I have had a car stolen. it was untaxed, uninsured and in poor condition, but the engine was good.
Anyway, I have reported it to the police. What I want to know is can this come back to haunt me in the future. What if they find it burnt out somewhere, or if the driver has an accident. Am I liable to any costs for collection and disposal?
I was going to scrap the car sometime soon.
I know that under the MIB it is the last insurer who is liable for damage to other vehicles. But I am concerned about any costs which might come my way.
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Many years ago my car was nicked. Which was a bit of a result actually...
Just as the insurers were about to cough up it was found, had been parked on a double yellow for some days.
IIRC TPFT didn't cover the damage that had been done to the wiring (someone just yanked chunks of it around the engine) but I didn't get charged the multiple parking tickets which adorned it...
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Assuming it was registered as SORN and you have reported it as stolen then your liability has ended. I assume your car was stolen from private property not from a public road. Regards Peter
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Thank you, yes SORNed and yes private property.
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If the police recover it, it may well go into a secure compound - with daily fees.
Now how do you get it out to get it home or to a scrap yard with no insurance or tax??
Martin
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If the police recover it, it may well go into a secure compound - with daily fees.
Almost certainly.
Acquaintance of mine was recently pulled from his car as he parked outside home by three guys who proceeded to beat him, steal his wallet containing £5 and then drove off in his car, to their credit the police apprehended the guys within half an hour. Sadly when the victim came out of hospital he found that the police had taken his car for evidence purposes, he has now been told that they want £105 to cover the recovery of his car so they could do their fingerprinting, etc. To say he is spitting blood would be an understatement.
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>want £105 to cover the recovery of his car so they could do their fingerprinting, etc. To say he is spitting blood >would be an understatement
Thats ok, he can reclaim that from the criminal injuries compensation board, which as it happens comes from the same money that funds the police.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The Police have private contractors to recover vehicles. When the vehicle is stolen then the complainant should be asked to provide contact details so that they can be informed of the vehicles whereabouts and be given the opportunity to execute an immediate recovery. If that is not possible either due to them being unable to be contacted or the vehicle is undiveable then recovery is organised.
Once the vehicle has been seen by the Police they have a responsibility for its safe keeping and are not prepared to stand round all day whilst someone makes arrangements. Recovery charges are fairly standard throughout the industry.
Recovery is a hidden cost of motoring and would be covered by insurance however excess would probably be greater than the charges loss of NCB etc, so the individual generally stumps up out of their own pockets.
To the original poster - you will be expected to pay recovery / storage charges as the vehicle is your property and you are responsible for it.
Cockle - your friend was in no position to recover the car as he was in hospital so someone had to do it.
As I say its a hidden cost of motoring which the police are not willing to bear.
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Fullchat
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If you refuse to pay or can't pay isn't your car just crushed and that's the end of the matter?
In the case of the OP they could actually be doing him a favour !
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Thats down to the contractor, the Police just facilitate the recovery. Has the option to pursue through small claims as owner of vehicle would be known but may well right off losses through scrap value of the vehicle.
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Fullchat
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Appreciate the replies so far, I now have a good idea of what might happen.
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So what if the scum take my car and dump it over a cliff or into a lake, the recovery cost could be 1000's of pounds
Why should I pay?
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Understand the procedures involved and the way the modern world works, unfortunately he just saw it as salt rubbed in the wound.
As you can probably tell from the contents of his wallet he isn't the wealthiest man in the world and his car probably isn't worth much more than the recovery charge. His argument is that he has paid all his taxes all his working life, the powers that be now curtail his earning capacity by making him keep his fishing boat tied up for 23 days a month and then the police charge him for recovering his car.
His view may be old fashioned and simple but he sees the government/council funds provided by his taxes as one big pot that he expects to cover all the costs of providing services to the public.
It was just one more thing heaped on top of everything else.
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This seriously annoyed me when, after a no fault bump, the Police insisted on recovering my car for examination, when it was drivable. They then billed me for £180.00 recovery and advised me to claim from my insurance ! This wound me up and led to a serious exchange of letters and various threats before they waived the charge...........initially they wouldn't release it to me until the bill was paid......soon sorted that as well.
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A few years ago a mate of mine took an old Nissan Sunny estate as a P/X. It was worth about £200. Unfortunately it was nicked off his plot and then found a few days later about 250 miles away and empty of petrol! He was not too happy at having to go and fetch it!
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one more
tinyurl.com/kftru
And what will the bill be for this?
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The Police should recover the money from the scroat that stole the car. And if you fail to catch them, explain to our remarkably cloth-eared government that you need more actual, real police doing actual, real police work.
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