Understanding the Quirks of Stolen Car Claims

From the Insurance for Dummies by Jack Hungelmann

A stolen car is deemed a total loss if it’s not recovered. But the majority of stolen cars are recovered, usually with damage. If that happens to you, remember that, even though your car was in a collision, the initial cause of loss was theft. Therefore, you will owe your theft rather than your Collision deductible. It’s usually lower.

Also, because the auto insurance company doesn’t want to pay you for your car and then have it be recovered, it typically will wait to settle as long as three to four weeks. Even if you don’t have loss of use coverage (car rental), because of this added wait, most policies will pay something (usually $15 a day) toward your cost of renting a car, starting 48 to 72 hours after you report the claim. Remember that in case the company forgets to offer it to you.