Losing something in a taxi sucks. We’ve left things in taxis in Singapore, Belize, Berlin, and Dubai. You would think we would learn to always take a picture of the taxi number before we get in, but sometimes you’re in a rush and forget to. So, in the event that you lost something in a taxi, here are some steps to take to try to get it back.
If You Lost Something in a Taxi
- Remain calm. This might sound obvious, but time is of the essence when trying to recover a lost item. The longer you take to act, the further away your driver will be. They might also pick up other passengers, and those passengers might take your item, which complicates things. Stay calm and act quickly so you have better chances of finding your lost item. People might try to shame you and remind you that you should have gotten a receipt from the driver or taken a picture of the license, but you might not have, so it’s time to move on and try to track it down by other means.
- Try to remember as much as you can about the taxi. You might not have gotten the license plate number, but think of every detail you can. What was the taxi company or color of the car? What time did you get on and off the taxi? Where did you get picked up and dropped off? What did the driver look like? These details can help tremendously when it comes to filling out a report and calling around trying to identify the taxi you used.
- If you’re at a hotel, ask the concierge for help. Chances are, a concierge will know where to call to report your lost item. If you’re in a country where you don’t know the local language, they can also help you communicate with the right people to help you out. I’m convinced that when we lost something in a taxi in Berlin, our concierge called so many places, that eventually word somehow got to our driver and he returned our lost item the next day. The concierge can also work with the hotel security team to see if there are any surveillance cameras that captured more details about the taxi (if it dropped you off at the hotel).
- Call all the taxi companies’ dispatch lines. You can usually find these by searching for the taxi companies in your location on Google. There, you’ll be able to make a report where they can try to match the details you provided with the specific driver that dropped you off.
- Call your nearest police station. There are two reasons for this. First, your driver might have dropped off the lost item at the police station, so they might actually have it. Second, many loss replacement insurance policies require you to show proof that you filed a police report, so this will help you in case you don’t get your item back.
- If you lost your phone, try to find it via its GPS locator. Many phones have Device locator services or apps where you can see the phone’s current location. Here’s the one for iPhone and the one for Android. If your phone still had battery and cellular service, you’ll be able to track it down that way.
- Check if the city has a centralized lost and found. Some cities have designated lost item drop-off areas, where items get collected and then sent to a centralized “Lost and found” office. They might also have an online database of lost items where you can search for your specific one. It might take a few days for your item to make it to the lost and found, so keep checking in to see if it appears every now and then.
- Go back to where you got on the taxi. This is a long shot, but sometimes taxi drivers go back to the same places to pick people up. If the taxi you took isn’t there, you can ask other drivers in the area and give them a general description of your driver. They might know that person and be able to contact them on your behalf.
Hopefully these tips help you if you lost something in a taxi! In the event that you’re not able to get it back, make sure you cancel any credit cards or report lost IDs so that you don’t face any identity theft. Also, now we have gotten into the habit of taking a picture of the driver ID that is posted inside the taxi so we can easily contact the driver if we need to. Also, rideshare apps have much easier ways to recover lost items, since your entire ride is tracked on the app itself, so consider utilizing those services as well.
