Hi All,

Long story this so bear with me!

So for the first time in my life i took the plunge and bought a brand spanking new car last year. i got a shiny new i20 1.4 in June with the scrappage scheme. All fine and dandy, works like a dream etc etc.

3 weeks later, i come home from work to find that some scumbag has nicked the number plates, front and back. Ring the police and the Dvla, who tell me they'll put the license number on the central police database but there's a high chance i'll be stopped in the future and i'll get letters from the Dvla about speeding fines i've incurred/not paying at petrol stations, the normal things that scumbags who nick number plates use the stolen plates for.

As time went by i didn't get stopped once and never received letters from the Dvla so i thought i'd got off lightly. 2 months later, my parking/brake light kept flashing randomly every time i was driving, checked the brake fluid and seemed to be fine but the light kept coming on for longer and longer. Took it back to the dealers and after a good half hour look around they told me the master brake cylinder needed replacing. I was honestly quite shocked as i didn't expect a new car to have such a major issue after 2 months! Anyway they fixed it under warranty so no problem.

Come boxing day, driving back from my girlfriends parents, 11pm at night, we're at some lights waiting to turn right. A black cab pulls up behind us, but then as the lights turn green to go straight on only, he obviously thinks it's green to turn right as well and slams into the back of us. The rear bumper's cracked, number plate lights are all broken and hanging off. Upshot of that was a quote of £676 to get it fixed which was going through our insurance...which leads us upto last week when again i came home but this time to find we'd been burgled!

It just happened to be the occasion that my girlfriend had left her set of car keys at home and you guessed it they nicked the car...absolutely gutted. really couldn't believe my luck. I was honestly hoping the police wouldn't find the car and i could claim on the insurance. They eventually found it yesterday and it's currenly sitting in a car pound in Enfield.

Which kind of leads me to my question, if - as i'm starting to believe - me and that car just don't get on and i want to sell it, am i going to have issues or have to knock 1k maybe more off the value to sell it now it's going to be tarred with the 'stolen recovered' tag?

Maybe i should just move to a nicer area.

Sorry to hear about all the hassle you've had & the burglary.
As far as I know your car will be marked, as stolen recovered. Don't know how that works with your insurance? Is there any obvious damage to the vehicle? Have you asked the insurance company how you stand? Presumably they should pay for any depreciation to the vehicle being stolen. As presumably, if a future buyer was to hpi your car, it may come up as stolen recovered. Why should you be out of pocket?
I have only ever had a one car stolen, years ago & it was a Metro GTI. Taken off my drive, didn't need keys it those days. Fortunately for me, car was found burnt out ten miles away. My insurance paid up in full.
Does not matter what area you live in, most burglers will be opportunists & may also target good area's.
Let us know how you get on.

My insurance are supposed to be having a look at the car today or tommorow so i should know more by then. As far as i'm aware the police think there's minimal damage so it could be just a case of replacing the locks.

The insurance company will pay for that but not for any loss of depreciation caused by it being stolen, so if i do sell it on i reckon i could be looking at a big loss.

What about using the 'Happy returns' offer that is running at the moment? If the car is an 09 and will look like new once repaired then I understand you can swap it in part ex for a new one. In the case of an i10 it is £499 plus any extras such as metallic paint and car must have done less than 10K miles.

Test the water and phone a dealer up for details, what can you loose?