Is it worth tyring to sue a burglar?

tootie

Sorry if this sounds silly but I'm not sure what to do.

Last October we got burgled and had a nuber of things stolen from the house including every set of keys we have and one of the cars stolen.

It worked out that we were seriously put out of pocket as we had to pay every insurance excess going

£150 for buildings (damage to door)
£150 for contents
£150 for my car (both sets of keys taken so could not use)
£150 for partners car (which was stolen and later recovered)
£200 to get a new lock set put on the motorbike (as keys to this were also stolen)

Anyway since then, my car insurance has gone throgh the roof as I was unable to protect my no claims bonus because of my age and have lost all bar 1 yr, and the house insurance is due for renewal next month and some of the quotes I have been getting have doubled the monthly cost - AA quoted me £60 a month.

I am still having nightmares about it and finding it hard to live in this house but refuse to be beaten into leaving a house I love.

My car insurance are still trying to pursue the person who did it (who has now been sentenced to 3 yrs for burglary offences)for their costs, which IF sucessful will re-instate my no claims but my partners insurers say they dont do this - its up to us to make a claim against him.

Should We try to Sue him for all our losses? or will it just end up a lengthly vastly expensive process?? and as this person id likely not to have much money (else he would not have been stealing from peoples homes), would we end up worse off than we already are?

Any advice is most welcome

P.s. I already know the best piece of advice is to ensure that all household keys are well hidden each night and to get a house alarm!!

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi there

No matter what insurance you have, it's never nice to suffer a burglary.

I think you have hit the nail on the head; if you try to sue the B45tard that broke into your house, where is he going to get the money from, especially as he is currently in prison?

You mention that you are finding it hard to live in the house and I think that if you puruse the thief for compensation, all you are really doing is prolonging the agony.

The only REAL advice I can give you is to make sure you get the same Buildings and Contents insurer on a combined policy. If you have separate insurers or policies, as you have found out, you get charged the excess for each one. A combined policy only has one excess per claim rather than one per policy.

All the best

anewman

Do you have any kind of legal cover on home contents insurance?

Can they take money from Benefits to pay such fines? I know they can do it with wages, but doubt this guy will ever be getting a job.

Millie's_Mum

Were your Buildings and Contents insurances through the same policy? If so you should only have had to pay one excess