What to Do After Your Car Has Been Stolen (and What to Do if Its Recovered!)
Reading Time: 5 minutesAfter the initial shock, there are several key steps to take.
Sometimes you park farther down the road, but your car’s always in this spot most days. You’ve been parking here forever; the lamp post is normally to your left when you exit the car, and there’s the exact crooked crack on the asphalt.
However, reality dawns as you realize your car has been stolen along with all the important stuff in the glove box, back seat, and trunk. The disruption to your life, and your routines, are messed up. You want it back, bad.
So, what do you do after your car is stolen?
Five Things to Do After Your Car Has Been Stolen
Over 800,000 cars are stolen every year, according to the Department of Transportation. With some luck, law enforcement—and sometimes, private citizens—recover 56% of stolen cars. Of course, recovery rates vary with location, but the chance you’ll get your car back is decent.
In the meantime, here are what to do after your car is stolen.
1. Create a Record of Other Stolen Items
Cars are like second houses and offices for many people. It’s common to keep personal or work stuff in the back seat or trunk for when you need them. The first thing to do is make a list of items in the car when it was stolen. Do this quickly before you forget. Your list will be important for making insurance claims or tracking them down if the cops make an arrest.
2. Report the Theft to the Local Police Department
Reporting the car as stolen to the authorities and getting a police report will come in handy when you contact your insurance company.
Depending on your service provider, you may have to wait a few days after filing a report before your theft coverage activates. Furthermore, you may need the report to replace missing documents like your license, vehicle registration, or other IDs. So, it’s better to get started as soon as possible.
File a stolen vehicle report by calling the police department, going there in person, or filing the crime online. In any way, the police will need your personal and contact details, a narration of the incident, and a description of the vehicle. The list you made earlier will also come in handy when you’re making the report. Remember to get a copy of the police report.
3. See If You Can Trace the Car or Items in the Car
Making a list of the stolen items and reporting the theft shouldn’t take very long. You can do both on the same day if you don’t have work or personal commitments to meet. Now that you’ve done those, see if you can trace your car with GPS tracking.
GPS navigation helps you find your way on the road and remember where you parked your car. It can also be useful in this situation, too. Location services apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc., can help you find and recover your stolen car if the thief hasn’t turned them off.
To trace your car with these apps, open your phone’s navigation app. You should see a car icon pinned on the map. You may also check your location history—especially if the GPS is off—to trace the car to the last known address.
If your car does not have a navigation system, your phone, laptop, or smart accessories will likely do. If they were in the car when it was stolen, you could trace the car and the devices using the Find My Device feature. Apple supports this feature via iCloud Find My, and Android devices work with Google’s Find My Device.
The odds of finding your car with those locators increase if you had location services turned on before the theft. Meanwhile, if you do find the car, call the police immediately. Do not attempt to recover the car alone or confront the thieves. They may be armed or prepared to hurt you.
4. File an Insurance Claim
After reporting the stolen car to the police, or if GPS couldn’t help with recovery, it’s time to report the theft to your insurance company and file a claim. If you have comprehensive or theft coverage, the insurance company will write a check for the actual cash value of the car.
First, you’ll need to show you’ve filed a police report. Then, your insurance provider will open a claim. In addition to the copy of the police report, they’ll need other details. Much of those details will be what you’ve already told the police: where you were, if you had your keys, or if the car had been with another person when it was stolen.
Your car insurance will most likely not cover the loss of personal items in the car, even if your auto policy is full coverage. Neither will manufacturer warranty plans like AppleCare+. So, you may need to file a separate claim for those items with your renter’s or homeowner’s insurance company.
5. Create a Temporary Fraud Alert
After the efforts you’ve made so far while dealing with the loss of your car, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. Still, you have one more important thing to do: create a temporary fraud alert to prevent identity theft. Why? Well, stolen ID cards, credit cards, expired driving licenses, and documents containing sensitive information are always in demand on the black market, and hackers can do damage with them.
The information on those documents is often enough for hackers to apply for loans, open bank accounts, and make online purchases. Worse still, you likely wouldn’t notice the damage until you review your card statements or credit report. Hence, it’s better to prevent such from happening first.
A fraud alert tells financial institutions to verify your identity if anyone tries to access your credit report, apply for a loan, or leverage your credit. You can complete this online process by filing a temporary fraud alert with a credit union: TransUnion, Experian, or Equifax. Filing with one of them will do—the others will receive the notice from the one you file with. Remember, creating a fraud alert will not tank your credit score or raise your insurance premiumInstead, it It protects you from having to deal with such things in the first place.
What to Do if Your Stolen Car Is Recovered
You never know what to expect with a stolen car, but one thing is certain: your car will likely be in a different shape than when you last saw it. Generally, the police will tow recovered vehicles to an impound lot and contact you. You’ll need to claim the car as soon as possible, so you don’t accumulate storage fees. What you do from here doesn’t change much, regardless of whether the insurance company has paid your claim or not.
Report the Recovery to the Police Department
You’ll need to report the recovery to the police if you recovered the car yourself. You must do this so the police can cancel the stolen vehicle alert on local and federal databases. The process is free, and the officers will instruct you on the next steps to take before you can start driving the car. The process depends on your state laws. Generally, you may need to apply for new plates, re-instate your registration, or update your title.
Report the Recovery to the Insurance Company
Odds are you have filed a claim before the recovery. You must tell the insurance company as soon as you recover the stolen vehicle. If the insurance company has not paid out your claim, they will assess the car for damage and issue a check for repair costs instead.
But suppose the car cannot be fixed. Then, your claim payout goes on as it should. Meanwhile, if the insurance company has already paid out the claim before the recovery, then the car essentially belongs to the company now. Of course, you still own the personal items in your recovered car, and you’ll be allowed to take those.
Search the Car for Contraband, Repair, and Wash
Odds are your stolen vehicle was used in another crime before it was recovered. So, remember to search the car for contraband if you’ll be driving it again. It’s safer to assume no one has bothered to search the vehicle until now and do it yourself. Then, take the car to the auto shop for repair and cleaning.
Prevent Lightning From Striking Twice
The chances of recovering your car are slim. Whether your car was recovered or not, you need to get started on the aforementioned steps pronto so that you can move on to some normalcy.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-to-do-after-your-car-has-been-stolen/
Ref: makeuseof
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