So there I was early this morning taking out the trash, and on my neighbor’s windshield is a 3"x5" card saying “I’d like to buy your car. If you are interested, please call Joe Smith at 123-555-1212”. I could swear that I’ve heard someplace that this is a well known car theft trick, placing these cards on several windshields then coming back a day later. If the card is still in place, it may be reasonably concluded that the owner has not moved the car nor even walked past it. So if the car is stolen it may not be reported for a few days.
Especially since we are in the middle of a long weekend when it’s more likely than usual that people would be away for a while.
So the question is, has anyone heard of this ploy? Am I being paranoid? I live in an urban area near San Francisco, in case that matters.
Snopes doesn’t have anything on this as a particular tactic, but there is a debunked myth that flyers were being used by carjackers to get the victim to step out of the vehicle.
I’ve left this type of note on a bunch of cars over the years. Usually along the lines of “if you ever want to sell this car, or junk it for parts, call me”. This was always on older cars because I had one like it and wanted spare parts, or I knew the car was worth a small fortune in parts.
I don’t know if it’d work. I live in Chicago and when people get good spaces they often won’t move them. I live 5 minutes from the subway so a lot of people will use that for work and their car for weekends. I imagine other cities are like that too. It might work in the suburbs but I would question it in an urban place where parking is premium
A friend of mine successfully sold their car this way. She had a Honda with enough wrong with it to not be worth repairing. She bought a new car, and after leaving the old one parked on the street for a few weeks found a note from someone who wanted to buy it for parts. Doesn’t mean your note isn’t some nefarious ploy, but this can be legit.
This reminds me that I sold my old car pretty much this way. This was in Sunnyvale, 20 miles South of the OP, about 14 years ago. Some guy from San Jose or maybe Santa Clara, I think. I had bought a new car, so the old one was parked in front of my house for a while. I always figured he bought cars cheap from people who weren’t using them, fixed them up a little, and resold them at a profit.
Generally car thieves don’t need much more than a 1 hour head start. Give them a minute to get it on the road and a few more to get it to the chop shop and they’re good to go. If it’s a classic car they’re after it’s going on an enclosed trailer a few minutes away. if it’s a joy rider, they won’t bother with the flyer.
Now this might be a good trick for a home burglar, but I have no idea about ham burglars. robblerobble
I once came out of a store to find a guy leaning over the driver door of my 69 roadrunner in what I perceived to be ‘slim jim’ posture. When I screamed at him to get the fuck away from my car, he turned around with pencil and paper in hand. “relax dude! I was writing a note asking if you wanted to sell it!”
If I were a thief and wish to use such a ploy, I would use a blank card that could be spotted from a distance. Why provide any information that could possibly lead back to me?
