[Heybuck]

So about 4 or 5months ago, a plumber who has a storage unit in my factory complex had his vehicle stored inside the building, factory all locked up but the keys were in the ignition of the car. Its a 2019 Toyota HiLux, twin cab ute with a specially built work box on the back.

His factory was broken into, (probably just thieves wanting to steal copper etc), but they stole his work ute which was full of all his expensive to replace tools etc. They just drove it out through the roller door. Made a heck of a mess, alarms screaming, torn out roller door etc but the ute was gone.

First problem was his insurance will not pay because he had left the keys in the car. That's standard practice over here so he was out nearly $150k. He has ordered a new vehicle but with shipping delays he hasn't got it yet and in the meantime he is still using a friends van plus he has had to replace a lot of his tools.

Move forward to mid last week and he gets a call from the cops. During a routine inspection of shipping containers waiting on the wharf here for export, apparently a drug sniffer dog nosed out a suspicious container. It was pulled out of the line for inspection, and opened up. Inside the container was our plumber mate's ute and a Mercedes Benz car. Both stolen. His ute still has most if not all of the tools still in it and it has apparently been repaired from any damage it incurred while being smashed through the roller door. It still has its work ladders on the roof!!

The container was apparently destined for one of the Pacific islands. Not sure which one? Not sure what the drugs part of the story is but our boy here is a squeaky clean family guy so I'd very seriously doubt they have anything to do with him or indeed if drugs were even in his car.

He hasn't got his car back yet while the cops do their thing but in the end it will all happen. But it sure is an expensive lesson about leaving your keys in your car.

Ian

[dataway]

If it was here he'd be very lucky to ever get the car back if it had drugs in it. Don't think the Feds would care about the origin of the car. It would probably be locked up in an evidence lot for a couple of years, then be crushed or auctioned off.

Of course here the insurance probably would have paid ... and the owner probably would have said ... nahhh, I didn't leave the keys in the vehicle. And kind of hard to prove he did after the car was out of his possession for weeks at least.

[Heybuck]

Originally Posted by dataway

If it was here he'd be very lucky to ever get the car back if it had drugs in it. Don't think the Feds would care about the origin of the car. It would probably be locked up in an evidence lot for a couple of years, then be crushed or auctioned off.

Of course here the insurance probably would have paid ... and the owner probably would have said ... nahhh, I didn't leave the keys in the vehicle. And kind of hard to prove he did after the car was out of his possession for weeks at least.

Here they want to see you have the keys. Of course you can always say you only have one key but the insurance would drag out the payout. And unless you describe and can prove your tools in the car, you won’t have them covered AND they have to be on a seperate policy.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Heybuck

His ute still has most if not all of the tools still in it and it has apparently been repaired from any damage it incurred while being smashed through the roller door. I

Some years ago a friend had his car stolen. The police found it a couple months later, and when he got it back he discovered the thieves had made several hundred dollars' worth of repairs and installed a set of new tires.

[JSchmitz]

^^^ That's hilarious! ^^^

[RocktimusPryme]

Thats an awesome story.

Im bad about leaving my keys in stuff. (Though if my car was stolen and the insurance company asked I would definetely not admit that) Im surprised it would matter if it was in a locked building.

[hurryinhoosier62]

Originally Posted by Heybuck

So about 4 or 5months ago, a plumber who has a storage unit in my factory complex had his vehicle stored inside the building, factory all locked up but the keys were in the ignition of the car. Its a 2019 Toyota HiLux, twin cab ute with a specially built work box on the back.

His factory was broken into, (probably just thieves wanting to steal copper etc), but they stole his work ute which was full of all his expensive to replace tools etc. They just drove it out through the roller door. Made a heck of a mess, alarms screaming, torn out roller door etc but the ute was gone.

First problem was his insurance will not pay because he had left the keys in the car. That's standard practice over here so he was out nearly $150k. He has ordered a new vehicle but with shipping delays he hasn't got it yet and in the meantime he is still using a friends van plus he has had to replace a lot of his tools.

Move forward to mid last week and he gets a call from the cops. During a routine inspection of shipping containers waiting on the wharf here for export, apparently a drug sniffer dog nosed out a suspicious container. It was pulled out of the line for inspection, and opened up. Inside the container was our plumber mate's ute and a Mercedes Benz car. Both stolen. His ute still has most if not all of the tools still in it and it has apparently been repaired from any damage it incurred while being smashed through the roller door. It still has its work ladders on the roof!!

The container was apparently destined for one of the Pacific islands. Not sure which one? Not sure what the drugs part of the story is but our boy here is a squeaky clean family guy so I'd very seriously doubt they have anything to do with him or indeed if drugs were even in his car.

He hasn't got his car back yet while the cops do their thing but in the end it will all happen. But it sure is an expensive lesson about leaving your keys in your car.

Ian

Even when we are at the farm (90 miles from either Lexington, KY or Knoxville, TN…. literally in the middle of nowhere!) I will NOT leave the keys in our cars when we are down there; Too many “tweekers” looking for a fast buck.

[BOB VIDAN]

Ian, you have PMs

[Goatracer1]

Here is the opposite. In the early 1960's friends of mine had a GP, it was stolen and they had no insurance on it. They went out and bought a used car. After having it a while they took it to the dealer for service. While there a gentleman came up to the car and started shouting "That's my car, That's my car!". They had bought a stolen car. They then had no car but payments on 2.

[Heybuck]

Originally Posted by RocktimusPryme

Thats an awesome story.

Im bad about leaving my keys in stuff. (Though if my car was stolen and the insurance company asked I would definetely not admit that) Im surprised it would matter if it was in a locked building.

I think the "no keys left in car" status has come about in more recent times since the cars have become solely reliant on the chip within the key. In the older days when a key was simply a key, i.e., no electronics in the key, insurance payouts on stolen cars were simpler in that I don't think it was questioned strongly.

Nowadays, when cars cannot be easily be started without the complicated keys that come with all cars, often cars are stolen through a home invasion. That is, thieves enter a house by force, search or threaten owners to hand over the keys, and then drive off in the car. In that case, you would almost certainly be successful with an insurance claim. But leave the keys in the car and you will have trouble claiming for sure. Even if the car was in a garage.

If on the other hand you are subjected to an on-road aggravated attack, like someone pulling open your car door and dragging you out then stealing your car, no problem claiming on that. Or another situation which happened o a guy I sort of know, he had a Porsche Cayenne, stopped at the lights, got lightly rear ended. He got out, was threatened by some thugs who took his car, left him standing on the road. He got paid out in full without question.