WWMMD: Car damage/reimbursement

smetter04

The other day, H and I were at a funeral home and when we left the building, found that our (brand new) car was broken into. A power window was smashed into a million pieces and my uncle's smartphone was stolen. He never should have left his phone in the car, but he did cover it with a coat so we believe that the thief had a device/app that allowed him/her to find the cell signal and know the phone was there.

I'm obviously not happy about it, but it could have been much worse (there was no body, paint or interior damage - just the window) so I'm looking at the bright side of things. I'm having the window replaced this afternoon, for $223.

My mom suggested that we send a copy of the bill and a couple photos with a letter to the funeral home asking for reimbursement. My initial reaction was that, well it wasn't their fault, so why would they reimburse? But she explained that it happened on their property, the parking lot didn't have any 'park at your own risk' signs, and their liability insurance should cover it. I trust my mom but I don't have much experience in this area so I come to you, MM - would you ask the business for reimbursement?

ETA: we're not submitting this to our car insurance because the replacement cost is under deductible.

brij2006

The funeral home isn't liable.

Same as how Walmart isn't liable if someone leaves a cart in the parking lot and it rolls and hits your car, doing damage.

If you wanted to file a claim with insurance, the glass breakage would be filed as a comprehensive claim and your deductible would apply.  The stolen phone would actually be filed under the uncle's homeowners or renters insurance since it was his personal property, but his deductible would apply as well.

jtmh2012

Personally, I wouldn't ask the funeral home assuming they weren't neglectful in maintaining a safe environment.  Personally, it pisses me off when places have those "park at your own risk" signs.  Makes me feels like there is something I need to know about their parking lot.

As for the phone, I agree.  Either somebody knew it was there somehow (ie. saw it, knew your uncle left it) or they were searching for signals (most likely the wifi hot spot that most phones default to on these days).

Xstatic3333

I wouldn't bill the funeral home, but I would let them know that it happened for their own information and security planning. What a reprehensible place for a car break in!

short+sassy

I personally wouldn't.  Even if there were potentially legal grounds to do so.  It sounds like there was nothing they did/or didn't do that facilitated the crime, ie makes them partially responsible.  It's just one of those things.

I would let them know what happened.  I'm assuming you already did this.  I would also ask if they have security cameras aimed at the parking lot.  If so, file a police report (if you didn't already) and let the officer(s) know there is potentially video evidence of the crime.  Super unlikely anything will come of that , but you never know.

I'm really sorry this happened!  It's galling to be the victim of a crime and have to pay out your own hard earned money, because some LOSER is too lazy to work for a living.   

julieanne912

Um yeah, I wouldn't ask the funeral home for anything.  Your uncle caused it by leaving his phone in the car, the funeral home didn't do anything at all.

smetter04

Thanks for your thoughts @brij2006, @jtmh2012 , @Xstatic3333 and @short+sassy . You all confirmed my gut instinct that the funeral home isn't liable. I understand that these things happen in life and although it's hard to part with money I didn't intend to part with, we've saved and planned so that $223 isn't a deal breaker.

The funeral home knows what happened; they were helpful and provided a vacuum cleaner and garbage bags to cover the window opening so we could get home (1.5 hours from home and people needed to sit in the back seats). We didn't call the police because 1. the repair cost would be under deductible so there's no need for a police report for insurance purposes and 2. we were in a large midwest city and the employees advised that the police wouldn't be helpful.

short+sassy

I had my car broken into many years ago.  It was extremely annoying I had to pay one deductible to my car insurance for the car damage and a second deductible to my renter's insurance for items stolen.

I mean, I understand why I had to pay two deductibles.  But it was the same incident!  So it was frustrating for me.  Made me wish "theft" could be something added to car insurance so I wouldn't have had to face the two deductibles.

I had dozens of CDs in the car.  They didn't take even one.  I was almost insulted, lol.  Sorry punk kid thief, I was born 2 decades before you (at the time).

smetter04

short+sassy said:

I had my car broken into many years ago.  It was extremely annoying I had to pay one deductible to my car insurance for the car damage and a second deductible to my renter's insurance for items stolen.

I mean, I understand why I had to pay two deductibles.  But it was the same incident!  So it was frustrating for me.  Made me wish "theft" could be something added to car insurance so I wouldn't have had to face the two deductibles.

I had dozens of CDs in the car.  They didn't take even one.  I was almost insulted, lol.  Sorry punk kid thief, I was born 2 decades before you (at the time).

I did check our car insurance policy and it does appear to cover up to $200 of personal property damaged or stolen as part of a loss. I suppose every policy is different, and even though we're not reporting this incident to insurance, it's nice to know what is and what's not covered. I'm now much more knowledgeable about our auto policy so I guess that's another positive of this situation.

ETA: our auto policy was just re-written under a new rating system so maybe the personal property/theft coverage is a new thing.

MommyLiberty5013

This isn't totally related to OP but it is about funerals. Many break-ins at homes occur while families are at funerals. People post times and dates in the newspapers of when the services are. Full names are also listed. It doesn't take much to figure out which homes are vacated for funerals.