Your E-Bike Was Stolen. Here's Exactly What to Do, Step by Step

You came back and the rack was empty, or the lock was on the ground in two pieces. The next few hours matter more than anything you did before. Thieves move e-bikes fast, usually to a marketplace listing or a resale shop within days, and the bikes that come back are the ones whose owners had a serial number, a police report and a registry listing while the trail was warm. This is the step-by-step version. For how to stop it happening, see our guides to e-bike theft statistics and prevention and how to lock an electric bike; this article is about what to do once it has.

The short answer

In the first 24 hours: check the GPS, don't chase, find your serial number, file a police report, and list the bike as stolen on Bike Index and Project 529. If the bike is a rental, call the company first; a Whizz rider's first call is to support, because every Whizz bike has GPS and a recovery team. Then watch Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist for your bike, and if you see it, send the listing to the officer on your report rather than going yourself. Insurance is the last step, and whether it pays depends on the policy you had before the theft. Updated October 2026.

Step 1: the first hour

Check the tracker, if you have one. If an AirTag, Knog Scout or built-in GPS is on the bike, open the app and note the location and the time. Screenshots help later.

Don't go after it yourself. Police in Chicago, DC and elsewhere have said the same thing to riders who tracked a bike to an address: call them, don't knock. A thief who stole a $2,000 bike will not hand it over because you asked, and e-bike thefts in New York increasingly involve groups targeting lone riders. Give the location to the police with your report number.

If it's a rental, call the company before anything else. Rental companies have the serial number, the GPS and a process. Whizz riders text support at +1 (929) 685-1846 or message on WhatsApp at +1 (607) 600-9081; support shares the bike's live location, and if you can't retrieve it, a recovery team goes out. Whizz asks you to report the theft and file a police report within 24 hours. Our FAQ covers what happens if a rented e-bike is stolen.

Was the battery on the bike? If you took it with you, say so in every report and listing: a bike without a battery is harder to sell and easier to identify, and on Whizz plans the returned battery lowers what you owe.

Step 2: find your serial number

Without a serial number, no police report will match your bike to a recovered one and no registry can confirm it is yours. Where to look:

• The frame. On most bikes the serial is stamped or on a sticker under the bottom bracket (the shell where the pedal cranks go through). Some brands put it on the head tube at the front or on the rear dropout near the axle.
• The motor and the battery. E-bikes usually have separate serials for the motor (under a cover on mid-drives, on the hub on hub-motor bikes) and for the battery pack. Record all of them; a battery serial can identify a bike that has been repainted.
• Your paperwork. Receipts, the box, the warranty card, the manufacturer's app or account, your bike shop's records, the rental agreement, and old photos of the bike. Zoom in on any photo of the underside.

Write the serial down exactly. The letter O and the digit 0, and S and 5, are the classic mix-ups, and the registries do not do partial matches. If you truly can't find it, you can still report and list the bike using photos and distinguishing features (scratches, stickers, aftermarket parts).

Is there a serial number lookup? Not a government one. There is no national database of e-bike serials in the US, and the NICB's VINCheck is for vehicles with a VIN, not bicycles. The only public lookups are the registries themselves: Bike Index's search is open without an account, and Project 529 has a "Check a Bike" search. Both show whether a serial has been reported stolen, which is why listing yours matters.

Step 3: file the police report

A police report is what turns a missing bike into a stolen one: registries, marketplaces, insurers and rental companies all ask for the report number. Online reporting is often limited to lower-value thefts, and most e-bikes are worth more than the online threshold, so expect a visit or a call. Here is how it works in the cities where Whizz operates, as of October 2026.

Bring the serial numbers, photos, the time and place, the type of lock, the tracker location if you have it, and the receipt or rental agreement. Ask for the report number before you leave.

Step 4: register it as stolen on Bike Index and Project 529

The two big registries work differently, and because they don't reliably share data, list the bike on both.

Both say the same thing about results: bikes with a visible registration are recovered more often. Project 529 reports a 17.8 percent recovery rate for bikes with its Shield decal against 8.5 percent without, from its own case data. Those are the registry's figures, not an independent study, but the direction matches what police departments say.

List the bike with every serial number, several photos, and the police report number. Then leave the listing up; recoveries months later are common.

Step 5: watch the marketplaces

Stolen e-bikes reappear on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist, often within a week and usually within a 15-mile radius. Search daily for your model, color and any unusual part. Set up saved searches and alerts.

If you find it:

1. Screenshot everything before the listing disappears: photos, price, seller name, profile, location.
2. Note the seller's contact details but don't confront them, accuse them or arrange a meeting yourself.
3. Send it all to the officer on your report and to the registry where you listed the bike. Bike Index staff help with marketplace recoveries.
4. Don't buy it back. Paying the seller rewards the theft, can be a scam in itself, and isn't necessary: a stolen bike remains your property regardless of who is holding it.

Will insurance pay?

It depends on the policy you had on the day of the theft.

• Renters and homeowners insurance. Many policies treat e-bikes as motorized vehicles and exclude them, and those that cover them often apply a sublimit of $1,000 to $1,500 and a deductible that eats most of a claim. Check your policy's "motorized vehicle" wording before you file.
• Dedicated e-bike insurance. Velosurance starts at about $9 a month and Sundays at about $8, with deductibles of $150 to $350. Both require a police report and proof that the bike was locked to an immovable object. These policies only help if you bought them in advance.
• Rental protection plans. If you rent, your liability is set by the agreement, not by insurance. On a Whizz plan, the recovery team fee is $190, or $95 with the Protection Plan, and if the bike is never recovered your maximum liability is $1,000, or $500 with the Protection Plan, provided the working battery is returned. The plan costs $19 a month plus tax and applies when the bike was properly locked and a police report was filed. Details on the Whizz Protection Plan page.

For delivery riders: the two-minute-stop problem

The numbers are rough. A September 2026 survey of 561 New York delivery workers by CUNY and the Worker's Justice Project found that 86 percent had had equipment stolen, with an average loss of about $2,100. NYPD complaint data analysed in August 2026 shows bike thefts in the city peaking between 8 and 9 PM, with about a third of the year's thefts between July and September: dinner rush, in summer. Nationally, roughly 2.4 million bicycles are stolen every year, only 37 percent of thefts are reported, and 12 percent of the stolen bikes are e-bikes, according to a 2025 UC Davis and Bike Index study.

What actually helps on a shift:

• Take the battery with you on every stop longer than a minute. It is the most valuable part, and a bike without one is slow to ride away and hard to sell. See how to prevent e-bike battery theft.
• Lock to something fixed, every time. A cable lock is cut in seconds; 35 percent of stolen bikes in the UC Davis study were "secured" with one.
• Cross bridges and ride late routes with other riders. Rider groups in New York organize this over WhatsApp because thieves target lone couriers.
• Use the GPS you already have. If you rent from Whizz, skip the AirTag question: every bike has built-in GPS and a recovery team, so your first move is a text to support. If you own your bike, a tracker is worth it, with one caveat below.

Before it happens: the ten-minute checklist

Do this now, not after.

1. Photograph the serial number on the frame, the motor and the battery, and keep the photos in cloud storage.
2. Photograph the whole bike from both sides, plus any scratches or custom parts.
3. Register the bike, free, on Bike Index and Project 529.
4. Keep the receipt, or the rental agreement, where you can find it.
5. Fit a tracker if you own the bike. An AirTag costs about $29 with no subscription, but be aware that iPhones and most Android phones alert their owner to an unknown AirTag travelling with them, and the tag chirps when it's away from you for long; a thief with a phone can find it. Alarms and trackers made for bikes (Knog Scout at about $65 with Find My and an 85-decibel alarm, Alterlock, Invoxia with a subscription) are harder to spot. There is no independent study showing alarms deter thieves, so treat them as a way to find the bike, not to stop the theft.
6. Check whether your renters policy covers e-bikes, and if not, decide whether dedicated insurance or a rental protection plan is cheaper than the risk.

Our FAQ on whether e-bikes can be tracked covers the tracker options in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Can the police track my e-bike by serial number?

Not directly. There is no national serial database the police search, and most departments don't check registries on their own. What the serial does is prove ownership when a bike is recovered, found at a pawn shop, or spotted on a marketplace. Register the serial yourself on Bike Index and Project 529 so a match can be made.

Is Project 529 free?

Yes, basic registration on 529 Garage is free. The tamper-resistant Shield decal costs about $12, and the registry says bikes with the decal are recovered about twice as often.

Does an AirTag work on an e-bike?

It can, and at $29 with no subscription it's the cheapest tracker. The limitation is Apple's anti-stalking design: a thief's iPhone or Android phone will warn them that an unknown AirTag is travelling with them, and the tag plays a sound when separated from its owner. Hide it well, and treat any location it gives you as something to pass to the police, not to act on yourself.

What if I find my bike on Facebook Marketplace?

Screenshot the listing, the seller's profile and the price, and don't contact the seller. Send everything to the officer on your police report and to the registry where the bike is listed. Don't try to buy it back: the bike is still legally yours, and a "buy-back" meeting can be a trap.

Does renters insurance cover a stolen e-bike?

Often not. Many renters and homeowners policies exclude e-bikes as motorized vehicles, and those that cover them cap the payout at around $1,000 to $1,500 after a deductible. Read the policy's motorized-vehicle clause, or buy dedicated e-bike insurance before a theft.

The bottom line

Speed matters: check the tracker, tell the rental company if it's a rental, find your serial numbers, file the police report in the way your city allows, and list the bike on Bike Index and Project 529 the same day. Then watch the marketplaces and hand anything you find to the police. Insurance only helps if it was in place before the theft, so decide that part today.

Deliver on a bike that's tracked from day one. Every Whizz bike comes with built-in GPS and a recovery team at no extra cost, and Whizz reports that 94 percent of stolen bikes are recovered. The Storm-2 is available on Rent-to-Own with no credit check in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Chicago and San Francisco.

This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice. Police online-reporting rules change; confirm the current process on your department's website before relying on a form. Statistics are from Bike Index and UC Davis (January 2025), NYPD complaint data (August 2026), and the CUNY and Worker's Justice Project survey (September 2026). Checked October 2026.