Is Theft Covered by Car Insurance?

A car insurance policy protects you against losses incurred by the theft of your vehicle. Cases of car theft in the USA have decreased day by day but, there is a risk of car theft for drivers. It  is good to purchase a car insurance policy to recover the losses incurred from  theft. 

MyMoneyMyQuotes’ team provides you information about how you can recover the loss if your car gets stolen and which coverage you need to purchase to protect against the losses due to theft.

Does car insurance cover the theft of your car?

• Comprehensive coverage helps you to recover the losses due to theft. Sometimes comprehensive coverage does not recover all the losses due to car theft but helps to recover only a part of it. You can recover a portion of the replacement cost of the vehicle which gets stolen. 
• Most car insurance companies provide only minimum coverage insurance to cover the damages and do not help to reimburse the total cost of the stolen car.
• Minimum coverage limits for car insurance policies are different for different car insurance companies and may vary from state to state. These minimum limits help to pay for the property damages, medical expenses if you are at fault.
• You must need to purchase comprehensive coverage insurance if you want to cover the damages due to theft, vandalism, or damages due to bad weather.
• Non-collision incidents are covered under comprehensive coverage. Before purchasing a car insurance policy you should check the details of the car insurance policy whether theft is covered by a car insurance policy or not. 
• Different car insurance companies offer different insurance coverage. You must analyze which coverage is best for you. You must select the coverage policy after determining the value of your car or how much coverage limit you want to purchase. 

Process of filing a claim for a stolen vehicle

• If your car gets stolen inform your car insurance agent regarding the filing of a claim.
• Your car insurance company starts investigation after filing a report on car theft. The car insurance finds out the facts surrounding the   car theft before payment of claims.
• Before filing your claim, the car insurance agent also waits for 2-8 weeks to see whether the stolen vehicle is recovered or not. 
• If you file a total loss claim, claim adjuster calculates the actual cash value of your car.
• The actual cash value of the car means that the amount you paid at the time of purchase of car minus depreciation. After that, a car insurance agent makes payment of claims to you after subtracting deductibles from the actual cash value of your car.
• If you think that your car may be worth more than the actual cash value determined by the claim adjuster then you can negotiate with the claim adjuster.

Does the contents of the stolen car be covered by car insurance?

• Theft of your personal property from your vehicle is not covered under the comprehensive coverage while it covers the damages to your car in the break-in.
• If your personal items get stolen then you can cover the damages through renters insurance or homeowners insurance.
• If you are not at home and your personal items get stolen then you recover the losses through off-premises coverage, renters insurance, or  homeowners insurance. 

What if the stolen car is recovered?

If your stolen car is recovered then your car insurance company does the following things:

If your stolen car is recovered during the process of filing claims

If your stolen car is recovered during the procedure of filing claims you should immediately inform your car insurance agent. Your car insurance company assesses your car and checks the damages. The standard procedure is followed by the car insurance companies to handle the comprehensive claim. If your vehicle is declared a total loss then the car insurer pays the actual cash value of your vehicle after subtracting deductibles. Otherwise, the car insurance company will pay you the cost of damages to your vehicle.

If the car is recovered after the settlement of insurance claims

You should immediately contact your car insurance agent even if you received the payouts for claims.  Your car becomes the property of the insurance company if they owe you for a total loss. You have the option to buy it back from your car insurance company. For getting more information you can contact your car insurance company.

What should you do if your car gets stolen?

Make sure that your car has really been stolen 

Before filing a report of a stolen car make sure that your car has really been stolen. Sometimes it can be towed or you may forget after parking that where you parked your car. 

Call the police

You must immediately call the police if you have not misplaced your car. Chances of recovery of the car becomes high if you immediately file a report to police regarding car theft. Police officer requires all the information about your car like the color of the car, make and model of the car, license number, etc. Also, give information to the police officer about the tracking device if you have installed any tracking device in your car. Keep a copy of the police report which is required for filing a claim.

Contact your car insurance agent and report your car theft

You must report your car insurance company about car theft regardless of the type of car insurance coverage you have. It is essential to provide information to your car insurance company that your car gets stolen. If your policy includes comprehensive coverage then it helps you to recover the losses due to car theft. 

Report the car theft to your Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) 

You must report the car theft to your DMV . DMV helps the police to find  the recovered car and recover it to its rightful owner. DVM maintains the database of the stolen vehicles.

Take matters in your own hands

You can search for your stolen car online in places such as the aftermarket car sales forum. If your car is common make and model then it may  take a long time to find your stolen car. 

More information

Knowing all the details about how an insurance policy can be helpful under various circumstances is not easily possible for everyone. The good thing is that we are here to help. At MyMoneyMyQuotes.com, we not only provide information to our users to make more informed decisions, we also help them find a good price for an auto insurance quote. 

Finding a cheap and best auto insurance quote can be quite overwhelming and confusing for many. At MyMoneyMyQuotes.com, consumers can shop and compare auto insurance quotes online for free and find the best and cheap rates for their coverage needs for an auto insurance policy. 

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