We look at Fiona's complaint after her insurer said it wouldn't pay out her claim for the theft of her car as she left the keys in the vehicle.
What happened
When Fiona tried to claim for her stolen car, the insurer said she’d been reckless in leaving her keys in the car and they wouldn’t pay out.
She’d taken her insurance out over the phone but during the call, the insurer hadn’t mentioned the exclusion for theft if she left her keys in the car. They also hadn’t sent her sent the full policy document in the post, so we didn’t think the insurer had fairly highlighted the exclusion.
Our decision
We didn’t feel Fiona would have left the keys in the car if she’d been aware of the exclusion and this meant her car would most likely not have been stolen. So we felt the insurer should pay her the market value of her car prior to the theft.