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Vandalism figures released

A recent Government report claims that 457,451 motorists in England and Wales reported their cars vandalised in 2005.

But motoring organisations have warned that the true figure is likely to be more than three times the official total, with many people not bothering to report damage. Many victims of car vandalism fear that they won’t be able to get a cheap car insurance deal when they come to renew their policy if they have reported damage, and so just don’t bother.

Vehicle vandalism is actually one of the most common crimes in the UK, and the majority of it occurs on alcohol-fuelled Friday and Saturday nights. Drunken yobs and mindless hooligans smash windows, break off door mirrors, scratch paintwork and slash tyres for no good reason, causing enormous damage and needless heartache for the car owner.

The victims of such pointless behaviour generally believe there is no chance of catching the vandals, and so don’t bother reporting the crime unless they do decide to make a motor insurance claim and so require a police crime number.

One motorist who came out from a party to discover that his car had been scratched by a key said, “I was raging. Some muppet had run a key all the way down the side, ruining the paintwork on four panels and going right through to the metal.

“But what could I do? I drove around trying to find them but I didn’t have a chance. I was so angry it was probably a good thing I didn’t find them really!

“I wasn’t going to report it to my motor insurance company and lose my no-claims discount,

because I knew I wouldn’t get cheap car insurance next time if I did.”

Sadly a lot of people experience the same problems as this individual and end up out of pocket having to repair the damage themselves. There have been reports of car owners taking inventive precautions to protect their vehicles, and some have even gone as far as running electric currents through the bodywork.

Effective, I imagine, but probably not entirely legal.

webmaster@hootcarinsurance.co.uk

*A replacement car can usually be arranged under any of the following conditions:

1.Non fault accident – where we have the name, car registration number and insurance details of the person who caused the accident, we will supply a replacement car on a credit hire basis. This means the charges for this service will be passed onto the insurance company of the person who was responsible for the accident. This service may not be available where we are unable to get an admission of liability from their insurance company, or wherethe driver is unknown or uninsured.

2.If you have comprehensive insurance, a replacement car may be available under the terms of your insurance policy. Please check your policy details for more information.

3.The repairing garage may be able to provide a replacement car. This is subject to availability.

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