What to Do If Your Car Is Stolen

While a car theft can be stressful, there are steps you can take to increase your odds of recovering the car, or at least coming out of the experience reasonably unaffected. To help put your mind at ease, we’ve prepared 4 steps you can take if your car is stolen.

If you need to make a car insurance claim with Budget Direct, you can get your claim started online, or call us on 1300 139 591.

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1. Make sure it’s stolen

Sometimes you forget exactly where you’ve left your car. Perhaps you had guests over and couldn’t park in your normal garage spot. Or maybe your regular work spot was taken and you had to park somewhere else.

Either way, there’s certainly no need to be embarrassed if you panicked a little when your car wasn’t in its usual place. But before you progress that stress, make sure you didn’t leave it somewhere unusual.

If you’re confident your car isn’t where you left it, also consider whether there’s a chance it was towed. Look for parking restrictions, or signs that may indicate a tow-away zone.

2. Call the police

The sooner you get law enforcement involved, the more likely it is you’ll be able to recover your car. The police will need your vehicle’s registration number, make, model, and colour, as well as the location and time of the car’s disappearance.

3. Contact your insurance provider

Once the police are on the case, you’ll need to make a few more phone calls to help get everything sorted out. The most important of these calls should be to your insurance company. Hopefully you’ll have Comprehensive or Third Party Fire and Theft insurance, which cover you against theft. If you only have Third Party insurance, at least you’ll have a chance to remove that particular vehicle from your policy, so you don’t end up paying money to keep it insured.

If you’re insured with Budget Direct, you can make a car insurance claim online, or call us on 1300 139 591.

4. Keep an eye out

If your car is going to be found, then the police are the most likely to find it. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t do your part to help. Check around online to see if any cars matching your vehicle’s description have been put up for sale after the date your car was stolen. There are also various sites online such as carsonline.com.au that will allow you to post your car’s description along with a photo, so other viewers can help you keep an eye out.