Police didn't prosecute for TWOC - what does this mean for my insurance claim?

cjp2308

Good morning.

Looking for some advice on an ongoing insurance claim please.

Back in November, I was in the pub, as I drove there I didn't plan to drink, after a while I decided I would and arranged to stay at a friends house and would leave my car in the car park, to avoid anything stupid happening and collect in the morning, i asked my group of friends to look after my keys and placed them on the table.

Hours later, I left the venue to go to a different pub, shortly after I received a call from the police to say my car is on its roof - my instant reply was no it's not I left it in the car park, so they asked why didn't I check who had the keys and if there car was there when I left? But why would I expect my friends not to have the keys and I certainly wouldn't expect the car to not be where I left. So I advised that it has been stolen.

Anyhow, turns out 2 boys (16 & 17) had taken my my keys from the table and had taken my car for a joyride, after running away from the scene, they returned and the driver presented themselves to the officer.

In the police report, unbelievably, there are no witnesses despite the report stating that residents had seen these boys run from the vehicle and had chased them up the street.

The boys claim in their statement that they had permission to drive despite admitting they don't know me and have never met me before - I also find it strange the length of time (5momths) it has taken to get to this stage, there was also no cctv despite them crashing on a road full of car sales garages.

I have provided 3 statements to date to police, insurance and their investigation company and reiterated that at no point did anyone have permission to drive my car and was happy to attend court to support prosecution.

The police haven't charged the boys with anything as far as I'm aware Twoc was NFA and they didn't raise any driving offences despite no licence, insurance etc

I know the insurance may say I was careless with keys, I was trying to do the right thing by removing temptation to drive the vehicle after drinking (I'm not proud to day this but I have been prosecution for drink driving previously) they had their copy of the report yesterday, most of the information is redacted and it's essentially a 40 page log of my chasing the police for updates for 5 months. it literally is my word against theirs.

Thanks In advance.

soolin

I suspect this is a scenario that needs proper legal advice but just to be clear did you hand your keys to a specific friend or literally just leave them on a table in a pub and leave. Have you been refused insurance or are you just trying to claim for your loss? 

I’m sure the expert regulars will be able to make more suggestions but I’m not sure where you stand insurance wise if you were negligent with your car keys. 

cjp2308

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

shiraz99

Throwing your keys down on the table and saying looking after my keys to group of friends isn't the same as physically handing your keys to someone and getting their agreement to look after them. At the very least you've been pretty careless so I'm not sure how the insurer will react if you're telling them this.

soolin

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

cjp2308

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

cjp2308

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

DB1904

cjp2308 said:

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

The only thing that should be redacted is personal information not relating to you. There is clearly more to this.

cjp2308

DB1904 said:

cjp2308 said:

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

The only thing that should be redacted is personal information not relating to you. There is clearly more to this.

Yes, that's right, so all statements, names location etc in relation other parties other than me are redacted. 

soolin

cjp2308 said:

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

Is your current car insured with the same insurance company? If so I would think that must be quite encouraging, perhaps I am naive but if they had thought there was anything odd going on I imagine they would have declined to quote on a new policy. 

cjp2308

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

cjp2308 said:

soolin said:

cjp2308 said:

Thanks for coming back to me,

I addressed the group of friends I was sat with at the table and specifically said when I started drinking look after my keys - I even went to the extent of getting the barrier key for the compound so I could collect the car the next morning.

Haven't been refused, just trying to claim at this stage - no charges or accusations of permitting have been raised against me.

Since this happened back in November and a claim would have been made then, where are you currently with that claim? 

My concern, and this is really not my field, is that I’ve seen policies that are reluctant to pay out on the basis of the car was not broken into, therefore keys must have been left negligently and available for a casual thief to acquire. This is certainly open to interpretation but as you did not pass the keys to anyone then it really looks like they were just left without care. 

A lot depends on the wording of your policy of course as not all policies are the same. Does it say anything anywhere about key safety? 

Also, was the car written off or repaired and are you currently insured and driving that repaired vehicle or a different one? 

Thanks again.

Only wording in the policy Markerstudy fully comp is to do with keys left in or on car, or if the car was unlocked.

There is obviously enough evidence of who was driving as they were arrested at the scene, hindsight is a wonderful thing and probably o should have given the keys to a specific friend or put behind bar, but I wouldn't expect 2 people without licenses etc to take they keys In a. Community football club, my friends who I was with know them and their parents well, not that it makes a difference.

It took from November until yesterday to get a police report, which is what Insurance were waiting on to validate the claim, bizarrely, I noticed in the the report an email from the insurance to the investing officer asking is there a reason why they shouldn't honor the claim.

Forgot to add, car written off as total loss, currently driving a new vehicle as courtesy car not provided.

I think the negative from the police report is that so much of it is redacted there is nothing really to support my claim

Is your current car insured with the same insurance company? If so I would think that must be quite encouraging, perhaps I am naive but if they had thought there was anything odd going on I imagine they would have declined to quote on a new policy. 

Yes, new vehicle is with same insurance company. It's been nearly 6 months which is the hardest things as progress is so slow from both police and insurance