Can You Report a Car Stolen if You Know Who Has It

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You walk out to go in your car, keys in hand, and the space where yous parked it was empty. You may feel helpless and outraged, only before yous panic, become together all the information you have about your machine so you lot tin file a report immediately. Accept a deep breath and attempt to remain calm. Report the theft to local police, your insurance company, and your finance company if necessary. Reassure yourself that stolen cars are oftentimes recovered. For case, the California Highway Patrol reported that more than 95 percent of cars reported stolen in that state in 2017 were recovered.

1. 1

   Detect out if your auto has been towed. Earlier you study your car equally stolen, you want to make certain it'south really been stolen. If you parked in a garage or parking lot, look for a sign that provides a number to call if your motorcar has been towed.

   • Y'all might besides call the local constabulary impound lot to find out if your car is in that location.
   • If you lot don't see whatever signs, ask a lot attendant, building managing director, or a shop employee or resident nearby if they saw your car being towed.
   • If your motorcar is being financed, cheque your payment history and contact your finance company to brand sure your car hasn't been repossessed.

2. 2

   Withdraw your permission if you let someone borrow your automobile. If yous allow someone infringe your car and they fail to return it equally agreed, you typically can't immediately report it stolen. Yous must starting time send the person written notification that they no longer have permission to drive your car. You lot may not have to practise this, provided you both sign a certificate before you lend your auto that states exactly when and where the person must render information technology.^[i]

   • Include a specific description of your car in the letter, listing its make, model, year, color, license plate, and VIN number. Write "Park the vehicle legally and notify me of its location so I tin recover it." Don't tell them to return it to you, considering that implies continued permission to drive the car.
   • Add together that if you don't recover your motorcar by a specific date (such as 24 hours from receipt of the letter), you will report the car stolen. Some law departments have forms you tin use to make sure you've used the right linguistic communication and included all the necessary information.
   • Post your alphabetic character using certified or registered mail with return receipt requested, so you lot'll know when the person has received the letter of the alphabet. Only afterward that tin can you report the car stolen.
   • In some areas, you may have to expect up to 10 days later you become the mail receipt to written report your car stolen earlier law enforcement will have a report or investigate. You as well must exist willing to press charges confronting the person for machine theft.

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3. 3

   Assemble information about your machine. When you report your auto stolen, yous will need your car's vehicle identification number (VIN), license plate number, and proof that you are the registered possessor of the car, such equally the car title or a registration document. Y'all will also have to provide your driver'south license information.

   • If you don't know your vehicle'south VIN, your insurance company can provide it to you. Information technology may also be listed on your insurance argument or in your account information online.
   • Only the registered owner of a machine tin written report it stolen. If you lot routinely drive a car owned by someone else, contact them to file the written report.

4. 4

   Inventory personal items in the motorcar. If you had any personal items of value in your car when information technology was stolen, make a list of them. Even if your car isn't recovered, some of these items may be establish at pawn shops or thrift stores.^[2]

   • Include whatever personal items in your glove box, likewise equally anything in your trunk. If you had a roadside emergency kit, list that equally well. It had tools in it which could exist valuable to a thief.

5. 5

   Telephone call local police. In most cases, use a non-emergency law number to report a motorcar stolen. If the theft is in progress, or if y'all are stranded and feel you are in immediate danger, use the emergency number instead.^[3]

   • Tell the officer that your car has been stolen, and provide the location where the automobile was concluding seen. Permit the officeholder know of any efforts you've made to ensure the machine was not towed or repossessed.
   • Requite the officer as much information as you have about your machine. Tell them if there are whatever distinguishing characteristics about your car, such as bumper stickers, tinted windows, or after-marketplace rims. If you have a GPS tracking arrangement or other anti-theft device in your car, permit the officeholder know.

6. half-dozen

   Get a re-create of the written police report. Your written report may non exist immediately available, particularly if you filed your written report over the phone. The officer who took your report volition let you lot know when and where to go a written copy. They will also give you lot a case number.^[4]

   • Take your example number and photo ID with you when you go to pick up your constabulary report. You may have to become to a local precinct, or to a central records role.

7. 7

   Follow up with additional information. If you lot larn anything nearly your car while the police are investigating, call the detective assigned to your case and allow them know every bit soon as possible. They will update your police report and case file with the information.^[five]

   • For case, if a friend tells y'all they spotted your car on the side of the road, detect out the exact location where the automobile was spotted and call the police. Don't attempt to become to the location and recover your car on your ain – it may exist a trap.

8. 8

   Contact the detective to check the status of the investigation. If your auto is recovered, the detective typically will contact you and allow you know where you can pick upwards your car. Even so, don't expect routine status updates.^[6]

   • Don't go overboard and telephone call the detective every solar day. Recall that it's likely they're working on a lot of cases. Practice call them in one case or twice a week to check in. Be polite and have patience. Don't vent your frustrations on the detective, it won't do yous whatsoever good.

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1. 1

   Review your insurance policy. In most cases, your auto insurance will not embrace the theft of your car unless you lot accept comprehensive coverage. If it's been awhile since you checked your policy, brand sure you have comprehensive coverage and find out how much your deductible is.^[7]

   • With comprehensive coverage, your insurance covers the total market value of your automobile, if it isn't recovered, minus your deductible. Some insurers offer the replacement value. Even so, in nearly cases you'll go the off-white market value of your car on the date of the merits, which will be less than what you paid for the car and may be less than you currently owe (if your car is financed.
   • If your car is found, your auto insurance volition cover any damages to your car during the theft, minus your deductible.

2. 2

   Report the theft to your machine insurance company immediately. Fifty-fifty if you've adamant that your insurance policy doesn't embrace theft, you still demand to let your insurance company know that the machine is no longer in your possession.^[8]

   • If the motorcar is involved in an accident, you may be held liable for the damages if you don't study your car stolen to the insurance company.
   • If you let someone borrow your car and they have failed to return it, telephone call your insurance company fifty-fifty if yous tin't file a police report yet. Permit them know that the person has retained your machine without your permission and the car is no longer in your control. Explain why you tin't file a police force written report all the same, and the steps you've taken to become your car returned to yous.

3. iii

   File a claim if you have comprehensive coverage. You tin can only file an insurance merits for a stolen car after the police report has been filed. Most automobile insurers allow you to file a claim online or over the telephone.^[9]

   • If your insurance company has a mobile app, you may exist able to file a claim through the app also.
   • The adjuster will need a full description of your auto, equally well every bit the names and contact information for anyone who had access to your car. They'll also want to know the location of all keys to the car.
   • Have the account and contact data bachelor for your finance company as well. Some machine insurance companies will contact your finance company for y'all.

4. four

   Cooperate with the insurance company's investigation. If y'all file a comprehensive insurance merits for your stolen car, don't be surprised if your insurance company transfers the merits to the fraud department and yous become the number 1 suspect. Answer questions honestly and completely, and try not to go upset or offended with adjustors who call.^[10]

   • Continue records of every conversation you lot have with an insurance adjustor while your car is still missing. Write down the date and fourth dimension of the call, as well as the name of the person you spoke with and what was said.
   • If an adjustor requests documents or data from you, provide information technology as soon as possible. Make a copy of every document y'all send to your insurance company and proceed it with your records.

5. 5

   File a claim with your renter'southward or homeowner's insurance visitor. If at that place were valuable personal items inside your car, such equally a laptop computer, their loss may exist covered past your renter'southward or homeowner'south insurance policy.^[11]

   • Await to file a merits until you know for sure that these items are gone. You likewise want to check your policy. If the value of the stolen items is less than your deductible, yous're better off just replacing them yourself.

6. 6

   Notify your finance company. If your auto is financed or being leased, let the finance company know that the car has been stolen. If yous didn't take comprehensive insurance, your insurance company may not notify your finance visitor of the theft.^[12]

   • When you first talk to your insurance visitor, ask them if you are responsible for notifying your finance company of the theft or if they will exercise it for you. Don't assume your insurance company is taking care of it, even if they have downwards information from y'all nearly your finance company.
   • You may be on the hook for the residuum of the payments if your car is not recovered and your insurance doesn't cover it.

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1. ane

   Contact national authorities if your car is recovered in another country. In one case your car crosses a national edge, information technology becomes a national constabulary enforcement issue as well every bit a local law issue. This is especially important if you recover the car yourself, because you may be detained at the border.^[13]

   • Notify the local constabulary section as soon every bit your automobile is recovered. They may have an officer come and encounter you lot at the border to process the recovery of the car.
   • At the border, allow the border agents know that your car was reported stolen and has been recovered. Provide identification as well equally proof of ownership to ensure y'all aren't detained whatever longer than necessary, or that your machine is not impounded.

2. 2

   Retrieve your car from the police impound lot. If the police find your automobile, they'll accept information technology to the impound lot for processing. To get your car out of impound, you lot'll accept to provide proof of buying and pay impound fees, which may be several hundred dollars.^[14]

   • The detective who found your car will give yous a telephone number for the impound lot to which your car was towed. Phone call them alee of time and find out how much yous owe in towing and impound fees, and what methods of payment are accepted.
   • Inquire if the car is in drivable condition. Otherwise, you may need to make arrangements to accept a tow truck run into yous at the impound lot and then you can get your car to a mechanic.

3. iii

   Permit your insurance company know your car has been recovered. As before long equally possible after you hear from the detective that your car has been recovered, call your adjustor. They volition update your merits and permit you know what you lot demand to do if your automobile is damaged.^[xv]

   • Typically the insurance company will tell you lot to have your car to a mechanic to go information technology inspected, even if there doesn't appear to be annihilation incorrect with the automobile. Take them up on this, otherwise y'all may end upward paying out of pocket if a problem occurs later on, fifty-fifty if it happened as a result of harm from the theft.

4. 4

   Search the car'southward interior carefully. Utilise a flashlight, and look all through the interior of your auto, betwixt and under seats, and in all storage compartments. Expect for items that practise not belong to y'all, which may exist evidence of another crime.^[16]

   • If yous detect anything that doesn't belong to you, notify police immediately. Don't touch it or motility information technology, and don't motility your automobile until constabulary come up and process the evidence.

5. 5

   Get an estimate for repairs. Even if in that location doesn't appear to be any harm done to your car, it'south a good idea to take it to a mechanic for an inspection. There may be damaged parts that won't bear upon how the car runs until later.^[17]

   • Mechanics will audit your automobile thoroughly and provide a written estimate of repairs to exist completed. If you're paying for repairs yourself, y'all tin choose which y'all want to practise at present and which you lot want to save for later. The mechanic will tell you which repairs must be done immediately.
   • When repairs are coming out of your own pocket, you lot may want to go more than one estimate and then you can brand certain yous're getting the best bargain.
   • If repairs are being covered by your insurance, go through the gauge and be honest about whatever issues that your auto had before the wreck. For instance, if the mechanic has included repairing scratches to the paint on a door, just you know the scratches have been there for months, let them know that doesn't fall under the insurance merits. It may seem like a modest affair, just letting insurance pay to repair something that wasn't function of your merits is insurance fraud.

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• You may want to brand posts on social media for people to be on the lookout for your car, particularly if you have a lot of local connections. Include a complete description and recent photo of your motorcar, and encourage people to share the postal service to attain more people.

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Article Summary X

If you find that your machine has been stolen, do your all-time to stay at-home. Before filing a report, try to determine whether your car might accept been towed repossessed instead. If you lot're pretty sure the car was stolen, gather information such equally the car'southward VIN, your license plate number, and proof of registration. Additionally, make a list of any valuable items that might accept been in the car when it was stolen. When you're ready, call your local police and written report the theft, making sure to provide as much information every bit possible. Keep reading for more tips from our Legal co-author, including how to notify your insurance company.

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Report-a-Stolen-Car#:~:text=Gather%20information%20about%20your%20car.&text=It%20may%20also%20be%20listed,them%20to%20file%20the%20report.