What to do if your vehicle has been stolen

Tell the police and your insurance company straight away if your vehicle has been stolen. You can also apply for a vehicle tax refund.

Call your local police station

Dial ‘101’ and ask to be put through to your local police.

Make sure you have the following details:

• registration number
• make
• model
• colour

You’ll get a crime reference number - you’ll need this when you tell your insurance company or to claim back your vehicle tax.

The police will tell DVLA about the theft and if the vehicle is found.

Report your vehicle as stolen on our website

By reporting your vehicle stolen on our website you will INCREASE the chances of your vehicle being recovered. This will minimise any delay in the LOS (Lost Report) from the Police National Computer being present in our records.

Call your insurance company

Your insurance company will tell you how to make an insurance claim.

Tell DVLA if your insurance company pays out

If your insurance company pays out a claim for your stolen vehicle, you must tell DVLA it’s been sold to the insurance company.

You can also complete the ‘notification of sale or transfer’ V5C/3 section of your V5C registration certificate and send it to DVLA. You should include a letter saying when the payment was accepted and details of the insurance company.

You’ll need to give the remaining part of the V5C to the insurance company.

If your insurance company asks for the whole of the V5C registration certificate then you’ll need to send a letter to DVLA including:

• the details of your insurance company
• the date of the claim
• your registration number
• the make, model and colour of your vehicle
• your signature

Send your letter to:

DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1BD

Apply for a vehicle tax refund

If your vehicle is not found within a week, you can apply for a vehicle tax refund.

Contact DVLA to get form V33 for a vehicle tax refund. Complete the form and send it to the DVLA Refund Section. You’ll need to include your crime reference number.

Check that your name and address are correct on your V5C - otherwise you won’t receive the refund.

Refund Section
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1AL

You’ll usually get your refund in 4 to 6 weeks.

Personalised registration numbers

If you had a personalised registration number, you can normally get it back, and then keep it or put it on another vehicle. You can do this if:

• you told the police about the theft
• the theft has been on DVLA records for at least 12 months (the police should tell DVLA for you) but for no more than 3 years
• the vehicle had a valid MOT certificate when it was stolen
• the vehicle had up to date vehicle tax when it was stolen

If your vehicle is recovered and you or your insurer decide to sell or destroy it, you’ll need to apply to keep or transfer your registration number using form V317 before the vehicle is disposed of.

To apply to keep or transfer your registration number fill in form V317 and send your application to:

DVLA Personalised Registrations
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1DS