The tow truck method is very popular in the state as well 
Stolen Land Cruisers -- Common Factors (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter jaymar
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- Thread starter
- #222
So, something I just thought of... Suppose someone steals your Cruiser, and you find it unattended. Now suppose you decide on a DIY repo (hypothetically, of course). Is your key still going to work in the ignition? And if not, how can you get the thing started? How did the thief start it, and what do you need to do to get back on the road, right now? Because you don't want to be sitting there wondering what to do if/when the perp (or perps) return...
Also, once recovered, assume there will be another attempt to steal the vehicle. I just read about a guy in WA who had his truck stolen four times (so far), twice in one week. The last time, his wife and a friend chased the thief down; apparently there's video. A woman it DC had her Mercedes stolen twice in 24 hours--the second time after police had found it and notified her, and she was there waiting for a tow truck. A woman in Washington state found her stolen car and called the cops, who said wait for them, don't drive a vehicle reported as stolen. While she was waiting (an hour), the thief returned and took off with the car. (The next time she found it, she didn't wait.) There was another one in Washington state--wish I could find it--where IIRC the guy found his vehicle and called the cops--and it was stolen again while the cops watched from a distance. Police in Washington state are not allowed to pursue stolen vehicles if no violent crime has been committed, or so I've read. And, to be fair, sometimes they don't have to; one case was solved when the stolen truck crashed into a police cruiser. (Actually, this has happened more than once.) In another case, the thief "picked up his truck" at a tire center--told them it was his, and they handed him the keys. It's a strange new world we're living in...
Also, once recovered, assume there will be another attempt to steal the vehicle. I just read about a guy in WA who had his truck stolen four times (so far), twice in one week. The last time, his wife and a friend chased the thief down; apparently there's video. A woman it DC had her Mercedes stolen twice in 24 hours--the second time after police had found it and notified her, and she was there waiting for a tow truck. A woman in Washington state found her stolen car and called the cops, who said wait for them, don't drive a vehicle reported as stolen. While she was waiting (an hour), the thief returned and took off with the car. (The next time she found it, she didn't wait.) There was another one in Washington state--wish I could find it--where IIRC the guy found his vehicle and called the cops--and it was stolen again while the cops watched from a distance. Police in Washington state are not allowed to pursue stolen vehicles if no violent crime has been committed, or so I've read. And, to be fair, sometimes they don't have to; one case was solved when the stolen truck crashed into a police cruiser. (Actually, this has happened more than once.) In another case, the thief "picked up his truck" at a tire center--told them it was his, and they handed him the keys. It's a strange new world we're living in...
Dori: Tacoma man’s truck stolen four times this year, wife and friend chase suspect
Travis Todd’s Ford F-250 pickup is the last tangible thing the Tacoma man has that once belonged to his father, who passed away last year.
mynorthwest.com
Apparently in Brazil carjacking and theft is so common that cars are sold with trackable and blockable ECUs. Looks like Washington isn't far behind; seems wild out there.So, something I just thought of... Suppose someone steals your Cruiser, and you find it unattended. Now suppose you decide on a DIY repo (hypothetically, of course). Is your key still going to work in the ignition? And if not, how can you get the thing started? How did the thief start it, and what do you need to do to get back on the road, right now? Because you don't want to be sitting there wondering what to do if/when the perp (or perps) return...
Also, once recovered, assume there will be another attempt to steal the vehicle. I just read about a guy in WA who had his truck stolen four times (so far), twice in one week. The last time, his wife and a friend chased the thief down; apparently there's video. A woman it DC had her Mercedes stolen twice in 24 hours--the second time after police had found it and notified her, and she was there waiting for a tow truck. A woman in Washington state found her stolen car and called the cops, who said wait for them, don't drive a vehicle reported as stolen. While she was waiting (an hour), the thief returned and took off with the car. (The next time she found it, she didn't wait.) There was another one in Washington state--wish I could find it--where IIRC the guy found his vehicle and called the cops--and it was stolen again while the cops watched from a distance. Police in Washington state are not allowed to pursue stolen vehicles if no violent crime has been committed, or so I've read. And, to be fair, sometimes they don't have to; one case was solved when the stolen truck crashed into a police cruiser. (Actually, this has happened more than once.) In another case, the thief "picked up his truck" at a tire center--told them it was his, and they handed him the keys. It's a strange new world we're living in...
Dori: Tacoma man’s truck stolen four times this year, wife and friend chase suspect
Travis Todd’s Ford F-250 pickup is the last tangible thing the Tacoma man has that once belonged to his father, who passed away last year.mynorthwest.com
My truck was started by the thief using a shaved key so the ignition still worked when I recovered it. I would never wait for the police if I found my stolen vehicle before the police do (mine was found by the police) and I wouldn't worry about the thief coming back either. Most car thieves are basically janky bums who are not looking to confront car owners the way carjackers, a totally different animal, are going to confront you. Professional car thieves want the car and don't want to be spotted or confronted either, you can't be a pro if you're in jail or getting scared off by owners. My truck is still parked in the same spot it was stolen from, I don't have a garage to put it into so I have to rely on the measures I took after it was stolen before and if those measures work correctly I should be able to find my truck fairly quickly.So, something I just thought of... Suppose someone steals your Cruiser, and you find it unattended. Now suppose you decide on a DIY repo (hypothetically, of course). Is your key still going to work in the ignition? And if not, how can you get the thing started? How did the thief start it, and what do you need to do to get back on the road, right now? Because you don't want to be sitting there wondering what to do if/when the perp (or perps) return...
Also, once recovered, assume there will be another attempt to steal the vehicle. I just read about a guy in WA who had his truck stolen four times (so far), twice in one week. The last time, his wife and a friend chased the thief down; apparently there's video. A woman it DC had her Mercedes stolen twice in 24 hours--the second time after police had found it and notified her, and she was there waiting for a tow truck. A woman in Washington state found her stolen car and called the cops, who said wait for them, don't drive a vehicle reported as stolen. While she was waiting (an hour), the thief returned and took off with the car. (The next time she found it, she didn't wait.) There was another one in Washington state--wish I could find it--where IIRC the guy found his vehicle and called the cops--and it was stolen again while the cops watched from a distance. Police in Washington state are not allowed to pursue stolen vehicles if no violent crime has been committed, or so I've read. And, to be fair, sometimes they don't have to; one case was solved when the stolen truck crashed into a police cruiser. (Actually, this has happened more than once.) In another case, the thief "picked up his truck" at a tire center--told them it was his, and they handed him the keys. It's a strange new world we're living in...
Dori: Tacoma man’s truck stolen four times this year, wife and friend chase suspect
Travis Todd’s Ford F-250 pickup is the last tangible thing the Tacoma man has that once belonged to his father, who passed away last year.mynorthwest.com
Did you add a kill switch?
so - in my case - tweakers didn't destroy the center column or the ignition - so my keys still worked. however - since I found my truck myself...the first thing I did was call the police - and I was told very clearly - do not approach/engage/open/attempt to recover / don't do anything until police come clear it for retrieval.
the dispatch person on the phone explained that if police just happen to see me driving around in my own vehicle which is still on the stolen vehicle list - I'm the suspect until proven otherwise. granted this is portland where I live which means any police actually giving anything resembling 2 sh!ts is highly unlikely... you're still taking a risk picking up your own rig before it's been cleared.
we waited...and waited...and waited...and waited some more. spotted it around 9:00 am on a friday and finally got it home late afternoon (with the help of a fellow mud member)
truck ran fine / drove fine / no big deal. Once i started cleaning it and detailing it - I found stolen credit cards, pills, bump keys and a collection of alarm remotes...and s decent sized nugget of heroin. I was paranoid they were coming back at least for their H, so I put out trail cameras around my house and driveway and blocked the truck in with our subaru.
tweakers never came back...but i was prepared for them if they did.
- Thread starter
- #227
Ehhhhyeah. Interesting. But if the authorities can kill it remotely, well, the authorities can kill it remotely. And so might a sophisticated a**hole.
- Thread starter
- #228
I can see their point, depending on the situation. On the other hand, some might reclaim the vehicle and call the cops from the road: Hey, no longer stolen, I found it. Have your DL and police report copy on the seat or dash in case you're stopped. Maybe ditch the thieves' s*** in the closest trash bin so you're not stopped with that in the vehicle, then search it at home. Or, hell, tell the cops you're driving it to the station because you'd like THEM to search it. (Dicey move, depending on who you wind up dealing with and what they find.) On the other hand, chances are anything the thieves left in the truck has their prints all over it. For whatever that's worth. Once the stolen-car alert is off, see if you can get some kind of documentation to that effect to carry around with you, in case someone didn't get the memo...
Even if they found prints there seems to be little interest in cracking down on car thefts and even car-jacking in many cities, for whatever reason.
Always reminds me of this:
If the local police show up when called I count myself lucky, I have low expectations of any real time spent investigating property crime. From their perspective I think that is an insurance problem more than anything else.
I grew up in a place where the police would usually not come at all for non-violent situations. Calls involving imminent home invasion would be responded to... in about 20-30 minutes. This was not a rural area either, it was a populous TX suburb.
Local police show up quick where we live now, so I'm glad for that, but don't really expect the kind of investment we'd like to have when a cruiser gets stolen.
- Thread starter
- #231
Funny. Yeah, to be fair, they don't have the resources. I've told my tale elsewhere, but it turns out that even if you, say, find the car that did a hit-and-run on you the same night it happened, AND find video of the crash--there's no one to talk to because it'll take a few days before a detective is assigned. And match paint chips or broken light fragments? In your dreams. LAPD detective on my case tried that once on a fatal hit-and-run. The FBI lab did get back to her. Six years later.
A few years back, I was on the phone for over an hour before 911 picked up. Official "response time" is not the same as queue time. The first is time-to-location once dispatched; the latter, the wait-time before that happens. Response time looks better in the press.
- Thread starter
- #232
Interesting approach. I wouldn't recommend it for a whole host of reasons, but here's the video:
www.autoblog.com
Man rigs flash-bang in truck interior to stop car thieves
A resident in New Orleans who has had his truck targeted in the past for smash-and-grab type robberies decided to leave a flash-bang surprise for thieves.
www.autoblog.com
Ah man, slightly off topic but this reminded me of a time sorta related to this forum.
A few years back I was heading down to San Diego to pick up some parts a fellow mudder was selling. On the 5 around San Juan Capistrano someone had lost a loveseat, unsecured load I'm guessing. Came over the hill and there it was, a damn sofa straddling the 2nd and 3rd lanes from the left. I was in the 3rd from the left lane and swerved to the right and exited immediately. In my mirrors I could see other drivers also slamming on their brakes and swerving to avoid. I dialed 911 and it went to voicemail. It wasn't some 911-specific voicemail, it was some worker's box with a mundane "you've reached <some name>, I'm not working today but I'll get back to you soon" message. Hung up, called 911 again, voicemail again. Had my wife try (different carrier at the time), same thing -- 911 to voicemail. This was not a rural area. Insane. I'm sure someone crashed into it eventually, not sure what else I could have done.
Life to short to do all that worrying.
If it happens I will worry about it then.
If it happens I will worry about it then.
yes
Worrying about something being stolen alerts the thieves to its existence and availability.
- Thread starter
- #237
Ha. I once called the appropriate number to report some kind of hazard--forget what it was, not 911-level--and the city (LA) used the same number for people to call up about their parking tickets. So, probably a five-hour wait to report. I passed.
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Just saw another stolen J80 thread. Anyone know why these are seemingly being targeted so heavily? I thought car thieves usually targeted mass market commuter cars to be parted out, not niche 30 year old SUVs.
Are they getting parted out? Someone mentioned they might take them across there border to be sold, but who’s looking for old Cruisers down in Mexico? I didn’t think they were ever sold there to begin with.
Do they get shipped overseas maybe?
Are they getting parted out? Someone mentioned they might take them across there border to be sold, but who’s looking for old Cruisers down in Mexico? I didn’t think they were ever sold there to begin with.
Do they get shipped overseas maybe?
- Thread starter
- #239
Prices have gone up, higher crooksale value in whole or in parts. Security systems often old or nonexistent. Frequently parked outside because they won't fit in the garage (I say bust out the top of the garage wall and make it taller if you can, or relocate the door to a taller side if possible). Sometimes parked where there's no one for miles (though I haven't seen many stolen-from-the-trail posts). Slide bed suggests they know these vehicles at least somewhat, and didn't want to bust up the driveline, or screw the ignition etc. And that they've done this before. Shipped overseas? Who knows. If so, a lot easier to do that from south of the border--so you're still looking at a land border crossing. Not being available in Mexico should make them more valuable in Mexcico. Such are my thoughts, anyway.
Yeah but you can't just replicate the signal from the key fobs like on newer cars. Seems to me like a high risk low reward proposition to steal an old LC, but I could be wrong.
