Dales

A work colleague had her car stolen last night due to leaving her keys on a table within reach of the letterbox (via some sort of a stick to hook the keys I assume).

Just a warning to all to be very careful when leaving car keys in the house.

She now has to tell the insurers that the car was stolen using the original keys. Does anybody (Rum?) have experience of insurance to know whether the insurer is likely to try anything to avoid paying out? (e.g. "Are you sure you didn't leave your keys in the car love?") as obviously there is no evidence of a break in at the house.

Dales

Chris L

Sorry to hear this Dales - just shows how paranoid you've got to be

I have heard of some insurance companies insisting on giving them both sets of keys if your car has been stolen (I suppose to prove you haven't been negligent and just left the keys in your car etc). I guess it would depend on your policy. I sure Tom can shed more light on this though.

Cheers

Chris

BarryK

One of my pet anxieties is just what you have described. It does pay to be paranoid.

Tea leaves also get their mitts on those contraptions you see in cartoons and stuf, you know look like scissors at one end and an extending arm that looks like a trellis fence, with grips on the end.

They use them to fish in coat pockets, because believe it or not, people hang their coats up near the front door in many houses and guess where they tend to keep their keys?

Like the govt campaign says don't make it easy for them, put yourself in their shoes and see how easy it is. I have seen people on cold dark mornings walk into newsagents with steam still pumping out of the exhaust of their empty unlocked car. Now how dumb is that?

On the insurance front I would imagine that if a theft from your house has been reported to Old Bill, they'll cough up and get it back from your house insurer via the old boys network.

Dave T-S

BarryK

quote
On the insurance front I would imagine that if a theft from your house has been reported to Old Bill, they'll cough up and get it back from your house insurer via the old boys network.
unquote

Can you explain further for a soft Southerner??

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

It may sound silly but i had a friend of mine whos scoob was nearly borrowed because he left his keys in the lock on the inside of the door, but even with these they would only have got to the end of his street before the car would have cut out and the alarm gone off, total immobilisation ahhh the joys of having a anti hijack system on your car still sorry about your friend thou wouldnt like that to have happened to anyone.....

Tony

H

The insurance boys are going to love that one!

Maybe one of the places to state that you were going to de-fraud the insurance comapnies...was not on a public bulletin board!!!!

saying that...if you don't lie, then I am sure they will not pay out

AWD

Sorry to hear about your colleague.

I've heard of this tactic on TV crime programs before. They had an ex-car thief who apparently stole loads of cars in the Tunbridge Wells area by using just a long stick with a hook on it which he used to grab keys through letter boxes. Apparently the most common place to leave keys are on a table in front of the door.

JoeyDeacon

When I was a little younger my parents went away for the weekend and I managed to lock myself out of the house. I eventually came to the conclusion that I would have to break a window to get in. I then noticed a spare set of keys in the dish my parents used to keep on the window sill next to the front door.

I removed a wiper blade from my mums car which was parked on the drive, opened the letter box and attempted to hook the set of keys. Even in my unskilled hands it only took a couple of minutes until I had the keys. Very sobering to realise just how easy it is to break into your house!!

The other way they can get in is if you leave the back door key in the lock and have a cat flap. All you need to do is push the key out of the lock from the outside with a stick and once it falls to the ground stick your hand through and get the key.

camk

My brothers car was stolen from his driveway when he left the engine running and went round the back to check the back door was locked.
Came back to see his car going out the driveway, the insurance paid with no issue. This was 6 months ago. I think it was Direct Line. It was a Citreon AX !!!

Cammy

Dream Weaver

Dales

Looking at the post subject, I thought you were going to say it had happened to you at first - phew!!!

On the keys in door scenario, someone on the road where I used to live left their keys in the back door. The thiefs used tweezers to turn the key, then jammed the settee up against the lounge door. The house owners could here the thiefs in the lounge nicking their stuff but couldn't get in to do anything. They also couldn't go out the front door as the keys were in the kitchen. Nightmare!!!