5/15/2023
In 2020, the incidence of auto thefts increased by at least 11.8% over the previous year and the trend appears to be continuing upward. Many of these cases have to do with leaving the keys in the car and other circumstances. If this were to happen to you, would you know how to report the theft of your car?
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How to report a car theft?
To avoid major inconvenience or an unwanted legal incident, you must act quickly. When you do not report your car stolen, you may be held responsible for what happens until you do. Understand that you are not going to get it back immediately, so it is best to cover your back in the meantime.
As with any other procedure, you have to comply with a series of steps so that you can make the corresponding claim to your insurer.
In this regard, you must first report the theft to the police to obtain the police report. With this document you go to your car insurance company to use any type of coverage that the policy has for these cases.
Steps to report the theft of your vehicle
In the United States, vehicle theft is a multi-million dollar business run by gangs linked to organized crime. Not in vain, from 2011 to 2020 there were at least 2.3 million thefts and the incidence rate grew by 3% prior to the emergence of covid19. This makes you understand the importance of alerting the authorities.
Depending on the type of auto insurance you have taken out, there may or may not be a clause related to vehicle theft. When you have full coverage, this takes care of problems such as vandalism and theft.
As long as you have some type of insurance, you can process the incident with the insurer and pay the creditor if you are still paying for the car with an auto loan.
Notify the respective authorities
As mentioned above, the first step is to contact the police to process the auto theft report. This is necessary if you want to file the claim with the insurance company (if applicable).
Depending on where you are or the police department, you can do this online or over the phone. This requires you to provide some specific details:
- Color of the car
- License plate number
- Make, year and model
- Any particulars
- Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
- If the car has a GPS device that can facilitate the location of the car
- Details about the last time you saw the car before the theft, such as date and time.
Make a claim with the insurance company
After the above, you have to contact the insurance company to notify them about the incident. Even if you do not have a full coverage policy, you should still inform the insurance company about the theft of the vehicle. This action protects you in the event of damage to third parties or property by the thief.
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As for the details you should give, you might be asked for:
- Description of the car
- The last known location of the car
- Location of the spare keys
- Title of the vehicle if you have one
- Details related to the financing or lease (if applicable)
- Complete list of things that were in the car during the theft
What happens when you don't have insurance?
One of the worst case scenarios is not having auto insurance in case of theft. Statistics say that recovery usually occurs within 2 to 7 days. If you do not have car insurance, the sequence of steps is not much different:
- Inform the police.
- Register the vehicle as stolen at the DMV.
- You have to do a private investigation to find the car.
Do I have to report the theft to the Department of Motor Vehicles?
The rules regarding vehicle theft vary from state to state. However, it is best to go to your state DMV as soon as possible to let them know what happened.
This is done after you have the police report and make the claim to the insurance company because you have to prove that 'for now' you are not the driver.
What should you do once the car is recovered?
When your vehicle is stolen and then turns up, the first thing you should check is if any of your belongings are missing. Keep in mind that the full coverage policy is not responsible for things that do not belong to the car. Usually, the authorities will locate the car within 2 days and contact you.
Then, we recommend that you get an inspection from the claims adjuster to see if the car was damaged during the incident.
In the event that the car is not recovered, the insurance companies give a 30-day margin before writing it off as lost. If there is any leasing or financing, the insurance company will pay what is owed.
Español: ¿Cómo reportar el robo de un carro?