Must I pay the police to recover my stolen car?

[dragonard]

Last night my son's car was stolen. Two 16 yr old girls were caught by the police, red handed, driving the car at 2.00am this morning. The Cheshire Police have since impounded the car on the grounds that the two thieves were uninsured. (my son is fully comp). Now we have been told that to get the car back we must pay £150 - and that we should be able to recover the money when the matter comes to court.

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Surely this is unreasonable? Are the police acting within the law?

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It seems iniquitous that the victim of a crime must pay to get their car back.

[green_and_mean]

You should be able to claim it back off your insurance, they do not have to recover it but I am sure you would prefere that to it being left unlocked in the street.

[Big Boss Man]

When these events occur, the police make attempts to contact the registered keeper to obtain permission to recover the vehicle, either with the registered keepers means of recovery or by the police.

 

If they are unable to make contact with the registered keeper, the police officer dealing would have obtained permision from his Inspector to get it recovered, under the police scheme.

 

This is also to secure any evidence untill a forensic examination is carried out on your vehicle.

 

Speaking from experience, i have heard some people have complained to the police and managed to recover the fee incured, in your case there has been people repremanded, if they are charged and succesfully prosecuted then the police or your insurance company could pursue a claim for loss from them, it is extremely time consuming though.

 

I am not sure if the police or recovery firm have confirmed this to you but there is also storage fees incured aswell, in my area these are currently £12 per day.

 

Hope you get things sorted.

[crem]

Reading the way dragonard has written the opening post, the police did not "recover" the vehicle from thieves and therefore attempt to contact the RK to arrange itls return, but appear to have "seized" the vehicle for being driven without insurance.

 

As no stolen car could ever be driven with insurance, it would seem the police could always invoke this seizure power which would result in the RK having a hefty bill of it's storage. One wonders if the police have some vested interest (financial kick-back)in wishing to have the car towed and paid for return by the RK.

 

To asume the RK can claim the towing fee back from their insurer implies the theft is going to result in a claim at all. The car may have been recovered intact (perhaps the thieves had agained access to the car keys) and therefore it simply needed returning to the owner, or perhaps the size of the policy excess diswades the RK from wanting to claim anyway (my daughter has a £600 excess still as a young driver) as well as of course resulting in the loss of their no claims bonus for years to come.

[lihi]

Speak to your insurers before you pay anything, they should reimburse you fully as your comprehensive or may pay the police directly. Your insurers will recover the cost if prosecution is successful.

[JonCris]

I agree with lihi Also the insurer will pay the recovery charge + storage irrespective of a prosecution

[crem]

I agree with lihi Also the insurer will pay the recovery charge + storage irrespective of a prosecution

 

but it still screws with your no claims bonus like I said, and if there was no other damage to your car, this value might be below the excess threshold at which you can even make a claim.

[JonCris]

Correct crem the policy access may exceed the charge but that said many insurers do not penalise customers by reducing their NCB where they are not at fault