My Car Was Stolen

[CWMcMurray]

My car was stolen on Sunday at Wat Rai King in Nakorn Pathom. It is a very popular Wat very close to the floating maket and there are thousands of people who go there every weekend. We parked the car on the road just outside of the Wat at 1:30pm and locked everything up and went into the Wat. There were people walking in and out of the place cars parked in front of us and behind us and we were parked right accross from a bathroom that had an attendent sitting in front of the bathroom.

We were only gone for about 1 hour and when we came back the car was gone. We asked the attendant if she saw anything and she said she didn't. Called the police and filled out a report.

Called the insurance company and they came out and did their thing. We then had to catch a cab back home and then on Monday morning we went to te dealership and called the finace company. On Tuesday I went into the the Embasy because my passport was in the glove box. We then went and turned in all of the paperwork to the finance company and got additional paperwork from them. Then it was back to the police department to finish the paperwork.

Tomorrow morning we have to fax the report from the police to the finance company and then they can set up an appointment between us them and the insurance company. The concern now is one, how long will it take until the insurance company is forced to pay and once they are forced to pay how much will it be?

Many people have mentioned the number of 3 months but the insurance agent that came to the site said "lie duan", many months. Is there a law on the time frame for payment?

We have coverage for upto 475,000 and we got an estimate of the value of the car from the dealership of 480,000-500,000 but I am certain that the insurance company will want to value the car at a lower ammount.

Anyone ever have their car stolen? How did it everything work out? Any suggestions?

PS-we later found out from motorcycle taxis that work by the Wat that cars and/or motorcycles are stolen here almost every weekend

Edited August 7, 2007 by CWMcMurray

[percy2]

Jeez , tough look mate.

Thats the first time I ever heard of someone having their car stolen here.

I lost mine once but thats another story.

Hope you get it back or at least the ins. company doesn't mess you about too much.

Cheers

[RKASA]

Wow never heard of a car stole here, lots of bike but not a car. Must be in parts on the way to russia by now. Let us know how the Ins. company does.

[CWMcMurray]

I have been told that there are some fairly sophisticated car thief rings here in Thailand and that my car will end up one of two different ways. The first is that the car will be stripped down and the parts will be sold off here in Thailand or the vehicle will be smuggled accross the border to Cambodia, Burma or Laos where it can be sold off quite easily.

As things progress I will continue to update this post...

Also there are tons of cars stolen everyday, just listen to FM 100. Its in Thai but its a radio news station that you can call into if your car is stolen and they broadcast it over the airwaves in the hopes that someone will see your car and call it in.

[Plus]

No chance of recovering it. There's a waiting period, but I can't remember how long - most likely six months.

One guy who had his City stolen bought a new car about half a year later, so six months sounds right.

[stingray]

The Problem is: Wh everybody buy or finance the same cars, like City, Civic, Vios, Vigo, etc. Buy a "Non Market Car" like a Ford, Chevrolet, or even a older car, if you don't have enougt meney. Nobody steals a 15 Year old Toyota or nobody steals a Ford or Chevrolet. Should not buy any 4x4 vehicles. They like to "escape" to cambdia.

[danone]

depends purely on the insurance company you got.

you have some experience with them?

got your contact in there?

things can be settled pretty quickly here.

my sympathy for your loss, such a stupid unnecessary thing to happen. and then all the running around and paper works.

hope all gets sorted out to your advantage.

[Globeliner]

The Problem is: Wh everybody buy or finance the same cars, like City, Civic, Vios, Vigo, etc. Buy a "Non Market Car" like a Ford, Chevrolet, or even a older car, if you don't have enougt meney. Nobody steals a 15 Year old Toyota or nobody steals a Ford or Chevrolet. Should not buy any 4x4 vehicles. They like to "escape" to cambdia.

What are you on? Why does near on everyone buy a Toyota/Honda here? Cheap finance!

Go to your local Ford dealer and you'll understand why there aren't so many on the road.

[monty]

Never had a car stolen, but had one totalled recently.

The biggest delay was in the dealership trying to calculate how much the repair was going to be. Since it was a Korean car, getting the quotes and delivery times on the parts seemed to be a major difficulty!

Once the dealership got their preliminary estimate together (after 2 months!) and sent this to us and cc'd to the insurance company, we almost immediately got a call from the insurer (AIG) that they decided on declaring the car total loss (preliminary estimate came in at 65% of insured value for spare parts alone).

You then sign over the car to the insurance company and within 3 weeks we received a bank cheque for the insured amount.

In your case I would think roughly the same should happen, you sign over the car (the paperwork anyway) to the insurance company, so that they are the owner if the car gets found, and they will have to pay you out as per the insurance contract you have.

[CWMcMurray]

depends purely on the insurance company you got.

you have some experience with them?

got your contact in there?

things can be settled pretty quickly here.

I don't have any experience with the insurance company and I don't know anyone in the company. When we bought the car the dealership helped to set up everything with the finance company and the insurance company. So the first time we had ever set eyes on anyone from the company was the day our car was stolen.

But on a brighter note, I have talked with my Business Law Professor and he said that if I have any problems with the insurance company he will talk to them for me.

In addition to being a University professor he also works at the Constitutional Court; I hope I don't need his help but if I do I am certain he will be able to straighten things out fairly quickly.

The lady that we spoke with at the finance company was very nice and after just 2 days we got a call this evening asking us to come in and fill out the rest of the paperwork thats needed in order to submit our claim to the insurance company. So far things seem to be going ahead fairly quickly but we have yet to have any real discussion with the insurance company.

[CWMcMurray]

Next update, we went to the finance company today to fill out the rest of the paperwork to include the transfer of ownership which the finance company will hold until the insurance company delivers the check. So now everything is done and we only have to wait for the insurance company.

The lady that we talked to said that the check may come as quick as 2 months but no later than 3 months from today and that it will be for the entire 475,000 then the finance company will take what is owed to them and that shoud leave us enough to put a down payment on another car.

She said that the insurance company may require us to come in for additional questions but given our circumstances it is entirely possible that we will not have to.

She said that they may investigate further if they think that we may have sold the car and are currently trying to defraud the insurance company; I guess this happens quite frequently here as well.

Of course this is all assumeing that the car isn't recovered, if the car is recovered then it will either be fixed to its original condition at the expense of the insurance company or totaled and we will be given the full ammount.

Edited August 10, 2007 by CWMcMurray

[Scalawag]

My car was stolen on Sunday at Wat Rai King in Nakorn Pathom. It is a very popular Wat very close to the floating maket and there are thousands of people who go there every weekend. We parked the car on the road just outside of the Wat at 1:30pm and locked everything up and went into the Wat. There were people walking in and out of the place cars parked in front of us and behind us and we were parked right accross from a bathroom that had an attendent sitting in front of the bathroom.

We were only gone for about 1 hour and when we came back the car was gone. We asked the attendant if she saw anything and she said she didn't. Called the police and filled out a report.

Called the insurance company and they came out and did their thing. We then had to catch a cab back home and then on Monday morning we went to te dealership and called the finace company. On Tuesday I went into the the Embasy because my passport was in the glove box. We then went and turned in all of the paperwork to the finance company and got additional paperwork from them. Then it was back to the police department to finish the paperwork.

Tomorrow morning we have to fax the report from the police to the finance company and then they can set up an appointment between us them and the insurance company. The concern now is one, how long will it take until the insurance company is forced to pay and once they are forced to pay how much will it be?

Many people have mentioned the number of 3 months but the insurance agent that came to the site said "lie duan", many months. Is there a law on the time frame for payment?

We have coverage for upto 475,000 and we got an estimate of the value of the car from the dealership of 480,000-500,000 but I am certain that the insurance company will want to value the car at a lower ammount.

Anyone ever have their car stolen? How did it everything work out? Any suggestions?

PS-we later found out from motorcycle taxis that work by the Wat that cars and/or motorcycles are stolen here almost every weekend

[CWMcMurray]

Update on the insurance situation:

I went and talked to the insurance company today and the manager I spoke with was very nice. I asked him what we needed to do and how long it would take. He called up the person handling our case and then told me that he would be by our house tomorrow to interview me and my wife.

Then we just chatted for 5-10 minutes; he then told me that after the interview was finished they had everything they needed and we just needed to wait for about two months and then the check would be sent to the finance company.

I feel much better after meeting with him today, I will continue to update this as things progress...

[threelegcowboy]

I thought I had a motobike stolen one time but it was hauled off by the police. BE SURE THE POLICE DID NOT HAUL OFF YOUR CAR TO AN IMPOUND LOT. I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT THE THAI POLICE ARE SO ORGANIZED THAT THEY KNOW WHAT THEY GOT.

LLL

[KhaoNiaw]

Also there are tons of cars stolen everyday, just listen to FM 100. Its in Thai but its a radio news station that you can call into if your car is stolen and they broadcast it over the airwaves in the hopes that someone will see your car and call it in.

I always listen to JS100 to and from work.

It's mostly pickups that are taken but in the last month or so quite a number of Fortuners have been stolen.

[CWMcMurray]

Also there are tons of cars stolen everyday, just listen to FM 100. Its in Thai but its a radio news station that you can call into if your car is stolen and they broadcast it over the airwaves in the hopes that someone will see your car and call it in.

I always listen to JS100 to and from work.

It's mostly pickups that are taken but in the last month or so quite a number of Fortuners have been stolen.

And thats why I will never buy a pick up in Thailand again... I thought wow they are so cheap, why not get a pick up. Next car will be a car!