Surrey police helped Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA) to repudiate a claim for a car stolen in a hijack, after it emerged the claimant had left the keys in the car.
CMA director Philip Swift said the claimant had made a statement that two men had got out of a BMW and asked him if he wanted to buy a television licence.
The claimant said that when he refused, one assailant snatched the keys to his new red Ford Fiesta and drove it off . The other assailant escaped in the BMW.
He said he was unable to get the BMW's registration number, as it was dark.
However, when CMA agent Karen Page contacted Surrey police, who had registered the crime, she found the claimant had told police that he had left the vehicle unattended, with the keys still in the ignition.
Swift said police help meant the insurer could repudiate the claim and cancel the policy, while the claimant would be placed on CIFAS and the vehicle on MIAFTR to alert other insurers in the future
