A car theft victim has lost a claim dispute after he was found to have left his vehicle unlocked with the keys inside.

The man said he had parked at his home and gone inside the property “quickly” before a trip to buy groceries.

He later admitted he was inside “about an hour”, explaining he “fluffed around” and performed chores. He said he made a “human error” in leaving the keys inside his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee while its doors were open.

While in the house, the man heard the car’s engine start and ran to try to prevent the theft. 

“I bolted through that [front] door ... as I’ve got outside ... I literally just watched [the vehicle] storm up the road,” the complainant told insurer Suncorp. 

The complainant said he saw a second vehicle “in convoy” with his stolen car as it drove away. The alleged thief was arrested a few weeks after the incident last October. 

Suncorp denied the claim on the basis the man “failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent loss or damage to [the] ... vehicle by leaving it unattended, unlocked and the keys left in it”.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority says the insurer has provided a valid reason for rejecting the claim.

“Based on the information provided, the loss occurred when the car was left unattended, unlocked and the keys left in it,” the authority said. “This falls within the exclusion for damage or loss involving an unattended car. Accordingly, it was entitled to deny the claim.”

Leaving the car unattended could “reasonably be regarded as being capable of causing or contributing to the loss”, AFCA says.

See the ruling here.