HELP REQUiRED !!! I would just like my car back

[lou556]

Good morning people of PH,
The enquirey I have today is of z legal matter ; I shall give information in regards to the history of the situation so that you might understand the question to a greater degree.
Ok so I lend a car to my friend and give him consent to drive it. He insures the car and drives it for a period of time. The keys are obtained from his residence by another party unlawfully and the car is involved in accident (no other parties involved) I am aware of this roughly 10 mins after the accident as the police come to visit me as I am the registered owner of the vehicle. They inform me of the situation and then proceed to ask me numerous questions in regards to the car and the accident; which of course I know nothing of as I was NOT present. At some point through out thier enquires they ask me if I would like to recover the vehicle, I state that I shall arrange recoverey to which they respond with a unrelated question and then continue with they enquires. I am then told that the vehicle has been recovered and that I will be able to collect it by contacting the recoverey company. So what the police have effectively done here is not allow me to recover the vehicle thus then putting me in a situation where I must find £400 to £500 to obtain my car. I can not locate these funds and the cost of obtaining the car is just rising by the day catch 22 really.

So the question is what are my legal rights in regards to obtaining the car? As the car is my property and also my rights in regards to the way I was treated by the police ?

Thankyou for your time
Lewis

[tinman0]

lou556 said:

So the question is what are my legal rights in regards to obtaining the car? As the car is my property and also my rights in regards to the way I was treated by the police ?

I would reckon you are stuffed and your friend owes you £500, which he is owed by the plonker who crashed it.

At the end of the day, you are the registered keeper. Buck stops with you. Sorry.

[marshalla]

What does your insurer say about this matter ? They have an interest in this too.

[Petrolhead_Rich]

marshalla said:

What does your insurer say about this matter ? They have an interest in this too.

So you didn't give the friend of a friend permission to drive, thus it is TWOCK, thus the insurance company will pay the recovery for your stolen vehicle I would have thought??

[Tuscan Rat]

Moved into SP&L, as this is a legal question.

[paintman]

Couple of thoughts.
1. Was the vehicle in such a place/position that to have left it there was a problem?
2. Liability issues if the police leave it where it is having effectively taken possession of it due to the incident & when you get round to collecting it its up on bricks & stripped?

[Engineer1]

Speak to your Insurers, the car was stolen from the mate you lent it to. The problem is has it been reported as such?

[Knock_knock]

The car was TWC, so claim through insurance for recovery costs etc. The only question might be whose insurance - yours (assuming you have some) or your mate who borrowed the car? Little mishaps like this is why you have insurance, to save you from large bills.


KK

[mcflurry]

Your mate had insurance for the car.
It was taken from your mates without consent.
Therefore your mate claims on the insurance IMHO?

[BDZ]

Out of interest did you make a complaint to the police about the friend of a friend? From what you've said he appears to have committed TWOC or even aggravated TWOC. Obviously it depends on friendships etc as to whether you want to go that route or not but maybe useful to dangle over the bloke if he won't cough up to pay for the recovery when it's all his fault.

[Soovy]

mcflurry said:

Your mate had insurance for the car.
It was taken from your mates without consent.
Therefore your mate claims on the insurance IMHO?

This.

[littleredrooster]

mcflurry said:

Your mate had insurance for the car.
It was taken from your mates without consent.
Therefore your mate claims on the insurance IMHO?

This ^^^, surely?

As far as being recovered, the Police have powers to arrange statutory recovery of any vehicle following an RTC if it is in a dangerous or vulnerable position. The owner does not need to consent to this, but usually the insurance will pick up the costs afterwards.

[Soovy]

I am assuming your mate wasn't lying about the insurance?

If he was, then (a) he owes you a new car and (b) you are potentially in the sht for allowing him to drive it knowing he's not insured!

[Strangely Brown]

Soovy said:

mcflurry said:

Your mate had insurance for the car.
It was taken from your mates without consent.
Therefore your mate claims on the insurance IMHO?

This.

Put the ball firmly in the hands of your "mate". Make him get your car back and return it to you in the condition in which he borrowed it. Any costs are entirely his responsibility.

[The Highway Man]

We routinely get vehicles recovered following RTCs. The owners insurance people liase with our recovery to arrange collection and pay our recovery costs.