Work colleague insurance question
Discussion
Not me, but a lad who works where I work had his car stolen over the Christmas Holiday period. Insurance have refused to pay out. He's taken it on the chin.
Back story: He's a Polish national. He had an old Merc SLK that he drove down to Luton just before Christmas, got a flight over to Poland, returned just less than 4 weeks later, car not there. Reported it missing/stolen, insurance won't pay out as they say it was left unattended. Told him he could appeal to the ombudsmen, which he did, and they agree with the insurance company.
The car was taxed, tested, road legal etc, just parked up on the road (not a long stay car park).
Does the above seem a fair ruling? He's pretty gutted as he's also had 2 push bikes stolen from his local town centre while chained up!
Back story: He's a Polish national. He had an old Merc SLK that he drove down to Luton just before Christmas, got a flight over to Poland, returned just less than 4 weeks later, car not there. Reported it missing/stolen, insurance won't pay out as they say it was left unattended. Told him he could appeal to the ombudsmen, which he did, and they agree with the insurance company.
The car was taxed, tested, road legal etc, just parked up on the road (not a long stay car park).
Does the above seem a fair ruling? He's pretty gutted as he's also had 2 push bikes stolen from his local town centre while chained up!
Camaro said:
This'll be why the insurance companies want to know where you park your car up overnight.
Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
Not comparable in the slightest so you still have no idea what would happen. The answer to your situation though is it would be paid. Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
Camaro said:
This'll be why the insurance companies want to know where you park your car up overnight.
Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
I was thinking the same. Do they expect you to ring them every time it won't be back on your drive/in your garage? Night away, holiday trip etc. Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
MDMA . said:
I was thinking the same. Do they expect you to ring them every time it won't be back on your drive/in your garage? Night away, holiday trip etc.
Unless you are going to help us out with a policy booklet I’m not sure anyone can help. If the ombudsman have agreed with the insurer that’s pretty conclusive. Interesting that you consider parking your car overnight at a friends abandoning it mind.
Dingu said:
MDMA . said:
I was thinking the same. Do they expect you to ring them every time it won't be back on your drive/in your garage? Night away, holiday trip etc.
Unless you are going to help us out with a policy booklet I’m not sure anyone can help. If the ombudsman have agreed with the insurer that’s pretty conclusive. Interesting that you consider parking your car overnight at a friends abandoning it mind.
MDMA . said:
Dingu said:
MDMA . said:
I was thinking the same. Do they expect you to ring them every time it won't be back on your drive/in your garage? Night away, holiday trip etc.
Unless you are going to help us out with a policy booklet I’m not sure anyone can help. If the ombudsman have agreed with the insurer that’s pretty conclusive. Interesting that you consider parking your car overnight at a friends abandoning it mind.
In any case unless anyone can check a policy booklet there is little that can be offered over and above what an ombudsman ruling has said. They aren’t usually shy about ruling against insurers so it’s relatively unlikely they have got it wrong.
MDMA . said:
Not me, but a lad who works where I work had his car stolen over the Christmas Holiday period. Insurance have refused to pay out. He's taken it on the chin.
Back story: He's a Polish national. He had an old Merc SLK that he drove down to Luton just before Christmas, got a flight over to Poland, returned just less than 4 weeks later, car not there. Reported it missing/stolen, insurance won't pay out as they say it was left unattended. Told him he could appeal to the ombudsmen, which he did, and they agree with the insurance company.
The car was taxed, tested, road legal etc, just parked up on the road (not a long stay car park).
Does the above seem a fair ruling? He's pretty gutted as he's also had 2 push bikes stolen from his local town centre while chained up!
Sorry, I don't believe a word of this claptrap. Not you OP, I'm sure this is what you've been told, but you're being lied to. Apart from anything else, there's no way a car gets stolen end of December, claim submitted half way thru January when theft is discovered, claim investigated by insurers and rejected, complaint escalated via insurers own complaints procedure (as it has to be before ombudsman can be involved), further investigated, rejected, 7 day warning letter sent to CEO of the insurer of intention to involve ombudsman (as it has to be before ombudsman can be involved), complaint referred to ombudsman, ombudsman fully investigates, and rejects the complaint......by 4th Feb!!! Back story: He's a Polish national. He had an old Merc SLK that he drove down to Luton just before Christmas, got a flight over to Poland, returned just less than 4 weeks later, car not there. Reported it missing/stolen, insurance won't pay out as they say it was left unattended. Told him he could appeal to the ombudsmen, which he did, and they agree with the insurance company.
The car was taxed, tested, road legal etc, just parked up on the road (not a long stay car park).
Does the above seem a fair ruling? He's pretty gutted as he's also had 2 push bikes stolen from his local town centre while chained up!
Didn't happen.
bigandclever said:
Seems a bit harsh, but then it also seems lightning quick to get an ombudsman ruling about 3 weeks after first making a claim, so who knows what the story is.
That timescales strikes me as "surprising" too - I understood they took months to respond.We're having building work done and the drive has been taken over by building materials. I spoke to our insurer about the cars being parked on the road for the duration - likely to be 3-4 months - and they didn't care.
Looking at the FOS site, 'unattended' seems to refer to the car being left unlocked, doors open etc: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/c...
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Sorry, I don't believe a word of this claptrap. Not you OP, I'm sure this is what you've been told, but you're being lied to. Apart from anything else, there's no way a car gets stolen end of December, claim submitted half way thru January when theft is discovered, claim investigated by insurers and rejected, complaint escalated via insurers own complaints procedure (as it has to be before ombudsman can be involved), further investigated, rejected, 7 day warning letter sent to CEO of the insurer of intention to involve ombudsman (as it has to be before ombudsman can be involved), complaint referred to ombudsman, ombudsman fully investigates, and rejects the complaint......by 4th Feb!!!
Didn't happen.
It did seem a bit harsh, if true! Was surprised he managed to have it resolved so quickly. Didn't happen.
Edited by MDMA . on Friday 4th February 22:30
Camaro said:
This'll be why the insurance companies want to know where you park your car up overnight.
Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
They won't be bothered by an overnight stay. It's where you normally park it, not where you always park it.Always wondered what they'd say if you stayed over at friends or somewhere other than your address and the car got stolen.
I've never seen an insurance policy which specified that theft would not be covered if the car was left "unattended", or parked up for more than a particular length of time. As opposed to more standard exclusions about leaving the car unlocked and/or with the keys in it.
I checked Admiral's policy documents, which can normally be counted on to have every exclusion under the sun, and can see nothing along those lines. So if the story is real, I'd be interested in knowing which insurer has an even worse level of cover than Admiral.
A search on the Ombudsman's website for "theft unattended car" brings up cases involving keys being left in the car, and also cases involving theft from an unattended car where the items were on display rather than locked away in the boot, but nothing analogous to this.
Also agree that the timescale is, ahem, optimistic, unless by Christmas you mean last Christmas.
So I suspect there's quite a bit more to the story than you know/have told us. Without more details, can't really say any more than that.
I checked Admiral's policy documents, which can normally be counted on to have every exclusion under the sun, and can see nothing along those lines. So if the story is real, I'd be interested in knowing which insurer has an even worse level of cover than Admiral.
A search on the Ombudsman's website for "theft unattended car" brings up cases involving keys being left in the car, and also cases involving theft from an unattended car where the items were on display rather than locked away in the boot, but nothing analogous to this.
Also agree that the timescale is, ahem, optimistic, unless by Christmas you mean last Christmas.
So I suspect there's quite a bit more to the story than you know/have told us. Without more details, can't really say any more than that.
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