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

lazydave

prowla said:

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

Not that I can see but I am getting a bit policy blind to be honest!  I’ll double check again tonight 

Sea_Shell

What are your excesses?

That's potentially going to be two claims. One home and one car.

Notifiable to both insurers.

cymruchris

Just a little side question - are you the homeowner? or a tenant? How long have you lived where you are? And did you fit your own locks - or are they the ones when you tenanted or bought the property?

cymruchris

Aretnap said:

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.

I think the only reason my thoughts were that it wouldn't cover it - was that the key potentially wasn't forcibly removed from anywhere or anyone, whereas in the scenarios you list yes, forcibly removed would intimate that you'd be covered.

Whatever happens I hope the OP can get a positive outcome - and can keep us updated on their progress.

user1977

Aretnap 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.

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.

It would help if the OP could let us see the rest of the policy.

It is possible that "at home" could be construed as meaning more than strictly within your title boundaries - after all, motor insurers distinguish between "parking on the street (at home)" and "parking on the street (somewhere completely different)".

And obviously the intention of such cover is to cover things you've taken with you while you're on an excursion away from home - not stuff you couldn't be bothered bringing in from the car after you get back, and then leave in a rather insecure manner.

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

Insurance often want proof of forced entry.

No, traditionally policies only had a forced/violent entry clause if there was non-family members living there. Obviously in more recent years where price rather than quality is promoted then some basic policies have something similar even with family only policies.

lazydave said:

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. 

Depends on the quality of the cylinder lock... bumping cheap cylinder locks is fairly basic.

You need to read the terms of each section of your policies. You may find with a budget policy that theft from the home is not covered without forced/cviloent entry but that doesn't mean the PP section of the same policy has the same requirement. Your Motor policy (which will only cover a token amount of stuff in the car) will have totally different terms.

Aretnap

Never mind... I should read the thread properly.

cymruchris

Aretnap said:

Sea_Shell said:

What are your excesses?

That's potentially going to be two claims. One home and one car.

Notifiable to both insurers.

There won't be a car claim unless there was some damage to the car which the OP hasn't mentioned, and he wants to claim for it.

If the car was recovered undamaged then arguably it is not even a "loss" which would have to be declared to the car insurer, though it would depend on exactly what question was asked and how the terms were defined.

It's not undamaged - the OP mentions there's at least one dent and a ripped seat although it's still with forensics.

Aretnap

cymruchris said:

Aretnap said:

Sea_Shell said:

What are your excesses?

That's potentially going to be two claims. One home and one car.

Notifiable to both insurers.

There won't be a car claim unless there was some damage to the car which the OP hasn't mentioned, and he wants to claim for it.

If the car was recovered undamaged then arguably it is not even a "loss" which would have to be declared to the car insurer, though it would depend on exactly what question was asked and how the terms were defined.

It's not undamaged - the OP mentions there's at least one dent and a ripped seat although it's still with forensics.

Oops, I should really read the whole thread rather than just the first post.

in_my_wellies

My mothers car was stolen from her drive whilst she was loading her art boxes for her painting class. The keys were on the table in the porch. Mum bent over to pick up a box from the hall and became aware of someone behind her. She though it was the postman. He grabbed the keys a drove away with her car. 

At first the car insurance company refused to pay as 'she had left the car unlocked' but she went to a solicitor and eventually they paid up. 

The car was then used in a bank robbery and soon recovered. Rather stupid of the thieves to use a distinctive car for this purpose.

This is the bit for OP to read:
The police 'requested' her car for forensics (but she didn't have a choice) and informed her after three days that she could collect it. She was charged 3 days fee for it being in the police compound. They just said she had to pay and should claim on her insurance. Most annoying as there was no damage to the car so she would have had no claim otherwise
So, OP, get your car out ASAP