What to Do if Your Rental Car is Stolen
9 Aug 2016When traveling in a new location, renting a car is often par for the course. However, you also have the added liability risk in the event it comes back damaged or stolen.
While it can help you with the expenses of mishaps to your rental car, taking out insurance won’t help manage the inconvenience it can cause. If you do happen to get your rental car stolen, trying to find it yourself can be not only a waste of time, but also cost you more in the end. Instead, you can follow these steps below to recover your rental a lot quicker and with less hassle.
Call Police
Obviously, the first thing you want to do when you have your rental stolen is contact the police. Explain the details of your rental to the police and any personal belongings you may have had in the car like electronic equipment or a suitcase. If the rental does come with GPS tracking but you don’t have the gadget to trace it, police enforcement can help use your tracker to trace the car.
Contact Rental Company
The next thing to do is call your rental company. Let the representative know that you have already filled out a police report and need the car’s identification numbers and tag. Your rental company might even have their own GPS tracker system that can locate the car quicker.
Request an Accident Report
You will want to request an incident or accident report from your car rental company. Go over the liability insurance you signed up for since many car rental agencies have three different types which include passenger protection (covers you and all passengers), liability (protects you in accidents and mishaps) and full coverage. Although full coverage insurance can be expensive, it does provide you with that added protection in the event your rental is stolen.
Call Credit Card Company
Next, if you used a credit card to pay for your rental, contact your credit card company if you didn’t opt in for theft coverage. In many cases, the credit card company could help you find secondary coverage offers in the event you didn’t sign up for rental theft coverage.
If you own a car, you can contact your regular car insurance agency for help as well since some policies already cover you for rental cars. In the meantime, you can request another rental car and some rental agencies will even deliver the car to your location. Keep in mind though, that if you don’t have insurance, they might not rent you another car.
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