My brother had a weeks-old Porsche stolen out of his driveway. They determined that it was a ring of thieves that posed as a mobile car washing service. They would wash the cars, copy the key fob via some electronic gear, then someone comes back in the middle of the night to take the car. The cops told him that the car was probably on a boat to Africa within a couple of hours of being taken.

Just before the impeachment hearings began, investigative journalist John Solomon had his late model SUV broken into and his laptop computer with his notes on it stolen from the vehicle, near the White House.

The laptop was dumped by the thief after a failed attempt to access the data, and recovered about a block away from where it was stolen.

Both the Secret Service and the D.C. police investigated the theft, determined the vehicle was properly locked, but the thief used a high tech electronic "lock jamming" device to enter the vehicle and flee in 17 seconds with the stolen laptop.

Stands to reason that if a thief that can electronically access a late model vehicle that quickly then the tech exists to steal the vehicle as well.

Conservative Journalists Beware? A Major One Had His Car Broken Into and Laptop Stolen

A brand new Tesla was taken from a driveway with a security camera. This video is a loaner being stolen

The whole thing took about 30 seconds

https://insideevs.com/news/366...k-theft-preventable/

One of may videos of this happening to many cars

I had a gold Ford Focus for 14 years. No one ever tried to steal it.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
I’m shocked that someone that owns a car like that can’t afford a garage to put it in.

In past 8 years apartment living in Tucson, I've had three motorcycles damaged by attempted theft, parts stolen or otherwise vandalized. All bikes were covered parked some distance from my apartment.

I finally bought a house with a two car garage. Maybe the cretins will now leave my motorcycles alone.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Theoretically, what's the defense against a fob booster signal device? Store the fob in a foil bag?

Either store it in some kind of signal blocking cage/bag, or store it as far away from the car as possible and not near an outside wall.

Also, some modern car remotes are now being planned/designed to include internal motion sensors, and they won't activate or emit a signal if they've been stationary for over X amount of time. So when you put it on the nightstand for the evening, the remote deactivates until you pick it up to use it.

Either of these work again people using signal booster boxes. But they don't prevent the bad guys following the owner and copying/cloning the remote signal when it's used, or copying and cloning the signal through some other fraudulent method (like the aforementioned car washers).


Or, an old school means to foil either method of theft is The Club.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Or, an old school means to foil either method of theft is The Club.

Oh yeah, I had one of those in the 90s!

Another option for those paranoid, I mean concerned about auto theft is this.

As a follow-up to the thread, the latest issue of Maritime Executive has a relevant article about stealing high-end vehicles from North America and shipping them overseas... The ring that got busted is probably just the tip of the iceberg...

https://www.maritime-executive...s-and-canadian-ports

Chop shop or on a boat are both good bets.
Local Sheriff's Department busted some racers at a local dragstrip. They were racing stolen bikes and cars; even mini vans. Trailered them in, raced them, trailered them out. They never operated them on the street, so no one never pulled them over.
I would not be overly surprised if it doesn't happen at road courses' "Track Days".

I have zero use for any thief.

maybe the loan company had a key that they gave the repo guy

Can't speak for all but GM vehicles and only through the 2017 model year.

GM and law enforcement agencies found out that in many cases theft rings had someone inside a dealership with access to the maufacturer's key code data base was being used to get codes. At that time before things were tightened up anybody who had access to GM's system had access to the codes. After the tightening of procedures only a certain number of dealership employees had the authorization that had to be accessed via a code. And those requests were supposed to be maintained in a file in the dealership along with GM corporate database by date, vehicle, person accessing and dealership location.

Once the mechanical part of the lock, the key was cut the next step was to program the key to the car. With one of the keys that was originally programmed, for instance of a lost key, it would take well under a minute to program a duplicate key to the car or truck. If there was no originally programmed key, it took a half hour together with timing, physical action of turning the key off and on at a predetermined timespan.

Scenarios come to mind, either a duplicate key or transponder was made when the vehicle was in for service, the vehicle was taken via flatbed to another location for a reprogram, a repo or that the owner is in on the theft for many reasons.

I solved 90% of the problem by buying a manual transmission vehicle...

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:
I solved 90% of the problem by buying a manual transmission vehicle...

How does a manual transmission solve any part of the problem?

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

quote:

Originally posted by ElToro:

I solved 90% of the problem by buying a manual transmission vehicle...

How does a manual transmission solve any part of the problem?

The implication is that most people do not know how to drive a vehicle with manual transmission, so the thieve might not know how to drive it away.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Theoretically, what's the defense against a fob booster signal device? Store the fob in a foil bag?

Either store it in some kind of signal blocking cage/bag, or store it as far away from the car as possible and not near an outside wall.

Also, some modern car remotes are now being planned/designed to include internal motion sensors, and they won't activate or emit a signal if they've been stationary for over X amount of time. So when you put it on the nightstand for the evening, the remote deactivates until you pick it up to use it.

Either of these work again people using signal booster boxes. But they don't prevent the bad guys following the owner and copying/cloning the remote signal when it's used, or copying and cloning the signal through some other fraudulent method (like the aforementioned car washers).


Or, an old school means to foil either method of theft is The Club.

LOL!!! I worked as an autotheft investigator for over five years as a LEO in the 1990's and wrote/executed literally dozens of search warrants for chopshops in Southern California. I could sink a good sized boat with all the "Clubs" I seized at these locations, which had been on victims' vehicles. If it makes you feel less vulnerable to theft, go ahead and use one, but any professional car thief that lets those things slow them down for ten seconds is a newbie for sure!!!!

My suggestion: Look at what's available for notifying you if your car is moved and simultaneously gives you GPS info on it's location, direction of travel, and speed. These really work and are a bit tough for car thieves to locate/disable.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Or, an old school means to foil either method of theft is The Club.

I picked open a Club for someone at work last week. Took about seven seconds.

I once repossessed a car where the owner had wired a stun gun in between the seat and backrest. Hidden switch (that you need to remember to turn off) under the dash. With it on the stun gun powered on with the ignition.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I had a gold Ford Focus for 14 years. No one ever tried to steal it.

I'm with you. I think some people get sloppy. I have a lime green 1974 Vega station wagon and I have been able to keep it safe for years. This baby's mint.

And no, it is not for sale at any price.



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