My car was stolen; when should I cancel the insurance?

It may come as no enormous shock given my location field, but my car was stolen on Thursday. I filed a police report that evening and so far have heard nothing regarding the vehicle.

It was not a very valuable vehicle (1995 Integra with 250K+ miles) so I only carried liability insurance (no comprehensive or theft insurance of course). When should I cancel my insurance, and how should I go about doing so? Should I just tell the insurance company that it was stolen without making a claim and without causing them to readjust rates (there are other vehicles on the same policy), or should I say as little as possible, simply saying that I will no longer be driving the car?

Perhaps this is a bit far-fetched, but I’m not in any way liable for what the person that has my stolen car does with it, am I? For instance, if the stolen vehicle is involved in a crash with the person that stole it, I wouldn’t derive any benefit from having liability insurance would I?

Thanks,
threemae

I never had a vehicle stolen, but I did get a couple totalled. In each case, the insurance got cancelled as of the day after the accident, and I received a refund on the cancelled portion of the term. So, its no emergency to tell the insurance right away. Ditto (I presume) on the liability, given that you have dated police report.

Do you have a specific reason to avoid telling the insurance company?

Your policy probably doesn’t cover just the car, it covers any car you drive. Do you plan to rent or borrow any cars between now and your next car purchase? Absolutely have a chat with your insurance agent.

Something else to consider is, should the thief get into an accident, your financial responsibility. I’m not exactly sure how that would work, but as long as the vehicle is titled to you, it looks like you would be liable for any damages / injuries incurred if the theft goes unreported. I don’t have an answer for you, but it is a question for your insurance agent.

What? OP clearly stated he filed a theft report with the police that same evening :smack:

I’m an adjuster. I can’t speak for Penna specific law, but in Indiana, as long as it’s a legitimate theft and the theft was reported to the police, you can’t be held liable for any damages or injuries resulting from the bastids driving your car.

I would certainly tell your agent what happened. There will be no claim filed because you didn’t have any physical damage insurance on the car so your rates shouldn’t be affected. That being said, I’ve been surprised before.

But I know if a theif got into an accident assuming he had nothing, the injured person (or rather his lawyer) is liable to try to go after you anyway.

It costs money to defend a lawsuit, even if it has no merit.

Yes, that’s my fear, but can anyone articulate any precedence for this actually occurring?

As Ruby suggests, I’ll go ahead and call my insurance company now and cancel it.

Oy! My fault for not reading more carefully. :smack:

This is strictly anecdotal, but I once had a POS car stolen, and the thieves took it for a joyride, winding up in a nearby farmer’s field and tearing down a few dozen cornstalks in the process. I was terrified the farmer was going to come after me for the damages, but the cop assured me that it wouldn’t happen. It never did.

YMMV, etc.