@^%& Car insurance companies!!!!!!!!!!
 

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Lemme just say that I DESPISE them. Loathe them. HATE them. Cannot STAND them. They STINK! ALL of them.

Someone steals your car and they say it's unauthorized use because they used the keys and oh, by the way, you get to pay a higher deductible for the damage.

Friggin' state defines it as theft. Coverage requires theft. But they say it has to be "stolen" according to the police report. HUH? Crimes code defines as theft what the police report states it was.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I'd rather have a paper cut.

What company do you have your insurance through?

Sorry they're being hind ends about it....:(

Liberty Mutual

sorry to hear about this, I have heard someone else with this problem, on a stolen car. I am not a big fan of insurance companies either. I am tired of them getting laws passed on their behalfs, regardles of how it effects the common person. I hope you are able to get it fixed

gazelle, did they steal your keys? or where they in the car?

my policy says if the keys are reported stolen ( as in a purse stolen with the keys in it) and then someone finds your car and takes it, they cover it.

but if they were in the car, they pay zip.

i'm so sorry this has happened. :hug:

We have "Provincial" car insurance, and EVERYONE insures through the same company. That probably sounds like it could be quite the scam, but it has worked very well for the last 30 or so years.

Ours is owned by the government, and like all our social programs, has a responsibility to ensure they do right by the people. If it doesn't, then people just move onto another government social program . . . and then the squabbling starts. :p

It's not a perfect system, and of course I'd like to see it cover more . . . but it is not a rip-off either. It wouldn't matter if we left our keys in the car, we would be covered (isn't that an "accident"?).

What I don't get about some insurance companies, especially vehicle ones, is that it is supposed to cover people when they screw up. If no one had an "accident", then there would be no need for insurance, would there? There are limits, of course . . . and a need for "user pays" contingencies . . . but from what I've heard from others, some companies have really taken that to the bank! :mad:

Good luck.

Cherie

Scenario:

kid who my H and I (who are separated) have known for years and who lived with us off and on since he was 11 is now 25.

He comes over on Wednesday before my son's wedding on Friday and stays with my H. My son and his then fiance were there too.

I go to my H's house on Thursday for rehearsal dinner, wedding on Friday. After reception, kid is very drunk and so are 2 other of my sons friends (23 and 26) who are all staying at our house overnight.

My H and I go to sleep. Drunk kid takes keys from diningroom table. Other two kids are asleep.

drunk kid steals car and gets into accident. returns car to semi-same position it was parked in, puts keys back, leaves car headlights turned off (I have daytime running lights and leave them in ON position always), leaves radio set on R&B/Rap station really, really loud, and adjusted mirrors differently.

Kid goes to sleep.

Go to get back in car on Saturday early evening and notice two panels where tow chain can be inserted are out of place and hanging on front bumper.

Replace them and drive 1.5 hours back to my residence.

H confronts kid who lies about taking car. Kid calls me and denies it then after being told to ID one of the other two kids in house, says he did it and was alone.

H kicks kid out of house.

H calls me enroute to my residence and says look closer at bumper--kid may have hit something.

I look at bumper when arrive at destination. Damage. Call police dept where my house with H is located.

Drive back there on Sunday to make report. Can't get in touch with kid. Don't know where he is staying or with whom. He has no cell phone.

Other two kids confirm, independently and w/o knowing what kid who stole car have done, what happens on night of reception. Both were asleep and knew nothing about what kid did. Their stories are just slightly different, but close enough to mesh well.

Police say, you knew him, unless he broke into car, it's unauthorized use. If you didn't know him, it would be stolen vehicle.

Insurance co. says police don't file as stolen it's not stolen. They assume you would have allowed person to drive.

I don't know if kid has license that's ok--i.e., not suspended or even if he has one. Kid was drunk. I knew that before going to sleep and would never have given permission. Kid never had permission to use vehicles ever before.

Kid stole car. Kid hit something and I don't know what. I filed police report and will press charges even though I don't really want to. He's been "my son" for 14 years.

Last time kid stayed with us was maybe 4-5 years ago??? :confused:

So yes, he stole keys and he stole car. Someone takes something without your permission in my book that's theft--that's stealing.

oh, man... that sucks, Gazelle !!

it burns when people eff you over, and even worse, when it's someone you know and love, and have cared for...

then, the insurance co. makes things worse.

it's BS that Liberty would raise your deductible for this.

:hug:

I'm arguing over $400. That's not much, but when you consider that I have just put out a lot of $$ for my son's wedding, am putting out a lot of $$ for his semester of school (he gets to apply for loans ASAP), am taking my first trip overseas really soon, and have taxes on my house due, it's too much. It really is. $400 makes a huge difference to me right this moment.

It may be petty and I may not win this, but it really torques me up that I'm going to get "hit" for the kid stealing my car. I only have so much $$ to go around.

Cayo, that's exactly why it hurts so much. I'm so disappointed in him. I'm furious that he doesn't have enough respect for me and my H that he did this. I thought he had more sense and had learned from his one trip to jail a few years ago. (yes, he did a very stupid thing then too)

He's burned the bridge of the very people who would always be there to support him. I won't do that again or go to bat for him again. Nope.

I was just stunned.

And he had the nerve to ask my BIL if he could stay at HIS house. Luckily, my BIL has more sense than that. He told the kid, "You just stole and cracked up my SIL's car. You want me to let you stay here? So you think I should put YOU before my brother and his wife because that's what it's coming down to?"

:hug:i know this has to hurt.

that totally sucks. why can't a car be stolen by someone you know? :confused:

after the police report is filed ( with witness statements?) can you then re-file with insurance company?

do you know what your state law is on recording calls? if it's one sided, maybe try and get him to admit it...if anyone can find him.

I'm confused. Whether you know someone or not should not have any impact on whether or not the car is considered stolen. You didn't give him permission to use the car, he took the keys without your permission, he's NOT a relative.....he stole the car!

Sounds like an insurance companies way to twist the policy to read the way it benefits them most. Why even have insurance then?? :confused:

I would call and bark my way to the top of the food chain at the company. have your police report in hand, and if you can, the arrest report for the person who stole it.

If a theif breaks into your house, steals your keys and uses your car to haul off the loot does that mean you LET him?

If a mugger steals your purse and your keys are inside, does that mean you LET HIM?

having a police report shows you took action against the theif, relative, neighbor or stranger. I would argue like there was no tomorrow.

The insurance company apparently talked to my H last night and questioned him about the kid. He talked to them for a while.

After fighting with them all week and working my way up the food chain there, I finally got a call from a supervisor---they're processing my claim as a STOLEN VEHICLE!

So SOMEONE finally saw the absurdity of it all. :yahoo::trampoline::Excited::Head-Spin:

The supervisor was apologetic.

My deductible is $100 for this now. I'm still :mad: that it happened in the first place--the kid had NO right to steal my car--but that makes it a little less painful for me $$-wise.

I'm still not thrilled that I had to fight tooth and nail over this, but it's a GREAT outcome!

:)

And my son called me. He's back from his honeymoon. They caught a bit of the tropical storm on their cruise but had basically good weather otherwise. I'm happy--they went to the Bahamas and could have really gotten hammered.

Call the kids momma that STOLE your car, tell her that either SHE coughs up $100 bucks or you are taking HER to court.

Call the Kid who stole your car, and tell HIM that he MUST find a way to either pay the $100 bucks in cash or in chores. Make him shovel snow this winter. Haul wood. Rake leaves. something OUTSIDE. dont let him back in your house. even for a potty break.

If I could do that, D, I would. The reason he was with my H and I off and on from when he was 11 was because his mom had a drug problem. She went into rehab when he was that old and could only take one of her kids with her. She asked us to watch him for a year. We did.

His dad was never in the picture. He's never met him.

He kept coming back to live with us for months at a time here and there--6 months, 8 months, 3 months. Whenever his mom got bad. His mom died when he was 17. He went to live with his gram. He's 25 now.

I have no idea where he is right now. Don't know where his gram is either, if she's still alive. I can't get in touch with him, he has no cell phone.

And the sad thing is that the kid's brother is a great kid: he's a great student, works part-time, and is a star football player. But my "kid"?????

http://sl.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1...lsk5aj07xu.gif

Good for you (and H) for sticking to your guns with the &^*&% insurance company! Sure is frustrating when you have to deal with below average people doing below average jobs! :D

He could have demolished the vehicle. He could have been charged with drunk driving. He could have killed a whole family in another vehicle. The insurance company could have stuck to their guns about you being liable, which would have been really ugly if the damage he caused was worse. You could have been terribly inconvienced and distraught by all the "could haves".

At the end of the day, it was a small price to pay to learn a valuable lesson; he can't be trusted.

I'm glad insurance is going to cover most of this. :)

Cherie

Thanks, me too Cherie.

And the "what if" part of it is why I went to the police. After the experience my H and I had where there was a kid staying with us years ago who took our car and went, with two of his buddies, all over our city smashing into things and then got into an accident leaving his buddy in the backseat with a fractured skull (and a few day stay in the trauma unit), I won't TAKE chances like that.

Especially when I don't know what this kid hit.

I'm thankful he didn't damage my car worse than it was. And yes, it was a small price to pay to learn he couldn't be trusted. Just not a good lesson--one I'd rather have not had to learn. I never wanted to think that about him.

Hopefully he'll learn something from this, before the consequences of taking these kind of chances are much more serious.

We had two street-racers on our main drag a few weeks back, and when the police had one car pulled over, the other raced off. The guy hit another car and flipped his car into a ravine. He was thrown out (no seatbelt) and survived, but his passenger was killed. No mercy on that "mistake". :eek:

Cherie

Tough way to learn a lesson. :(

Real tough.

I do hope he learns something from all this too, but I'm not holding out high hopes.

If he has problems, and I suspect he might, he needs to recognize them and get help. I can't fix them for him--only he can.