My son moved to Utah from NC and after being there 5 days his car was stolen. He’s in SLC.
What are the chances he gets the car back? Car is 1999 Acura Integra so the value is low. Maybe it was just taken for a joy ride? I assume if the cops don’t find the car in the next few days the odds of it being found go down a lot.
Older cars are actually heavily targeted by thieves because of their lesser/more easily defeatable security, and Acura Integras are one of the most-stolen cars. The value is in the parts, not the car itself. Unfortunately your son’s car is probably already chopped up. It’s gone. Hope he had comprehensive coverage.
No comprehensive coverage since the value is so low. Had the car for 4 years without an issue here in NC. It does have after market wheels so maybe it was stolen for those.
I bought the car used . Ironically a previous owner lived in NYC for a while and you would think that it would have been stolen there, not SLC.
It’s the engine they want. They pull out the engine, cram it into a Honda Civic, and soup it up for street racing.
Yes I know that the engine could be the target. I could see that happening in a place like LA. However I was pretty shocked to see that those type of sleazeballs are in Utah too. But I guess crime is all over.
I don’t know how much effort the cops will put into looking for the car , looking at local mechanics and so on. I assume cops don’t spend a lot of time on these cases.
Exactly this. My old Integra was stolen twice. It had LoJack (GPS transmitter) so the police were able to find it both times. The first time it was in a warehouse waiting its turn to be chopped up. The second time it took a day to locate (it was stolen on a holiday). It was in someone’s garage minus the transmission and a few other parts.
Sorry to say, there is essentially no chance that your son’s will be recovered. My condolences to him. I was crushed when mine was lost; you can’t recover what they were worth to you.
I wonder how the thieves found the car so fast? He just moved there a week ago. And it was parked in an apartment parking lot. Do they cruise parking lots looking for cars worth stealing? I guess it’s possible someone saw him driving it and followed him. Or someone who lives there tipped off the crooks.
I’ve never been there myself, but from what I’ve heard SLC has a surprisingly large number of scumbags. Everyone thinks it’s full of goody-two-shoes Mormons, and granted, it is, but of course that does not preclude shady shit going on. It’s the biggest city in the state, by far, and that comes with all of the pitfalls of the being the major metropolitan area in the region, one of the biggest of which is property crime.
Not really a General Questions as the OP will get many opinions. Moved to IMHO.
samclem, moderator
I guess I was lucky to have the car for 4 years when it’s such a target for scumbags.
update : car is recovered minus the wheels. A prior owner put after market wheels so I guess these crooks only wanted the wheels. I’ve always thought new wheels are a really dumb way to spend money.
Not sure if I will sell the car but that seems logical given it’s still a high target car. Clearly if I replace the wheels they will be real basic wheels .
Glad you got it back, now someone needs to make a real-world MagnaVolt system
GPS Trackers are relatively inexpensive these days.
http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=109&refer=FrontpageBanner
I wish people would leave the comp coverage on their cars even after it’s paid off. Comp is your fire, theft, animal collision, and glass coverage. It’s also usually fairly inexpensive.
Do they raise rates for a theft claim? I assume they do , just like the rest of coverages.
Also I am pretty sure they told me that comp for this car would not be cheap. Most likely because they know it’s a theft target.