The 4 Simple Steps Needed to Recover your Vehicle from Theft

1. Call the Police Assistance Line (131 444)

As soon as you have confirmed that your vehicle has been stolen, call the police assistance line or report it online.

However, if the value of the theft is over $5,000 you cannot use the online route.

Australia-wide phone number: 131 444
Hearing/Speech impaired: TTY 106
Online Reporting (Less than $5,000): Click here

The police assistance line is available 24/7 and all throughout Australia.

The reason it was created was to “greatly improve service delivery by enabling the public to directly connect with Police regarding non-urgent crimes, events and general police enquiries from any location.”

Write down the details of your incident so the information you present is consistent:

Give this information to the police. Have it written down before-hand.

Date and Time of Theft
Last known location of your vehicle
Unique Features, colour, modifications
Any extra information

2. Contact your Insurance Company

Once you call your insurance company, your premium payment for the next year will go up, this along with your insurance excess can leave you hurting for cash now and later.

If you can recover your vehicle without any damage, consider waiting to contact your insurance company. This way you won’t be charged, but this is incredibly risky.

If you do decide to contact your insurance company, here are a few tips:

Keep a copy of all communication and save it all in one folder on your desktop.
Check your insurance policy and keep all relevant documents on hand.
If you’re able to, ask for permission to record the call (they record you anyway).
Try to always talk to the same person you talked to before.

3. The Most Important Step. Spread the Word!

Your local police station may receive hundreds if not thousands of enquiries a day.

A lot of the time theft gets placed on the back-burner but if you know where your vehicle is, there’s a higher incentive for police to recover it, but how do you find it? Using Facebook.

Use Facebook to post in stolen vehicle groups like these:

Australia In General
Australia In General #2
Victoria
Western Australia

Copy this message and post it in the above groups:

Hey everyone,
My (Make and Model) was stolen from (Postcode, address) at around (Time) on the (Date).

It is (colour) and has (modifications)

(Write a personal note here) *Example: I would appreciate it if you could keep an eye out for my pride & joy and if it’s not to much to ask, share this post.

Attached below are pictures of my vehicle.

Thank you very much,
(Name)

3.5. Spreading the Word Works!

Here is just one instance where a motorcycle was recovered through Facebook.

4. Evaluate your Security (and Wait for News)

After your vehicle has been stolen and you have posted in the above groups you will have some time brush up on your security.

Here is the cheat-sheet we use.

If you’re on mobile, we recommend saving the image below or rotating your phone.

Conclusion

If you complete these four steps the chance that you will recover your motorcycle, car or any vehicle in a suitable condition doubles.

In this game it’s all about speed, the faster the recovery, the less potential damage there will be.

If you are worried about theft and don’t want to go through the above steps, I implore you to get your own Solid GPS tracker here https://www.solidgps.com/plans/.

Having a wireless Solid GPS tracker anywhere on your vehicle is something you wish to never have to use. But if worst comes to worst you will be forever thankful for this tiny Aussie-made device.