Theft/Crash/Insurance Muddle

antodeco

Hi All,
Bit of an odd situation here*. A friend of mine had her car taken by her partner (without her permission) and he wrote it off (crashed it into a tree). He was seen leaving the crash. Now, the Insurance are refusing to pay out, as the car was not broken into, as he had the keys. The Gardai are refusing to do anything, as they cant prove that he did not have permission, despite my friend telling them that he didnt. She was out for the whole night, and didnt know anything about it until the next day. Now, the car is totally written off (around 10ks worth) and now my friend is out of pocket. The gardai said they can only prosecute him for leaving the scene of an accident. The Insurance company said they will only pay out if the gardai report him as stealing the car.

Does anyone have any advice what to do?

*Some (non-essential) details have been left out

Wossack

tpft insurance I presume?

Dont think she's gonna get any joy from the insurance company unless shes willing to put her partner in jail

Seth Brundle

...or takes out a civil action against her partner.
How well does she like him?

antodeco

She has fully comp on it, but he was not insured to drive it.

Shes not with him anymore (if anyone remembers a previous post I had, this is the second time).

Jo King

She should make a statement to the guards that the car and keys were stolen. She should then get a letter from the guards that the car has been reported as stole on the day in question. If the guards are awkward she should complain to the Garda Ombudsman.

antodeco

The guard in question, does not like my friend, and is doing nothing about it, to screw her over. She is making an official complaint to the local seargant and if no good, then she is going to the Garda Ombudsman.

axer

antodeco wrote: »

She has fully comp on it, but he was not insured to drive it.

Shes not with him anymore (if anyone remembers a previous post I had, this is the second time).

Surely if the guy was not insured to drive the car then he was driving without insurance which is a crimminal offence on top of leaving the scene of an accident. Your friend needs to go in and say she wants to make a report i.e. she is reporting that the car was stolen by her boyfriend. It is not up to the gardai to question whether she is lying or not - that is up to the courts when the ex is getting prosecuted for stealing a car, driving without insurance and leaving the scene of an accident. Did your friend go into the gardai and say she wanted to report her car as having been stolen? Can a garda just say "no, I am not going to file that report for you"?

antodeco

Yup Axer, thats pretty much it. Reported it as being "stolen" but the guards said that as the person who ran from the car matched her partners desription, then there is nothing they can do. Yes, this seems VERY bizarre! I dotn understand it, but the guard doesnt like them. She has reported it the Seargant this evening and made an official complaint to the Ombudsman. Unfortunatley, she is still without a car.

Potential-Monke

Don't bother with going to the Sergeant, go straight to the Ombudsman, you'll get results quicker. The Garda is being completely ignorant of his/her duties, and has a legal right to investigate this theft, as that is what it is. Go into the station, make the complaint again, and if that pr1ck of a Garda won't do anything about it, DEMAND a Sergeant straight away, there and then, and make a complaint of theft, and an Ombudsman complaint against the Garda (not a local complaint).

If they ahve a description, then they can question the partner. It's that simple.

antodeco

Its the fourth complaint to be made about him into the station. There was harrasment by him going on for a while.
The complaint has gone in, so hopefully she will hear something back..

old boy

seek a personal meeting with the super, ask to make a written statment, in his presence, i believe this the correct protocol in this instance

antodeco

old boy wrote: »

seek a personal meeting with the super, ask to make a written statment, in his presence, i believe this the correct protocol in this instance

Cool, thanks for that info. Ill let her know, and hopefully it can sort itself out.