If you are being carjacked, give up the vehicle. That is what to do in a carjacking: hand over the keys, get yourself and anyone with you out of the car, and never let the attacker take you along for the ride. A car can be replaced or recovered. Everything that follows, from the police report to the insurance claim, assumes you got out of the encounter physically safe.
While It Is Happening
Cooperate. Don’t argue, bargain, or try to talk the person down. If they tell you to get out, get out. If they demand the keys, hand them over. Keep your hands visible the entire time, and narrate anything you need to do before you do it, like unbuckling your seatbelt or reaching for the ignition. Sudden movements are what tend to trigger violence. Avoid direct eye contact, which can read as a challenge.
There is one demand to refuse: do not get in the vehicle with them, and do not let them put you in the trunk. The moment you leave the scene with the carjacker, this stops being a property crime and becomes a kidnapping, and the risk of serious harm climbs sharply. Drop the keys, run, scream, draw attention. A second location is the thing worth fighting to avoid.
If Your Children Are in the Car
Say so immediately, clearly and calmly. The carjacker may be focused only on you and the vehicle and not even see the back seat. Most want the car, not kids, and will let you pull them out. The U.S. State Department’s guidance specifically advises making the attacker aware of children in the vehicle.
Start with the child closest to you and work across. Tell older kids to unbuckle themselves. Short, steady instructions work best: “We’re getting out now.” Keep your body between the children and the carjacker, and move toward the side of the vehicle away from traffic. Once everyone is out and the car is gone, move to a safe location before you do anything else.
The First Few Minutes After
Move away from the spot. Head toward a well-lit public area, a nearby business, anywhere with people. Shock can mask injuries for a surprisingly long time, so if you were struck, pushed, or fell, get medical attention even if you feel fine. Internal injuries and concussions don’t always announce themselves, and medical documentation matters for both insurance and any criminal case.
While it is still fresh, write down or voice-record everything you can about the carjacker: height, build, clothing, hair, face, accent, anything distinctive. Note the direction they drove. Note anyone else who was in the area and might have seen it. Memory degrades quickly after a traumatic event, and what you capture in the first few minutes will be more reliable than what you remember next week.
Calling the Police
Call 911 as soon as you are physically safe. Give the dispatcher the time and location, the carjacker’s description, the direction they went, and your vehicle’s make, model, color, license plate, and anything that distinguishes it, like bumper stickers, dents, or aftermarket parts.
The police report does more than create a paper trail. It puts your vehicle into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database, which every law enforcement agency in the country can query. Any officer who runs your plate or VIN during a traffic stop will see it flagged as stolen. Unrecovered stolen vehicles with a VIN on file stay in that database for up to five years. The faster you report, the faster your car is in the system, and the better your odds of recovery.
If your car has a connected service like OnStar, call them right after you file the police report. They can locate the vehicle by GPS and, in some cases, prevent it from restarting once the engine is shut off. These services typically need confirmation from law enforcement that the vehicle was stolen before they will activate stolen-vehicle assistance.
Filing the Insurance Claim
Call your auto insurer as soon as you can. The coverage that pays for a stolen vehicle is comprehensive, not collision. If you only carry liability, the theft is not covered. That is worth knowing before anything happens, but if you are reading this after the fact, pull your policy and look.
You will need your police report number, your title or registration, and any loan or lease paperwork. Insurers generally wait 7 to 14 days after a theft report before declaring the vehicle a total loss, in case it turns up during that window. If it doesn’t, they will pay the actual cash value minus your deductible. If you owe more on your loan than the car is worth, that payout will not cover the balance.
Gap insurance is what closes that difference. If you have it, it can cover the gap between your comprehensive payout and what you still owe on the loan or lease. You can only use gap coverage if you already carry comprehensive and collision, and it will not cover extras like finance charges or excess mileage penalties on a lease.
If your policy includes rental reimbursement, it can pay for a rental while the claim is processed. Limits vary but commonly cap around $30 per day for up to 30 days. Without that add-on, transportation during the waiting period is on you.
Notifying the DMV
Report the theft to your state’s department of motor vehicles. People often skip this step and regret it. The DMV flags your VIN as stolen, which blocks anyone from retitling or selling the car, and it protects you from liability for parking tickets, toll violations, or other offenses racked up in your vehicle before it is recovered. Without that flag, you can spend months disputing charges that are not yours.
Crime Victim Compensation
Carjacking is a violent crime, and every U.S. state runs a crime victim compensation program funded in part through the federal Victims of Crime Act. These programs reimburse victims for costs insurance does not fully cover, including medical bills, mental health counseling, and lost wages. Eligibility rules and benefit amounts vary by state, but you generally need to have reported the crime to police and to apply within a set timeframe. Contact the compensation program in the state where the carjacking happened to find out what is available to you.
The Emotional Aftermath
Someone threatened your life or safety, and that leaves a mark that outlasts the bruises. Many victims experience anxiety around driving, hypervigilance in parking lots, trouble sleeping, or intrusive replays of the event. Those reactions are normal responses to an abnormal situation.
When symptoms persist for more than a few weeks and start interfering with daily life, work, or relationships, it may be post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is treatable. The main approaches are talk therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy, sometimes combined with medication. Crime victim compensation programs in most states cover mental health counseling, so the cost barrier is lower than people often assume.
Don’t wait until symptoms become debilitating. Early treatment leads to better outcomes, and you do not need a formal diagnosis to start seeing a counselor. If you find yourself second-guessing decisions you made during the carjacking, that is especially common, and worth working through with someone trained in trauma.
Lowering the Odds Next Time
Carjackings tend to happen in predictable spots: stopped at intersections, in isolated parts of parking lots, in driveways waiting for a gate, and in congested traffic where escape is hard. In traffic, leave enough space between you and the car ahead that you can pull out and drive off; a usable rule is to keep enough room that you can still see the rear tires of the car in front. Keep doors locked and windows up, even in daylight, even for quick stops.
Be skeptical of anyone approaching your car with a story. Staged minor accidents, strangers flagging you down about a “problem” with your tire, or someone asking for directions while a second person comes up on the blind side are all documented carjacking setups. If you are bumped from behind and something feels off, drive to a well-lit public area or a police station before getting out. You can call 911 from the car to report the accident and have an officer meet you there.
Arriving home at a gated property, call ahead to have the gate open rather than sitting in the driveway waiting. Carjackers watch for that moment of distraction. In parking lots, park near entrances in well-lit areas, and scan around your car as you walk back. If someone is loitering nearby or the scene feels wrong, go back inside and ask for an escort.