Since that's tampering with an EPA-regulated device, this crime should be handled by the feds and with zero mercy.

Now the rest of the story. This happened at my son's college parking garage. He goes to school about 60 miles from home. We decided to go pick him up (with all his stuff) and I'd deal with the car later as I get some time off.

We drove down last night to attempt to drive it home (so I can work on it). It starts fine, loud as hell. I get about 5 miles north of San Marcos on Interstate 35, 5:30 rush-hour traffic, and the motor dies. Won't restart.

So I coast to an exit ramp and find get as far off the frontage road as I can. Car just won't start Turns over fine, but acts like it's getting no fuel.

I end up calling a flatbed tow truck service. I told him "I need to move a 4wd Sequoia from Buda to Round rock, how much?". I send him the exact GPS coordinate of the car, and my home address. He says "$275". I agree. He says 45 minutes. Ok.


So 45 minutes later Achmed shows up with a flatbed truck, and then proceeds to argue with me about the location. "You said this was Buda, this is Kyle, that's 10 miles further!". I'm like "no, this is Buda, Kyle is south of here. Are you telling me it's going to cost extra?". Yes, because it's not where you said it would be.

Um, I sent you the precise GPS location 45 minutes ago. You literally drove to this spot without any further guidance from me. Now you want to argue about where it's parked and how much extra that's going to cost, even though you knew exactly where it was?

$50 extra.

Fucking shakedown on the side of the road with a busted down vehicle. Fucking Achmed is a dick.

But he knows it's now dark, I'm on the side of the interstate, and I'm probably not going to call another tow company and wait another hour.

So I paid it. Fuckers.

As soon as I got home I texted both the dispatcher and the driver the google address of the business my sequoia was parked in front of. Very clearly is a "Buda" address.

Radio silence. They knew. I'm going to make it my mission to post reviews every chance I get with the details about how Achmed is gonna fuck you over at the side of the road with the bait/switch.


So now I've got sequoia that won't start, won't run, and is missing both cats. It's throwing a P0340 code (Cam position sensor). I don't know if I really blew something up bad driving with no cats, or I just have a simple sensor problem. I'm not a mechanic.

So tired of dealing with this thieving bullshit. It's already cost me $1000, and now I have to try and fix the motor on top of that.

So pissed.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
I imagine trucks make an easier target as they are generally higher up and easier to get under.
It makes me uneasy as I have a truck.

You would think, but 3-4 Toyota prius cars got hit at a dealership overnight.
Cars were sitting there waiting for backordered parts for other repairs. Now they had to wait for the cats to come in...

Those cars are like 4" off the ground. One would think there was easier options sitting on the lot.

It won't change until they go after the scrapyards that buy them from the tweakers.

Make it so the scrapyards have to take ID and fingerprints from anyone selling more than 1. Make it so LE can inspect the books at any time, without a warrant.

If they fudge the books, arrest and seize the property and business of the scrapyard.

There's tons of scummy scrapyard owners that turn a blind eye to some tweaker coming in with 20 cats in a night and say "well how should I know where they got them, it could totally be legit!?!?!?"

They've been getting them here again. Storage mall where people stored vehicles. Year back it was stored cars at the local Flea Market and the Uhaul trucks at different locations. I agree with what KevinCW posted but, youtube has videos showing people the metals extracted from cats.If they can do that, there is no cat to take to a scrap yard. Every aspect of possesing a cat off a vehicle or the metals should be made illegal. Or come up with materials of junk value when manufacturing cats. Mean time, if the thieves get caught, lock them up for a while with no early release.

Years ago It was slipped out in a seminar I was taking on wood stove cataytics that the 'noble' metal in them was platinum .... seems the criminal world finally figured this out....

Many of these cat thefts are done to fill orders from disreputable repair shops. The guy whose cat was stolen last week comes in for replacement, shop owner tells his doper-thief crew what make and model is needed, someone else becomes the next victim.

Kind of a self-perpetuating business model. Victim #1 files a big insurance claim, repair shop charges full price for the new cat, chop crew gets a little dope money, Victim #2 is shopping for a replacement unit.

Not just local either. In some areas the theft rings span large geographic areas, a catalytic converter stolen tonight can be hundreds of miles away the next day. Seeing some reports of major LE raids netting dozens of bad actors and hundreds of cats.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
I imagine trucks make an easier target as they are generally higher up and easier to get under.
It makes me uneasy as I have a truck.

You would think, but 3-4 Toyota prius cars got hit at a dealership overnight.
Cars were sitting there waiting for backordered parts for other repairs. Now they had to wait for the cats to come in...

Those cars are like 4" off the ground. One would think there was easier options sitting on the lot.

Former coworker's daughter's Prius got his last year.
Something about the precious metals being less degraded with how 'clean' they run?
Agreed trucks & SUVs seem the easier hit with not needing to fumble with a jack during the heist.

quote:

Originally posted by fwbulldog:


I end up calling a flatbed tow truck service. I told him "I need to move a 4wd Sequoia from Buda to Round rock, how much?". I send him the exact GPS coordinate of the car, and my home address. He says "$275". I agree. He says 45 minutes. Ok.


So 45 minutes later Achmed shows up with a flatbed truck, and then proceeds to argue with me about the location. "You said this was Buda, this is Kyle, that's 10 miles further!". I'm like "no, this is Buda, Kyle is south of here. Are you telling me it's going to cost extra?". Yes, because it's not where you said it would be.

Um, I sent you the precise GPS location 45 minutes ago. You literally drove to this spot without any further guidance from me. Now you want to argue about where it's parked and how much extra that's going to cost, even though you knew exactly where it was?

$50 extra.

Fucking shakedown on the side of the road with a busted down vehicle. Fucking Achmed is a dick.

A lot of these tow "services" are a complete scam, there have been horror stories around here of people breaking down and the tow service basically holds the car ransom until the victim pays thousands of dollars. Happened here in and around Philly.

PSA for the future:

AAA costs us about $120/year for 4 insureds and provides us with a cumulative limit of 100 miles of free to us towing. We've used it 4 times in the past 10 years, so it's almost paid for itself.

AAA also works if I am a passenger in someone elses car. I can use my membership to pay for their tow.

A friend of mine had his stolen in the driveway from his Toyota. He finally had it replaced only for the thieves to hit a second time a couple of months later...

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
A lot of these tow "services" are a complete scam, there have been horror stories around here of people breaking down and the tow service basically holds the car ransom until the victim pays thousands of dollars. Happened here in and around Philly.

Are you sure those were breakdowns? Tows for breakdowns are usually short term simple affairs from the spot of the breakdown to either the owner's home or to a repair garage.

Typically, the stories about people owing tow companies thousands of dollars and their cars being held hostage come from cars that were towed after being illegally parked or parked in private lots.

The government or the property owner has the illegally parked car towed, and the tow company takes it to their impound lot. The tow company then won't release the car until the tow bill and impound fees are paid by the car's owner. Each day the bill isn't paid, the tow company adds on further daily impound storage fees, so the cost just keeps snowballing the longer the bill is unpaid.

The tow company then either gets the bill paid, or they put a lien on the car and eventually foreclose on it and sell it. Either way, they're making money.

And if you put a 240 grain pill in their ear,
Then!
You are the bad guy

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
PSA for the future:

AAA costs us about $120/year for 4 insureds and provides us with a cumulative limit of 100 miles of free to us towing. We've used it 4 times in the past 10 years, so it's almost paid for itself.

AAA also works if I am a passenger in someone elses car. I can use my membership to pay for their tow.

You forgot that the tow with AAA is 1/2 cost of what it would be for you to call someone.

Nah, have motion cameras out where vehicles are parked. They can try but they will be met with an armed response immediately. Best of luck to ‘em.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
And if you put a 240 grain pill in their ear,
Then!
You are the bad guy

I would be satisfied if we just cut the hands off the thieves. That would likely solve a lot of problems in the future and be a very strong deterrent.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
PSA for the future:

AAA costs us about $120/year for 4 insureds and provides us with a cumulative limit of 100 miles of free to us towing. We've used it 4 times in the past 10 years, so it's almost paid for itself.

AAA also works if I am a passenger in someone elses car. I can use my membership to pay for their tow.

You forgot that the tow with AAA is 1/2 cost of what it would be for you to call someone.

The two times I was involved in a AAA tow it took well over an hour for the truck to arrive... and this was in a city.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:

quote:

Originally posted by 41:

quote:

Originally posted by h2oys:
PSA for the future:

AAA costs us about $120/year for 4 insureds and provides us with a cumulative limit of 100 miles of free to us towing. We've used it 4 times in the past 10 years, so it's almost paid for itself.

AAA also works if I am a passenger in someone elses car. I can use my membership to pay for their tow.

You forgot that the tow with AAA is 1/2 cost of what it would be for you to call someone.

The two times I was involved in a AAA tow it took well over an hour for the truck to arrive... and this was in a city.

I have unfortunately needed a lot of tows recently, and an hour give or take seems to be the usual around here no matter who I use.

I was a long time AAA member. Even had their car insurance. One cold dark night, a GF slid into a snow covered ditch. No damage, just needed a winch out.
AAA refused to send a tow. Told me it was because their map showed the car was located "in an unpaved area". This was walking distance from my townhouse, in a complex of multiple buildings and dozens of residents.
I dumped AAA the very next day.

I’m not big on AAA either. Sister was locked out on a weekend, had them. After waiting two hours a police officer was able to come & get in.