The first thing you need to do is call the police if you have been a victim of theft.
The second thing most people do is call their insurance company.
If you need to know what to do when your vehicle is stolen, follow our simple step-by-step guide.
You don’t have to follow it; it is not legally binding as we are not in the legal profession. It is plain simple advice.
1 . CALL THE POLICE AND GET A CRIME NUMBER
DO NOT CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY JUST YET unless they have had a tracker installed on your vehicle
2. CHECK THE LOCAL AREA
3. POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA
4. INFORM YOUR INSURER
5. MONITOR THE CLASSIFIEDS
STEP 1: DO NOT CALL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY JUST YET
If you find that your vehicle is not where it is supposed to be and have checked that no other person you know has moved it. Your first instinct will be to call the police and your insurer. If you are the victim of a stolen vehicle, which has been stolen within 10-30 minutes, we strongly recommend going to Step 2 first. There is a possibility you may be able to recover your vehicle soon after realising it’s gone.
Why do we say this? Because your insurer will now see you as a risk even if you recover your vehicle quickly after a theft. The simple act of informing them you have a stolen vehicle missing will be recorded on their database and possibly also to the central Motor Insurance Database to which all insurers have access.
Even if you have recovered your stolen vehicle yourself, you may find that the next time your insurance is due for renewal, you are highly likely to face a heavily increased premium. You can avoid this by informing the insurer if you are sure your vehicle will not be recoverable.
STEP 2: CHECK THE LOCAL AREA
The push/roll away and thefts involving another vehicle, such as a van, car, or trailer.
With push/roll away thefts, Quad bike thieves often dump the vehicle locally or have a lockup less than a mile away in many cases. They then leave the bike for a few days – they are looking to see if a tracker has been installed. If they return to no vehicle because you have recovered it, they know you have a tracker on board. In this instance, you would be wise to increase the physical security on your vehicle after recovery because the thieves know for sure a tracker is installed, and they know a second attempt can be successful if they remove the tracker during the theft. It can take less than 30 seconds to disable some systems.
If the Quad bike was hauled into the back of a van, it’s likely to have left the area.
Do some searching before calling the police because if they query the Motor Insurance Database, the Motor Insurance Bureau, which operates the database, then shares the information with your insurer. Your details will be flagged up, which will be noted that you have a stolen vehicle
STEP 3: CALL THE POLICE
If you do not find your vehicle locally, the next step is to inform the police.
Depending on where you live, the police will either decide to attend and see if there is any evidence they could use in a potential prosecution or, more likely, issue you with an Incident Report Number or Crime Number after taking some details. Lack of resources, especially in larger cities, means it is relatively unlikely the police will attend these days.
The police will ask for details and give the police as many details as possible that will help identify your stolen vehicle. So any unique spec that police can identify later down the line could help recover your vehicle.
You will need the number to prove to your insurer you have reported the theft, and also, the DVLA will require it if you need to make a backdated claim for road tax.
STEP 4: CHECK THE CLASSIFIEDS
On both eBay and Gumtree, you can set up email alerts so that you’ll receive a notification every time a vehicle with your description is put up for sale. Then look at every new ad you get a notification for.
Even though you may have set up alerts, there is the possibility that your vehicle could still end up in a classified advert.
Keep monitoring the ads for parts, as they could have dismantled your vehicle if you spot something which you may recognise, call the police.