Van broken into whilst at garage

marksmen10

Hi my son had his van broken into and tools stolen whilst in a garage for repair. It appears they moved the van to a road off of their premises whilst juggling parking, at which point the van was broken into and tools stolen. Are they responsible? Many thanks Mark.

Keep_pedalling

For damage to the van possibly for the contents probably not.

Emmia

I must ask why your son left his tools in the van whilst it was being repaired. It's possible it was targeted for them.

Aylesbury_Duck

marksmen10 said:

Hi my son had his van broken into and tools stolen whilst in a garage for repair. It appears they moved the van to a road off of their premises whilst juggling parking, at which point the van was broken into and tools stolen. Are they responsible? Many thanks Mark.

I don't think the garage is responsible based on what you've told us.  Have a look at the terms of the contract your son had with them (B2B?), and what it says about any responsibilities or insurances they hold.

He should contact his vehicle insurance to tell them of the situation.  If he has legal cover they will be able to advise next steps.

Alderbank

Many craftsmen have their vans custom fitted to carry the tools of their trade.
It would be a major undertaking to remove an installation like this then fit it all back again.

Obviously we are not looking at consumer rights here. We manage business risks differently from our private lives.
If it was my van and my livelihood, before handing the vehicle into their care I would have satisfied myself that their business insurance would indemnify me for any losses incurred while they were bailee of any of my business assets.

Grumpy_chap

marksmen10 said:

Hi my son had his van broken into and tools stolen whilst in a garage for repair. It appears they moved the van to a road off of their premises whilst juggling parking, at which point the van was broken into and tools stolen. Are they responsible? Many thanks Mark.

Probably not.
If the van was suitable (VED / insured etc.) to be on the road, then there is no specific reason the van cannot be parked on the road by the garage.
Was the garage offering secure parking, or simply to repair the van?

I assume the van was properly locked by the garage, so there was actually forced entry to the van to access the tools that were stolen?  If not, the garage may have been negligent.

Was the van at any greater risk on the public road than in the garage forecourt?  It is not unusual for garages to have a more secure working yard at the rear plus more accessible forecourt near the front.  When garages have a large number of vehicles, they need to be able to move as appropriate between the working yard and the more open areas.

This looks like a matter for the van's insurance to resolve.  The insurance will also claim against the garage if there are valid grounds to do so with realistic chance of success.

The learning for the future would be to not leave tools in the van overnight or when for service.

pinkshoes

marksmen10 said:

Hi my son had his van broken into and tools stolen whilst in a garage for repair. It appears they moved the van to a road off of their premises whilst juggling parking, at which point the van was broken into and tools stolen. Are they responsible? Many thanks Mark.

Most garages have a disclaimer stating that vehicles are left at owners risk.

As above, it is no more at risk being street parked than if he were parked at a job outside a house. When you say "broken into", I'm assuming the garage were not negligent in leaving the van unlocked? Had your son taken due diligence in removing anything of value that he normally would when he would street park it?

I remember a case a few years ago when a camper van was broken into whilst parked in secure parking at a garage, and the insides ripped out. They had to claim on their own insurance as the garage were not negligent.

UnsureAboutthis

Emmia said:

I must ask why your son left his tools in the van whilst it was being repaired. It's possible it was targeted for them.

Most tradesmen have a mass of tools inside their van, and like most people, I've yet to meet a tradesman
who has the capacity to remove all of their tools from a van when it goes in for a service/repair etc. Unless
they only carry a small amount of tools/hardware.

The T&C often state the garage takes " no responsibility for loss/damage" etc etc. If that statement can hold it's own in court, is another question.

Vans are often broken into, and it can happen anywhere, including on your drive, so the OP's son was just unlucky.

Hopefully, the young man had adequate insurance for his tools, loss of income, etc,etc. 

teaselMay

It depends, one of the reasons I used the garage I used to use was that my van would be locked within a secure compound when not being worked on. 

dumpster_fire2025

Alderbank said:

Many craftsmen have their vans custom fitted to carry the tools of their trade.
It would be a major undertaking to remove an installation like this then fit it all back again.

Obviously we are not looking at consumer rights here. We manage business risks differently from our private lives.
If it was my van and my livelihood, before handing the vehicle into their care I would have satisfied myself that their business insurance would indemnify me for any losses incurred while they were bailee of any of my business assets.

There's no need to remove the installation though, they just need to remove the tools, which would take probably 15-20 mins. Granted the thing to the right looks like it's bolted in but then that would probably stop it being knicked too.

UnsureAboutthis

dumpster_fire2025 said:

Alderbank said:

Many craftsmen have their vans custom fitted to carry the tools of their trade.
It would be a major undertaking to remove an installation like this then fit it all back again.

Obviously we are not looking at consumer rights here. We manage business risks differently from our private lives.
If it was my van and my livelihood, before handing the vehicle into their care I would have satisfied myself that their business insurance would indemnify me for any losses incurred while they were bailee of any of my business assets.

There's no need to remove the installation though, they just need to remove the tools, which would take probably 15-20 mins. Granted the thing to the right looks like it's bolted in but then that would probably stop it being knicked too.

Easier said than done. You often need another van or big car. A van that is properly secured, ie no tools on show, extra security gadgets get broken into outside people's homes on the road and or drive.
In the vast majority of cases, it is just not convenient to remove your tools every night/etc as most vans get broken into outside people's homes etc,

So, get good insurance and possibly remove the most expensive and best tools, as this is a lot easier.