What happens when your car gets nicked?

[digitalgirl]

Can't speak to the insurers till Tuesday and this is the first time I've had my car stolen.

Do they buy you a replacement car or do they give you the money for the value of the car and then you have to buy another car yourself?

Presumably they give you a courtesy car for a bit until they decide the car's not going to turn up dumped somewhere.

you only get a courtesy car if it's part of you're insurance package and you've paid extra (I think).

Have you tried ringing the insurance brokers? I would have thought they'd have some emergency cover on duty over the bank holiday.

Have you reported it to the police and been given a crime investigation number coz you'll need this for the paperwork.

I'm sorry your cars been pinched but I think you'll have to brace yourself for a huge amount of inconvenience and paperwork.

Reported to the police and called the insurance claims dept, but was told that someone will call us back on Tuesday to discuss what happens next.

Hoping we opted for a courtesy car, but won't know until Tuesday as it was all on our lap-top which was also stolen.

Am expecting reams of paperwork and many hour long phonecalls only to find out that because it's the month doesn't have an R in it we're not covered. [pessimistic emoticon]

don't want to buy a new car either, want my old one back

Chances of that happening are unfortunately slim and if the car is recovered it may be a write off (that happened to a friend of mine whose car was stolen).

BTW was yours a car that is more than say five years old?. These are actually easier to steal and some cars are stolen "to order".

oh that sucks

If they dont find it or its a write off then you could well be out of pocket..

ie you will get the net book value of the car .. not the the price you would get if you sold it/traded it in

I hope you are not like us - have paid off an older car thats bought and paid for and you dont have the money for a new car

What makes these people think they can justg take what doesnt belong to them

my car was stolen a couple of years ago, police found it about 4 days later, it had been left on the hard shoulder of the m25 because it had run out of petrol, but other than that it was fine, infact i still ahve it! if they do find it dont expect to get any of your stuff back, cds and everything else had gone, but my insurance did replace everything. fingers crossed you might get it back

Sorry - had to do bedtime. Car is only a 4 year old Ford C-Max, nothing flash - certainly not stolen to order.

So you get a cheque for the lowest possible value for the car? And then have to shop around for another car, for which insurance premiums will be higher because we lose our no claims bonus?

How can I find out what the net value of the car is? Is there a website for that? We bought it at a car supermarket for the internet price which was considerably lower than the shop price, so hoping there isn't a large discrepancy. Will be so annoyed if we end up out of pocket on the car. We only bought it last year because DS was on his way. Still paying off the credit card we bought it on.

i have had my car stolen twice

and got it back in perfect order (except for the keyholes etc where they had broken in)

i had the car back within a week both times... maybe i was lucky?

That's what I'm hoping, that it's such a boring car that they just dump it somewhere when they realise that no-one wants to buy it.

one of mine got a parking ticket while stoledn which was a complete pain to sort out

"Boring" cars make such cars very desireable to thieves. These can be easily chopped up for parts or end up abroad.

Parkers and Glass are both car value guides; those books are sold in newsagents and the like. Also they likely have these valuations online.

Hopefully it will turn up undamaged. If they stole items from your house as well, its statistically likely to be found as simply used to transport goods.

Most insurers allow six weeks for it to turn up and will then discuss a settlement figure based on Parkers/Glass. You will only be entitled to a courtesy car on a theft claim if you have paid for an enhanced option and its usually limited to around two weeks.

As long as you secured the vehicle and complied with the policy terms there should be no reason to worry about the claim being invalid.

Digitalgirl, you can use Autotrader to see how much cars of your make and model are selling for. You may even find one from the same year and in a similar condition, which should give you a god indication.

I had my laptop stolen TWICE in the space of a year. Insurance covered it both times, but the loss of data was a real problem.

Hope everything gets sorted soon. xx

Glasses guide will give you a value of your car, either in general or if you type in your reg number it will give you more exact figures.

hmmm both Glasses and Parkers charge for online valuations, and having had all our bank/credit cards stolen I guess I'll just have to wait.

Thanks for the autotrader link pacita - I also looked up our make and model from the same year on the dealer's site that we bought it from, so as long as the pay out covers that then I'm sure we'll be fine.

So what happens with re-insuring the next car, can you transfer your existing insurance or do you have to start from scratch and get an entirely new policy?

You can transfer your policy.

I reckon depending on which model you have somewhere between £3.5k and £5.5k for an midrange 4 year old C-Max depending on how arsey the valuer is being on the day and mileage etc. Will be slightly more if it is a diesel.

Parkers do give valuations without charging.
Go from this page to get a valuation. Don't hope for the higher sums. You probably won't be getting the sort of sums a franchised dealer will charge for the same model.

Thanks lottiebunny. Dammit, we paid £7k for it last summer. Can't believe we may only get half of that back. Anyway, so far insurers have been very co-operative and are also covering the contents in the car.

Unfortunately cars have dropped in price significantly this year between the credit crunch and the introduction of the new car tax system which although has been delayed is still scaring people.

You should get enough to replace your car like for like, so it really doesnt matter that the price has dropped, the aim of the insurance is to put you back in the same position prior to the theft(indemnity). Depending on the insurer you might have to be a bit tenacious to ensure that this happens. if i were you, i would go back to the car supermarket you bought the car from last year and see if they have a similar one and base your expectations on this. the amount should be realistic, ie what you could reasonably negotiate rather than a dealers first asking price for a car. take no nonsense! If the first offer on the car is insufficient, immediately ask about and follow the complaints procedure, escalating to MD level asap. All the time point out that you are without a car, with small children.

best of luck- keep it simple '' how much do i need to get the same car?'

You're absolutely right risingstar, I just want to be able to replace my car like for like. As long as I can do this I'll be happy.

Turns out we didn't get a courtesy car as part of our policy. We're having to hire a car in order to get to a wedding in Cornwall tomorrow. Now, is there any way we could get the cost for this back? I don't think we've got blanket travel insurance, but wondering if the credit card we bought the car on would cover this?

I wouldn't have thought that you would be able to get the cost of hiring a car back.

With regards to getting money to replace car like for like, you should get enough cash (possibly minus your excess depending on policy) to replace your car for one of the same age, mileage and condition. The value range I gave above were for a car having done 40,000 miles and in good condition and I felt the need to give the value for the very poorest private sale since insurance companies are notoriously stingy with first offer. Hopefully you'll get £5kish which is realistic for this car.

very interesting that you say 'first offer', lottiebunny. So you can actually haggle with the insurance company over their valuation? I had no idea. You've been most helpful!!!

I had to when my car was written off last year. They refused to budge because they had seen the massive patch of rust under the bonnet (actually the bonnet was mostly made from rust) but I've had success in the past.