Question: What happens if my unattended vehicle is stolen with its keys inside?
Insurance policy wording tends to be quite clear on this aspect, in the sense that loss or damage arising from theft whilst the ignition keys are in the car is excluded and not covered by the policy.
Such exclusion is applicable in the event the vehicle is unattended even if momentarily such as when the driver leaves the car switched on whilst withdrawing money from an ATM. In that brief period, a crafty thief could easily steal a vehicle. The insurer may subsequently reject the claim because of the exclusion mentioned above.
In addition, policies usually include a clause requiring policyholders to safeguard the vehicle from theft or damage at all times. Failure to take reasonable care may lead the insurer to reject a claim. However, to be fair and reasonable in rejecting a claim, the insurer must show that the policyholder was not only negligent but had also acted recklessly. This means that the driver acknowledged the risk yet still knowingly disregarded the consequences. A typical case scenario would be when a driver stops to withdraw cash from an ATM, parks on the other side of the road, he notices persons loitering around the area where he was parked but still leaves the windows of the car open and the keys in the ignition.
In reality, not all cases are straight forward. Some insurers may not take such a restrictive stance and thus may still decide to settle theft claims resulting from unattended vehicles. In addition, certain cases occur under particular circumstances and it is then up to the claims officer of the particular insurer to determine and decide whether the policyholder is covered or otherwise. As these cases may raise divergent points of interpretation, the parties may opt to go to arbitration or a court tribunal for the issue to be settled conclusively.
Question: The vehicle was stored in a locked garage but the keys were left in the ignition. What will happen in case of theft of the vehicle?
Sometimes thefts of vehicles also occur when the ignition keys are inside and the car is locked in a garage. In the majority of cases, access to the car was gained by forcible and/or violent entry to the premises where the car was securely locked. Given the nature of such cases, there are a number of factors which could be taken into consideration when determining whether the insured had acted in a correct manner or was negligent. These factors include: the location of the garage, what deterrents existed and any mitigating factors that caused the driver to leave the keys in the vehicle.
Although the insured’s actions (leaving the keys in the vehicle) might be attributed to carelessness, it might not necessarily give rise to an element of outright negligence. The fact that there was forcible entry implies that the insured took reasonable precautions to protect the vehicle as is required by virtue of one of the main policy conditions referred to above. Thus, it cannot be considered that the insured was “reckless” if the garage door was correctly locked.
However, given the exclusion in the policy, it is always recommended that the vehicle and its ignition keys are never kept together; not even in a locked garage. Furthermore, it is of utmost importance that keys are never left in unsecured location such as with third parties (including parkers) and in easily accessible locations.
