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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you've ever had your car stolen?

83 replies

Loafingaround · 09/11/2016 07:13

Woken up to find bastard got in through a tiny window, found car keys (for nicer car) and its been nicked. All of us- 2 small DC sleeping upstairs.
What are chances its found and we get it back- none? Do you think insurance will stay pay out? our double buggy, car seat, basically so much of my life is in that car...just utterly shocked.

OP posts:
Groovee · 09/11/2016 09:57

My dads was stolen from my dh's 40th. We suspected my mum either dropped the keys or left them in the car and they drove it up the road! Keys were never found. My dad was horrible to Dh and I for weeks afterwards including calling me stupid for buying food for Christmas dinner which they had been invited to!

I pointed out it was my mums keys missing which mean she was to blame not me.

chipsandgin · 09/11/2016 10:00

We had our 10 year old car stolen in January, similar situation re keys & we were covered by insurance. They found the car thrashed and battered about 2 miles away and were unable to start the engine which was horrible, so we couldn't get it back. I too had left basically everything I owned in the car (spent months kicking myself - still stomach churning to think about).

Now I don' leave more than a trolley token in the car and am horribly suspicious (have been known to come downstairs in the middle of the night and check the car/locks etc). Police showed very little interest but the insurance company were really helpful. Sorry to hear this has happened to you, it is surprisingly devastating, I just kept trying to be philisophical about it - it is only 'stuff' but would still cut the thieves balls off with a rusty knife given half a chance

twilightcafe · 09/11/2016 10:10

Yes, my car (an old BMW convertible) was parked securely on a side street while I went to work.
Came back to see it being driven off by some scrote. I banged on the windscreen, but just looked through me and drove off. The police drove me round the area as well as to where a car thief lived, but no joy.
I saw the car being driven a few weeks later, but I'd received the insurance payout by then.

TheCatsMother99 · 09/11/2016 10:36

My mums was pinched when their house was burgled last christmas, it was found a month or two later when caught in a high speed car chase. Car was a wreck at the end, when the police finally got the driver to stop. Luckily she had already got a new one from insurance in the meantime as there was no way she wanted it back.

kittykarate · 09/11/2016 10:39

Yes. 3 month old Golf GTi. Was grabbed by 3 lads as I got out of the car at home, hit and the keys taken. The second worst part was having to tell the story multiple times (to the police, to the police again after they lost my statement, to the insurance assessor). The worst part was not feeling safe going back to my house for about 3 months. Luckily it was a company car, but my company fed back that the insurance company were really giving low offers etc. so were being a pain.

One year later I got a phone call from the police saying the car had been found at a dodgy car dealership in Bolton.

LurkingHusband · 09/11/2016 10:40

How are cars stolen now? Is it nearly always by nicking the keys as hotwiring is not possible any longer? Can it be done with a computer?

A colleague was woken one Sunday morning by the sound of a low-loader with his car on the back driving off.

It's worth remembering that criminals will always be criminals - just because tech gets better doesn't stop them being criminals. If the security on cars gets too sophisticated, they will (as we have seen) just break into houses (with all that implies Sad) and take the keys, or simply carjack the car with the keys in it.

cauliwobbles · 09/11/2016 10:51

Yep, 10 years ago. They broke back door glass unit and stole our lovely convertible!

DH got home and rang me asking if I was driving it Hmm I was driving our family tank so don't know how he thought I could drive 2 cars.

Never got it back. They found it on way to SA in a shipping container with lots of other stolen to order luxury cars.

Original poster
Loafingaround · 09/11/2016 11:17

Thanks for sharing so many stories & please keep them coming, feels strangely reassuring to know we are not alone in experiencing the shitness that is this! Scary how many stories there are but also amazing how many turn up in the most bizarre circumstances, some it seem stolen for a prank or just to get home that night???!

Never had this happen so please excuse my utter cluelessness- but with insurance if they did pay out for new car- do they transfer money and we get a car we want, or do they buy car on our behalf?? No idea how this works. It was on finance and we were going to exchange in next few months...

Car insurance as bamboo says only covers for £100 for random stuff in car and up to £300 for the car seat and the buggy...the carseat and base alone are near £300 so really hoping our contents insurance covers us for our much loved double buggy. Car is full of kids stuff- new gruffalo wellies Id just bought DS, teddy bear, buggy, car seat, how can these bastards nick a car, look at all this stuff and carry on without a second thought?

OP posts:
Original poster
Loafingaround · 09/11/2016 11:17

KITTY also so so sorry for your awful incident, sounds so scary and awful x

OP posts:
NuclearSwan · 09/11/2016 11:20

Yes. Insurance never paid out (we got bored of fighting after a year, and lost more paying the insurance than they ever would have given us anyway),and we had to pay the police for finding it.

Original poster
Loafingaround · 09/11/2016 11:23

nuclear so sorry to hear this, and also scared this could happen- what on earth were their reasons for not paying out?

OP posts:
NuclearSwan · 09/11/2016 11:26

They just kept postponing things. Forgetting calls. Losing e-mails. Saying we hadn't sent the crime reference number. Stuff like that. It was a really, really old car so doubt we'd have got much anyway. Just annoys me that we still had to keep paying insurance when we had no car!

ChuckGravestones · 09/11/2016 11:28

My one and only Ford Escort was stolen, the thieves almost ran my good friend over when they took it and I found out it had been stolen when he said 'Oi you - you nearly ran me over today' and I said 'Erm no' and when I got home it was most definitely gone. I got £500 for it on the insurance.

However about 6 months later, I had a phone call from another friend saying 'Oi - you miserable bugger. I've been flashing you and waving every morning for months and you never wave back' Turns out the thief also had the same route to work as me and in the opposite direction to this other friend.

Which was more than a little unnerving so I moved both house and jobs.

ChuckGravestones · 09/11/2016 11:28

Besidea the car was shit and I was glad to see it go.

Scattymere · 09/11/2016 12:48

such mental stories on here!! Seems most turn up (in end!). Hope they get the fucker OP, horrid.

Babyroobs · 09/11/2016 14:35

How awful for you. Many years ago I had my car stolen from the hospital car park where I worked. The police said it would probably be abandoned around the area somewhere, so the next day my brother and myself set off looking. As we drove down a road at the side of the hospital, my car passed us going the other way and my db did a quick u turn and followed it and fortunately ethe traffic lights were on red and my db pulled the young thief from my car and took the keys off him.. The police came and carted him off . He had a huge bunch of different car keys !!. He tried to deny it was stolen , my coat was still on the back seat and I really lost it with the little shit !! At least he had filled it up with petrol . My tape cassettes ( that's how long ago it was !)were gone but at least the car was intact.

Lewwat · 09/11/2016 14:41

We live in a naice area, but have had 2 vehicles stolen in a year Angry

Bubbles1986 · 09/11/2016 14:46

When I was little (about 5) I heard a smash so I looked out the window at my band flat and I saw a man sitting in a car and little bright sparks came out his fingers and then he drove off. I went and told my grandma I just saw a wizard drive off in his car, turns out it was actually being HotWired Blush

DailyMailDontStealMyThread · 09/11/2016 14:48

Twice and nearly a third time but I woke in the night and went down stairs, 2 men in the hall way, they ran off.

SoleBizzz · 09/11/2016 14:53

When this happened to me I was livid someone had climbed through my tiny kitchen window at 1am, took keys from the bottom stair, opened and closed my front door. I heard my car start and looked out of my bedroom window and watched the blonde man reverse the car from my driveway. I was completely calm and relieved he didn't hurt myself and my blind DS.

I then witnessed another man get into the car. I watched as they slowly drove away without headlights down the road. I called the Police and they were here in five minutes.

At 12.55am that night I had been washing up and went upstairs to put on my pyjamas. The man must have been waiting under my kitchen window. . That was a terrifying thought.

Never saw our Motability car again...

vindscreenviper · 09/11/2016 15:00

My car was stolen when our house was burgled, insurance paid out within a week and I replaced it.
Three months later and as I was picking the kids up from school my car drove past me, I gave chase but lost them. police found it an hour later, a bit damaged but it still had all my junk and the kids school stuff in from when it was originally pinched.
Bastards.

Ncbecauseitshard · 09/11/2016 15:04

My sister had a car stolen in similar circumstances and it was found in a car park just in time for insurance to not pay out for the theft (they did for the damage).

SoleBizzz · 09/11/2016 15:04

When the insurance pay out and the car us found in a drivable state what happens then?

AppleMagic · 09/11/2016 15:07

We had dh's company car nicked to order from outside our house (they fished the keys through the letterbox with a magnet/hook despite being out of sight). Police said they think a lot of Audis/BMWs/Mercs end up in a container to Russia (but this might be an Irish crime thing as we were living in Dublin at the time). We lost car seats too but the company policy paid out €500 which just about covered replacements.

BobbieDog · 09/11/2016 15:08

This is my worst nightmare. At the weekend my car was badly damaged and is currently being repaired. I am worried that it will happen again once it comes back fixed