A consumer doesn’t do enough to prevent his car being stolen

Motor Insurance

Kevin complains that his insurer unfairly turned down his claim when his car was stolen shortly after he lost his car and house keys.

What happened

Kevin’s car was stolen shortly after he lost his car and house keys.

The insurer turned down his claim, saying he hadn’t taken reasonable care after losing his keys to stop the car being stolen.

Kevin disagreed and complained to his insurer. The insurer said in its final response that they won’t be upholding his claim. Unhappy with the response, he contacted our service to investigate his complaint. 

What we said

Kevin told us he’d had the locks on his house changed but hadn’t got round to changing his car locks at that point. We thought this showed that Kevin realised there was a risk someone might use his lost keys to steal the car.

We decided he hadn’t done enough to stop his car being stolen and so we agreed it was fair for the insurer to use the exclusion to turn down his claim.