Knowing that replacement car keys are expensive, when we bought our Honda Jazz in 2009 we decided to keep the spare key in our wall safe. Unfortunately in March this year we were burgled and the thieves, having used my tools to remove the safe from the wall, carried it away in our large coolie bag. When the contents of the safe were reviewed by the house contents insurance company, we were told that car keys were not covered by our insurance and that we needed to claim from our car insurance.

When I rang my car insurer and they asked for details of the loss, I told them the truth - that the key had been locked in the wall safe, which had been stolen. As soon as I said this, they said that they would not cover this loss so I must claim from my house insurance. If I had lost my key outside the home, then that would have been alright. I re-contacted my household claims handling department and was told that under no circumstances would they replace the car key under my household insurance cover. I got the same reply from the car insurer when I appealed to them again. Thus I had to pay for a replacement key and coding at a cost of £270.

Interestingly enough, the claims handling company for both Insurance companies appeared to be Merlin Claims. It feels good to have got this off my chest.