Advice pl. Keys stolen from unlocked house. Car on rd outside boundary stolen. Contents of car too

lazydave

Hello all.  

Well I am having a particularly trying time at the moment and kicking myself repeatedly.

I went to bed tired the other night and probably left my front door unlocked (yes my fault I know). 

My car keys were in the hallway and at some point in the night someone came in and took them.  There is no sign of forced entry so it's probable the house was unlocked.

My car was on the road outside, so just outside my boundary.  It's a Jeep so a hatchback type boot.

In the boot was around £2k of photography gear loaded for something I was doing the next day or two.  It was underneath a (retractable) parcel shelf so out of sight to someone that looked in.

I found the car in town later the next day but the gear was gone.

My house insurance policy says:

We will cover up to £2,000 per item for loss, theft, damage or accidental damage to your personal possessions while they are:

1. a)  temporarily away from your home anywhere within the United Kingdom for up to 60 consecutive days, or

2. b)  temporarily away from your home anywhere in the rest of the world for up to 60 consecutive days up to £1,000.

This includes cover for:
a) personal possessions stolen from an

unattended vehicle, if the vehicle is locked and your personal possessions are hidden from view in a closed glove compartment or locked boot,

I can see I may have a fight on my hands but to me this says I am covered as it was away from my house and in a locked boot.

Any advice on how to play this or if I am wrong appreciated 

I am heartbroken from the loss of my gear.  I do a lot of photography for free to support local orgs like theatres etc and I cannot afford to replace it.  I have other questions about key cover for the other cars etc but they can wait.  Changed the house locks cheap enough myself and WILL be keeping it locked constantly from now on

cymruchris

What kind of locks do you have? And did it (It wouldn't again) happen frequently? Or is there a chance that whoever it was got in without damage through picking the lock?

If your thief had the key - my interpretation would be that the boot was no longer locked, so I would imagine that cover wouldn't apply, but happy to hear other's viewpoints.

You're very lucky to get the car back - was it undamaged?

Are the Police up to speed with what's happened?

Aretnap

cymruchris said:

If your thief had the key - my interpretation would be that the boot was no longer locked, so I would imagine that cover wouldn't apply, but happy to hear other's viewpoints.

By that logic cover would also not apply if the thief had acquired the key by forcing entry to the house, picking the OP's pocket, or by physically robbing him in the street. Clearly the fact that the thief got hold of the key cannot in itself be enough to deny cover and as the policy doesn't seem to require that the key be stored with any particular level of security I can't see any reason why a claim could be declined.

Did the policy say anything about cover for theft is the house is not locked of if there is no sign of forced entry? At a push a clause like that might apply, but it would be a push, and most policies don't have such clauses anyway.

prowla

Is it a condition of your insurance that your house is locked whilst you are in it?

user1977

If you mean it was on the road immediately outside your house, I'm not sure that means your contents were really "away from your home" any more than they would be if the car was sitting on a driveway. I would interpret it as meaning taking the stuff away with you somewhere else, not them still being in the immediate environs of your house.

SpudGunPaul

user1977 said:

If you mean it was on the road immediately outside your house, I'm not sure that means your contents were really "away from your home" any more than they would be if the car was sitting on a driveway. I would interpret it as meaning taking the stuff away with you somewhere else, not them still being in the immediate environs of your house.

So how far do you need to go to be away from your home?

user1977

SpudGunPaul said:

user1977 said:

If you mean it was on the road immediately outside your house, I'm not sure that means your contents were really "away from your home" any more than they would be if the car was sitting on a driveway. I would interpret it as meaning taking the stuff away with you somewhere else, not them still being in the immediate environs of your house.

So how far do you need to go to be away from your home?

I would interpret such cover to be for situations where you've taken your possessions with you on some sort of trip away from home - not that you're at home and have left your stuff outside somewhere.

It would be an odd conclusion if the possessions (a) wouldn't have been covered if they had been stolen from an unlocked house [I guess that's the case but we don't know from what the OP says] but (b) are covered if they're in a locked car, to which access can easily be gained via a key in the unlocked house...

Aretnap

user1977 said:

If you mean it was on the road immediately outside your house, I'm not sure that means your contents were really "away from your home" any more than they would be if the car was sitting on a driveway. I would interpret it as meaning taking the stuff away with you somewhere else, not them still being in the immediate environs of your house.

I think the items are either at your home or away from your home. I've never seen a policy which creates a third category of "sort of in the general vicinity of your home". It would be much more arguable that they were at home if the car was on a driveway.

If course if the car was on a driveway or otherwise "at home" the contents would still be covered - subject to any exclusions that apply to the theft from your home section. For example any cover limits for items in the garden would come into play.

sheramber

Insurance often want proof of forced entry.

Aretnap

sheramber said:

Insurance often want proof of forced entry.

Only if there's a clause in the policy saying that they will only pay for theft from the home of there is evidence of forced entry. This is not a standard clause with most insurers and is more commonly added as an endorsement to individual policies. Typically for reasons like: it's a shared house with people coming and going who don't necessarily know each other very well, it's a high crime area (in the insurer's opinion) or there's a previous history of burglary at the address.

In any event theft of items away from the home is typically covered by a separate section of the policy with its own set of terms and exclusions. It's doubtful whether a clause relating to theft from the home would be relevant to a claim for theft away from the home, but it would depend on exactly how the clause was worded

lazydave

cymruchris said:

What kind of locks do you have? And did it (It wouldn't again) happen frequently? Or is there a chance that whoever it was got in without damage through picking the lock?

If your thief had the key - my interpretation would be that the boot was no longer locked, so I would imagine that cover wouldn't apply, but happy to hear other's viewpoints.

You're very lucky to get the car back - was it undamaged?

Are the Police up to speed with what's happened?

Hi. They’re cylinder locks. In all likelihood the door was left unlocked by mistake though. 

If someone saw you park and lock your car and picked your pocket for your keys would that mean you are not covered as they have keys, or is it about how you left it?  That’s what I’m trying to work out. 

No idea what state it’s it as police have it but there’s at least 1 rip in the seats and maybe dent at the back. 

Yes informing them on everything. They have car for forensics and I’m sending them a detailed list of what was taken with model numbers of photo gear that was stolen