How do I activate car insurance in the event of theft?

You purchased auto insurance to avoid losses, but that doesn't mean you won't have to worry about it when you need to use it. Read this article to learn how to activate your auto insurance in the event of theft and avoid further problems.

Auto insurance is a protection service for your vehicle that can be purchased to avoid problems in various situations, the most common being collisions, floods, fires and the dreaded theft or robbery.

After all, no one sleeps peacefully thinking that when they wake up, or when they leave for work, their vehicle could be stolen.

To avoid this type of loss, car insurance is taken out, even for those people who cannot afford more comprehensive coverage, they seek to at least protect themselves in situations of theft or robbery.

However, not everyone knows what to do when this fatality occurs.

To help with this issue, we have prepared an article explaining exactly how to activate car insurance in the event of theft.

This way, you will avoid further problems if your car is stolen and you will be able to speed up the compensation process.

Image: Getty

Why is it important to have car insurance in case of theft?

If you're still not sure whether it's worth taking out auto insurance for theft and robbery, you should know that in the state of São Paulo alone, more than 3,800 vehicles are stolen every month.

Only 6% of these incidents are caught on camera and, between robberies and thefts, a little over 50% of these incidents happen at night on public roads. Furthermore, popular models in silver, black, white and gray are the most targeted by criminals.

In other words, you could lose your hard-earned vehicle to a criminal in a matter of seconds.

That is, if you are lucky and do not get injured during the action. That is why having car insurance, at least for theft and robbery, is so important.

With this protection at your disposal, if your vehicle is stolen by criminals and is not recovered by the authorities within 30 days, you will receive full compensation, as stipulated in the policy.

It won't be the full amount paid for the vehicle when you purchased it, but you won't be out of pocket either.

What to do during a car theft?

If you find yourself in a carjacking situation, the most important thing is to not react at any time. If a robber approaches you with a gun and orders you to get out of the car, do so without question.

Your life is worth more than a car, and if you have car insurance, you don't have to worry about losing your vehicle. So try to stay calm, don't raise your tone of voice, and don't react under any circumstances.

How do I activate car insurance in the event of theft?

The first thing to do after your vehicle has been stolen is to contact your insurance company. Tell them where the accident happened and as many details as possible. This way, the insurance company can contact the police to report the theft and give the authorities a better chance of finding your vehicle.

Then go to the nearest police station and file a police report, provide all the details about the car, what was inside it, how many people approached you, what they looked like, what they did when they approached you and everything else.

If we are talking about a theft, that is, you left your car parked to go to the supermarket and when you left it was no longer there. Then you will need to inform where you left the vehicle parked, what time you left it and what time you returned and saw that it was no longer there, etc.

Remember that the police report is a mandatory document to activate the auto insurance in case of theft. It serves as proof that the insured really had his/her property stolen.

After all, there are many people who lie and say they were robbed, just to receive insurance compensation.

Once the police report has been duly registered and signed and the insurance company has been notified of the accident, you will have to wait. If your vehicle is found within 30 days after the date of the report and is in good condition, it will be returned to you.

However, if it is not found by the deadline mentioned above or is found but is badly damaged, with damage exceeding 75% of the vehicle's value, it will be considered a total loss, and the insurer must pay you compensation as per the terms of the policy.

In this second option, the insurer will inform you exactly which documents are necessary to be submitted for the release of compensation and all relevant deadlines.

When and how much compensation will I receive?

After submitting all requested documents to the insurance company, they will have 30 days to evaluate everything and release payment of your compensation.

However, it is worth mentioning that, if she needs any more documents, she can ask the insured to deliver them, and during this period the deadline will be suspended, only becoming valid again after the delivery of the new requested documents.

It is unlikely that you will receive the same amount of compensation as you paid at the time of purchase, especially if we are talking about brand new cars.

This happens because, generally speaking, compensation is calculated according to the vehicle's list value in effect at the time of theft or robbery.

So, let's suppose you bought a car for R$35,000, on the day it was stolen, its market price was R$19,000, however, your compensation payment was only released 3 months later, when it was worth R$17,500. The amount you will receive is R$19,000.

To find out more precisely the value of compensation in the event of theft or robbery, it is best to take a look at your policy or ask your broker, after all, not all insurance companies work with compensation based on market prices.

You may be wondering what happens if the vehicle is repossessed after your claim is paid. The answer is that it won't change anything for you.

When you receive full compensation from the insurance company, whether for theft or robbery or an accident that caused the total loss of the vehicle, you sign a type of vehicle sales contract.

Therefore, if the car was recovered after you received compensation, it will no longer be your property, but the property of the insurance company.