How insurance works if your car's stolen | PEMCO

You walk out to the parking lot and find an empty stall where your car ought to be. You look around the lot. No, you didn’t forget where you parked. You call the towing company listed on the sign. No, it wasn’t towed.  

And that leaves another possibility: Stolen. Now you, like 18,039 people in Washington and 8,868 people in Oregon last year, are about to start the journey of getting your stolen car back. 

As The Insurance You Get PEMCO's goal is to make that process as straightforward, transparent, and predictable as possible. We can help now by making sure you have the right coverage – comprehensive – to get you back on the road if your car leaves without you. Comprehensive is the cornerstone of your auto policy’s theft protection (see more below and in “How can PEMCO help if I have comprehensive?”). If you ever need to use it, a PEMCO expert will walk you through how it works and explain what to do from the moment your car turns up missing. Here are the basics: 

Five things to do if your car is stolen 

Time matters when it comes to getting your stolen car back. If reported stolen in the first 24 hours, cars have about a 34% same-day recovery rate. That climbs to 45% within the first 48 hours, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Take these steps in order: 

1. Call the police from a safe location. Use 9-1-1 if you see the theft happening or have an Apple AirTag or a similar tracking device hidden somewhere inside and know where the car is. (Oregon’s KATU-2 News reports that having an AirTag in your car increases the chances of its being found within 24 hours by about 80%.) Never attempt to stop the thief yourself. 
    
   If the car is already gone and you don’t know where it is, use the non-emergency phone number for the police or you can report the theft online. 
    
   In either case, keep a copy of your police report – particularly the number – so you have it for your insurance claim. 
    

2. If you subscribe to a manufacturer-based subscription service like General Motors OnStar or Toyota Connected, notify them so they can work with the police in finding your car. They’ll need your police report number before they can track the car or, perhaps, disable it remotely.  
    

3. Call 1-800-GO-PEMCO or use the Go PEMCO app 24-hours a day to report a claim. We can help if you’ve selected comprehensive coverage on your PEMCO Auto policy. It protects your car from things that don’t fall under collision coverage like theft, vandalism, fire, and glass damage. Lenders normally require it, but for cars you own outright, it’s optional and some people with older cars drop the coverage to save money on premiums. If you’re not sure if you have it, check your account at pemco.com, talk with your local PEMCO agent, or call 1-800-GO-PEMCO. (More about PEMCO’s coverages below.) 
    

4. Call your lender. Since they have a financial interest in the car, they need to know what’s happened. You’ll need to keep making your car payments as usual until everything gets sorted out, and they can explain next steps from their perspective.  
    

5. Submit a stolen vehicle report to the DMV. They can flag your car as stolen in their system, which will help prevent someone from legally registering, transferring, or re-registering it without your consent. It also stops your liability for fines or tickets during the time it’s missing. 

How can PEMCO help if I have comprehensive? 

When your PEMCO Auto Policy includes comprehensive coverage, it covers the stolen car as well as any damage (like a smashed window or jimmied door) the thief may have caused while breaking in. It also covers stolen equipment or parts that are permanently installed on the car, like your catalytic converter. (If you’ve installed aftermarket, customized, or special equipment like a dashcam, you may need an added endorsement to cover that specific item. We can check to see if you have that.) 

After 48 hours from the time you report your car stolen to the police and to PEMCO, your comprehensive can help pay to cover your transportation cost (the exact amount varies by state), whether you choose public transportation, a rideshare, taxi, or rental car. The benefit continues until your car is recovered or we have paid or offered to pay your claim (whichever comes first). 

If you’d like higher rental car coverage limits, you can add optional rental car reimbursement coverage to your policy. This coverage helps pay for the cost of a rental car following a covered claim, up to the limits you select. 

If belongings like laptops, cell phones, and sports equipment were in the car when it was stolen, your homeowner or renters policy would cover those (not your auto policy). You can file a separate claim. 

Claims are subject to policy deductibles (that’s the amount you agree to cover out of pocket on a claim before insurance coverage kicks in). If a single claim involves coverage from two PEMCO policies – in the case of a stolen car, your auto policy for the car, and your homeowners or renters policy for stolen personal property – PEMCO would waive the lower of the two deductibles. 

What does PEMCO need to know to get started? 

Once we’ve confirmed coverage, a customer service representative will gather information including the police report number and location where the theft happened.  

While we already have information about your car like its VIN and license plate number, we’ll need to know who may have had access to the stolen car, the location of all sets of keys, and contact information for your financing company (if you have a loan on the car). If you own the car outright, we may ask to see the title of the car. Then, we’ll assign your claim to a Claims specialist who will help guide you through the process. 

What can I expect if my car is recovered? 

The good news: Eventually, most stolen cars – about 85% – do show up, according to NICB. The not-so-great news: They may be trashed (stripped for parts, wrecked) by the time they’re found or even contaminated with drug residue if they were used in the commission of a crime.  

The police will want to know what you want done with your car when it’s found. We recommend you have it impounded. That’s the safest choice: The car may not be safe to drive, and we’ve seen recovered cars stolen a second time while waiting to be picked up. Once it’s impounded, we can tow it from the lot to your repair shop so you don’t have to deal with any hazards a thief may have left behind. 

How does my insurance pay depending on what’s recovered? 

Settlement for stolen cars usually goes one of four ways. Here’s what to expect: 

1. Car recovered with damage: We’ll pay for reasonable accident-related repairs and cleaning, minus your deductible, unless the car is determined to be a total loss. You’re free to choose any accredited body shop to do the work. Or, if you don’t have one, we can recommend a reliable shop through our Timesaver Repair Program. 
    
   The car is considered “totaled” if it can’t be returned to a safe, roadworthy condition or, more likely, it would cost more to fix than its retail value after repairs. That’s true both for older cars and even newer ones loaded with pricey electronics that are expensive to repair.  
    
   If the car is totaled, we’ll pay you (or your lender) the car’s actual cash value, minus your deductible. Actual cash value means what you could have reasonably sold the car for the day before it was stolen (that’s different than what you paid for it or what it would cost to buy a new model of the same car today). After paying, PEMCO becomes the car’s owner, takes its title, and typically sells the car for scrap. For some people, a total comes as a relief because they don’t want the car back after it’s been in the hands of a thief. For people who still owe money on the car, though, it can be a worry if they didn’t buy gap insurance when they bought the car. Gap insurance keeps you from “going underwater” on your car loan if, because of steep depreciation after a new car rolls off the lot, you still owe more on it than the actual cash value we can pay for it.  
    
   Occasionally, people ask to keep their totaled car instead of taking the cash settlement. Your Claims specialist can discuss options with you. Generally, we recommend against it. We’re required by law to notify the Department of Licensing when we’ve deemed a car a total loss and its title is “branded” as a warning to future buyers. It’s difficult to find insurance for a car once its title is branded. 

2. Car recovered after being used in a crime: The process works the same (repair/cleaning or totaling), except law enforcement may need to keep the car temporarily for investigation. 

3. Car recovered with missing items: Your PEMCO Auto policy covers vehicle repairs and offers limited coverage for clothing or luggage stolen out of the car. For other personal property (or apparel or luggage valued higher than your auto policy’s limits) your homeowners or renters policy would take care of that, minus your deductible. If you insure your personal property with PEMCO, we can help you file a separate claim and explain how to receive replacement-cost value for your belongings once you purchase new ones (basically, we pay you its actual cash value first and, if you decide to replace it, you show us the receipt and we pay a second time for any additional cost of the new item).  

4. Car never recovered: After a waiting period (14 to 21 days), we treat the missing car the same as a total. Once you’ve accepted a settlement, you don’t have to worry if the car turns up later. We take responsibility for it. 

The right insurance can help make a bad situation better 

Having your car stolen is more than just a hassle and a potential financial hit if you don’t have the right coverages. It’s also emotional since, for many of us, our cars are packed with memories of special getaways and time spent with people we love.  

With PEMCO’s comprehensive, gap, rental car reimbursement, and homeowners or renters coverage, car theft isn’t a journey you have to navigate alone. Call 1-800-GO-PEMCO or talk with your local PEMCO agent any time for a free coverage review.