A co-worker and I had a discussion as to whether an unlocked door would invalidate your home insurance, in the case of a burglary. The question is, would an insurance company be expected to pay a claim resulting from a theft - if the theft occurred from an unlocked home?
Thanks,
Jim
Chances are the insurer would never know that the door wasn’t locked, unless you told them.
Wouldn’t the police notice there were no signs of forced entry?
There usually aren’t signs of forced entry. Most burglars enter through unlocked doors, windows that aren’t latched, that sort of thing. Plus, even a locked door can be opened quite easily without force, if there’s no deadbolt.
… and actually I’ve broken into my own home without damage when I locked myself out.
But, say you did tell them - would they pay out?
Jim
There’s no requirement in the standard homeowners policy for “forced entry”. At one time I seem to recall early in my career that auto policies had that requirement for theft out of a vehicle but I could be just remembering wrong. Neither policy now require any type of forced entry.
Thanks - that was actually my position (I went home and read my policy), but my co-worker says there is “due diligence” expected. I was still skeptical that that could mean “you must lock your door.” For example, the door isn’t normally locked during the day while I am in the house - but a theft could still occur.
Thanks,
Jim
In my experience as an insurance broker in Canada, forced entry was the difference between burglary and theft.
I actually asked my insurance guy about this. I drive a Jeep Wrangler soft top and never lock my doors (in fact, I keep my key in the ignition). A friend told me that my insurance would not cover theft of the vehicle. My agent told me that was not true.
As far as my home, I have three doors all keyed the same. I lock them if I go away for vacation, otherwise they are unlocked. An unlocked door is not an invitation to enter.
Uhmmmm, why? Are you just extending an open invitation for anyone who wants your car to take it?
Might not live in an area where that’s something to worry about.
Well unless they’re residing in Antartica, auto theft is a problem everywhere. And making it easier to steal is only going to make everyone’s rates go up. :rolleyes:
I always thought that statement was funny. For a while my aunt never locked her house, she said that it wasn’t really neccessary in her area. I always figured that if I wanted to rob a house, I would go to the areas where people didn’t worry about it. Why bother with the crappy parts of town with three dead bolts and bars on the window when I can go to the nice part and just walk in.
Oh yeah, I wanted to mention one more thing. I only know of one person who doesn’t have to lock her doors. My aunt (a different one) she boards and rescues dobermans. I’d imagine most burglers wouldn’t go into a house if you could see between 8 and 20 Dobermans barking back at you.
Until it’s stolen. Then it’s *their *car.
I’ve long been relatively certain that in many of the areas I’ve lived, locks on the doors are of limited utility. My primary residence (well, for at least most of the week) is in a rural area and I have no clear sight lines to any of my neighbors.
If someone comes up to the house to rob it while I’m gone, they’ll get in eventually–locked doors or no. My house is a house, not a fort.
There have been times where I haven’t locked my doors for months on end.
On the other hand, I have a friend who lives in a very similar situation as myself (rural location, no neighbors nearby) who is really big on home security. He had a reinforced door, all of his windows were excellently secured (locked with iron bars.) He even had cameras at all entrances recording anyone who approached.
One day while he was at work some guys showed up with a pickup, broke the door down and completely ransacked the place. He had an expensive safe that was built into the floor of one of his closets, somehow they managed to rip it out by (from what he could tell) running a chain from the truck to the safe and ripping it out (doing considerable damage to several of his door frames in the process.)
They also made off with a very heavy gun safe with thousands of dollars in firearms inside.
To top it all off they broke all his cameras and stole his recording equipment.
My friend also had a Brinks security alarm that never triggered.
While my friend got royally screwed, it just confirmed for me that whatever you do, if someone wants to get into a house to rob it bad enough, they will.
I always thought that too.
I’d wonder if that was an ‘inside job’ By the sounds of it, they knew what they were after. As far as your rural house, I guess that makes sense. On the one hand, locking the doors will keep ‘the honest people honest’ that is, it should deter the oppertunistic thief, OTOH, if someone really wants to get into your house, why have them ruin the door jamb in the process.
Reminds me of something else. A few years ago our back door to our store was smashed in. While rebuilding it my dad and his dad contemplated what they could do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. They were talking about putting hangers on either side of it so they could put a two by four across it. They eventually gave up when I mentioned that they could brick the door over every night and the robber will just smash a window. Put bars on all the widows if you want and they’ll just sawzall their way through the side. If someone wants to get in, they’ll get in eventually.
If you really want to know whats a bitch to defeat by brute force, go ask your nearest fire station. We learned alot of neat ways to open locked doors in fire academy. Some very slick.
Normal resdidential houses can be breached easily. Active deterrents like dogs and people at home are the best security options.