tdoh

I hear you on that point--some time ago, someone popped the trunk of my wife's Nissan Sentra, ostensibly to steal whatever valuable stuff may have been locked away in the trunk instead of inside the vehicle. Of course there was nothing of any real value in the trunk except some of her clothes; however, the thief took them anyway. Go figure...

Tony

96TL

I'm not sure what aftermarket parts they stole from you but maybe the thief has a TL himself and wanted some parts for his car. I've heard of people doing that. Maybe he popped the ignition to see i they could start it and slashed the seats for the hell of it.

BLEXV6

Not to suggest AzNTL is involved in this matter, but everybody here is analalyzing all the info, as why would AzNTL do this or that, to his vehicle. I am a claims adjuster and have handled several fraud files. The bottom line is that if someone causes Insurance fraud, its usually for financial motives, or severe problems with the vehicle (ie-blown engine), or you totalled you're vehicle in a crash while you're drunk and report it stolen. The biggest mistake is to lie to the insurance company about anything as this will come back and bite you in the ass. For example, when the adjuster asks you about you're financial status and you lie about anything, and they check and found you lied, this will kill you're credibility in court.

Also its been my experience that people who have any of the above problems, have little time to properly rig their claim, and as such do stupid obvious things that make no sense, such as not causing sufficient damage to total their car, because they did not think of all the angles, or having the ignition damaged, but this is not how the car was stolen

The bottom line is that the insurer has to prove you're involved or have excellent evidence, such as motive and opportunity. It is also indeed true that insurers are extremely afraid of bad faith claims and punitive damages as a result. The police can also be quite helpful if their interested.

The legal system, although designed to protect the people, goes way too far and makes it difficult to defend fraudulant claims and driving up you're premiums.

If you're claim is legit, go foreward and get it settled as if it is legit, the insurer will pay. If the claim is not legit, look out if you have an adjuster that is intrested in investigating thoroughly.

SC TL

Agreed.

gohawks63

Totally agree. whether the immobilizer is fool-proof (nothing is) is not the point. The point is that the insurance company cannot deny a claim based on fraud because they think the immobilizer is unbeatable, and since it was stolen, "It must be you who did it". Unless the insurance company has hard proof that you stole your own car, the lawyers, judges and press would have a field day on that denial.

Trust me on this because this comes from an insider (me). Insurance companies are by their nature very conservative companies. They don't take making a fraud accusation lightly and rarely if ever base it on circumstantial evidence. The insurance company that I work for doesn't even want to add a field on their databases to mark claims as under fraud investigation. Why? because it can be perceived that they made a false accusation, even if the claim was paid in full!

Coming back to the immobilizer. Even though it's not full-proof, let's assume it is for arguments sake. There are so many other ways it could have been stolen, (i.e. towing, duplicate keys, etc.) that proves further that if someone wants your car, they'll get it.

Now back to your stuff. I'm betting that the "stock" stuff will get fixed/replaced with no questions asked. Where you may get a little pushback is on the after market stuff. It all depends on how aggressive your insurer manages the fine line between managing costs and maintaining good customer relations.

Don't sweat the accusations. Be firm, but don't be a d!ck with them. My experience shows that once it becomes adversarial (sp?) it goes downhill quickly.

If all else fails you can get an attorney, and if you insurer doesn't cooperate, you should. Keep in mind though that this route also has it's drawbacks.

It will delay the whole process and now your attorney will most likely get a third of the settlement.

The company I work for did a study once where they determined that in cases where an attorney is retained the following occurs:

1. The settlement time increases dramatically
2. The settlement amounts do increase (as the lawyers advertise), but after they take their cut, the insured usually gets on average, maybe an extra $100
3. In addition to the increase payout, the companies now have to pay their own lawyers to defend the case

So they instituted a novel approach.

1. Offer the fair settlement amount upfront (as opposed to lowballing) so that there is little need for negotiating.
2. If a lawyer is retained, don't automatically throw more money at the claim to go away. Usually this money only goes to the lawyer anyway. If the claim was worth $6000, it's worth $6000 whether an attorney is involved or not.

Of course there are exceptions to everything and if a company is operating on bad faith, then you should get an attorney and then punitive damages come into play.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, just figured I'd give you a different perspective.

Good luck!

Austin519

AznTL:
Go here first: http://www.didyouknow.cd/info/carsafety.htm

Second, I KNOW the immobilizers are circumventable on our cars...there was a thread on it actually...go do a search. Also, if anything was stolen out of your car but not installed...it will be covered by homeowner's, not car, insurance. Lastly if you guys think that his incident was weird, when my brother's car was broken into...while we were out of town, they got into our garage, got into my brother's car, took only his stereo stuff...not his wallet, not his Oakley's, or anything else...just stereo stuff. They then went upstairs into our house, passed by our widescreen tv, went up to my and my brother's rooms, and stole only the stereo equipment in our rooms...they left the stereo downstairs, they left the TV's, the computers...everything else...and disappeared. So I believe you AznTL...and guys I seriously doubt he'd come here and talk about it if he were trying to con the insurance people...why the hell would he bother to come here and ask questions about all this???

Austin519

Austin519

AznTL:
By the way...my parents are in the insurance business to an extent...and just so you know insurance companies are making money off of you all the time...fact is, they usually lose money in terms of claims...about 5% or so. But they make their money by investing it...so think of them as banks (in fact, State Farm just created the world's largest bank...). And like banks, they like to keep a very open, very appealing profile...they don't want people pulling their money out. So they WILL settle if you contest the denial...especially if you make a HUGE deal out of it. But they also have the burden of proof...and unless they find your fingerprints all over the ignition, and the tools in your place, and you suddenly lost a ton of money or something...then you'll be fine.

Austin519

The Rosewood Legend

I tend to believe AzNTL. I have had my various cars broken into several times, and upon discovery I can look at it and tell instantly how they did it and all that. This story does sound a little fishy though, it would have taken someone with a little competence to get past the immobilizer, but an angry person looking to retaliate wouldn't likely go to that extent and only cause 6300 in damage. A true pro would have stolen more too. Unless they were workin on techniques for something bigger. I'm not sure whom to believe, but I'll say this much I am interested to hear how it comes out.

Austin519

AznTL:

Not to post too many times in a row...but for your and others' info...

"The ignition could be broken to start it after the imobilizer was bypassed. But bypassing the imobilizer, I would think, would be obvious and would probably require breaking something under the hood. "

That's not actually true...the immobilizer circuitry uses immobilizer relays, and a few other electrical components...and a guy who knows anything about this circuitry and is prepared, or a guy who specializes in Acura's, can take it out...passive immobilizers don't do a whole lot. Also you don't happen to remember your odometer before it got stolen do you? I usually remember the last two numbers of mine every time I get out...got in the habit when I brought my old car to a dealership and was told by a friend that a friend of his used to work there and they took joyrides sometimes...so I got into that habit. If you did, then maybe you can tell if they drove it anywhere...or just to the scene...if they flatbedded it etc.

Austin519