Wife's Truck Stolen. What Next?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was working late last nite and got a call from my wife and son: “Ethan and I going into Party City to get stuff for Ethan’s Party.” (The kid’s 2nd birthday party is this Sat.)

Ten Minutes Later, another call: “You’re gonna think I’m nuts, but I think someone stole my new truck!”

As in, her brand new Silverado LT2 Crew Cab, 5.3l-V8 with 20" wheels, leather seats and satellite radio.

As in, less than 8 days old.

As in, less than 500 miles on the odometer.

As in, the purchase for which she spent three weeks researching and wheeling and dealing and dealer-hopping.

And yes, it was gone. Disappeared in broad twilight from a vast parking lot somewhere between Party City and Best Buy. I suspect it was professional thieves, with a shopping list from an organized chop shop operation. I’m just glad she and my son are OK and weren’t present for the actual crime.

I’m proud of her for how she handled it. She didn’t freak and was even optimistic about it – at least until we turned out the lights at bedtime, when her mind started projecting less than optimistic scenarios. The obligatory police reports and insurance claims were filed immediately, and calmly. However in 24 hours neither entity has contacted us in reply, and our calls are simply handled in “leave a message and the officer/agent in charge will get back to you.” (Two entities whose service has been exemplary however, are OnStar and Richard Hibbard Chevrolet in Claremont.)

So, now we are left hanging, especially with regard to the insurance claim.

Is there any chance remaining that the truck will be found?

How long will it take before State Farm decides to replace the vehicle? And how long will the process take?

Will they make it difficult for us to replace the vehicle with a truck of equivalent quality? A Chevy 1500 LT2 with 20" wheels isn’t cheap. But insurance companies are notoriously cheap.

What will happen to our auto insurance rates?

And the question that has me, an engineer, seething with repressed frustration and contempt:

Why the hell are American cars still so damn easy to steal?? (You’d think insurance companies would have forced the automakers to make this a bit harder, eh?) I blame Chevy as much as I blame the thieves.

2

A lot is going to depend on your state law and what insurance coverage you have. I suspect you have an unpleasant surprise coming.

At least in my state, the insurance company is probably going to offer you present market value for the vehicle. Note that present market value may be less than the balance due on the loan (if you financed). A “new” car that is only a few days off the lot is still a “used” vehicle for valuation purposes.

3

I think you are pretty much in luck if it comes down to the insurance. It is brand new and you have all the documents so you will just hand those over and say, “now build me another one!” Insurance companies are sleazy and I am all too familiar with their tactics but a new product is a new product. However, if they lock you in a room and try to get you to confess to stealing it yourself just resist and think of baseball until they get bored.

4

Sure-- it’s possible. The truck could have been stolen and used as a joy-ride vehicle. That’s what happened to an aunt of mine. Her SUV was stolen by some kids who wanted to take it mud-running. Apparently, they’d watched too many commercials because the reality of what the vehicle could do was quite different than the fantasy. (It was buried to the tops of the wheels.)

In her case, the vehicle was only slightly damaged. My Hubby, on the other hand, had his car stolen for a joy ride and the last he saw of it was as it was being winched from a basement.

The only thing that’s impossible to steal is a guarded tank and even that’s not impossible. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Sure, they could make it more difficult, but that would make the cars more expensive and create other problems. (Could they get you out of it easily if there was an accident?)

5

I’m not asking for impossible. And this is not an inexpensive vehicle.

Besides easily defeated door locks and ignition locks, American makes have no standard theft-prevention features at all, even in high-end trimlines.

Onstar? Slash the ceiling liner with a boxcutter and cut the antenna wire with a pair of dykes. Defeated.

That alarm that goes “chirp-chirp” when you remotely lock your doors? It’s not an alarm, it’s a placebo.

I admit, I have little patience for shoddy, corner-cutting designs. But this is ridiculous, especially when European automakers at least try.

6

While I am no fan of how easy it is to steal an American car, many GM models use a chip encoded key as standard equipment that is very definitely a theft prevention feature.

One word Lojack Ninety percent plus recovery rate.

Agreed, they are a joke. My daughter got one on her new pickup, just cause it gave her power door locks, not for the anti-theft. :slight_smile:

Back to the OP.
Your insurance contract requires them to repair or replace with like kind or quality up to the actual cash value of the vehicle. Obviously if the car is never recovered, there is no repair. Actual cash value is replacement cost less depreciation. I think that unless you insured with Fuck you mutual of Bumfuck Egypt that they are not even going to bother with any depreciation at 500 miles.
A large insurance company like State Farm, Allstate, or Farmers will probably have a hook up with a car buying service and will order you another one. They can probably buy it for less than you can.

When my house got burgled about 12 years ago State Farm said, well you can have $500 for the TV or we will ship you a brand new one (same make and model) for free. Worked for me.

Oh yeah, when you get the new one. Lojack baby lojack. You have a shot at revenge. :smiley:

7

I don’t think the task of making American cars virtually theft-proof is beyond our engineers, its just that people don’t want to pay for it or deal with the hassle and expense when it has to get fixed. You could have a chip in the key that sends a START signal straight to the starter with the ignition used just as a signaling point but people are going to get pissed when it is hard to get keys made or when that fancy starter has to come straight from the manufacturer and custom coded to the keys. The thing would fail some of the time and local garages couldn’t fix it right away. That would be a real vacation downer.

However, you can never stop people from just stealing your keys or driving your car away on a flatbed truck. Cars have to be easily towed away by external parties for your sake and their sake.

It is basically like how secure your house should be. Anyone that truly wants to break in can given the time and a little bit of knowledge. You can’t do much about those intruders but you can deter the ones that aren’t dead-set on your house in particular with some reasonable measures. Car theft doesnt really seem to be very common around here so I would opt of of something like that especially since insurance is going to cover it anyway.

8

Yikes, I meant dikes.

:smack:

9

Just to clear my conscience:

Dikes.

vs.

An unfortunate homophone.

/autothreadjack

10

Depends on whether there was a lien on the vehicle or not. If the car was financed, the insurance proceeds will likely go to the lienholder…

11

Bump!
So what happened? :confused:

12

I used to live in Richmond California. Ultra ghetto. Everyone I lived with had had their car broken into at least once. Lucky me, had my car stolen twice. Different cars, about 6 months apart. The first was a Ford Ranger. Thank god because the thief was only able to get it about half a mile before the engine shut off. Apparently some security feature where if the car’s not started with a key, the engine will shut off after a bit. Got it back with minimum damage.
Second car however…Saturn SL1. Piece of crap didn’t even put up a fight! Police found it three days later about 2 miles away. Completely stripped on the inside. And to add insult to injury, since I wasn’t able to go pick up the car immediately where they found it, it got impounded! WTF policeman?

My question really is…if you spent so much time and money on this car, didn’t it have some sort of ‘advanced’ security system? I’ve actually heard the best thing you can get is a brake lock. Since they’re nearly impossible to remove and the car can’t be started with them in place. also interested in hearing if the car was found