Car stolen now recovered - insurance options - am i being fobbed off??

[dlockers]

On withdrawing the claim, I debated this - but you'll be surprised at how much the incidentals add up to be. For example, the invoice for the recovery truck, storage, insurance whilst they had it etc. And a key change, I went to Ford directly and it was enormously expensive as in my case the thief had thrown the keys....very unkind of them. So had physical barrels changed too.

The increase to my insurance wasn't much at all so it worked out much better than any alternative. Remember, insurance is there for exactly this purpose. Going out of your way to avoid a claim is the anti purpose, especially in a situation like this.

Just go the easy path, get the peace of mind, get your car back and move on with the next phase of your life.

They will likely have to swap the keys for their own policies. If they messed with the OBD port it could be they reprogrammed their own key which for some cars knocks out your existing keys. I'd expect a set of new keys in a theft situation unless they are putting in writing it would make no difference.

RFID box should see you safe and odds are something we all need to deal with in this 'new world' of convenience versus security. All going the same way as contactless credit cards as crime reduces and demands for convenience go up!

 

[FlapR]

Only advice I can give is, insist any repairs are done by the main dealer, causes fewer potential problems down the line.

 

[Mike Jersey]

When I lived in Manchester in my younger days I owned a Mercedes E430 (W210) and decided to sell it. On one fine Wednesday evening I had arranged a viewing with two fine upstanding members of society who subsequently stole the car whilst looking around the vehicle. Luckily it was recovered 7 days later with the Mercedes badge missing and the engine destroyed

 

[PiKe]

^ Luckily?

 

[jpaul]

presumably if this was a model susceptible to a relay theft (keyless&start) you'd want to either get the Faraday bag now, or potential manufacturer fix where the key becomes inert when not being moved, or disable keyless start. ?
Have insurance companies not made any mandates for susceptible cars.

 

[dlockers]

presumably if this was a model susceptible to a relay theft (keyless&start) you'd want to either get the Faraday bag now, or potential manufacturer fix where the key becomes inert when not being moved, or disable keyless start. ?
Have insurance companies not made any mandates for susceptible cars.

Inert keys sound like an innovative solution.

 

[muon]

Only advice I can give is, insist any repairs are done by the main dealer, causes fewer potential problems down the line.

The only thing you can insist on is they fix your car.

You are claiming on your own policy and so are bound to whatever T&Cs you agreed to when you bought it. Often using a non-approved repairer has a higher excess.

Inert keys sound like an innovative solution.

New cars already do this. Problem is loads of older cars before everyone realised this was a problem don't have this.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/more-car-models-get-sleeping-key-fobs-to-combat-keyless-theft/n20439

It's pretty much standard for all new models since the beginning of 2020.

 

[gc123]

yeah friend has a newish mondeo around 2016/17 he was worried about this so i noticed ford had decided in there wisdom to produce a new style key that stopped transmitting after time(inert i guess) thought great advised him to get in touch with ford and they wanted silly money for 2 new handsets and reprogramming about 350 pounds plus. i even checked and noticed in one of my trade magazines there is a company producing a modification that fits into the existing handset to make it shutdown after a period of not being used....again silly money even trade . in the end he got a steering wheel cover and said if they want it that bad they can have it.

 

[IAmATeaf]

I don't understand the withdraw the claim bit, it was stolen and now recovered and the insurance know about. Let them sort the car out for you as either way a claim will be recorded and if you let them sort it out if you find something in a weeks time you can get them to sort out it.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I don't know why people think it will be stolen again.

It was likley stolen for a job then ditched straight after.thags what happened to a friend of mine. They found the car a week or two later abandoned in a not so nice area and it was perfectly fine bar scratch marks on the leather seats in the back.

Police reckon it was used to transport something then ditched.

They took the car back and have kept it with insurance paying for the damage done and it's been fine ever since.

He said it's not an exotic car but my friends was a pretty new John cooper works mini so pretty fast and decent handling car albeit not a luxury brand per say.

It's a £7500 car again not exactly something worth stealing when there is no shortage of £50k cars about.

Nobody steals a £7500 car to go through all the hassle of breaking it or shipping it abroad the margin wouldn't be worthy of it.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Depends on the demand for parts, people take apart corsas and fiestas on the street, quite a high chance of being caught vs just driving off in it.

Also "Top stolen cars in 2019, number 1 Ford Fiesta."

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...els-frequently-reported-stolen-DVLA-year.html

So yes, low value cars are stolen lots, the demand for parts are high, stop presenting opinions as facts, people do and will steal cheap cars, it is worth the hassle.

Down our road we have a GTR, M4 a 7 series Alpina and a brand new SV autobiography Range Rover worth over 120k to name but a few, yet the only car to be stolen in the last 5 years was a Fiesta.

 

[chroniclard]

Our diesel civic was nicked, the crims got nabbed over a week later, car returned. No damage other than dirty. Lost a bit of value as marked as stolen/recovered(I think). Not a lot you can do other than suck it up.

 

[gc123]

fiestas all day long remember a piece on local news program with a couple being told there car had been damaged in the car park outside there house. it was in birmingham if i remember, the thieves had just completly stripped the front of the car where it was parked , bumper both rads, cross member lights bonnet etc you could see where the had used a cutter or grinder and just cut the front wing off at the end rather than unbolting the bumper .

car was a right mess really sad this is happening so much now .... easy money for crims , grrrrrr

 

[dlockers]

fiestas all day long remember a piece on local news program with a couple being told there car had been damaged in the car park outside there house. it was in birmingham if i remember, the thieves had just completly stripped the front of the car where it was parked , bumper both rads, cross member lights bonnet etc you could see where the had used a cutter or grinder and just cut the front wing off at the end rather than unbolting the bumper .

car was a right mess really sad this is happening so much now .... easy money for crims , grrrrrr

Fiestas have been targeted for yonks. The 2002-2005 ST was asking for it with £50 centre caps that popped off as easy as valve covers. The trim on the rear bumper became like rocking horse **** because it was so often stolen.

Golf R's are a big target for front end theft, too.

This was in a dealership lot:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1797549&i=0

 

[wingnutta]

Ok, small update.. The car is being picked up soon from recovery off to the garage. They have been really good and told me everything that will happen to repair it. I saw it briefly in the compund and to be fair from a far it looked ok???..

Ive got to have a closer look when the garage gets it to point out what was and wasnt present before it was stolen - fingers crossed not too much.

As for the insurance - they did clarify that the car was uncatergorized on return (As long as they dont write it off!!). From what ive read on here thats exactly what you have been saying... So valu should stay in the car..

Brings me on to the next point though - if the car is clear on a hpi check (which it should be) - is there a moral issue here for declaring it when getting rid (Still undecided at this point)?? Its an issue i never knew even existed??.. HPI Clear BUT the car couldve been previously stolen/recovered/repaired???

 

[jpaul]

Aren't the insurance company warranting that it hasn't been damaged - what happens if the tracking is off / tyres damaged ?

 

[muon]

Aren't the insurance company warranting that it hasn't been damaged - what happens if the tracking is off / tyres damaged ?

I'm sure if that has happened they'll pay out for a repair. Minus the excess of course.

 

[wingnutta]

Sorry i didnt word it too well... the garage are picking it up and first thing is its off to a main dealer for a thorough checkup... I was a lot happier when they said that... Insurance have said that whatever it needs to repair they will do - unless it breaks the write off theshold...

 

[Danthus]

I don't know why people think it will be stolen again.

I recently dealt with a claim where a car was stolen which was then stolen again and used in a series of serious crimes.

 

[R4z0r]

Sounds like it was stolen because it was easy to steal. Make it hard to steal (key in rf bag) and I don’t see why they’d still be interested.

I get they might try again as they know it’s keyless/succeeded last time but other than that, I don’t see why they wouldn’t just move on and find another.