Stolen vehicle recover systems.

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CedarWaxWing
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Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 11:24 am

Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by CedarWaxWing »

https://www.edmunds.com/car-technology/ ... stems.html

I have had vehicles stolen or attempted stolen a few times over the 30 years I have lived here... all in the last 12 years.

One theft succeeded out of my driveway, in a nice but not a McMansion type of neighborhood. This last time they got into the vehicle, but could not get it started (Because of the key needing a chip. I assume they tried to use brute force on the ignition key receptacle.

This makes me wonder if anyone on here has experience that was favorable or not in regards to LoJack or some other vehicle tracing system that resulted in locating their stolen vehicle and or lead to a conviction.

Thanks for any responses.
Joey Jo Jo Jr
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by Joey Jo Jo Jr »

My dad left the keys in his car and noticed the next day someone took it. He called police, who told him to call his car service (Infinity in his case) and they gave him the address to an apartment complex and met the police to pick it up about an hour later. He was lucky they didn’t mess it up joy riding or take it to a chop shop.
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CedarWaxWing
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by CedarWaxWing »

That brings up an interesting question or two.

Were the keys still in the car, or not.

Did your Dad decide to get the car re-keyed or the chips reset?

Was the house re-keyed?

How long did it take to id the car location?

Thanks for the response.
Joey Jo Jo Jr
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by Joey Jo Jo Jr »

Yes, left keys in the car with door unlocked. Got the house locks changed. Don’t think he had to for the car because the key is also electronic, though maybe the dealer switched a code for all I know. My understanding is the call center could tell where the car was while he was on the phone, though maybe they called him back a few minutes later. I would think the technology (GPS I assume) works instantaneously.
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JoeRetire
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by JoeRetire »

Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
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PoppyA
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by PoppyA »

Any car with On-Star (wether turned on or not) should be able to be located if the police take the time to inquire.
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illumination
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by illumination »

I really think it's a waste in this day and age with modern anti theft systems that come on cars standard. I'm also not sure you want the vehicle back if it's been stolen.

Maybe look into an Apple AirTag and hide it somewhere on your car? Like $30, no monthly fee. We put them on our key rings, other iPhones can aid in tracking. But then you have to involve law enforcement and it's time sensitive. My experience is police officers don't think vehicle break ins and theft are the priority the car owner does (unfortunately).

Get some wireless cameras and set them up where you park your car. Make sure nothing is in the car that they can see. What I've learned about break ins is just give as little incentive as possible for someone to target your car and for them to want a better target elsewhere. I've had a car broken into in a nice part of town because my wife left a shopping bag of baby clothes worth like $30 on the front car seat.
London
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by London »

JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
I live in a fairly upscale area and the cops are constant sending reminders to not leave your keys in the car as that’s the case in the majority of car thefts here. I always just assumed insurance fraud, but what do I know?

That said, I left the doors to my house unlocked for an entire year, even on vacation. So I’m clearly not concerned.
Topic Author
CedarWaxWing
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by CedarWaxWing »

illumination wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:32 am I really think it's a waste in this day and age with modern anti theft systems that come on cars standard. I'm also not sure you want the vehicle back if it's been stolen.

Maybe look into an Apple AirTag and hide it somewhere on your car? Like $30, no monthly fee. We put them on our key rings, other iPhones can aid in tracking. But then you have to involve law enforcement and it's time sensitive. My experience is police officers don't think vehicle break ins and theft are the priority the car owner does (unfortunately).

Get some wireless cameras and set them up where you park your car. Make sure nothing is in the car that they can see. What I've learned about break ins is just give as little incentive as possible for someone to target your car and for them to want a better target elsewhere. I've had a car broken into in a nice part of town because my wife left a shopping bag of baby clothes worth like $30 on the front car seat.
Apple air tags? Never heard of them.

I just found these links, suggesting they are being used to find out where a car owner lives so the car can be stolen from the driveway.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/12/03/ai ... ar-thefts/

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/2-ways ... oid-phone/


It appears to take 3 days before an apple tag will notify the owner of having been distanced from that owner. It is not clear that they work as well with an android phone as with an apple phone.

Prioritization of car thefts by police does not happen to my experience. BUT over and over again, it is evident that car thefts are often being done by organized groups who do in fact also perpetrate violent crime. My intent here is to find a way to prove where the car went so as to get prosecution of perps. Getting the car back in good shape would be an unexpected bonus.

( I do not leave valuables in my car.)

My story was not complete as posted. 3 weeks ago I had someone (female who gave me reasons to be suspicious) rang my doorbell asking about buying my car. I declined, and a few days later this was repeated.) That night the car was entered and the steering column's key receptacle was damaged (the decorative cover was broken off and it appears a brute force attempt was made to turn the ignition to "on").
I think the chipped ignition system must be very strong because the key receptacle did not break and my key still works fine. (It is a truck.)

Nothing of value was in the car, I don't think anything other than a $1 bill was stolen. (I leave $1 in a non evident area specifically to find out if someone has been in the car to steel valuables but left the other contents undisturbed.)

I don't lock my car to avoid the damage of a breakin.




I am looking for a monitoring system... and have not seen one with the features I would like.
1. High resolution to id perps
2. Long lasting battery
3. Not particularly evident with colors that "blend in". (considering one obvious dummy camera, with 3-6 that are not obvious so if they
decide to neutralize the one, they get a false sense of confidence and not look for the disguised units.)
4. A camera sensing motion gives a notification to my android phone so I can react.
Jack FFR1846
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

If you're that worried about it, search for GPS trackers that can be wired into the car. There are some that are run by battery with the car wiring used to continuously charge the battery. Look for one that has free communication. Some will require you get a Sim card, so you'll pay $10 for that. Once done, not only will you know where the car is, you'll know if it's moving, how fast and where it's been. I had one of those on one of my cars once and it was quite easy to use when my kids drove it.

With respect to the other end of things, having owned an enclosed racecar trailer in my past with a winch, I can tell you that there is absolutely no way that you're going to stop the car from being taken in the first place. I picked up a car once for parts where all 4 tires were locked. I dragged it onto my trailer in a minute instead of 20 seconds. Shut the door and drive off. I also can say that I have had Lojack in the past and without even looking for the systems, pretty quickly stumbled across them. My understanding is that thieves who take a car like this first park it in an area with lots of cars and leave it for some number of weeks, so that if there's a lojack on board, it'll be picked up, rather than them stumbling across the system. I don't do that for a living, but I'd disconnect the car battery. The Lojack battery likely will be dead in 2 weeks. I'm guessing.
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JoeRetire
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by JoeRetire »

London wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:39 am
JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
I live in a fairly upscale area and the cops are constant sending reminders to not leave your keys in the car as that’s the case in the majority of car thefts here. I always just assumed insurance fraud, but what do I know?

That said, I left the doors to my house unlocked for an entire year, even on vacation. So I’m clearly not concerned.
Of course nobody should leave keys in their unlocked car.

So my advice might be different if the individual says their dad left his car keys in the car once by accident, habitually on purpose, or is starting to show signs of early dementia.
This isn't just my wallet. It's an organizer, a memory and an old friend.
keystone
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by keystone »

London wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:39 am
JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
I live in a fairly upscale area and the cops are constant sending reminders to not leave your keys in the car as that’s the case in the majority of car thefts here. I always just assumed insurance fraud, but what do I know?

That said, I left the doors to my house unlocked for an entire year, even on vacation. So I’m clearly not concerned.
Ditto. I checkout the local crime report and in over 90% of the thefts, the car was unlocked and the keys were left inside. I don't understand how this happens so regularly. On the neighborhood discussion boards, most of the car theft talk revolves around the fear that car thieves can hack your key fob, but every now and then our local police representative chimes in to let everyone know that this has happened in 0% of the local car thefts and that the vast majority are due to leaving the keys inside an unlocked car.

As for the OP, this story happened in my area not too long ago. A man recovered his stolen car using a car app:

https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2021 ... r-from-dc/
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Watty
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by Watty »

London wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:39 am
JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
I live in a fairly upscale area and the cops are constant sending reminders to not leave your keys in the car as that’s the case in the majority of car thefts here. I always just assumed insurance fraud, but what do I know?

That said, I left the doors to my house unlocked for an entire year, even on vacation. So I’m clearly not concerned.
Just FYI, if your leave the keys in the car or your front door unlocked while you are on vacation your car or house insurance will may not cover you since they likely have clauses in them saying that you need to take reasonable care to protect the house or car.
London
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by London »

Watty wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:53 pm
London wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:39 am
JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
I live in a fairly upscale area and the cops are constant sending reminders to not leave your keys in the car as that’s the case in the majority of car thefts here. I always just assumed insurance fraud, but what do I know?

That said, I left the doors to my house unlocked for an entire year, even on vacation. So I’m clearly not concerned.
Just FYI, if your leave the keys in the car or your front door unlocked while you are on vacation your car or house insurance will may not cover you since they likely have clauses in them saying that you need to take reasonable care to protect the house or car.
I think that car theft theft can be a crime of opportunity. A person might check a few cars before they find one that is open.

A home break in is a more deliberate choice. If someone wants to come into my house and the front door is locked, they will just break my back glass door. The decision to break in has already been made.

You may be right about insurance but I didn’t care as I had no issues in the year. Maybe I was lucky.
Joey Jo Jo Jr
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Re: Stolen vehicle recover systems.

Post by Joey Jo Jo Jr »

JoeRetire wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 8:26 am
Joey Jo Jo Jr wrote: Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:25 pm My dad left the keys in his car
On purpose?
Ha, no, he’s quite fond of his new Infiniti. Splurging in his retirement as there were no “luxury” autos while I was growing up. Heck, I’d have been pumped about a Honda.
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