Car theft investigation - what is normal?

[withoutaveheeeercal]

Just before Christmas our car (seven-seater, nothing special to look at, fairly old) was stolen from our driveway. Insurance company have sent out a Field Agent to our home to investigate and I had to sign an official statement, formatted as a court document, about the incident and answer a million and one questions. I don't mind per say, as we truly have nothing to hide, but having spoken to others it seems this is over and above normal protocol, and we are thinking they suspect fraud. Insurance company assured me it 'was nothing to worry about, only procedural' - but I wondered whether this is untrue (the irony!) Has anyone else been paid a visit by one of these investigators?

Bit of detail - the keys were missing too, and we suspect thieves have stolen them during the day when the front door was accidentally left unlocked. Reported to Police etc who have fingerprinted hallway and are treating it as a burglary. Changed locks same day. We live in a 4 story townhouse and generally live on the 1st and 2nd floors during the day, so wouldn't have necessarily heard or seen anything, as entry is through front door on ground level.

We've obtained CCTV footage from a public building across the road (and had to watch hours of the damn recording!) and have seen two figures at 4am walking in the direction of our house, and then driving away in the car. They cant be identified as images are blurry. Police have not recovered the car ... nothing at all found. We sent messages to friends with a photo of car and posted on FB asking people to keep a look out. It's been a total pain in the arse, we've got five kids and haven't been able to go out as a family since it was pinched, as we can't fit in the other car which is a five-seater.

We have no motive for any kind of fraud (that we can imagine) but we have
moved house in last 2 months and the policy is newish (Oct) - are these 'triggers?' Maybe they are just looking for loopholes or just being thorough?

Can anyone shed any light on this, maybe I'm being paranoid :-(

It is fairly standard procedure so try not to worry. There's a couple of things in your OP which might be triggers, and you may just have sounded hesitant or nervous or unsure about something when answering the questions asked.

If you have CCTV footage & police corroboration of the report/info then I'm guessing it'll all be resolved with the investigator visit.

Without - I am employed in exactly that role. the main thing the insurers are doing is to ensure that the claim is genuine. The county court statement is as much for you as them, as if the insurer decides not to pay out, the statement becomes part of your evidence to pursue a claim against your insurer through county court.

From our point of view, we are simply looking at the question "is there anything to suggest that the policy holder is involved in the theft, and therefore making a fraudlent claim?"

In your case, and I admit I do not know the full details apart from what you posted, it all sounds fine to me. the insurers may make further enquiries including obtaining a copy of the Police report (you should have signed a document to give your consent for the insurer to obtain this), enquiries with neighbours/witnesses and anything else they deem relevant.

Hopefully it should be sorted fairly soon. it is unfortunately a common occurrence now to prevent fraudulent claims, which we do deal with quite often.

Also, with the keys being stolen in a manner in which you cannot be certain of (ie obvious sign of break in) and a newish policy may have triggered your visit, but even we dont always know why we get sent out as we work for a separate company on behalf of insurers and they dont always tell us why. Often is sjmply is a paper exercise to rule out completely anything untoward.

Am happy to give further through PM if it helps.

Thanks both, that is really reassuring. I can see why it may warrant further investigation from their perspective, but fingers crossed truth will prevail :-)

I work in this area too. Standard procedure if the policyholder is unable to produce the keys to the vehicle. Would need to make sure that you did not leave the keys in the vehicle as that would not be covered, rather than thinking you have much to gain (only a consideration if expensive car, high finance payments, gap insurance etc). Sounds fine to me too.