h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some scumbags have stolen my car(boxing night)It was a tatty, but well loved reliable little 'L' reg red corsa.It was towed away by the police weds am from a field 1 mile from home...ITS WRECKED! I HAVE TO PAY £227 TO GET IT RELEASED OR £190 & THEY WILL SCRAP IT FOR ME!

I really don't want to claim on my insurance as i'm 21 and my excess is
£250 the car is only worth £300 tops. If & when i can afford another car i don't want to loose my 3 yrs no claims bonus. So i,ve cancelled my insurance today & told the yard i cannot pay anything like £190 .They said i have to pay & for every day i don't they will charge me £12!!! Can they do this ?? will i end up paying thousands? should i borrow the £190 & just accept, that because someone stole my car & i have now to walk to work, (shifts),i should also pay ?? I AM SO UPSET
HOW CAN I GET THIS SORTED??

Hi...sorry to hear about your car.

My first instinct is to say "No they can't". I'm going to have to do a bit more research about this though...I think the garage/breaker are trying it on, they have *no* claim on you. The police can be politely yet firmly told to duck off...Did you ask them to recover your car?

RF

RF , i did not ask them to recover it, i reported it missing at 7.30 ish

on weds morn & then walked to work, they phoned me at 12 ish to say it was in the yard.

OK...first up is to say to the police force in question (I assume a UK one?) that you cannot afford the money.

Secondly, and I know this might sound a bit weird...go and talk to your local MP? (S)He (from here on, the male shall include the female) should have a "surgery" that's advertised locally, where you can talk to him. He should be able to give you a helping hand, and is a good advocate to have on your side.

Complain! Don't accept it! Make a noise! Why should the police profit from your loss? That's why you pay taxes!

RF

My thoughts are to check the small print on your insurance policy. Even 3rd party insurance usually has no excess on a stolen vehicle if it's beyond your control.

Still inform your insurer as the police will probably have contacted them anyway if you gave them the details as the police will still try and claim their expenses from them! You don't have to claim from them to stuff up your no-claims benefit, but it's best to let them know or it could cause problems later.

I would personally pay the release fee and then try and sell it for spares on ebay or something like that (unless it's firebombed and completely uncoverable!)to get some of your money back. It's amazing what folks will buy on there for spares.

Good luck and hope you get it sorted.

RF,, yes i'm in yorkshire. will call police again tomorrow as i couldn't get through today.. will see mp too. Thanks for that. x

Deakie, cancelled my policy by phone today, can the police or yard still claim?

I't will be difficult, for me , to get £190.

Will def. check policy again though. thanx

No problem...

Let us know how you get on; you may also want to talk to Blues Shark U154264 - who has a detailed knowledge of the workings of the UK legal system.

RF,evilgrin>

Sorry, it looks like you're stumped:

http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/faq/default.asp?id=14#question

"Will I have to pay if the police recover my stolen car and if so, how much?

There are statutory fees that you are legally required to pay. These are set by the Government in the form of statutory regulations which they make under section 102(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. The fees are currently £105 for the removal and £12 for each storage period of 24 hours. The storage period begins at noon on the first day after your vehicle's removal on which the storage location is open before noon for your vehicle to be collected (so, if your vehicle is removed on a Saturday but the recovery operator's premises are not open for you to collect your vehicle until the Monday, the period will begin at noon on the Monday). No VAT is payable on these fees."

And, from further down that page:

I do not want to reclaim my vehicle; do I still have to pay?

If the police used their powers under the Road Traffic Regulation Act to remove your vehicle they are entitled to recover the statutory fees.

If you do not reclaim your vehicle, you may lose your claim to its load, that is any items you had in it, on it, or attached to it. The only items from the load that you can always have back, without payment, are the "essentials of life". These are:..."

yada yada yada...I assume you didn't have any of these in the car.

Leave it with them, don't pay. They're not going to sue you.

RF

I wouldn't bet on that RF, sorry.

It says they are entitled to claim the statutory fees, which means they probably will.

I would definately contact the police ASAP - explain that your insurance doesn't cover this and that you simply don't have the money to pay. At the very least they should freeze the daily charge from that part.

If you're a girly, I recommend going down to the front desk and crying a lot.

Thankyou for your link & replies.. I Did think £227 was alot , when i queried this with the man from the yard, he said it was more as they had to recover it from the field!

I do understand the police point of view re: vandalism. etc. but they could have phoned me 1st , they had every no. possible & they phoned me on my mobile, once it had been moved..

I am a girl so will def. ring /call & cry.. (done, nawt else for 2 days)x

If you really can't wriggle out of payng this unfair charge (and i think you will) then make sure you don't pay them the whole sum, even if you can afford it.
Make an offer to pay at some ridiculous amount like £2 a month. They can't prosecute you for non payment while you are making offers to pay. Make it as long and expensive for them as possible.

Welcome to being a motorist in Britain

Just remember, the police are *not* your friends. They really are out to get you.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on so we can all cluck, nod our heads and say "When I were a lad..."

I had a bill for recovery and storage of my car, but as I claimed on the insurance they paid for it, and lost three years off my no claims bonus, even though it wasn't my fault. It's just the way insurance works.

As you've cancelled your insurance I doubt you'll be able to claim for it now, as a condition of claiming is that you can't cancel your insurance - it has to run the remainder of the year. It's a shame that decision was made, because although you didn't claim, you still have to declare that you had a car stolen whenever you want insurance in the future which may well affect the cost of it.

As for the police, they do ask if you want a phone call to say they've found your car the minute they find it, or if you want to be called during social hours only. If you said only during the day, then they would make their arrangements for recovery if they found it overnight (it may not have been recovered until the morning, but they would have put recovery in motion). If they call when they find it, you would maybe have had a chance to go and collect it yourself.

You have my sympathies, but I'm not surprised. A similar thing happened to a mate recently.

I think it's fair that you are liable for the cost of disposal of your own car, but how to dispose of it should be your decision - and it is very unfortunate that the timing of its disposal was dicated by a few irresponsible *****s who will no doubt go on to repeat the crime several times.

It is often the innocent party in these situations that has to stump up to sort out the mess. It is always easier to recover costs from the the law-abiding party or their insurance company. If you refuse to pay, it'll probably go on your credit record. Or is that being overly cynical?

Jeez, the state of society today, eh?

It was my day off today, spent a long time on the phone to the police, trying to get answers & explanations from them , they gave me standard fob about policy etc. told me to neg. with yard,

What a place! I got mum to pick me up & take me, they wanted it to go through ins. They were not nice people , they showed me my smashed up little car, i took my coat out & a couple of cd,s, it was unrepairable. My mum offered to pay with a cheque, they only deal in cash! So off to bank. Paid £190 cash..

We were both upset, mum said she will pay half, will pay her the other half in installments.

Roll on 2007, let's hope they get what they deserve. A BIG THANX TO ALL WHO REPLIED, IT'S SO NICE TO MEET SUCH HELPFUL PEOPLE. HAPPY NEW YEAR. X

OH, yes nearly forgot, anyone know of a cheap little car for sale.......

Sorry you had to go through all that. I'm also sorry that we weren't able to come up with a loophole that could have helped. No doubt, a few months from now, somebody will post a way to beat the system

Good luck with the car hunt

Hi. Sorry I've not relplied earlier, but lacked a pc with access to hootoo over the Xmas/new year period (otherwise translated as - I've forgoten my log in details and can't be bothered to work them out for my home pc).

Seems you got the advice you needed. Mine wouldn't have been any different.