Your car is one of your most prized possessions. After completing your education, you have worked sincerely and determined to accomplish your every dream written on the bucket list. It goes without saying that one of those dreams was to purchase your own vehicle.
The day you bought your first vehicle, your level of happiness was on cloud nine. Right? You took good care of it by providing regular service and getting it insured. Even the thought of getting a scratch on it feels like a nightmare. That’s the reason why you were always cautious when it comes to driving it.
However, the harsh reality of life is that it has both ups as well as downs. And no matter what you do, you can’t avoid the downs. You might have thought that it is going to be a “Just another normal day.” But it didn’t turn out as you expected it to be. Why? Well, it is because your beloved car was stolen. It is probably one of the most disheartening news.
When you brought your car, you were well aware of all the risks associated with it. That’s why you need to make sure to avoid all the risks that you can. However, you don’t have control over the intentions of other people. Consequences? You lost your vehicle.
Hang on! Are you blaming yourself for losing it? If yes, then you need to stop. It is not your fault at all. In fact, if we look at the statistics, every year, several people become victims of motor vehicle theft. And the cases are rising continuously.
Statistics of car theft
According to the preliminary analysis report of NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau), there were 873,080 motor vehicle theft cases in 2020. And you might get shocked by the fact that this rate has increased by 9.2% last year. Moreover, this rise was observed after 30 years.
That’s not it!
As per the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, an average monetary loss after a theft is $8,886. And if we look at the annual loss, it amounts to approximately 6.4 billion dollars.
Moreover, the rising theft cases also showed that one vehicle gets stolen in between the time span of 40 seconds to 1 minute, making it challenging to keep your vehicle protected.
Nonetheless, now that you are aware of all the data let us focus on the steps you need to take immediately after losing your car. So, let’s get started!
Make sure that the car is stolen.
First of all, you need to ensure that your vehicle is stolen and not misplaced. There is the possibility that you are getting worried for nothing. Maybe you have parked your vehicle somewhere else, or you gave it to your friend for some work but forgot about it. In addition to this, there are also chances of you parking it at the “No Parking” sign. Resulting in, vehicle getting towed.
It might sound a bit absurd, but there is nothing wrong with calming your mind down and thinking about where your car could be. Besides, if you found the vehicle, you’ll save yourself from getting embarrassed and won’t get blamed for wasting police and insurance companies’ time.
File a report to the police
If you didn’t get any information about the vehicle, you should immediately report it to the police. Tell them every detail that you have learned about the vehicle.
- Name of the car model,
- license plate number,
- Color of the vehicle,
- the location where you saw it last time,
- condition of the vehicle,
- Name of the person who has car keys beside you, and
- the vehicle identification number.
In addition to this, if you have any other information, you shouldn’t hesitate to provide it to the police. Remember that every piece of information that you’ll provide will help them find your motor vehicle.
Use GPS to locate the car.
In the time of trouble, technology becomes your friend. Almost all the latest four-wheelers have GPS in them. So, while you wait for the police to arrive at the location, you should try to track down the car’s location using GPS. In fact, you should also inform the police about GPS so that they can track it.
Make an insurance claim.
Along with making a call to the police, you also need to inform your insurance company about the same. It is required to be done as soon as possible to make it easy for you to get the claim. You need to provide every piece of information that you have given to the police so that your auto insurance company can start the claim procedure. Nonetheless, it is crucial that you have comprehensive coverage for you to avail the benefit.
Confused? Okay! We’ll explain it to you. There is no specific insurance policy for stolen vehicles. And if you have brought liability coverage or collision coverage, you’ll get the claim for only the incidents/risks mentioned in the policy. However, you can get money if you have comprehensive coverage. Perhaps that’s the reason why you should pay great attention to the coverage you get while getting your vehicle insured.
Don’t forget about the financing company.
Last but not least, it is not necessary that you brought your vehicle on your own. In most of the scenarios, people take help from the financing or leasing companies to purchase the car. Thus, in a situation where you lost your vehicle, you need to inform the leasing company as well. Why? The reason being is that, in such circumstances, your insurance company will pay the claims to the leasing company, and you won’t have to worry about the payments.
To sum it all up!
It is obvious that you can’t control the rising cases of the stolen motor vehicles. However, if you take the steps mentioned above as soon as possible, you’ll be able to avoid a lot of monetary damage. Besides, the possibility of getting your vehicle back also increases.