There’s no other feeling like it. You stop for your morning coffee, come back to where your car was parked on the street … and it’s gone.
You walk up and down the block hoping you just forgot where you parked. But it’s nowhere to be found. You call the local towing company to see if it was towed. Nope, nothing.
It’s been stolen, and the panic is starting to set in.
This scene unfolds every day in cities all across the country. In fact, according to the NHTSA, a motor vehicle is stolen almost every 45 seconds in the United States. And nearly 45% are never recovered. The ones that are recovered? Well, some may not be in such great shape.
So, what are possible next steps when your vehicle is stolen? Let’s take a look.
Call the Police
This is a given, but don’t expect the police to drop what they’re doing and search for your car. They simply don’t have the manpower. Besides, looking for a stolen car is like looking for a needle in a very large haystack.
Once reported to the police, your car’s license plate and VIN number will be entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, along with any descriptive information you provide. If they happen to pull over joyriders (or bank robbers) cruising around in your car, you’ll get lucky. However, in this situation, it’s likely you won’t get a call from the police until your car has been towed to an impound lot where you’ll need to shell out hundreds of dollars to recover your vehicle.
More than likely, your car will be stripped for parts and dumped in a dark corner of your city. Doesn’t sound like fun, does it?
Call Your Insurance Company
Once you’ve called the police, it’s time to call your insurance carrier. If you have comprehensive coverage, you’ll get the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your car, which is typically the market value, minus depreciation. But let’s back up for a second.
First, the insurance company will have a waiting period that could be days or weeks long in hopes that your vehicle will be recovered. There will be tons of paperwork. There may even be an investigation into you and your finances since 10% of all property and casualty claims are fraudulent and the owner is the number one suspect. And if you clear all of these hurdles, you’ll get a check (minus the deductible) that may or may not get you back into the same make and model of vehicle that was stolen.
During this process, you’ll be catching rides or using up rental car coverage if you had it and cursing the long drive-thru line at your coffee place for making you park your car and basically causing this mess!
Find Your Car Using Kahu
What? If you had Kahu by Spireon installed on your car, you could whip out your smart phone to locate your vehicle, providing the authorities with location of your car. We’ve seen recovery times as low as 4 minutes, that’s less time than you probably took to get your coffee.
So, how does it work? Kahu combines powerful Global Positioning System (GPS) and Cellular technology to determine the exact location anywhere in the U.S. allowing you to monitor and communicate your vehicle’s location and status for real-time visibility. No matter what time of day or night (or holiday), Kahu will help you recover your car and quickly.
Kahu for Your Dealership
As a car owner yourself, you can relate to this scenario. And as a car dealer, you can help put buyers’ minds at ease while increasing F&I revenue with a valuable add-on. They’ll benefit from the ability to pinpoint a vehicle’s real-time location using the latest GPS technology. Kahu helps you help your customers from making their car buying experience smoother with Kahu’s many other features such as inventory management to providing your customers peace of mind when they drive off your lot.