Bike Stolen? Here's what to do.

Having your bike stolen is a terrible experience: for many of us, having a bike stolen is a violation of our personal space. When a bike is stolen, there are a number of steps you should take to increase your chances of recovery, potentially recoup some of the loss, and help other community members protect themselves.

Actions to take

• Register it on Bike Index. (Even if you don’t have the serial number.)
  Bike Index is a free website that allows anyone to register stolen bikes, and anyone who is buying a bike can look up the bike to check whether it may have been stolen. Occasionally, a bike is recovered by registering on Bike Index, when a buyer sees a listing and checks with Bike Index before buying. Registering on Bike Index also helps with community tracking of overall thefts, which can help with cross-municipality patterns.

  Use this link to register, even if you have only limited information or no serial number:

  https://bikeindex.org/bikes/new?stolen=true

• Contact your local police department and report the bike stolen.
  Police departments across MA coordinate on a stolen bike database; reporting to your local police station (where it was stolen) will allow for the police to enter the report into the database, so that if a stolen bike is found, it can sometimes be recovered to the owner.

• Find Serial Number
  If you have the serial number, you should include it in the above reports; this is the best way to get the bike back to you in the case that it’s recovered. However, if you do not have the serial number, you may be able to get it from the bike store where you purchased the bike: contact your bike shop or retailer, and ask if they have a record of it. You should not delay for this (since thieves may sell on bikes quickly, you want to have it up as soon as possible), but you can follow up

• Purchase Protection / Insurance Options
  You may have a number of different types of insurance that may cover the bike that you can pursue.

  • Credit Card Purchase Protection

    If the bike is new, many credit cards have purchase protections against theft for 90 days after purchase. This is the best option if it’s available to you, as other insurance options will have an impact on your premiums down the road.

  • Bike Insurance

    If you have bike-specific insurance, pursue a claim through bike insurance. (This is why you pay for it, after all.) Common providers include Velosurance, Markel, Oyster and BikeInsure.

  • Homeowner’s / Renter’s Insurance

    Your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy may cover your bike. Before you make a claim, get information from your insurance company about the impact of making a claim on your policy: Many homeowner’s insurance policies will increase premiums after a claim, and more than one claim in a year can cause your policy to be dropped entirely. Homeowner’s policies also tend to have higher deductibles. Especially for lower value bikes, you may want to forego making a homeowner’s insurance claim; your lifetime cost may actually be higher, because homeowner’s policies tend to be targeted at higher-cost incidents, and losing your current policy due to multiple claims could be very expensive. You can read about how this is shared amongst insurance underwriters here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/clue-report.asp

• Watch Facebook Marketplace / Craigslist / Offerup
  Several stolen bikes have been recovered by community members who found their bikes being sold on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist or Offerup. The police advise that you should contact them if you see your stolen bike in an ad; Boston Police have been helpful in recovering stolen bikes this way in the past. (No direct experience with other municipalities yet.)

• Share with the Community
  You can post about your bike theft in appropriate community groups so folks can be informed of the theft and help be on the lookout. This information can help you recover your bike, as well as help other community members protect themselves. Items to include:

  • Type of bike, including photos if you have any; include color, any unique accessories, etc.
  • Where the bike was stolen from (both geographic, and e.g. type of location: bike cage at the office, garage at home, etc.)
  • Time of day you believe it was stolen.

  Additional information that helps the community better protect themselves from future thefts:

  • How was the bike locked?
  • Was the bike visible from the street?
  • Are there any remnants of locks? Photos of these can be helpful for identifying the type of tool used for the theft (which affects other people’s locking practices as well). Community members may be interested in examining the remnants.