Stolen Car Recovered

[Desigirl101]

Hi all, just joined to hopefully get some advice. 
 

My Mercedes A Class (2021 registration) was stolen a week ago from my driveway with keys by some scums.

 

They broke into my house through the back door during early hours of the morning whilst I was fast asleep. My car’s been recovered but police are still doing DNA testing on it to see if they can identify any culprits. All they can tell me so far is that there is minor damage inside.

 

Insurance policy states that (if the car is found) any damage will be repaired and paid for by them. I only bought this car 2 months ago and have probably driven 600 miles in total so far. Purchase price was £27k, mileage 27,600. I took out a PCP contract and placed a £5k deposit on it so have a good chunk of finance loan still left to pay. Mileage now is 28,205. I also have vehicle replacement GAP insurance I should mention. I do have Mercedes warranty on it still but I’m unsure of how many months. It will be over 12 though. 

 

Although the car will be repaired to roadworthy standard, the car will have depreciated and if I was to sell it I’d have to sell it for less, added with the fact that a stolen recovered car is harder to sell than one that hasn’t been stolen anyway. This depends on the type of buyer I understand of course.

 

My question is,

will insurance pay out the depreciation value that I’ve lost? That would place me in the position I was before it was stolen, if they don’t then I lose value which contradicts the principle? 
 

Secondly,

do I have to accept the car back?

 

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I’m glad the car was found, but honestly, it would’ve been financially beneficial for me if I’d received a payout instead where I could pay the finance off and get my deposit back to put towards another car.

 

I highly doubt they would replace the vehicle if they can just repair it and give it back to me as well. If I had to take the car back I’d just feel like I was paying finance on a stolen car. And with that much money I’m spending on the payments, it just doesn’t justify it if that makes sense. 
 

Any help would be appreciated, thank you. 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

Insurance will always settle on the cheapest possible terms to the Insurance company which will be to repair the car to pre-theft condition.  Although you take out individual Insurance, the Insurance company has a financial responsibility towards all policyholders they underwrite policies for.

 

Your only loss should be the normal depreciation over the 2 months you have owned it and the Insurances won't cover that. And they won't cover any consequential depreciation you perceive, as a result of having a record on the car of it being stolen and a claim made for repairs.  If you could calculate what this value was and gain evidence, if the thieves were later subject to successful prosecution, you could ask for restitution orders to repay you a relevant amount.

 

.  The Insurers have a responsibility to repair the car to pre- theft condition, so when you get the car back, if the repairs are not to your satisfaction, go back to the Insurers and they will have to pay for further work to be completed. The fact that the car was subject to a claim and repairs may appear on records available to future buyers is not something Insurers will consider, as Insurances would never cover such perceived consequential losses.

 

The GAP policy is not relevant, as the car is repairable.

 

So yes you will have to accept the car back and accept that it is just a repair that the Insurers will pay for.

[Desigirl101]

That seems really unfair to me and many others who I’m sure have been through the same situation and they’ve owned their car a lot longer. I’ll have to talk with insurance and see what they say. 
 

Although it’s not what I wanted to hear, thanks for replying. 

[theberengersniper]

What is the damage inside? If they stole it with keys then is the damage just pure vandalism?

[Desigirl101]

Police haven’t told me the full extent of the damage yet.

It’s parked up at a garage and the mechanic is yet to assess it.

 

A lady from the forensic team told me briefly that the panel where the overhead lights are has been ripped out probably to get rid of the tracker.

 

There’s some damage to the front (inside) but I honestly wasn’t quite sure what she was saying (she had a strong accent).

 

There’s some damage to the bodywork above one of the rear tyres.

 

Police mentioned to me that thieves usually steal cars for the catalytic converters so I’m gonna assume that’s gone too. 

[dx100uk]

and?

 

dx