Belongings being kept in cars - Warning to all....

darrenjuggins · June 7, 2004, 14:23

Hi Guys / Girls,

Unfortunately I have a precautionary tale to tell after this last weekend!

It concerns items of value being left in yours / or friends cars!

I attended a house party on my cousins farm in the middle of coventry in the Combe Abbey estate.

Had a fantastic time, but due to so many people using the house, we had decided to leave all the belonging, lock in the car out of site (Please note my MR2 had been left at my cousins sister, for safety reasons already)

Come 6am in the morning I was awoken from my sleep on the bouncy castle to be informed my cousins Pug had been broken into and left with all the doors and boot open.

Items stolen:

3G Mobile Phone - £500
Fuji SLR Camera - £500
Wallet + Cards !
2 Tents

As you can appreciate - I was not happy!

Police gave us a crime number but here is the important part !

Upon our return home to claim on the insurance we find that belongings insurance is a pitiful £100 only !!!!!!!!!! with an excess

Therefore be warned, gadgets such a geodoseys, B2's, Sat Nav (IPAQ type) will be classed as belonging!

More gutting is how cheap it how now been to upgrade my home policy to include items away from home, each item upto a max of £1,000 per item. If in a unattended car Max of £1,000 total.

to ungrade till november its cost me £14.28!!!! why oh why didn't I already have this !

A precautionary tale for anyone who leaves more than there sun glasses in thier car, extend your house insurance to cover you, it would have been the best £50 I'd spent this year.

My only saving grace is, my beloved 2 wasn't around to be broken into.

Ce la vie !

s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Darren J s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Anonymous · June 7, 2004, 15:20

Sound advice mate.

I already have this cover on my household policy, however, because of the amount of money involved with my camera equipment, this is covered with a completely seperate policy.

Insurance is a rip, off, but well worth having. JAE'ers its probably well worth checking before July about your cover, although I doubt anything would happen there, as all the cars are together, and the organisers have employed security this year to patrol at night.

darrenjuggins · June 7, 2004, 15:28

Thanks craig for not flaming me about what I should have done - (That what my father is for!)

I couldn't belive how little was covered s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:shock: :shock: s:shock: , I'd have been better leaving it out in the open!

anyway, can't do anthing about it now, so I thought I would warn everyone else, at least I would feel better if it happened to others and they could say god I'm glad I took that extra cover out! s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

apparently the house cover does cover the 2 even with it's softtop as long as the belongings are out of site, preferably in the lockable glovebox or storage compartment.

Anyone offered a A925 G3 phone, please think that it might be mine s:cry: :cry: s:cry:

Darren J

Anonymous · June 7, 2004, 15:38

juggs .. cheers for the advic eI will be checking my policy later on today!

Anonymous · June 7, 2004, 18:35

was the roof down?

darrenjuggins · June 7, 2004, 21:12

Hi Buster,

The things were not actually stolen from the 2, that was safe at my cousins house in derby.

The theft actually was from her pug 306, which was locked. But a big cobble did the trick and they where in, around and out with all the good stuff I guess within seconds.

So the 2 is fine, I always lock the glove box and back boxes as routine, but I didn't see it coming on my cousins pug.

I thought we where safe, but complancy is a great wake up call.

I can't believe you get better contents coverage from your house insurance than your actualy car insurance, plus it's cheaper £50 for £1,000 per item cover compared to 9.99 just for my phone insurance, plus it covers me for accidental damage as well (WHY DIDN'T I TAKE IT OUT BEFORE THE INCIDENT!!!! DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Stupid Darren signing off ! s:roll: :roll: s:roll: s:roll: :roll: s:roll: s:roll: :roll: s:roll: s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

Anonymous · June 8, 2004, 09:31

would house insurance --> I have upto 35k worth of cover for contents insurance .. would this cover belonging stolen from my car? Would it also cover the mobile phone?

Cheers for the info guys.

darrenjuggins · June 8, 2004, 10:03

No - only if you have cover away from home (this will normally cost you a little extra of your standard in house content)

But if you take it out Zurich at least will cover you for loss / theft / accidental damage all you have to pay is the first £50 of any claim.

Bargin (wish I'd had it from the start!) s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anonymous · June 8, 2004, 11:07

Quote from: "darrenjuggins"No - only if you have cover away from home (this will normally cost you a little extra of your standard in house content)

Usually referred to as "all risks cover" (not to be confused with "accidental damage cover"). Also note that high-value items (for varying definitions of high-value, but often including all electronic gadgets and cameras, regardless of value) must be specifically pre-declared, eg with serial numbers.

Anonymous · June 11, 2004, 22:35

I nearly had a costly experience the other day!

Went in to work to pay them a visit (off ill at the mo)

Showed a mate the new MD changer (see my website). Went back in to chat to other colleauges. I came out to go home and when I got to the car I nearly had a heart attack.

Yep - I had left the glove box open - proudly displaying the brand new Sony MD changer, my wallet and a 200 quid Nikon camera. With the roof down. I was SO lucky! I also need to stop leaving my glasses in the top storage box. All told I leave over 600 quid worth of stuff in there. I need to check my policies...