My dad's car got stolen... AGAIN!!!

jinx626 · Feb 19, 2008

Fair warning to all that have old car such as 86-94 Toyota and Honda. I was told back in the day they have a universal key that can open these cars.

My dad's 86 and 91 camry got stolen (twice for 86 and one for 91 (happened yesterday a 9pm). They didn't break the window because I didn't see any broken glasses on the floor. And to top it off, his old 86 camry was broken into 3 times. All they took was a few dollar and a sunglass.

He usually club the car before going in, but yesterday he was only in for about 10 mins and went back out for a food run and then! " dude... where's my car?!!"

Told him not to buy the old model camry... sigh.. (he bought it cause we don't have much money and it's one of the most reliable car for that price...so I didn't blame him at all.)

Jinx

nerdgineer · Feb 19, 2008

I use a brake pedal lock on my Prizm (a rebadged Corolla). Much more secure than steering wheel lock. Works (...so far....), plus mine is a stick which I'm told is less interesting but not uninteresting to thieves. Of course, you do have to use it...

jinx626 · Feb 19, 2008

he didn't expect it would be gone within 10 mins or so... he usually club it every night.

jugg2 · Feb 19, 2008

Wow man, I'm sorry. I hope yall are able to get it back somehow.

270winchester · Feb 19, 2008

where did this occur?

my 92 Corolla was stolen last year and the jack-apes stole all my tools and to lights inside, as well as my spare tire. They drove it about 50 miles and abandoned it not too far from my apartment and the parking maids found it parked illegally

. I always use a club now

File the necessary reports in the mean time and cross your fingers. Sorry to hear that.:scowl:

jinx626 · Feb 19, 2008

In Rosemead, California.

Back then they took his camry and drove it until it was out of gas. Abandon it. we had to pay $90 to the impound lot to get it back out. then within 1-2 weeks later, it was broken into. Took a few items. freaken pissed me off...

gadget_lover · Feb 19, 2008

The Camry has a fairly decent lock, It actually takes both sides of the key to operate it. There are other ways to open the car, and chances are some fools have found out about them. Once a gang of thieves develop a technique that works they will use that technique over and over.

My 86 Celica Supra was "stolen" by a gang from a city 100 miles away. They were going from town to town, stealing as many Supras as they could drive back. Mine had a dead battery, so it only rolled down the driveway before they gave up. The cops knocked on my door to tell me about it.

Visible deterents are the best. Hidden cut-off switches will often keep it from being driven away, but will not stop the damage of the break-in.

Daniel

NA8 · Feb 20, 2008

jinx626 said:
He usually club the car before going in, but yesterday he was only in for about 10 mins and went back out for a food run and then! " dude... where's my car?!!"

Jinx

If you buy a club type device, be sure it goes on without using the key. I've had both kinds and you'll use it more if you don't need to fish out the key for those quick stops.

I imagine parts are getting hard to find on some of those 20 year old toyotas and hondas.

WNG · Feb 20, 2008

I had my Honda broken into a few weeks ago. They wanted the Kenwood inside. Didn't succeed, and just made a mess of things. Surprisingly, they didn't take a thing otherwise. They simply pried the window open to slip in a coat hanger.
I have a Clifford Alarm. And was blatantly obvious with the LED blinking. I assume they thought the head unit would pop right out. They didn't think I'd have it bolted down.
I count myself lucky they didn't take anything else. The siren must have got them panicky as the radio wouldn't release.
My fault for leaving the face plate in the car. Never tempt fate, always look around to see if anyone is watching you..scoping your car.

I also have a hidden fuel pump and injector kill switch that I installed and designed myself. For those areas where you leave your car and an alarm is no deterrent.

Care thieves are scum. They deserve to be fed to sharks.
Good luck.

cat · Feb 20, 2008

NA8 said:
I imagine parts are getting hard to find on some of those 20 year old toyotas and hondas.

Interesting to me that this happens in the USA too.
Old Toyota Corollas and Camrys even more likely to be stolen than new trucks and BMWs.
Cars above a certain value have to have gearlocks and tracker systems, required by insurance companies.

AvPD · Feb 20, 2008

I thought old cars have a certain immunity to being stolen. Although if I leave the detatchable face on my CD player I do start to get a little paranoid about my car (85 Toyota Corona) being broken into.
I guess drug addicts must have their money.....

Manzerick · Feb 20, 2008

It has a lot to do with popularity and the replacement part market for the auto.

A stolen one is one cheap parts car!! What dirt bags!!!!!

AvPD said:
I thought old cars have a certain immunity to being stolen. Although if I leave the detatchable face on my CD player I do start to get a little paranoid about my car (85 Toyota Corona) being broken into.
I guess drug addicts must have their money.....

cat · Feb 20, 2008

For parts. It disappears into particular demographics area and is stripped quickly.

Story: A couple months ago. Friend at work, his friend's african colleague...truck chained to pole outside house at night. Someone woke him up and told him they're stealing your truck. He went out, found thief lying under truck hacksawing/whatever the chain, legs sticking out. So he got his stick, whacked both kneecaps, and went back to bed. Whacked as in seriously damaged kneecaps.

scott.cr · Feb 20, 2008

I used to have a 1991 Civic... notoriously easy to steal (and of course, a car in demand by thieves). After it disappeared the second time I was getting really sick of paying the city of Los Angeles about $400 to $600 in towing and storage fees.

I was just getting into machining back then and machined "deadbolt" locks for the doors. Similar to a house door deadbolt, except the bolts were retracted by the power lock motors. It worked great, but thieves still trashed the door locks one more time. After that, I replaced the door handles with the handles from the rear doors of a sedan because they have no key holes.

Thieves could have gone in through the window... none seemed to have the wherewithal. As long as the doors remained shut, my car was never stolen again, and break-in attempts resulted in no loss of property.

jinx626 · Feb 20, 2008

still waiting for the cops to find my dad's car... sigh... not that we have money to begin with and now we have to probably have to pay for storage fees...again...

Monocrom · Feb 22, 2008

AvPD said:
I thought old cars have a certain immunity to being stolen....

I was surprised to learn that the 3rd most frequently stolen car in America is.... Oldsmobile Cutlass.

My dad had an '81 Cutlass Supreme for 16 years. It was like driving a tank. He owned it til it fell apart. On the outside, it looked like $#^%, and we lived in a fairly nice neighborhood. No one tried to break into it as far as I know.

scott.cr · Feb 22, 2008

Monocrom said:
I was surprised to learn that the 3rd most frequently stolen car in America is.... Oldsmobile Cutlass.

The old joke goes... anyone driving an Olds Cutlass is saying to themselves, "I just stole this car and will make $150,000 off the parts."

jcompton · Feb 22, 2008

Did he have any type of comprehensive or theft insurance??? For most cars, once they are 10+ years old it may not be worth paying the premium for this type of coverage, but on the occasion that he did, at least the insurance company will cut a check to help cushion the purchase of another car. Was anything valuable in the car when it was stolen?

I bought my grandparents a Garmin navigation system this past Christmas and while they had it parked late one evening outside a relative's house, some moron smashed the window only to get the suction cup mount. I made sure to tell them not to leave the actual unit in the car, so the theif got nothing more than $15.00 mount and a bloody fist. There was actually blood all down the inside of the passenger door.

My grandparents received over $1500.00 from the insurance company for the window and damage done to the glovebox, center console, etc... Now they make sure to take the entire thing with them no matter where they park or at least put the mount in the trunk/glovebox and keep the unit with them. My grandmother even keeps a few alcohol whipes to remove the suction cup ring off the glass...:thinking:

f22shift · Feb 22, 2008

jcompton said:
Did he have any type of comprehensive or theft insurance??? For most cars, once they are 10+ years old it may not be worth paying the premium for this type of coverage, but on the occasion that he did, at least the insurance company will cut a check to help cushion the purchase of another car. Was anything valuable in the car when it was stolen?

I bought my grandparents a Garmin navigation system this past Christmas and while they had it parked late one evening outside a relative's house, some moron smashed the window only to get the suction cup mount. I made sure to tell them not to leave the actual unit in the car, so the theif got nothing more than $15.00 mount and a bloody fist. There was actually blood all down the inside of the passenger door. My grandparents received over $1500.00 from the insurance company for the window and damage done to the glovebox, center console, etc... Now they make sure to take the entire thing with them no matter where they park or at least put the mount in the trunk/glovebox and keep the unit with them. My grandmother even keeps a few alcohol whipes to remove the suction cup ring off the glass...:thinking:

that happened to a friends coworker. i'm assuming they look for the mount as most people would put it away.
my real estate agent uses the stick on dashboard mount that you can suction on to that. it might be less noticeable.:shrug:
my wife's cousin uses a bean bag accessory for her gps so nothing is left out. :naughty:

gps's are weird. some people use them even though they know their way. i'm ppl are weird. :thinking:

jinx626 · Feb 26, 2008

Yup... the police finally found my dad's car 2 days ago. It was in the impound lot after that ******* crashed it. The tranny is messed up, the alignment is messed up, axel is damaged, and cost ~$200 to get it out... NICE!

My dad's car got stolen... AGAIN!!!

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