Car Theft Claim

by Mashooq

My Car was stolen and my insurance company have told me that as the legal owner of the car was my brother and not me the policy holder, they will cancel my claim and not cover the cost of my car and refund my car insurance.

I explained what had happened with the ownership of the car and why it was registered to my brother and not myself. But they said the insurance is void so they can't help me.

However the insurance company has already paid me on a previous claim on the policy on the same car without any problems (Claim date: January 2011). This claim was an accident involving a named driver on the policy with third party.

My insurance company inspected my car, got it repaired and returned it to me. They also took the policy excess and my no claims bonus was also was effected at the time. My excess and no claim bonus was reinstated after few months when my insurance company recovered the cost from third party insurance.

My policy was started in 2009 and there were 2 claims made and settled without any issues.

This car was registered on the policy in June 2010. The reason behind mistake on the car ownership was that I had bought the car from BMW garage and before the deal was completed they needed to see the insurance papers before the car could be released.

On the day when I went to completed the deal couple of days before I had changed the car details on the insurance policy and took the paperwork with me.

On the day there were issues with me getting the finance on the car so I had to get the finance on my brothers name and the car was registered to my brother because of this reason.


Answer to car theft claim


Hello Mashooq,

You need to talk to an attorney about this. The first claim could be considered a waiver of any rights to cancel as the insurance company had paid claims under the same set up before. It is not as easy as it sounds, but the argument can be made.

The problem is that legal title is a very strong evidence that your brother owned this car. Your reasons for having it set up this way are understandable, but from a legal perspective, a title owner has significant rights.

The insurance company has a legitimate question as to insurance coverage.

Good Luck
http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/