Anyone ever had a car stolen?

General Discussion
21

I haven’t seen a “club” in years

As others have already said, if somebody REALLY wants your car, they’re going to get it, and even if it requires a flatbed truck, as I mentioned in a different post several days ago

But if the low-lifes are simply looking for a joyride or a car to smoke reefer in, they’ll probably pass up the car with the club, in favor of something easier . . . aka quicker . . . to steal

At work a few years ago, my supervisor told me to check out one our fleet’s stakebed trucks, which had just been recovered after having been stolen. The thieves were not caught. The truck was found across town, from where it’s usually located.

The thieves had punched out the driver’s door lock cylinder and tore out the ignition lock cylinder. They obviously started it with a flat-tip screwdriver . . . because it was STILL in the truck, lying on the floorboards

I was actually able to reuse the door lock cylinder. It was the plastic exterior door handle which was damaged, because the plastic hole where the door lock cylinder goes through was buggered up.

No other damage was evident. I racked the truck, inspected the fluids, brakes, tires, etc. I took it for a ride. Everything was normal

I suspect somebody simply needed the truck to move some stuff around.

So I ordered an ignition lock cylinder, which I had to code. As I said, that was a few years ago, and it’s still being used regularly. You can’t tell it was ever broken into and stolen :smirk:

22

@BLE I’m not sure how it works, but I is an up front cost from the dealer of about $200 which you pay when you buy a new car. If stolen, the police GPS can instantly locate your car. I don’t know who administers it. It’s similar to GM’s On Star system I think. I get a break on my car insurance because of the security system and this device. THERE IS NO MONTHLY CHARGE, UNLESS IT’S BURIED IN MY INSURANCE POLICY. We pay $1400 per year for two cars.

I do not know who administers it, but it would need the participation of the State or local police departments.,who.in turn would interface with FBI, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or INTERPOL.

Since 9-11 most police and security departments can now go on line and cooperate…

The only problem is when your car ends up in a chop shop before the police locate it. The parts would then all be on their way to somewhere else.

P.S. Your car needs a security system for this tracking chip to operate.

23

We had a,family friend that bought a new Chevrolet in 1949,. He owned the car 6 years and it was stolen and recovered 3 times. Each time the car was locked and entry was gained by forcing a vent window. The only damage was the battery was run down each time the Chevy was recovered. Those 1949 Chevrolets were easy to steal. There was no inside hood release. The starter could always be activated by pushing the starter button–it didn’t matter if the key was on or off. All the thief had to do was run a,wide from the positive terminal.of tbe battery to the.coil… press the starter button and drive away.

24

I have a “club”, use it when I have to park in a marginal area. I drop the use when the cars are 2 years old.

Anything to make it more difficult to steal the car is a plus.

25

Early British roadsters were also notoriously easy to hotwire and steal @Triedaq. That is if the thief was lucky enough to get the engine to run. The Prince of Darkness was as likely to strike the thief as the owner.

26

The club only stops the amateur drug thief. You can go to Youtube and watch someone disable the club in well under a minute.

27

Surveillance videos show some thieves carry heavy bolt cutters and simply cut the steering wheel rim , bend it and remove the club.

We’ve given ours away to owners of older cars. At least it is a deterrent.

28

Not me but my son had his 96 Acura Integra stolen off the street in Minneapolis. He got it back after about 4 days though. CDs taken, tool box taken, and steering lock broken. After that we put in a hidden kill switch for about $5 and put in one of those remote locks and security systems. Something like closing the barn door after the horses are gone. Looks like someone just needed a ride from South to North Minneapolis and a few bucks from the pawn shop. I really found the kill switch to be the simplest and best thing to prevent the car being driven away. Yeah they could tow it but other than that you’d just have a broken window, lock and dead battery after they got done cranking with the fuel pump disabled.

29

Another favorite item to steal seems to be the battery

Some of our fleet’s vehicles are based in REALLY bad areas

Thieves will smash the window, pop the hood and remove the battery

They just cut the cables and take the battery. Sure makes it more difficult to get the ruck going again. New batter AND replace and/or fabricated all the cables

30

We lived in duluth when I was a kid. Garage on the alley. Someones stole the new snow tires, so my dad decided to back it into the garage, and they stole the battery. 1954 ford, in probably 1958.

31

Every time I went house-hunting, I avoided bidding on houses with alleys behind the houses. It often tends to promote all sorts of shady characters and questionable behaviour

32

My son went to med school in Duluth and I had an office there. He told about the entire underground city of folks living in the steam tunnels. Need a little money, come on up and grab a battery or two and back under ground again. Duluth Minnesota that is not Georgia.

33

In the summer Duluth is called the “air conditioned city” because of the breezes off the lake. In winter it’s non stop deepfreeze. Spent a very pleasant weekend there when I had a car and camper breakdown. The covered Holiday Inn was a lot of fun for the kids. We took the lake and harbor cruise as well. Folks were very friendly.

34

Never known anyone who had their car stolen, but my cousin had her entire engine and transmission stolen while the car was parked at the airport one time.

35

Imagine this guys shock, not stolen but stripped.

Gone in sixty seconds… How £60,000 Audi abandoned during floods was picked apart by thieves leaving just a shell when waters subsided
The 4.2 litre Audi RS5 was left on a road near the M25 in Chertsey, Surrey
In just two weeks the luxury car was completely stripped by vandals
Within days the bonnet, mirrors and lights had all vanished
Police say there is no record of the car having been stolen

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552943/Gone-sixty-seconds-How-60-000-Audi-abandoned-floods-picked-apart-thieves-leaving-just-shell-waters-subsided.html#ixzz49Qu0VhlZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

36

Gee Harry I’m sorry but your policy does not cover flood damage. Somebody’s gonna need that good left quarter panel though.

37

I, personally have never had one stolen, but a friends car had been stolen from the same spot three times in one summer…or at least broken into and attempted to steal it.

HERE IS A WARNING
Be sure that if you have an alarm…that it in fact blares the horn and flashes the lights, in an attempted theft.

This car had an alarm system and by triggering the alarm the vehicle would become disabled, so the thief never actually left with the car. The problem was that either a thief or a previous owner disabled the horn to sound and the lights to flash when the alarm was triggered.
This meant that any thief would never know that the alarm went off and the car is disabled. Then they would continue to break out the ignition switch…destroying part of the column in the process…yet find that the car could not be started.

You would think that this would be good, but each time the owner had to spend at least $500 to have me fix the column and then tow it to someone who could re-mate the key to the new ignition and the anti theft system.

So, if your alarm is not going to blare the horn and flash the lights…you may as well just leave the key in the ignition for the thief. At least he won’t do more damage.

This is the best part. The last attempt, the car was parked in the driveway. The thieves must have come up from the drivers side to steal the car. Had they walked up to the passenger side, they would have seen that the passenger front tire was under the car supporting it and I had the entire steering knuckle removed. Wouldn’t have gotten far with that one!!!

Still, they had broken the drivers window, the ignition switch, the key chip antenna ring, and part of the column…AGAIN!!! This car is now used as a parts car.

Yosemite

38

@Yosemite If the car had an alarm, why wasn’t it repaired after the first theft attempt? It seems like with a known risk a person would want their alarm operational.

39

The particulars are a little foggy…this was two years ago and I’m getting older.

When I replaced the column the first time…I had talked to the shop that was going to re-flash the thing. I was told I could replace the column and ignition switch etc, but that I’d then need to tow it to them for the flashing.
I guess that I figured that they would found that the alarm was not operating properly.

I finally put two and two together.
After all I was just a “Hard parts” replacer…they dealt with the alarm and computer.

If I remember right there was also an issue with the key fob. They never got one from the previous owner that would set the alarm. So basically the only anti theft item working was disabling the engine if the correct key was not in the ignition when they broke the cylinder out to bypass the key.

Yosemite

40

@Yosemite That is not how repairs are performed around here. If for example a body shop performs a theft recovery repair and sublets the immobilizer/key programming to a dealer, the dealer performs the requested work and no more. There is no point in diagnosing other systems as the body shop may have door latches or horns on order to complete the repairs.

If the alarm required a special remote then the car didn’t have a factory alarm and a dealer is not going to offer to repair it.