Are your keys safe?
Sometimes, it seems like insurance isn't worth it. As the recession has affected insurance companies as well as the rest of us, and with rising fraudulent claim figures, many customers feel that insurers maybe being tighter over claims, and in some cases, unfairly wriggling out of paying out altogether. So is there anything you can do?
The first thing is read your policy wording. You should find out exactly what you are covered for, in order to avoid any nasty surprises later on. As an example, there have been cases where people were leaving their cars running unattended outside their house on very cold mornings, so the car was defrosted and nice and warm ready for the morning drive to work. Foolish I know, and some unlucky souls had their cars stolen as a result. Naturally, insurance companies were not too happy about having to pay out when the theft could easily have been avoided by people using their common sense and so most policies now have an endorsement on them denying any claims if the car was stolen with the keys.
With me so far? OK, so here's the problem: If you wanted to steal a modern car today, it would be nigh on impossible, without the keys. So what do thieves do? Simple. They take the easy route and steal the keys, and then the car, but because of the aforementioned clause, there have been cases where people have lost out when their insurance companies have refused to pay out. You could probably appeal successfully against this if there was plenty of evidence to show violent entry to your property, but the thieves have some very clever tricks up their sleeves...
In one instance, a person's keys were stolen through their letter box using a rod and hook. On another occasion, a thief nipped into an owner's house while he was pre-occupied mowing his lawn. In these types of circumstances, being turned down by your car insurance company would feel very unfair, and could lead to a sizeable loss. And it's also unlikely your house insurance would provide any help or cover for this.
The idea to learn from this is, don't leave your car keys anywhere in sight near the front door or any open windows. Your keys will be harder to steal if a thief doesn't know where they are. Many people also leave their house keys in the door when they go to bed at night. This seems like a perfectly innocent thing to do, but again, with a bent coat hanger and knowing where the lock is from it's position on the outside, the keys to your house could disappear as well. And do you keep your car keys on your house key ring? Unfortunately, simple things like this can cost you dear, as thieves get increasingly sophisticated.
Lastly, always set your alarm if you have one. If your car or property insurance company knows you have an alarm, (you probably got a discount for it), they will expect you to use it, and you could lose out if you don't.
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