaning in the question they ask. In fact, it may well be against the explicit wording - for example, the Meerkats ask "Do you own your home?". In your circumstances, answering "yes" would be the wrong answer.

I presume they are aware of your self-employed residential landlord business activities? Does your insurance include business cover, for any times that you visit that property?

Mza123

Sorry I probably shouldn’t have rushed the post and gave a more detailed version of events form start to finish.

I have informed my insurer of the situation and told them if I had got the car out when I wanted to the vehicle would not have been repossessed, they say they will now attempt to contact the finance company.

Also I didn’t report the vehicle missing to my insurer straight away because without contacting the police and getting a crime reference number they wouldn’t be able to do much.

Mza123

AdrianC wrote: »

Hmm, that's a very subtle distinction, and one that goes against the implicit meaning in the question they ask. In fact, it may well be against the explicit wording - for example, the Meerkats ask "Do you own your home?". In your circumstances, answering "yes" would be the wrong answer.

I presume they are aware of your self-employed residential landlord business activities? Does your insurance include business cover, for any times that you visit that property?

Yes class 1 business use is included as standard and I have disclosed this as a secondary occupation

Herzlos

Mza123 wrote: »

I don’t know him personally hence why I didn’t care if he got prosecuted

Not knowing him would make it even more likely I'd want to see someone prosecuted for stealing my car at a party. I'd be furious.

It seems the finance companies concern is that you left your car and keys at a friends house, which resulted in someone else driving it.

You may have a separate issue with the insurance, where you may or may not be a home owner. Unfortunately that delay allowed the finance company to get the car and find out about the usage.

Have you filed a report for the theft and got a crime number? That may be the only thing that'll allow the finance company to give you the car back. Otherwise your options are as they describe: buy the car off them (pay the settlement + recovery fees), or let them auction it and pay the different (settlement + recovery fees - auction fees).