Car broken into while at a dealership for repair

Herzlos

AdrianC said:

Sticksy82 said:

The car was obviously not locked as no sign of break in damage at. Meaning that the dealership left it unlocked.

That's a leap of logic. There are many ways to get into a locked car without leaving signs of breaking in.

Sure, but the most likely is that someone parked the car and forgot to lock it.

It's fairly common for folk to walk about car parks trying door handles looking for easy targets.

Manxman_in_exile

You left £900 worth of cricket equipment in your car while it was being repaired at a garage?

I assume it was more than one bat?

It wasn't club equipment you were looking after was it?

You aren't Virat Kohli or Steve Smith are you?  

Aretnap

AdrianC said:

I’m actually in process of taken legal action with them. As personally don’t feel that I should have to claim against my own insurance for their negligence.

A basic principle of taking legal action is that you mitigate your losses as far as is possible.

The decision whether to claim on his own insurance or not has nothing to do with mitigating his losses. His losses cannot be mitigated because they have already occurred.

IF the garage is liable (no opinion on that question) then there's no particular reason beyond convenience why the OP should claim on his own insurance rather than directly from the garage. Any more than you're obliged to claim on your own car insurance rather than directly from the third party if a negligent driver drives into the back of your car.

Grey_Critic

There is still the question of the poor security at the dealership. Any customer vehicle booked onto their premises for work is their responsibility even if they have a disclaimer. I had a case where a foolish technician tried to drive a customers car through a wall in the workshop, the manager tried to use the disclaimer **at owners risk** until a solicitors letter forced hm to reconsider. The company had to provide a courtesy vehicle and pay for the repairs.

AdrianC

Grey_Critic said:

There is still the question of the poor security at the dealership. Any customer vehicle booked onto their premises for work is their responsibility even if they have a disclaimer. I had a case where a foolish technician tried to drive a customers car through a wall in the workshop, the manager tried to use the disclaimer **at owners risk** until a solicitors letter forced hm to reconsider. The company had to provide a courtesy vehicle and pay for the repairs.

There is a world of difference between persons unknown breaking into a vehicle overnight and a member of staff driving it into a wall.

Manxman_in_exile

Agreed.

And I still don't understand why the OP had left £900 of cricket equipment unsecured in his car waiting in the garage to be repaired.  (Have I got that right?  Did it all belong to him or to others?)

Whilst it might have been foreseeable from the garage's point of view that the OP may have left some personal possessions in the car, I doubt it would be considered foreseeable that they had left nearly a grand's worth of sports gear.

I doubt it's insured in the circumstances.  Either the OP's or the garage's.  I'd still like to know if it all belonged to the OP... 

AdrianC

A quick google leaves me somewhat surprised to find that a single cricket stick can cost the thick end of £700... although that does appear to be very much the exception. Add on a set of those padded-leg-things and a hat, and £900 seems much more feasible than I was expecting.