Securing a stolen vehicle

[mmc45414]

The doors, shifter, and steering wheel were also sprayed with WD-40 (pro tip: a good dose of WD-40 will obliterate prints from a surface), but I digress.

I guess the prints are probably there, but the tape cannot lift them...

[mmc45414]

In one case, the mom of the the owner had a screaming face-off with a car thief. In the other case (last night), the owner arrived well-armed, and did not encounter any resistance (however, he was concerned because his unarmed wife drove him to the location).

Here is my question: how would you approach this problem?

My current plan is to retrieve the stolen vehicle with at least one well-armed friend, wearing my plate carrier, armed with a PDW. If there appear to be multiple perpetrators present at the location, drive on and notify LE.

Part of the reason I own my PDW is because in my state it is legal to carry in a vehicle under my CHL. But here I would expect 5.0 to hang around long enough for me to get there. Now that you mention it, I am not sure exactly who all I would have on speed dial in this situation. It would seem like the more the merrier. We used to have a 3/4 ton Suburban that looked an awful lot like something a personal security detail would drive (other than the wrong color) and I would derp fanaticize about rolling up to a sketchy Craigslist deal (an older couple, who were dumb/trusting enough to show up for a S/S/S type meeting got robbed) and having all of my shooting buddies pile out of the thing.

All of the insurance advice sounds like the correct approach, but not certain they are exactly on your side either. Do you run the risk of them taking the position that your car got recovered, you were notified by the police, problem solved, no claim?

But this just sounds like a total BS situation.

[whomever]

My datapoint from 15 odd years ago in the Seattle area ... phone rings at 2AM:

Dispatcher: "This is the Sheriff's office ... do you know where your car is?"
Me: "Sure, it's parked in the driveway"
D: "Umm...why don't you check?"
(I assume long experience has taught them that's the quickest way for the dumbass owner to wake up and realize they aren't just doing a random parking survey at 2AM)
Me: "It's not there!"
D: gives me the location

The deputy waited until I arrived. I don't remember signing anything or even being asked for ID, but might be forgetting. He tried hard to help me get it out of the ditch, to no avail. I called USAA and asked what they wanted done, and they said tow it to wherever. The deputy waited until the tow arrived.

In hindsight, having it towed and getting it the next day seems to have a lot of advantages.


Question: what percentage of recovered vehicles are drivable? Or more specifically, safely driveable, i.e. the lights are intact and so on.

[ubervic]

I've lived in a few cities----including Washington DC for 8 yrs----and have never had a car stolen, nor has anyone in my circles (immediate and extended family, friends, coworkers).

I'm glad to live a boring life.

[Caballoflaco]

I got a 2am call one morning that one of my stolen motorcycles had been recovered unwrecked, but out of gas (the reserve petcock wasn’t reserve This was probably three months after I had already been paid my insurance company. I explained to the officer that it was the insurance company’s motorcycle now and no longer my problem.

The thing that sucked about it was that the officer who called me was a young dude who was really excited to have found my bike, and I could hear the disappointment in his voice when I told him I wouldn’t be coming to recover it. To make up for that I did call the Sargeant at his substation and asked them to pass along my thanks for him taking the time to check it out, when he could have just driven by.

[KevH]

To put this situation in the context of not being in Portland, and this being a difficult time to find replacement vehicles, would it be appropriate to go to the vehicle and put a "Club" type steering lock on it until it can be recovered/towed to keep it from driving away again?

I often spent a fair amount of time and effort getting my vehicles as functional for my uses as I can, starting over is probably not going to be entirely covered by insurance, and would still require more time and effort to duplicate if even possible compared to recovering a non-destroyed vehicle back in possession and good working order.

"The Club" type devices are worthless. It takes about 4 seconds for someone that knows what they're doing or that has the proper tools to pop one off.

Like I said before, there is no reason not to hang out with your vehicle until the cops show up so long as it is in a public place and you feel comfortable doing so. Just make sure dispatch knows that you're there and what you look like. If the cops can't give you an ETA call a tow company and have it towed and let the police know so they can respond there to eventually remove it from the system.

[Joe S]

I guess the prints are probably there, but the tape cannot lift them...

PF thread drift: WD40 is mostly just partially purified petroleum/oil, with a smattering of benzene and xylene, if I recall correctly. I'd imagine it would dissolve skin oils quite readily, plus have the effect you mention.

[fly out]

I have no idea what their response would be, but I'd be calling AAA and asking to have it towed to the dealer (if it was truly my problem to solve...I feel bad for my fellow Americans who live in a place where that's the case (and I feel worse for the handful of them that didn't vote for it)).

[Wise_A]

One thing I would be mindful of is the potential for the vehicle to still be listed as stolen. I've seen this, or variations thereof, several times--vehicle's RO is pulled over either on the way home or sometimes several days later. There are several reasons--officer or dispatcher fucked up and did not cancel the stolen vehicle, two agencies get into a pissing match over who's supposed to cancel it, etc. The pertinent thing being that an officer is going to pull you over, see your vehicle is stolen, and until he can get up there and talk to you, you look an awful lot like a car thief.

I can't even comprehend Portland not having a patrol out to recover the vehicle (how do you cancel the file1 without knowing the vehicle is back with the owner?) but I suppose they're short-handed.

[Donny B]

Let the police and insurance co. handle it. The downside could be extreme.