Motorcycle stolen: what to do to get paid out by the insurer

In short

1. The reporting deadline to the insurer is two working days, not five. It is the one point in the file that can defeat the claim on its own, however strong the paperwork.
2. Compensation is based on the expert-assessed value on the day of the theft, not on the purchase price. Service invoices therefore bear directly on the amount paid.
3. Theft has no effect on the bonus-malus coefficient. It does not appear as an at-fault claim on the annual claims record, which lists only those, over five years.

A two-wheeler theft is largely decided in the forty-eight hours following its discovery, and the rest in the quality of a file almost nobody prepares in advance. This guide sets out the exact sequence, the documents actually requested, how the value is fixed, and the two levers that reduce the theft deductible.

The sequence, in order

Two elements of this sequence are almost always discovered too late: the two-working-day deadline, and the fact that no payment can be made before thirty days have elapsed.

Filing the report, and why it cannot wait

Filing is not an administrative formality, it is what ends the owner’s exposure. Until the report is registered, offences committed with the stolen vehicle remain attributable to the owner, who then has to prove non-involvement.

Two practical rules are worth knowing:

• Only the owner of the two-wheeler can file the report. If the bike had been lent out at the time, the borrower cannot do it.
• Filing registers the vehicle in the national file of reported objects and vehicles and in the vehicle registration system, which blocks any new registration and assists road and customs checks.

The document to keep is the police report receipt: it is the first item the insurer asks for.

Two working days, the breaking point

The deadline to report a theft to the insurer is two working days from its discovery, against five working days for most other claims. Missing it can trigger a refusal to pay on its own.

It is the only element of the file that cannot be recovered. A missing service invoice can be traced, an administrative clearance certificate can be requested again, a missed deadline cannot be repaired. Reporting is usually done through the insurer’s online customer area, in the claims section, with postal notification as an alternative.

The documents that condition payment

The file requested is broader than most riders expect:

• the theft report and its receipt;
• the vehicle registration document;
• the purchase invoice for the motorcycle;
• the service invoices, evidencing its condition before the theft;
• proof of identity;
• an administrative clearance certificate, proving no charge is registered against the vehicle;
• a valid roadworthiness test certificate, for the machines concerned;
• proof of purchase of the security lock;
• the security marking certificate, where applicable.

The last two do not establish entitlement to compensation but reduce its cost. Using an approved security lock affects the amount of the theft deductible, and a security marking certificate can lower it further. The cheapest and most profitable habit is therefore to photograph the lock invoice and the marking certificate alongside the registration document, before any claim. The subject overlaps directly with insurance cover for a scooter parked on the street, where the policy’s lock clause decides the outcome of the file.

The 30 days, and what they imply

In the event of theft, the policy can only be cancelled after a thirty-day period. During that time, third-party liability continues to cover any damage caused by the thief, which protects an owner who no longer has the machine.

Once that period has passed, the compensation request becomes admissible, subject to submission of all documents and to handing the expert the vehicle keys and the registration document. This also explains the recurring question about the spare key: key sets are part of the file, and a missing one opens a discussion.

How the value is fixed

The assessment does not concern the price paid but the value of the vehicle at the time of the theft. Three criteria determine it: age, mileage and maintenance condition. The theft deductible set in the policy is then subtracted.

One distinction separates very different situations:

This is why service invoices weigh as much as the purchase invoice in a theft file: they are the only element allowing the expert to retain the upper end of the range.

What theft does not do: raise the bonus-malus

Theft is excluded from the bonus-malus system, as are fire and glass breakage. Only claims in which the rider’s liability is established, wholly or partly, increase the coefficient. The annual claims record lists only those at-fault claims, over the last five annual periods, which means a theft does not appear there on that basis.

What a new insurer can see, however, is the number of claims declared in its own handling history. That information is separate from the coefficient and follows no statutory scale, which is why insurers assess a post-theft file so differently from one another. The full mechanism is set out in the guide to how the bonus-malus works in motorcycle insurance.

A practical consequence follows for anyone seeking new cover after a theft: the previous policy ended because the insured vehicle disappeared, which is not a cancellation by the insurer for claims history. The difference is decisive in online quote forms, and the written reason for the end of the policy is worth requesting from the former insurer.

Stolen accessories, a separate regime

The case is common and almost always poorly anticipated: an exhaust, a top case, a seat or riding gear taken without the bike being stolen do not fall under the vehicle theft guarantee. They fall under the accessories and equipment guarantee, a separate option in almost every policy, with its own ceiling and depreciation applied.

The decisive question is not whether the part was original, which by definition it never is for a non-standard accessory, but whether those accessories were declared on the policy. A dealer invoice listing the equipment fitted at delivery is generally enough to establish it. Without that declaration, a comprehensive policy may cover nothing on the stolen accessory. The item is covered more broadly in the inventory of essential motorcycle insurance cover.

What the main insurers offer

The gap between insurers on theft lies less in the principle of the guarantee, which is largely standardised, than in the granularity of the clauses: level of lock required, any obligation to use a fixed anchor point, differentiation by parking area, and accessory ceilings. The detailed comparison appears in the ranking of the best two-wheeler insurers.

Key takeaways

Three figures capture the essentials: two working days to report, thirty days before compensation becomes admissible, and a value assessed on the day of the theft rather than on the day of purchase.

Two documents decide the rest. The police report receipt, without which nothing starts. And the invoice for the approved security lock, together with the security marking certificate, which do not condition entitlement to compensation but directly reduce its cost. Photographing them in advance, alongside the registration document, is the single most profitable precaution in the file.

Sources: policy terms and procedures published by the insurers cited; service-public.gouv.fr on the bonus-malus and vehicle theft (accessed 31 August 2026).