Stolen-Recovered Car

Author
Discussion

Jazzer

Original Poster:

1,674 posts

204 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
Hi!

My car was taken at knifepoint last week and my insurance claim has just been passed to the settlement team to be finalised.

However, I've just been informed that the car has been recovered by Police, but I don't know anything about its condition.

All documents, spare keys etc are in the hands of my insurers and the road tax is being refunded.

Do I have to now accept the car back, even if it's apparently undamaged??

I really want nothing more to do with it....God alone knows how it's been driven and abused....and it will now show up as "stolen/recovered" on HPI checks, thereby severely hindering any future resale and in all likelihood lowering the value of the car....I wouldn't touch such a car with a bargepole!

Any help and advice here would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys

14-7

6,233 posts

191 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
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I would say that if your insurance company has the documents and keys for the vehicle and the claim is with the settlement team then you will get a payout and the car will be their property.

However, as I'm sure we all know insurance companies will do anything to get out of paying for a claim (especially one that's going to cost them a fair bit).

Good luck with it (and like you wouldn't touch a stolen/recovered car with a barge pole!)

internet-carlot

499 posts

189 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
I believe that as you have yet to be settled and the property has been returned in a complete form that you can only claim for any damage to the car.

I thought a car had to be missing for four weeks before a settlement cheque would be written.

dpbird90

5,535 posts

190 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
It's a tricky one, like you said you don't know if anything has happened to your car, and we all know how much insurers will use every trick in the con artist's handbook to avoid a payout, but if they have all the paperwork, keys etc then they should pay out and the car will become theirs.
My dad has maintained that he will not want his car back if it is ever stolen, because like me he watches those Police action cop kill action things on the TV and to see how badly people drive stolen cars you can see why, and there was one where the police smashed the windows so the driver didn't dump any drugs or do a runner.
Let us know how you get on.

Jazzer

Original Poster:

1,674 posts

204 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies guys.....I'm just so depressed with the events of the last week.....then this bombshell, just as I was coming to terms with what happened and beginning to plan my new car!

TommyTT

460 posts

207 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
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Surely you want be required to take the car back??? I know I wouldnt want a car back that was taken under such circumstances.

dibblecorse

6,875 posts

192 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
You'll likely get the car back unless its been badly damaged, the insurance will see no need to pay out for a car that is no longer "missing" so will deal with any damage and return it to you, the act they stated the process regards "final payout" is just a general admin process they will always undertake to ensure the claim is valid and the documentation straight, also means when the timeframe for a car being missing has passed they can go straight to payment.

The car will only appar stolen/recovered on HPI if it's written off I believe, but may be wrong, sure I'm not, but happy to be corrected if I am.

dontfollowme

1,158 posts

233 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
I had a similar situation when I was carjacked. For me it was the worst case scenario that they recovered the car. In my instance the thieves had tinted the windows the day that they had it! In the end I got the car checked over, didn't bother claiming and kept the car. Thought there is no point having a nice car when I live in a city centre. Advice others gave me at the time was to take the car back and then just sell it on or part ex it.

Good luck

PetrolTed

34,425 posts

303 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
When our Audi was stolen/recovered, the insurance company paid for it to be tidied up resulting in all the paintwork being sorted, a kerbed wheel being replaced, others being repaired and some other bits being sorted.

I'm honestly of the opinion that it came back in better condition than when it left. As for it being thrashed, it's an auto so it's not like it would have been bouncing off the limiter or anything.

Nasty business, but don't always assume the worst.

internet-carlot

499 posts

189 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
dibblecorse said:
You'll likely get the car back unless its been badly damaged, the insurance will see no need to pay out for a car that is no longer "missing" so will deal with any damage and return it to you, the act they stated the process regards "final payout" is just a general admin process they will always undertake to ensure the claim is valid and the documentation straight, also means when the timeframe for a car being missing has passed they can go straight to payment.

The car will only appar stolen/recovered on HPI if it's written off I believe, but may be wrong, sure I'm not, but happy to be corrected if I am.
Thats correct, I took an ML in part exchange a couple of years ago when I worked for BMW that had been stolen off a petrol station forecourt with the keys in it four years previously.

The previous keeper did not get paid out due to this fact. Four years later the guy gets phone call telling him they police had found his car!!

It was only six months old when he lost it, an ML430, when it came back it had done 55k!!! The seats were missing as were a lot of trim items. He did it up and part exchanged it.

We put it through the auction and it sold, albeit you could tell it was a wrong 'un and it went cheap but not as cheap as it would have done if it was on the Schindlers.

Autonotiv

2,673 posts

224 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
sorry to her about your car etc, but just out of intrest what was it?

if you don't mind me asking?

Jazzer

Original Poster:

1,674 posts

204 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
Golf R32.....yes another one!!

Autonotiv

2,673 posts

224 months

Sunday 3rd August 2008
quotequote all
Very nice, don't blame you for not wanting it back then.

Jazzer

Original Poster:

1,674 posts

204 months

Monday 4th August 2008
quotequote all
Hi!

My car appears to be unmarked, but will need a change of locks....looks to have been parked up for a week, but I'll wait to check the mileage.

The good news is that it would only have come up on HPI checks if it had been recovered after an insurance settlement....and that's not the case.

So selling it should be no harder than it would otherwise have been in the current climate.

However, some shocking news from the cops today....forensics can take up to two weeks, so the car may not be released to the insurance company for a while yet.....in many ways, what I'm experiencing now is worse than the original theft.....unbelievable amount of aggro, hanging by the phone etc

Thanks for the comments guys

Jayldn96

1 posts

23 months

Tuesday 1st November 2022
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My car was stolen and now found insurance company want to sell it on auction but I rather buy the salvage back.