Carjacking and insurance: coverage for the car and injuries

After a carjacking, your own policy treats the loss of the car as a theft claim, which means comprehensive coverage pays, if you carry it, up to the car's value minus your deductible. Your injuries are a different matter and follow a different path: health insurance, medical payments or personal injury protection, and sometimes uninsured motorist coverage, with state crime victim compensation as a backstop. Which of those responds depends on the wording of your policy and the law of the state where it happened, and courts have split on the uninsured motorist question.

What counts as a carjacking

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) defines a carjacking as a completed or attempted robbery of a motor vehicle by a stranger. It differs from ordinary vehicle theft because the victim is present and the offender uses or threatens force (BJS, Carjackings in the United States, 1992-96, published March 1999). Federal law has its own offense: 18 U.S.C. 2119 covers taking a motor vehicle that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce from a person's possession or immediate presence by force, violence or intimidation, with intent to cause death or serious bodily harm. The statute sets maximum prison terms of 15 years for the base offense, 25 years if serious bodily injury results, and up to life, or death, if a death results (18 U.S.C. 2119).

The legal label matters to you for one reason. Because carjacking is a violent crime, not only a property crime, you may qualify for victim services and compensation that a quiet overnight theft would not open.

The most recent national BJS brief on the subject we found, published in July 2004, used survey data from 1993 to 2002. It estimated about 38,000 carjacking victimizations a year, with a weapon used in 74 percent of them and a firearm in 45 percent. About 32 percent of victims of completed carjackings and 17 percent of victims of attempted carjackings were injured, and 93 percent of the crimes happened in cities or suburbs (BJS, Carjacking, 1993-2002). Those figures are more than twenty years old, so treat them as a description of the crime rather than today's rate. They do show why the injury side of the claim cannot be an afterthought.

The first hours

Your safety comes first, and the insurance steps follow. The Arlington County, Virginia, Police Department advises that resisting or fleeing may put you in great danger, that carjackers often have firearms, and that surrendering the vehicle lowers your risk of harm. Afterward, it says to notify police immediately with as much detail as you can: the location, a suspect description, the vehicle's make, model, color and plate, and the direction the suspect fled (Arlington County Police, carjacking).

A workable order of operations:

1. Get to safety and call 911. Give your location, injuries and the vehicle details. Ask that medical help come if you are hurt.
2. Get medical care, even for injuries that seem minor. Adrenaline hides pain, and records created that day link the injury to the event.
3. Get the police report number and the officer's name. Your insurer and any victim compensation program will ask for it.
4. Tell the insurer the same day. Say clearly that this was a carjacking, that you were present, and whether you were hurt. Do not guess at the value of what was in the car; say you will send a list.
5. Tell the lender or lessor if the car is financed, since the lienholder has its own interest in the payout.
6. Write down everything while it is fresh: the sequence, the words used, your injuries, who saw it, and any camera that might have recorded it.

The vehicle: how the theft claim works

Comprehensive covers loss from theft. A carjacking is theft carried out by force, and insurers process it as a theft claim: the car's actual cash value at the time of loss, less your deductible. If the car is not recovered, the usual path is a waiting period to see if police find it, followed by a settlement. Our guide to what to do if your car is stolen walks through the steps, and our article your stolen car was recovered: three ways the insurance claim can go covers what happens if the car turns up.

Expect the insurer to investigate. Every theft claim gets checked, and a claim with a violent element often adds a recorded statement, a request for the report, and questions about the keys. This is routine. Our article on how insurers investigate a stolen car claim explains what adjusters look for and how to answer so the claim moves.

One wording worry deserves a direct answer. Policies that exclude loss when you "voluntarily part" with the car are aimed at trickery, such as a sale that never pays. Handing over keys under a threat of force is not that. If an adjuster suggests otherwise, ask for the denial in writing with the policy provision cited, and take it to your state insurance department.

What the policy does and does not pay for the car

A worked example with a loan

Say your car was worth $18,500 on the day of the carjacking, your comprehensive deductible is $500, and you still owe $21,000 on the loan. Comprehensive pays $18,000 ($18,500 minus $500), and the money goes to the lender first. You still owe $3,000. Of that, $2,500 is the gap between the car's value and the loan, which gap coverage is designed to cover. The other $500 is your deductible, which many gap products do not pay, so read the contract. Without gap, you owe the full $3,000 on a car you no longer have. The gap insurance calculator runs your own numbers.

Injuries: who pays, in what order

Think of medical bills as passing through several possible payers. Each has its own conditions.

MedPay and PIP generally pay without proof of fault, and they can cover costs your health plan leaves behind, such as deductibles and copays. Our MedPay and PIP guides show what each covers. Ask your adjuster in writing whether your policy pays for injuries from an assault during a carjacking. The answer varies by state and by policy wording, and "accident" is the word that usually decides it.

Uninsured motorist coverage: where courts have split

If the carjacker is caught but has no insurance or no money, UM coverage is the obvious place to look, and the case law shows why you should not assume it applies. Policies generally pay UM benefits for bodily injury caused by an accident and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of an uninsured motor vehicle. A carjacking raises two questions: was an intentional assault an "accident," and did the injury arise out of the use of a vehicle?

• New Jersey allowed coverage. In Grabowski v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2001), a woman was injured in a struggle as a carjacker took her car. The trial court found he did not intend to harm her. The appellate court held the carjacked vehicle became uninsured for UM purposes because it was operated under circumstances amounting to theft, and it judged whether an accident occurred from the carjacker's perspective, not the victim's. Because he did not intend to injure her, her injuries counted as an accident, and UM coverage was available (case summary).
• Florida denied it. In Allstate Insurance Co. v. Adrabi, decided on October 5, 2011, the Third District Court of Appeal held that a carjacking victim could not recover UM benefits. His injuries came from the assailants, not from the use of an uninsured vehicle, and his own stolen car remained an insured auto under the policy's definition (case summary).

These are two states' decisions on particular policy wording. They are not rules for the whole country, and the law may have changed since. If your injuries are serious and the offender cannot pay, this is a question for a licensed attorney in your state, ideally before you give a recorded statement about the injury claim. A short consultation is worth it when a UM claim is on the table.

Crime victim compensation

Every state runs a compensation program for victims of violent crime. The federal Office for Victims of Crime says benefits can include reimbursement for medical services, mental health counseling, lost wages and other costs resulting from the crime, and its state directory links to each state's program for applying or checking a claim (OVC, Help in Your State).

The rules differ by state, but the common pattern is useful:

• You generally file in the state where the crime happened.
• A police report is normally required, and you are expected to cooperate with law enforcement.
• Programs commonly set a filing deadline, and some are short. Apply early.
• Compensation usually pays what other sources, such as insurance, have not, so keep records of what each payer covered.
• Many programs do not require an arrest or conviction, but the crime must have been reported. Check your state program's rules.

Counseling is the benefit people forget. Trauma after a carjacking is common, and the program may pay for therapy that a health plan caps.

Keys, openers and personal data

Treat the car as a bag of access points. The Arlington police advice is to keep your car key or fob separate from house keys and to keep items showing your home address out of the vehicle. If either was inside:

• Change locks and codes. If house keys were on the ring, re-key the locks. Reprogram the garage door opener's code, or disable the remote the car held.
• Replace documents. The registration often shows your address. Ask your motor vehicle agency for a replacement and note the theft on the record if your state allows it.
• Cut digital access. Remove the car from the maker's app, and cancel any toll transponder. Ask the manufacturer's connected-car service to help police locate the vehicle; do not follow it yourself.
• Check cards and identities. If a wallet, phone or documents were taken, notify your card issuers and watch your credit reports.
• Tell your home insurer if house keys or the garage opener were taken, so the record is in place if something follows.

If the car is used in another crime

A carjacked vehicle sometimes turns up in a later crime, or collects toll charges and camera tickets while it is missing. Because you did not give permission, the owner is not usually responsible for what the thief does, although liability rules vary by state. Protect yourself with paper:

1. Get the police report number on the day of the carjacking.
2. Send the report to your insurer and keep a copy.
3. If a toll or ticket notice arrives, respond in writing with the report attached and the date and time of the theft.
4. If police recover the car, they may hold it as evidence. Ask for the officer's contact information and give it to your adjuster so the insurer can plan the settlement.

Common questions

Does comprehensive cover a carjacking if I handed over the keys?

Yes in the ordinary case. Taking property under threat is robbery, and insurers treat it as theft. Policy wording on voluntary parting with a vehicle is aimed at deception, not force. If a claim is denied on that basis, ask for the specific provision in writing.

Will a carjacking claim raise my rates?

A carjacking is not an at-fault accident, and comprehensive losses usually carry less weight in pricing than a collision you caused. Practice varies by insurer and state, and some insurers look at the number of claims of any kind over a few years, so ask how yours classifies the loss. Our guide on should you file a claim or pay out of pocket? covers the trade-offs.

What if I have only liability coverage?

Then your auto policy does not pay for the car. Your health insurance and crime victim compensation can still help with injuries, and homeowners or renters insurance may cover belongings. Without comprehensive, the vehicle loss is yours.

Do I have to report the carjacking to police for the claim?

Practically, yes. Insurers expect a police report for any theft claim, and victim compensation programs generally require one. Report it at once, even if you think nothing can be done.

Key takeaways

• The car is a theft claim under comprehensive: actual cash value minus the deductible, with gap and rental depending on what you bought.
• Injuries come from several possible sources: health insurance, MedPay or PIP, uninsured motorist coverage in some cases, and state crime victim compensation.
• Courts have split on UM coverage for carjacking injuries. New Jersey allowed it in 2001 and Florida refused in 2011, so wording and state law decide.
• Call 911 first, get the report number, tell the insurer the same day, and keep records of what each payer covered.
• Change locks and codes if keys, openers or documents with your address were in the car.