Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Dude, Where's My Truck?

Stolen Truck Log:
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 

It was a brisk October morning. I was dressed and ready to head off to work. I opened up the garage door only to find, or rather not find, my truck. I know I parked right outside the garage, didn’t I? I walked outside because just maybe I’d parked it out in front of the house because I had hauled a trailer the day before. Nope… not in front of the house. Hmmmm…. Was it at the office? No, because I had to pick up Donna’s car to go pick her up at the airport so yes, the truck was at here, at my house last night before I went to bed. Right? 

I headed back inside to tell Donna, “My truck isn’t outside”, with the hopes of her telling me, “You left it at the office,” or anywhere but outside the house. Donna replied with exactly what I didn’t want her to reply with, “WHAT?!” So she gets on the phone to call the police and I head back out because just maybe I didn’t see it. Nope. Still gone so I waited for the police to arrive to take the report and went back inside and to wait on Donna to hitch a ride with her to the office. 

Later that afternoon:

While the search for my truck started, I now had a list of things to take care of:

1.     Call claims and figure out what the steps are for a stolen vehicle.
2.     Changing locks for keys that were in the truck. 
3.     Figure out what items in the truck were covered under what type of insurance: 
        Auto, Homeowners, Business, Umbrella, GAP?
4.     Was it worth a claim based on what was in the truck?  
5.     Sit and wait to see if the truck is recovered.

Most important was my family! After someone steals a vehicle off of your property there is a feeling of being violated and not feeling safe anymore.   It’s horrible to see them like that, so you bet precautions have been put in place now! 

Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Still no sign of the truck. The search continues…

We started the process of evaluating the truck value and processing paperwork for the insurance company to pay me for the truck. 

And now the search for a replacement starts............

UPDATE: Monday, November 2, 2015 
The truck has been found!!! The plates had been changed but it still had a particular sticker that I had made, and only a handful of people had that same sticker. Oh, and it was found in the Fort Worth area!!! You would think that if you’re going to steal someone’s truck, you might take the stickers off and NOT drive it in the same area that it was stolen from? Just thought… 

Since Farmers Insurance had already paid for the truck, they take possession of the recovered vehicle and sell it off to help recoup the expense of what they paid for the vehicle when it was considered a total loss.

Do you leave things in your vehicle? If it were to be stolen, how much trouble, time, and money will it take to replace those items? Besides you, will other people be affected? Will everything be covered under my current auto insurance? Homeowners? Business Insurance? My Umbrella policy? All or none of the above? These are all things we may not automatically think about if our vehicle were to be stolen. Let’s set up a Farmers Friendly Review and look over your policy to make sure it is still the right fit for you.


Most people think personal belongings in the vehicle are covered under their auto insurance but that isn't the case. Auto insurance covers only those things that belong as part of the auto. Your personal belongings are covered under most homeowners/renters policies as personal property off premise (and subject to limitations). For most people that means that the deductible could be high enough that claiming the stolen items inside the vehicle doesn't meet or barely meets the amount of their deductible. That's if the items belong to the person. If a business owns them then there could be even different issues. Is it worth it?


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