What to Do When Your Car Has Been Stolen

Having the right insurance coverage is useful if someone steals your vehicle. Comprehensive coverage — or a full-coverage insurance policy — can help pay to replace your vehicle following a covered theft.

More than 1 million vehicles were stolen in the U.S. in 2023, according to a report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. States with the highest number of stolen vehicles reported include California and Texas.^[1]

Here’s what you need to know about what to do when someone steals your vehicle.

1. Confirm your car has been stolen

If you can’t find your car, try to avoid panicking and immediately jumping to the conclusion that someone stole it. Briefly and carefully run through the following questions to confirm your car is missing before calling the police:

• Did a partner or family member move the car?

• Where did you park? Did you forget where you parked in a parking lot?

• Could someone have towed your vehicle?

• Would any family members have borrowed it without permission?

2. Call the police and file a report

Once you determine someone has stolen your vehicle, it’s time to call the police and file a report. Depending on where you live, you may need to file a report with local or state law enforcement.

The police may need the following documentation to file your report:

• Your contact information

• Car make and model

• License plate number and VIN

• Color and year of car

• Date and time you last saw the car

3. Inform your insurance company

Once you receive your police report number, let your insurance company know that someone stole your vehicle. Unless you have comprehensive coverage on your auto insurance policy, your car insurance company likely won’t cover motor vehicle theft.

To file a claim, you need to call your insurer and inform them someone stole your vehicle. The insurance company will need the police report number, a copy of the report, vehicle details, and the last known location of your vehicle.

After you’ve filed your claim, an insurance adjuster will be in touch. The adjuster will investigate the situation and will likely have questions for you. They’ll give you a claim number and let you know what to expect next. If the insurer approves your claim, you can then accept the payment from your insurance company.

How vehicle theft affects your car insurance premium

Having your vehicle stolen may affect your future car insurance premium. Many companies look at your claims history when determining premiums, so having a previous comprehensive claim filed can lead to higher premiums than having no previous claims. If you have a vehicle with a particularly high risk of theft, like a Kia or Hyundai, your insurer may also increase your auto premiums.

If your premiums increase, you can shop around for coverage from other insurers to see if you can find cheaper rates.

What happens if someone steals items from your car?

Your comprehensive insurance will only cover permanent parts of the car, like the stereo, parts of the engine, or a factory-installed navigation system. It doesn’t cover personal property inside the vehicle, like a wallet, tools in the trunk, or a dashboard-mounted GPS unit. If the thief stole your credit cards, make sure you cancel them as soon as possible.

You’ll need to file a claim with your homeowners or renters insurance company to see if it can cover any valuables stolen from your vehicle.

4. Alert your financing or leasing company

If you lease or finance your car, you need to inform your lender that someone stole the vehicle. Make sure you have the correct documentation, including the police report and insurance claim. Your insurer will send the claim payout to the financing or leasing company that holds the vehicle title. This amount typically equals the car’s actual cash value minus the deductible.

If the claim payout doesn’t cover the remaining car loan amount, you’re financially responsible for the rest. Some dealerships and auto insurers offer gap coverage, which pays off your loan if someone steals your vehicle or an accident totals your car and you still owe more than the car’s value. It covers the gap between what your insurer will pay and how much you still owe.

5. File a stolen vehicle report with the DMV and do a stolen-car check

Call the department of motor vehicles in your state to report your stolen vehicle. The DMV will update your car’s vehicle identification number (VIN) to reflect the new information. This helps prevent the thief from trying to apply for a new title or sell the vehicle, and the information should appear if the police pull someone over in your car.

Never try to find the stolen vehicle yourself because this can be a potentially dangerous situation. However, you can help the police in their search by using apps and services that track stolen vehicles, like OnStar or LoJack.

6. Prepare yourself for any outcomes

A few different scenarios can occur with your stolen vehicle, so you should prepare yourself for any outcome. You may never see your car again. Sometimes, a recovered car just needs some repairs. Other times, someone may have stripped your car for parts so that, even if recovered, it won’t resemble your car anymore.

Either way, the theft was outside of your control, so your premiums shouldn’t increase.

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Does car insurance cover auto theft?

Comprehensive insurance covers stolen cars. The car insurance company will write you a check for what the vehicle was worth when it disappeared, minus the deductible. If you find your vehicle with missing parts — like the catalytic converter or the stereo — or damage, your comprehensive coverage will also kick in.

Your car insurance won’t cover your vehicle theft if you don’t have sufficient coverage. For example, if you only have liability and collision insurance, your insurer won’t cover your stolen vehicle.

How to prepare for the risk of future car theft

Though you don’t have control over whether someone attempts to steal your vehicle, you can take the following steps to make it harder for them to succeed:

• Exercise good judgment. If you need to step away from your vehicle briefly, turn off the ignition and take the keys with you. Always try to park in well-lit and highly trafficked areas. Roll your windows up completely. Keep your doors locked. Take any valuable personal property with you when you leave your vehicle.

• Install anti-theft devices and an alarm system. Many manufacturers include anti-theft devices and audible alarm systems as a part of standard vehicle packages, but older vehicles might not have them. If your car doesn’t have these features, you should look into installing them.

• Equip your car with a vehicle immobilizer. A vehicle immobilizer is an electronic device that fits on a motor and won’t allow the engine to turn over without the correct key. Most vehicles manufactured after 1998 come with immobilizers, but some don’t. If your car doesn’t have one, consider purchasing and installing one — or paying someone to do it for you.

• Install a tracking system. Cars that don’t have GPS tracking can easily become trackable by always keeping a mobile tracking device or chip in the car. You can pair the device to an app on your phone and get real-time updates if someone ever steals your car.^[2]

• Maintain insurance coverage. Comprehensive insurance covers vehicle theft, so having it can help cover costs if someone steals your car in the future. Full-coverage policies include comprehensive insurance.

Stolen car FAQs