Car stolen with no sign of a break-in, and the claim turned down

A car is stolen somewhere in the UK every four minutes, according to a BBC News investigation published this month. Reported vehicle thefts in England and Wales fell 5 per cent last year to 119,000, yet just 3 per cent of vehicle theft offences resulted in a charge or summons.

The method has changed. One victim told the BBC that thieves took her car from outside her home in 35 seconds, using an antenna to amplify the signal from the key fob inside the house. No window broken, no lock forced.

That creates a claims problem. When there is no obvious sign of a break-in, some insurers conclude the keys were left in the car and decline the claim under a keys exclusion.

No broken glass is not proof that you left the keys in the car.

The Financial Ombudsman Service says as much. It checks whether the insurer has fully explored other possibilities, such as copied keys, keys taken through a letterbox, or keyless entry. It may ask whether the insurer has read the engine control unit or the electronic keys, which can show whether another key was programmed and which key was last used. It also checks whether an engineer inspected the car in person or only looked at pictures.

Here is the detail worth sitting with. The Ombudsman also looks at whether your account is consistent, in what you told the police and the insurer, and when. And it asks whether you have handed over every key. A missing spare, unexplained, can hurt a claim more than any exclusion.

So report the theft to the police straight away and get a crime reference. Give the insurer every key you have, and explain any you cannot find. Write down where the car was parked and where the keys were kept.

If the claim is turned down, ask which exclusion was used and what evidence supports it. The Ombudsman also checks whether that exclusion was clearly highlighted when you bought the policy.