Anyone Ever Have Vehicle Stolen!!

[Dave M.]

Worked there back in the mid '80s. Was surprised to learn cars and trucks were considered consumables. Run them for a few years, they rot out from the salt and cinders, then junk them. Being Motown, it was job security.

Yep. Detroit is all about horrible roads, more salt than we now what to do with (city is sitting on a huge salt mine), and ZERO public transportation. It’s Detroit, where we drive everywhere we go, and drive more aggressively than anywhere else in the country, and we average about 9-10 highway shootings a year. Road Rage capital of the US. Lol

 

[Ringostar]

This repair shop thing seems to be common. I was on my way to work, only about a block away. I heard a wheel bearing going, so took my truck straight to a repair shop just up the street. When I got done work, I walked back to get my truck. I went in a paid the bill then asked where the truck was? They said that it was park behind the building and the keys were above the Sun visor. I didn’t find the truck and went back into building asking where it was? It was gone! Insurance said that they wouldn’t settle until 30 days later. On the 29th day I got a call from PD of an adjoining town. My truck was sitting parked in front of a house there and had been the entire time. The people waited 4 weeks before calling PD about a truck being abandoned in front of their house. I went down with spare key and found no damage, only thing missing was a pair of gloves.

 

[wedgy]

Had a 1989 Blazer 4x4 that I paid $15,800 for used well below bluebook, turns out the salesman had been there a month and hadn't made a sale. I made a few upgrades stereo, speakers, amp skid plates, shocks, etc. then 2.5 years later it got stolen at night from my friends house, cops call me the next day as they found it partially stripped so I go to their impound and the guys says it's not too bad, it still drives.....but there's no interior; seats, dash, door panels, headliner, carpet, shocks, 33" off road tires replaced with small car tires....but it runs and drives. They explain to me how when the adjuster gets to a certain price they total it but in CA you have the 1st right to buy it back if you want. The adjuster got to $10K and totaled it and they paid me $18,200 and I bought it back for $4,300 but when I picked it up at my insurance companies yard it was missing more parts like grille, headlights, bezels, wiper pump and reservoir, etc. I drove it home 22 miles sitting on a 5 gallon bucket for a seat not realizing how hard it is to drive a truck with no shocks or back rest. LOL. I had pictures from the police impound yard and thru the Auto Club AAA(they used to have a legal service) sued my insurance companies impound yard for another $3,200. Mine was black with gray interior and I found a white one with the same color interior in the Recycler(newspaper version of Craigslist) that had been rolled and I bought all the interior & body parts for $2,000 the another $1,000 for tires, rims, and shocks. Did all the work myself then sold it for $14,500 with a salvaged title. I made out like a bandit on that one but lost out on other rear end accidents, etc. Oh ya, I also had my homeowners with the same company and my agent said to file a claim for the property that was in the car like CD's, jacket, skis, ski boots(we had just gotten back from skiing(all the stuff was covered and not visible so the car thieves got lucky). It was about $2,000 minus the $1,000 deductible so an additional $1,000 to me. A couple weeks later I get a cancelation notice from my homeowners due to "premises not being secure" even though the theft did not occur on my premises, argued forever, no go. I find out nobody will insure you if you've had a claim within the past 2 years and end up on California Fair Plan, name couldn't be further from the truth. It covers the structure for fire and flood only, no contents or any other goodies, three times the price and 10% of the coverage... not very fair but I had to have it for my loan. So be careful filing a homeowners claim.
So my car got stripped twice, then I got boned by my homeowners to even things out.

 

[CharlieNC]

Didn't they hang horse thief's?

 

[ebb]

My wife and I decided we needed a third vehicle, it didn't need to be much just dependable. When we needed to put a car in the shop or when on of the kids cars broke or when we wanted to do so driving and didn't want to put a bunch of miles on our newer car. So one day she comes home with a 15 year old chevy caviler that is plum purple. This car is UGLY but it only has 29000 miles on it. Some one she worked with grandparents car. The kids always said you could leave it in the parking lot with the keys in it and it would still be there when you got back. They were right.

 

[Ron IA]

yes a drunk kid took it right out of my driveway mine was the 5th car he took and totaled mine was crashed just outside of town then driven 25 miles on two flat tires till he lost control and crashed my car the cop told me at one time he was driving 70 mph on two rimes

 

[Chiquita]

TWO cars stolen at the SAME time. The truck had only door lock & ignition cylinder damage. I dare to say I had my rifles and other shooting gear worth about $8K in the back Locked in a box and covered with a campershell. I know my stupid mistake.
Fools left the truck 5 streets up & took off in our minivan. The shooting gear was not stolen.

Minivan was found in about 14 days in good condition. Minor scratches.

Insurance (GEICO) was great in handling the process.

So far we had to deal with GEICO for (5) separate issues. They have been very helpful and have worked in our favor.

 

[NorCalMikie]

BTW a whole extended family all cancelled that carrier and went somewhere else over it.

Best thing ever!!

 

[dellet]

How can it be in possession of the body shop and them not being responsible for securing it?

Depends on a few things.

If the car is insured against theft, that insurance has the primary responsibility.

If not then, the shop liability insurance might pay. That can depend on the shop insurance tho.

A customers car was stolen from my shop, from a fenced yard and inside an area that had a security system. The customer did not want to report the theft and risk his insurance premiums going up. He asked me to pay,I turned it over to my insurance. Then the lawyers got involved.

My understanding is that since the property (vehicle) was insured, they had primary responsibility, I had no liability (my coverage) as long as I had taken reasonable care to secure the vehicle.

Besides the order of liability, his insurance, then mine if he had no insurance. My insurance company argued successfully that where he lived had a higher rate of theft than where my shop was located, and that he often left his car in less secure areas than behind two locked gates with a security system. At work, the mall, restaurant, driveway at home...

Since I provided more security for his vehicle than he did, I was off the hook.

The way the insurance liability was explained to me was that once the vehicle, the property, was insured for theft, that company has primary responsibility. For anyone else’s insurance to become involved, they have to be proven irresponsible in the care of the vehicle, then their liability insurance kicks in. My insurance against theft or damage to a customers car, is a form of liability insurance.

This also protects the owner of the car. If he has a $500,000 car or $1,000,000 motor home and I only carry a mandated $10,000 minimum, his insurance company can’t weasel out of paying.

 

[swd]

I had a motorcycle stolen years ago. It was behind a gate locked from the inside. The insurance company wanted to give me quite a bit less than the replacement value it was insured for. I finally got mad and told the adjuster to find me one with the same or less miles and same condition and I had a check within a few days.

 

[BlueWater]

Little off subject but wife’s car was stolen from a body repair place late last night. Apparently rammed fence with stolen truck, broke into building and found keys to wife’s car and another sports car and drove them out the broken gate. I’m sure it’s gone. Just curious on anyone ever deal with insurance issues afterwards.

The shop's insurance coverage might well take a hit. Depends on the quality of that insurance, what steps the shop took (prior to the incident) to minimize such risks, etc.

Never had a vehicle swiped, myself. Lucky so far.

 

[andym686]

Little off subject but wife’s car was stolen from a body repair place late last night. Apparently rammed fence with stolen truck, broke into building and found keys to wife’s car and another sports car and drove them out the broken gate. I’m sure it’s gone. Just curious on anyone ever deal with insurance issues afterwards.

That is (was) a nice-looking Dodge Charger.

 

[Txhillbilly]

Had a pickup stolen back in 1988 while I was bailing hay. Truck was never found.
Then in 2000, one of my Harley's was stolen while I was eating with some friends at a restaurant. It was found - Or at least the frame and a couple other parts, in Dallas,TX. a couple days later.

Both were insured with Allstate. The pickup claim was handled great, the motorcycle was a fiasco. I paid cash for it when I bought it, and had it insured for stated value since it was highly customized. Allstate tried to lowball me on the value until I got my agent involved, and she showed that I had purchased a rider policy covering all the extras.
Then, Allstate tried to steal what was recovered. Most people don't know this, but if you own your property out right (No lien holder on the Title), and the insurance company totals the claim, it's still your property, not the insurance company's. Don't let them steal your property if you 100% own it, they only insure it!

They ended up paying me $28k on 10 year old HD, and I built a new motorcycle with the parts that were recovered so it still has a HD title and VIN #.

 

[Murray Brook]

Insurance companies are not your friend ever. Thy are only looking out for themselves

You got that right. The only thing lower than a snakes belly in a wagon rut is an insurance company or a politician.

 

[Monte F]

Had one of the service vans stolen from the HVAC company I worked for one night at the technicians apartment complex parking lot. We reported it stolen and began the process with the insurance company. Looked all over the city as we drove around going to jobs. About a month later we got a call from a lady at a warehouse wondering if we were working there as it had been parked behind their building for several weeks. This was two days after I picked out a replacement van and we sent the keys to the insurance. I drove straight over to the warehouse and found it unlocked with only the techs tools (hand, battery, torches, vac. pump) missing. All the inventory was still there ($20k approximately) copper, refrigerant, motors, controls, etc. The key he had stashed in the front console was laying inside the back doors. Apparently the lowlifes had got into the cap to rummage and found the keys, drove it to the warehouse late at night and stole the tools before they left it. We had to fight with the insurance over the cost of replacing the stolen tools, but finally got a check out of them.

 

[Monte F]

You got that right. The only thing lower than an insurance company is a snakes belly in a wagon rut (in death valley) or a politician.

 

[Lesloan]

I've never had a car stolen (knock wood!) but my father's '39 Oldsmobile was stolen when I was a boy. Pretty sure it was in 1946. He got it back a week or two later. I don't remember whether or not there was any damage to it. The car was used in a robbery and abandoned by the criminals when they were through with it.

 

[Ccrider]

I just had my wifes new ride in the shop for 5mo waiting on a grille after hitting a deer (covid and the supply chain). They have their lot fenced in, razor wire on top and a guard on a golf cart out there every nite- and this is in an area you dont even have to lock your house. They are wasting a lot of money.

Nope. In Alabama the shop would be liable unless you agree as part of the contract to waive liability. Even then, if the shop is guilty of gross negligence or intentional misconduct leading the theft, the shop is liable.

 

[jaytee]

Yep. Back in about 1981ish had a really sharp '67 Mustang Fastback stolen out of our driveway. I was still living at home at the time and during the early morning hours something woke my mom up and she looked out the bedroom window to see the perps pushing my car out of the driveway and onto the street where I guess they hot wired it and took off. Mom woke us up and we were out the door in a flash. I called my best friend who lived two doors away and him and his dad jumped in their pickup and took out driving the backroads out in the country looking. They actually drove within a quarter mile or so of where my car was found the next day. Wheels and tires gone, front and back windows smashed but other then that it was all good. And come to find out, my buddy and his dad had shined a spot light down this old road and sure enough thats where the car was. The perps saw the spotlight, smashed the glass and took off. Sorry fu*kers!!

 

[Dave M.]

Not yet, but crime is rampant in eastern PA and not just in the cities anymore. My farmer friends have had copper piping cut from their dairy houses and stolen, stolen catalytic converters in driveways or barns at night, trucks stolen out of driveway or barn areas at night, tools and tractor parts stolen.

This is happening in remote farming areas. I thought it was safe to park my SUV and hog hunt the fields but I'm getting more weary - keeping the SUV in sight. Welcome to the brave new world. With the southern border falling apart, it's going to get much worse I believe. Hope I'm wrong about that but it looks bleak from where I sit.

It won't be long before the bad guys start going to gun ranges looking to steal weapons.

I hear stealing tractors in rural areas is becoming big business.