Car Nicked From Dealer - What Do I Do Now?

[andrewcliffe]

Owner has faulty car, recently purchased. (He has insurance)
Owners car was entrusted to a dealer (who will have insurance)
Dealer entrusted to a garage (who will have insurance).
Car gets nicked.

It will save a lot of money in terms of premiums for everyone involved for the supplying dealer to give the money back and write if off as bad luck.

[Mozart21]

smokey mow said:

Whether you claim from your insurance or theirs this is still a claim that you will have to declare in addition to your accident come renewal time.

As others have said, start by asking for a crime reference number as you will need this for any claim.

Personally I would claim from my own insurance as the garage don’t sound trustworthy. the repairing garages insurance may not be liable for the claim if they took reasonable precautions to secure the car whilst it was in their care regardless of the fact it was on their premises. If however it had been left unlocked by them with the engine running and the keys in the ignition that’s a different matter.

I don’t feel consumer rights will be on your side if trying to reject a car that has been stolen.

You have no relationship with the garage from where it was stolen. The selling garage has a duty of care and had control of the car. It chose to move it to somewhere else, their problem not yours. I would write asking for a full refund in seven days and formally advise them that if payment is not forthcoming that you reserve the right to commence legal action against them without further reference. I have done this in multiple consumer cases for myself and to help friends. Go to the gov.uk money claims online page. Easy form to fill in, costs very little and all happens quite quickly. Even if you lose (unlikely based on what you have written) you do not need to pay their costs and you won’t need a solicitor. No need to declare this on future insurance either as your claim is not for theft of a car from you but from someone quite different. Do make sure you have proper trading name and if a limited company that you write to its registered address (free online search of companies house website). QED.

[Monkeylegend]

Mozart21 said:

smokey mow said:

Whether you claim from your insurance or theirs this is still a claim that you will have to declare in addition to your accident come renewal time.

As others have said, start by asking for a crime reference number as you will need this for any claim.

Personally I would claim from my own insurance as the garage don’t sound trustworthy. the repairing garages insurance may not be liable for the claim if they took reasonable precautions to secure the car whilst it was in their care regardless of the fact it was on their premises. If however it had been left unlocked by them with the engine running and the keys in the ignition that’s a different matter.

I don’t feel consumer rights will be on your side if trying to reject a car that has been stolen.

You have no relationship with the garage from where it was stolen. The selling garage has a duty of care and had control of the car. It chose to move it to somewhere else, their problem not yours. I would write asking for a full refund in seven days and formally advise them that if payment is not forthcoming that you reserve the right to commence legal action against them without further reference. I have done this in multiple consumer cases for myself and to help friends. Go to the gov.uk money claims online page. Easy form to fill in, costs very little and all happens quite quickly. Even if you lose (unlikely based on what you have written) you do not need to pay their costs and you won’t need a solicitor. No need to declare this on future insurance either as your claim is not for theft of a car from you but from someone quite different. Do make sure you have proper trading name and if a limited company that you write to its registered address (free online search of companies house website). QED.

That will be music to OP's ears.

[Trevor555]

Mozart21 said:

You have no relationship with the garage from where it was stolen. The selling garage has a duty of care and had control of the car. It chose to move it to somewhere else, their problem not yours. I would write asking for a full refund in seven days and formally advise them that if payment is not forthcoming that you reserve the right to commence legal action against them without further reference. I have done this in multiple consumer cases for myself and to help friends. Go to the gov.uk money claims online page. Easy form to fill in, costs very little and all happens quite quickly. Even if you lose (unlikely based on what you have written) you do not need to pay their costs and you won’t need a solicitor. No need to declare this on future insurance either as your claim is not for theft of a car from you but from someone quite different. Do make sure you have proper trading name and if a limited company that you write to its registered address (free online search of companies house website). QED.

If he was to lose?

After many months, will he still be able to go back to his insurance company to claim for theft?

[BertBert]

Mozart21 said:

You have no relationship with the garage from where it was stolen. The selling garage has a duty of care and had control of the car. It chose to move it to somewhere else, their problem not yours. I would write asking for a full refund in seven days and formally advise them that if payment is not forthcoming that you reserve the right to commence legal action against them without further reference. I have done this in multiple consumer cases for myself and to help friends. Go to the gov.uk money claims online page. Easy form to fill in, costs very little and all happens quite quickly. Even if you lose (unlikely based on what you have written) you do not need to pay their costs and you won’t need a solicitor. No need to declare this on future insurance either as your claim is not for theft of a car from you but from someone quite different. Do make sure you have proper trading name and if a limited company that you write to its registered address (free online search of companies house website). QED.

Only to the extent that they were negligent.

[......]

Alex Z said:

Surely this depends on the amount of time that has passed? If the faults have been reported and agreed to be present by the dealer, and they’ve tried and failed to fix them before the car goes missing, then a rejection may still be possible.

If it’s been “stolen” immediately after the first report and they’ve not had time to look at it then clearly not.

We're now on day 20 since purchase, and the car was stolen on day 18.

Went wrong Saturday 23rd. Collected by recovery truck on the 24th. On Monday 25th it was booked in for investigating what exactly was the problem for Thursday 28th. They needed the keys back and were delayed until Wednesday 3rd, and I was told to expect it to be ready this week. So, we can say at least a week, which was the estimated time from the dealer, who was expecting to have the car ready this week.

And then it got nicked. Or "nicked", delete as appropriate.

Still no reply to the query on whether it was stolen with the keys or not, and on the CCTV issue, but I wasn't home early enough to call them today.

Monkeylegend said:

That will be music to OP's ears.

It does sound reasonable. But being PH, someone else will probably come along and point out a bunch of possible issues, and I'm second-guessing everything...

Honestly, I'm metaphorically kicking myself for not being more assertive to begin with.

[loskie]

has it been reported to Police? If not why not?

[Monkeylegend]

loskie said:

has it been reported to Police? If not why not?

Have you read the thread ?

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Theoretically apply this moral and legal responsibility wrangle to a different situation:

If I bought a laptop from Currys, it turned out to be faulty so I returned it to the store for repair. They sent it off to Dell and at some point it went missing off the face of the earth.

Would I expect to suck it up and try and claim off my house insurance or something? Would I heck I'd be demanding a replacement or refund from Currys who I entrusted my property with.

Why should it be any different with a car???

[VSKeith]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Theoretically apply this moral and legal responsibility wrangle to a different situation:

If I bought a laptop from Currys, it turned out to be faulty so I returned it to the store for repair. They sent it off to Dell and at some point it went missing off the face of the earth.

Would I expect to suck it up and try and claim off my house insurance or something? Would I heck I'd be demanding a replacement or refund from Currys who I entrusted my property with.

Why should it be any different with a car???

Good question, but I think it comes down to negligence again.

If the car had been 'lost' in some system then it would be the garage/dealer's negligence and their insurance would pay out. A car isn't a laptop though and leaving it on a street, locked is standard practice for cars and so not negligent.

If they had a secure yard and it's a high crime area it could be argued that leaving it out is negligent, but the OP's insurer is unlikely to pursue it for a £2k claim.

All IMO of course

[loskie]

Monkeylegend said:

loskie said:

has it been reported to Police? If not why not?

Have you read the thread ?

some of it but not all as it got quite tedious as many PH threads do.

[rlg43p]

I would be insisting that the key is returned (and I could compare it with my spare key to ensure it was genuinely the one from my car).

If they can't produce it it then surely there's a case to be made that the car has been stolen with the key (so garage IS negligent).

I don't believe the car was ever really nicked and they will have disposed of it and won't be able to produce the key.

[BertBert]

But on the other hand that's pretty bad behaviour, disposing of a car, then reporting it stolen to the police. Would they do that?

[GasEngineer]

loskie said:

Monkeylegend said:

loskie said:

has it been reported to Police? If not why not?

Have you read the thread ?

some of it but not all as it got quite tedious as many PH threads do.

Part of what makes a thread tedious is people asking questions that have already been answered because they can't be arsed to read the whole thread.

[FNG]

loskie said:

Monkeylegend said:

loskie said:

has it been reported to Police? If not why not?

Have you read the thread ?

some of it but not all as it got quite tedious as many PH threads do.

Use the "OP posts only" function at the top and bottom of each page. Lets you see what's actually happened, and skip the pedantry, arguing, point scoring, oneupmanship and keyboard warrioring that makes up the majority of the thread. It's a game changer.

[loskie]

good advice. Thank you.

[Pit Pony]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Theoretically apply this moral and legal responsibility wrangle to a different situation:

If I bought a laptop from Currys, it turned out to be faulty so I returned it to the store for repair. They sent it off to Dell and at some point it went missing off the face of the earth.

Would I expect to suck it up and try and claim off my house insurance or something? Would I heck I'd be demanding a replacement or refund from Currys who I entrusted my property with.

Why should it be any different with a car???

Entrust. That's the salient word isn't it. It's now thier responsibility until they return it fixed and undamaged.

[......]

Latest update - spoken to insurers again to ask what they think, and it does sound like they are considering more investigation as there is definitely the possibility the claim could be transferred to the investigations department. I've got a few more questions from them to put to the car dealer regarding the exact location of the car and CCTV coverage. Boss has rejuggled things to let me borrow the works fiesta van another week. Police have given me the new crime reference number. Still nothing from the car dealer, so that's who I will be having an in-depth call with tomorrow.

I still don't know what to think here.

I can definitely see a financial incentive to fake stealing the car, and the always useful advice is to follow the money. But equally, he did call the police about the theft, and he has voluntarily offered some help towards the insurance excess...

Being genuine, or buttering up the mark?

I don't know.

I do know I'm a heck of a lot less stressed than I was when I started the thread. Which is good, because I was in a right dark spot then. I do appreciate the comments, some quite thought-provoking stuff here chaps.

[wibble cb]

While I feel for the OP, you’ve been very ‘unlucky’ let’s call it….. equally, the poor thieving so and sos who ‘stole’ it, must be a bit out our as wet, doesn’t even run.

[rlg43p]

wibble cb said:

the poor thieving so and sos who ‘stole’ it, must be a bit out our as wet, doesn’t even run.

Eh.....?

Edited by rlg43p on Saturday 13th April 11:04