Car stolen - insurance Claim rejected - Liable if involved in accident?

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Tue 15 Jan 2019 19:57
Car stolen - insurance Claim rejected - Liable if involved in accident? - cath Martin

My husbands car was stolen at the beginning of this month. They keys were on the seat as he was unloading. His insurance has said they will not pay out because of the keys. The car has not been found.

The insurance company have also said "you may also be liable for any costs should a claim arise from any third party losses as a result of this incident.

I am really worried that if the car is involved in an accident, because our insurance has said that its our fault it got stolen, that we would be liable for any costs.

I would be grateful for any advice.

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Tue 15 Jan 2019 23:38
Car stolen - insurance Claim rejected - Liable if involved in accident? - SLO76
Be interesting to read any legal experts opinion on this one but to me the other person would be driving without your permission so how can you be liable and also one assumes the policy has been cancelled with immediate effect? So again how can you be liable if you no longer have the car or insure it? I would also inform the DVLA of its status as well as the police to avoid any repercussions coming to your door. As for not paying out due to the keys being left in the car well that is quite understandable if unfortunate for yourself.
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Wed 16 Jan 2019 00:49
Car stolen - insurance Claim rejected - Liable if involved in accident? - cath Martin

Hi, Yes the Policy was cancelled and I double checked on the Motor Insurance Database tonight and it is showing as 'No Insurance'.

The DVLA have it on their database as 'Stolen', I also doubled checked that earlier today. Spoke to 2 different people at the DVLA who both gave conflicting advise on whether I should send them the V5c.

I've sent them a V33 for to claim the tax back for a stolen vehicle and a covering letter to confirm that it was stolen, date, crime number etc.

The police were advised within 5 mins because my husband was only about 6meters away and saw it being taken. We also phoned the police a few days later to double check we had told them husbands wallet was in the car (with drivers licence etc). Police then told us the wallet had been found dumped with some other stuff, about 30 miles away, they had no other details but said they would contact us about the wallet. That was on the 9th and we've heard nothing since. Luckily the man that found the wallet tracked us down himself, so we now have that back.

I am hoping that when they say we 'may be liable for any third party losses as a result of the incident' - they are talking about when the vehicle was still insured and stolen, if it had been involved in an accident and a claim was now entered for that period. Now insurance is cancelled I am hoping we're not liable in anyway but God knows. It seems so complicated and I'd like my stomach not to be in constant knots.

As for them not paying out, I agree, we were pretty sure they'd say no from the start.

Edited by cath Martin on 16/01/2019 at 00:51

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Wed 16 Jan 2019 13:49
Car stolen - insurance Claim rejected - Liable if involved in accident? - Palcouk

If the keys were on the seat and the driver was adjacent to the car then if you complain to the insurance company/onbudsman you may find your case upheld

I had a friend whos car was stolen from a private driveway, some distance from the road, whilst he was getting a motor lawnmower out of the garage, initially the insurance Company refused to pay but after representations from his solicitor (It was a new BMW) the insurance paid out

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