Stolen vehicle recovery: your vehicle collected once the police release it.
If the police have found your stolen vehicle, Recovru arranges for it to be collected once they release it. Tell us where it is, whether it is at a pound and whether you have the keys. Nobody is sent until you confirm the police have released it, and your vehicle goes wherever you choose.
Stolen Vehicle Recovery
Operators nearby send one price each and you choose one. The price you choose is the total you pay, with any VAT the operator charges included. Your card is held when you accept and charged when the job is done. If no operator nearby quotes, nothing is held or charged. Cancelling can cost a charge once the operator has set off: see Cancellation and Refunds and the Cancellation Rates.
The Recovru app opens in your browser today; iPhone and Android apps are coming soon.
Recovru is not an emergency service. If you are in danger, call 999.
What happens when you book a collection
- Tell us where the vehicle is, whether the police have released it and whether you have a key. You can book before it is released.
- If it is not released yet, your request waits and nobody is sent until you tap “The police have released it”. Then operators nearby send one price each.
- Accept a price and the money is held, not taken. Follow your operator on the live map and message them in the app.
- Your operator collects the vehicle from where it was found, or from the pound, and takes it to your drop-off. Your card is charged when the job is done.
What stolen vehicle recovery covers
Once the police have found your vehicle and let it go, an operator collects it and takes it where you choose. Recovru does not find stolen vehicles or deal with the police for you.
- Released to you
- Collected from where it was found and taken to your drop-off
- At a police pound
- Collected once the pound's fees are paid and it lets the vehicle go
- Not released yet
- Book now: your request waits, and nobody is sent until you confirm the release
- No key
- Without a key it may not steer or roll, so your operator comes ready to lift it
- Damaged
- If it will need loading, tell the app so the right truck comes
- The drop-off
- Your home, a garage or anywhere you pin
Collecting without you there
A pound will usually want a signed note from you naming the operator, and a copy of your ID and the logbook, before it hands the vehicle over. Pounds set their own rules, so check with the one holding your vehicle.
What the app asks about the collection
After where the vehicle is and which vehicle it is, the app asks:
- Have the police released the vehicle to you?
- Yes, it is released; it is at a police pound; or not yet. The police will have given you a crime reference, and no operator can move it until it is released.
- Does any of this apply?
- It can be driven away, it is damaged, you have not seen it yet, you have a key or no key, it is at a pound with the fees paid or unpaid, and whether you will be there when it is collected.
- Where does it go?
- An address you pin.
Have these ready
- Your crime reference number
- The pound's fees paid, if the vehicle is at one
- A signed note naming the operator, with a copy of your ID and the logbook, if you will not be there
- A key, if you have one
Tell the right people
- If your vehicle has been stolen, tell the police straight away on 101, or call 999 if the crime is happening now or anyone is in danger. You get a crime reference number.
- Tell your insurer too. They will want the crime reference number.
- The police tell DVLA about the theft, and again if the vehicle is found.
- No operator can move a found vehicle until the police release it, so wait for their word.
Who comes to collect it
Your request goes only to operators our staff have cleared for recovery who have told us they carry your kind of vehicle. Each is an independent business, checked before they can send you a single price:
- Identity
- Photo ID, matched to a live selfie
- Right to work
- Checked before their first job
- The business
- A company, or a sole trader on record. A VAT number is checked with HMRC and must match the business
- Screening
- Sanctions and politically exposed person lists
- Documents
- The insurance and licences each service needs, read by our staff
A clearance lasts only while the documents behind it are in date. Once one expires, that operator is not sent those requests.
For recovery, the Operator Terms also ask for:
- Public liability insurance of at least £1 million
- Motor insurance for their recovery vehicle that permits recovery for hire and reward
- Cover for your vehicle while it is on theirs or under tow
- Current inspection reports for their lifting machinery and lifting accessories
How the price for a collection works
Recovru does not set prices. Each operator names one price for the whole job as you described it, and that price is the total you pay: it includes their attendance and assessment fee and any VAT, so nothing is added at the end. The quote says “inc VAT” when the operator is VAT registered and “No VAT to pay” when they are not. Your invoice or receipt is in the operator's name, issued by Recovru as their agent, and shows the VAT when there is any. There is no booking fee and no card fee, and you can take any price or none.
Any pound fees are separate. They are set by the police or their contractor and paid by you to them, never to Recovru.
Accept a price and the money is held, not taken, until the job is done. If the job turns out different, nothing extra is done or charged until you approve a revised price in the app. You pay the attendance and assessment fee, VAT included, instead of the price only if your operator arrives and cannot do the job because what you told us was materially inaccurate, left out something important or was misleading; the Terms of Use cap it.
Cancelling is free until your operator sets off, and for two minutes after you accept whatever they have done. After that the Cancellation Rates show how any charge is worked out, you see the exact figure before you confirm, and you never pay more than that figure. If your operator cancels, you pay nothing.
Your contract for the job is with the operator, and Recovru collects the payment as their agent. How It Works and Cancellation and Refunds have the detail.
Questions
What happens when the police find my stolen car?
They tell DVLA it has been found and let you know how and when it will be released. Once it is released, or ready at a pound, book the collection and choose where it goes.
How much does it cost to get my car out of a police pound?
Pound fees are set by the police or their contractor and paid by you to them, never to Recovru. The collection itself is priced by each operator: you see the prices as they arrive, up to five at a time, before you choose, and each is the total you pay, with any VAT the operator charges included.
Does Recovru find stolen vehicles?
No. Recovru arranges collection once the police have released the vehicle, nothing more.
Can I book before the police release it?
Yes. Your request waits, and nobody is sent until you tap “The police have released it” in the app.
Do I have to be there when it is collected?
No, but a pound will usually want a signed note from you naming the operator, with a copy of your ID and the logbook. Tell the app it needs collecting without you.
This page was last updated on .
Get help now
Tell us where you are and what has happened, and operators nearby send you their prices. You do not need a plan to get help.