There was some bloke on Midlands Today that took a garage to court because his car was stolen while they had it. He lost because of some defence called bailment. Why didn't he just claim on his insurance?! If the garage had been negligent then his insurance company would have got their money back and he'd have his bonus back. Silly wotsit is now in debt and the garage is suing him for the 8k in legal fees that they have run up defending the case over the last 2 years.
The only question I have is why make such a fuss over it?!
teabelly
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Sorry dont get that.Garage takes car in to fix/whatever,garage is or should be responsible for it while in there care,if stolen, garage insurance should cover it
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Steve
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Iffy area of law I suspect.
Take car to garage, leave it on the road, gets fixed and put back on the road. Gets nicked. Whose NCD goes? what if TPF&T.
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Garage should be insured,owners insurance wont come in to it as garage should be liable,unless disclaimer signed without looking at TC beforehand
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Steve
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If you have entrusted your vehicle to a commercial establishment then its insurance should cover any eventualities.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I'd imagine a garage would have a large excess so would rather not have to have their insurance pay out and would settle things with cash. There must have been some small print in something the guy signed which said he wasn't covered by the garage's insurance if his car were stolen. The judge must have decided that is enough to absolve the garage from paying for the stolen car. Bailment basically says if the whoever has the car takes reasonable car to prevent theft then they are not responsible legally for the theft. Turning it on its head slightly. If your friend left their car overnight and it was stolen, you had taken reasonable care you wouldn't want to be losing your no claims or paying out for the car yourself would you?
There is something slightly suspect with this as most people would just claim from their insurance. Nowhere in the article said this guy had already tried his insurance company who refused to pay out on some grounds or other.
teabelly
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I've never had to sign anything when taking my car in to a garage. Regularly see cars outside local garage with keys in the ignition.
I would completely expect a garage to pay out if my car was stolen, or at least as much equivalent to my excess, the difference between the insurance payout and the true value of the car, and the loss of my NCB.
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I don't think you can claim on your insurance if the car isn't in your own 'care and control' at the time of an incident.
There was a similarish case a while ago (which annoyingly I can't find a link for now) where, while a chap was away on holiday, Police broke into his house and took his car (a Ferrari) down to the local nick. When he went to pick it up, it had disappeared. His insurance wouldn't pay, and neither would the Police. So he sued the Police in the High Court and lost - the Judge said the Police had no responsibility for the loss. IIRC it cost him £100K in legal fees, on top of the value of the car.
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Not being rude Bill Payer but this sounds a bit of an urban myth. Why would the police break into anyone's house and take their car away? Surely it is bailiffs who take things away? I would have thought they would have needed a search warrant and/or somebody in the house before they can barge in take stuff; there again, maybe this chap was dealing Class A drugs or something very naughty.
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I must have some of the details wrong (hence I can't find it on the web) but it was pretty widely reported at the time.
The guy was, how shall I put it, 'known to the Police' - they suspected his car had been involved in some kind of incident and wanted to examine it. IIRC the reason they broke into the house was so they could open the electric gates to remove the car, but they also took the car keys.
The rest is as I wrote above. His MP was also involved. He wanted to take it further but couldn't afford the cost of an appeal.
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Also posted on here months ago, the guy that went to collect his Audi, some rather expensive, limited edition model, after leaving it for service.
Apparently they 'mislaid it'.
Never did hear of the outcome!!
VB
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Nope - it was a Merc - remember it well as it was my local police station. Don't think there ever was an enquiry as to why the CCTV was off though!
www.hastingstoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionI...4
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Also this may be the same person in a different story...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3734905.stm
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Hmm curious that a man with the same and unusual name is mentioned in both reports. I wonder if he was found guilty of the offence in the second report.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Bailment
An arrangement where goods are transferred from one person (the bailor) to another (the bailee) but no transfer of title occurs. A bailment is created when, for example, you leave your car at a garage to be repaired.
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Seems he got it back again... tinyurl.com/bj63v
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It's very strange that in this day and age, with your car fully insured that someone can take it away without your permission and when they cannot return it to you, you are totally out of pocket?
If the police are not responsible - then who is and what is the point of comprehensive insurance?
Has this happened before?
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Hmm curious that a man with the same and unusual name is mentioned in both reports. I wonder if he was found guilty of the offence in the second report. --
..and the same address. I do recall there being something very dodgy about the whole thing.
Zippy123 - did he get convicted?
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Nope - it was a Merc - remember it well as it was my local police station. Don't think there ever was an enquiry as to why the CCTV was off though! www.hastingstoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionI...4
Thanks for putting that up - I was beginning to think I was going bonkers! My memory was that it was a Ferrari, but I also thought it was only a couple of yrs ago, how time flies.
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more to this story than meets the eye.
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Wheres Pugugly when he's needed??
He'll know!!
VB
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Sorry guys don't know any more. I remember being dumbfounded when it was lost first time around. I mean, how can a £100k car be "niked from the nick"!
But on reading the other links it does suggest all is not well.
Unfortunately Hastings is a very high crime area, shame really because it is a lovely place. There have been several killings here recently. Two by assassins - pillion on bikes pulling out guns and blowing someone away. As well as the more usual type (domestics, robberies etc).
The police even killed a naked unarmed bloke with a single shot when he was in his bedroom in the middle of the night.
He apparently had history too, but that does not condone their actions. Thats the type of case that really worries me because we will never know if the they were keeping him quiet!
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I'm pretty sure they never shot him just because he was naked Zippy.
Let's not speculate.
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Adam
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