In New York if your car is stolen and you have Comprehensive insurance coverage, you have the right to a prompt and fair settlement from your insurance company, either for the actual cash value of the car per the New York State Insurance Department. If your car is stolen and subsequently recovered, your insurer must pay for the damage done to the car while it was missing, the cost of towing, any reasonable storage charges, and substitute transportation expenses.

The NYS Insurance Department’s Regulation 64 is designed to assure a prompt and fair settlement from your insurance company. This regulation provides the guidelines and time limits within which an insurer must handle any claims you make, under auto Collision and Comprehensive insurance, and with Property Damage Liability claims you make against another driver.

Under these regulatory standards, in responding to a claim made under the Comprehensive or Collision coverages of your policy, your auto insurer must do the following:

• inspect the damaged vehicle and make a good faith offer within six business days after receiving notification of the loss, provided that your car is available for inspection. A good faith offer is one that can be backed up with the name of a Department of Motor Vehicles-registered repair shop that will perform the repairs at the insurer’s offer;
• promptly give you or your authorized representative a detailed written estimate of the cost of repairs;
• upon your request, identify a conveniently located auto repair shop that will repair your car at the insurance company’s
• estimated cost of repair and give you a written guarantee, backed by your insurer, of the work performed; however, you retain the right, pursuant to the Insurance Law, to choose which shop will repair your damaged vehicle;
• pay the actual cash value (retail value plus sales tax), which is subject to depreciation and applicable deductions, if your car is a total loss because it was stolen or damaged beyond repair, or replace it with a substantially similar car, in accordance with governing regulatory standards;
• make payment within five (5) business days after you and the insurer have agreed upon a settlement;
• furnish you with a written explanation of the reasons for delay if your claim has not been settled within 30 days after the date you notified the insurer of the loss.

It is important to not only know the time limits in which to make a claim but your rights under your policy, since with a stolen car claim you are making a first party claim, and under state laws. The NYS Insurance Department, the regulatory body for your state, can tell you more about your consumer rights per state laws.

In general, after your car is stolen you should have made a report with the policy and a Comprehensive claim with your auto insurance company. Your auto insurer will then investigate the theft and as the NYS regulations noted above should try to settle the claim with you within 30 days after the date you notified them of the loss or give you written explanation of the reasons for the delay if they must take more time to investigate the claim.

Once the claim has been investigated and accepted, and if the car has not been recovered, than you should be paid out actual cash value (ACV) for your BMW X5. ACV is the fair market value of property; technically, replacement cost less depreciation. If you do not agree with the settlement offer for your vehicle you can negotiate with them for a higher amount if you can prove the car was worth more. Usually you do this by getting proof from local dealers of the worth of the vehicle.

Once a settlement amount has been agreed upon an amount New York laws say they must pay you within 5 business days. Since you have a loan on the car then the settlement will go to the lien holder. If you owe less than what the car is worth than after the car is paid off the left over money would come back to you. If you owe more than the car is worth than you would be left paying the balance of the loan unless you had Gap insurance to pay this amount.

To find out more about how long your claim will take contact the insurance adjuster working on your claim to see how far along the process you are and when the settlement should be coming.