Someone has stolen our car !!!

You might have noticed I havent been round much the last few weeks.

Well firstly out car blew up :( .... on the motorway!! Luckily we were all ok and my niece and nephew who were in the car at the time, on our way back from Whipsnade Zoo, well they thoroughly enjoyed the ride home in the pick up truck!

So have spent weeks searching for a new car, after already just buying our daughter a little red Corsa (her belated 18th birthday pressie).

Anyway, sorted a car out for ourselves too .... nice MG which we are really really pleased with

Sunday morning we came out the house and the little red Corsa we brought for our daughter was gone. Now she hasnt passed her test yet, although her dad has been taking her out in it for extra lessons .... so rang her to check she hadnt taken the car without permission (didnt think she would but you have to check!)

No she hadnt got it. Searched round the block. No where to be seen.

Went to police station who started filling in forms etc and told us that should the car be found we would have to pay £150 to get it back from their garage plus £20 a day for storage should we not collect immediately.

Rang her insurance company to be told that her excess is £250 plus should she make a claim her premiums will then rocket ... which for a first time driver they are high enough as it is !!!! £1850 insurance :( once she passed her test!

The insurance company have also said, as we have only owned the car 3 weeks and paid two months insurance in one payment .... that should we claim on the insurance we will have to continue to pay the rest of the years policy.

The car cost £450 (your typical first car)

So ...... the insurance company are only going to pay back £200 as it is but then we have to pay the rest of the policy plus her premiums will then rocket.

Ermmm ..... Hello ........ it was STOLEN !!!!!!!

What I dont get here, is either way ..... WE are being treated like WE have done something wrong. We are not the victims it would appear.

I am disgusted

Daughter is so upset as her birthday pressie have been stolen and she is now without a car.

Meanwhile some idiot is driving round laughing their head off at my expense and I feel like we should have just put £450 in an envelope and stuck it to the lampost

I just think its so wrong that someone can just steal your car and then you have to pay to either get it back, or loose out on the insurance. Surely this is without fault ???

This is just so so wrong

 

Awww Sam, I really sympathise :( I hate to hear of victims of crime being treated like the criminals. I don't know much about insurance, but I do know they try to rip you off at every step, but it doesn't sound right that you have to keep paying for a car that's been stolen! As for the police...well I'm saying nothing...except my faith in them has disappeared altogether over recent years and events.

 

Hi Sam
Oh that is just so unfair, it's even worse I think when something like this happens to our offspring. It makes me furious that we work hard, pay our way and others just take anything they see.

You shouldn't have to pay, it's just totally wrong.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

Hi Sam,


Awful experience for your daughter-her first car as well.

I don't defend them but I can tell you what I said when I spoke to people who have experienced a theft of vehicle when I worked at an insurance company in the long years gone by now-thank god ( I hated the job).


First of all, your daughter a victim of a crime and that in itself is enough, however when you insure a vehicle you get an annual price-the cost of a year long policy, and it is available for you to pay that annual premium in equal monthly instalments. If you claim from that policy-theft, accident etc it doesn't matter at which point during the twelve months you claim, you have a right to expect that the insurance company abides by the conditions of that policy-ie pay you out. But you too are bound by the terms-ie pay the full premium ( in whichever manner you decided to at inception). Should a claim not take place then you can cancel the agreement ( as can the company which they sometimes do in the case of fraud)-but even this comes at a cost because the insurance company can charge you a fee for doing this. I know it sounds dreadfully unfair but you enter into a legal agreement that binds both the parties involved for a period of twelve-months ( or for however long the agreement lasts for some policies are short-term but thats by the by ATM).


A car insurance policy that lasts twelvemonths isn't like a mobile phone where you can pay as you go. The monthly payments are only in place to allow people to be able to afford a yearly policy. The whole premium is payable from inception-the instalment plan is only a way to pay it.


Turning to the issue of theft-this is the only type of claim where you have little, if any, control over, because it isn't as if your daughter has had an accident by which she can gain experience from and be a better driver in future. The theft "loading" on a premium is dictated entirely by the number of theft claims made in your area over a period of years. Your daughter will lose the prospect of a no claims bonus because she will have made a claim.

Insurance claims are made up of two parts.


Part one is the type of claim, in the case of accidents this is easy-shunt type, changed lanes type, opened car door type-etc, and part two is either fault, or non-fault. Your daughters claim will show theft/non fault, but again she will still lose her no claims bonus.


Certain traits exist in certain makes and models of cars which make them easier or harder to steal, also if a theft has occurred in one street it increases the risks of it happening again, so indirectly your own vehicles insurance policy and those of your neighbours will be affected by this one theft. It takes the brain of an actuary to work out the probabilities of any increase in the risk involved. But you can sometimes mitigate the risk-fitting an immobiliser, parking in a garage, etc, but even this will make very little difference because there is damage done to car just by someone trying and failing to steal it, they will therefore move on to another ( possibly neighbours ) car and attempt to steal that one. All of these things are claims made upon insurance policies-an increase in claims means an increase in premiums.

The whole issue of excesses on policies is a huge can of worms complicated by the average cost of claims made by people who own certain cars or park in certain places or work in certain professions-etc. The reason why a high excess is in place is to deter your daughter from making a claim. Excesses are things I personally don't believe have a place in insurance policies at all-this is one instance where they are genuinely ripping you off because you believe you can make a claim and be okay but you can't.


Your daughter will be penalised for the criminal actions of another person and that is just about the most unfair part about the whole event. I am sorry she lost her first car, and like Aaron I think the real villains of the piece are the thief and the police who do little if anything constructive these days about theft of personal property.



A very long post Sam-sorry, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow though.

 

absolutely disgusting..the innocent ones are always the ones to suffer...that seems to be the law !!!..I am very sorry Sam...

 

Unfortunately even if you don't make a claim Sam your daughters insurance policy will now show a theft as you have told them about it and probably exclude some cheaper companies from offering a quote at the end of the term. One of the declarations you are required to give are have you experienced a theft or attempted theft in the last five years whether you claimed or not-and because insurance companies pay for and subscribe to an information sharing scheme ( an offshoot of MIAFTR-I think it is called IDS-can't remember) you can't not declare it-both because it is wrong but also because it leaves her at risk should she ever need to make a claim against a policy for theft in the future.


I would personally, as a friend, advise you not to claim, to cancel the policy and keep your mobile handy so that when the police call you to tell you they have found it you can hotfoot it there to pick it up yourself. If it is in a good state of repair-ie driveable then park it up somewhere on a driveway de-mobilise it and then reinsure when she has passed her test. What does she do for a living? I can see if I can find out who she should insure with.

 

Sam, that's awful. I'm really sorry for you.

Insurance is just legalised theft. They make billions out of us, and they manage that by ripping us off at every opportunity. Your story is just one example of that. As the car was only £450, before making a claim you need to weigh up which is the greatest loss, the value of the car minus the excess, or the increased premiums for having made a claim. I know principles are at steak but I'd cut my losses and not make a claim.

As for the copper's fees, that's just outrageous. Assuming you've paid your council tax, which I'm sure you have, then you've already paid their fees. The mother-in-law's neighbours had their car stolen a while ago, and the coppers recovered it and charged them a release fee. They went to the local newspaper with a sob story (although all true) about how they'd been treat like the criminal. The coppers did a bit of back peddling and waived the fee. That might be something you could try if they recover the car. The sad thing is though, in reality, one of two things is likely to happen to the car depending on why it was stolen. If it was joyriders they'll just blast round the streets in it and then burn it. If it was for bits, then it will have been largely dissambled by now. The parts might be on ebay.

One thing you could do, and its a long shot, is to join the Vauxhall forum at www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk and tell them lot to be on the lookout. They're always tinkering with their motors so just maybe someone has come by some Corsa bits for sale in your area that just happened to come off a car matching the description of your daughter's.

 

I feel u only have insurance to stop the police giving u 6 points when they pull u on a road.

The reason the police charge for recovery is because they use local recovery firms so u have to pay them. The contract is normally put out for tender and the recovery company have to be able to fulfill the terms. Most demand that the car is recovered in a certain amount of time.

Sorry to hear about your daughters car Sam. I wouldn't claim myself if I was in your position cause as Claire said she'll be paying for it for the next 5 years. Maybe she'll get the car back and it won't be badly damaged and u can get it fixed.

 

I am sorry to hear this Sam, and hope its gets sorted out for you.

 

That's just terrble Sam - so absolutely unfair. I hope the car turns up undamaged. Sometimes they do.

 

Sam thats just awful and im disgusted that you have to pay police to get the car back iff they find it just appalling to hear that, you should be getting helped not having to pay all that and been treat like a criminal.
i hope everything turns out ok keep us informed of events

 

I`m gutted by this story..If I say anymore you may need to cover your ears!
Whatever the outcome Sam is the loser

robert

 

Thanks everyone - am just back from work.

I am glad its not just me then that thinks its disgusting - not only to have been stolen but to either have to pay for recovery and/or the whole insurance nightmare.

We just cannot get over how it all works. We will face all this while whoever actually stole it - even IF caught will probably only get a slap on the wrist !!!! urrrghhhhh thats what makes it just so unfair. I am still absolutely fuming about it all !!!

Claire - thanks so much hun for your posts. Was the reason I posted here really to see if anyone had any insight to how it all works and if what they said is actually true, which obviously it is and to see if this has happened to anyone else and what they did.

Seems we are screwed whatever we do !!

Daughter is obviously gutted that now she has no car after owning one for a whole three weeks! Her dad is sad that the pressie he brought her has gone ... and I am fuming that someone has done this and now left us in the mess we are in. Plus after having to buy ourselves another car too, it leaves us with little options of being able to replace it for her which ideally I would love to be able to do ..... if we had known this was going to happen we would have brought ourselves an older car costing less, leaving us money left ..... hindsight n all that!