Yes, another "car stolen" thread

[ken0042]

Yep, it happened to me today. Got to the 39th ave LRT, and didn't see my car. Thought it might be behind a van parked towards the back, nope wasn't mine. No sign of it, no broken glass, just no car.

I had a look through past threads, and it appears we have a common theme- parking at LRT stations.

So, I called the police, called the insurance company, called a buddy for a ride home. Anything else I missed?

[Looger]

i haven't had my car stolen but my last ride had at least three attempts, a previous owner had installed a switch under the seat that i believe disabled the starter relay without pressing it while you turn it over.

the last attempt they got a little desperate and tried the wrench trick, bridging battery to starter. they must have gotten a good spark because they set the car on fire, the main engine wiring harness burnt up. i didn't have fire insurance but trade-wise it wasn't a problem for me to rebuild.

my suspicions as to who that one was were pretty much confirmed when one of my neighbours was skulking around... serves me right for parking in prince george i suppose, one neighbour was a hooker and the guys upstairs were car thieves!

so all i can offer as advice is to put some kind of electrical disable into your next ride.

[Cube Inmate]

In case you had any personal information stored in the car (e.g. service receipt with a credit card number on it for some stupid reason, or even registration and insurance) ... watch out for identity theft.

[housejunk]

I can sympathize. Never had my car stolen, but it was broken into 3 times over 5 years at Southland station.

[ken0042]

Yep, I've already called my bank and told them to watch for suspicious activity. Not sure if I had any old cheques in the glove compartment.

[Eddie Bronze]

A lot of people on here having this problem at LRT stations. Security is almost non-existant at most of them, no? Kind of a "use at your own risk" sort of deal, but the city is trying to promote public transit? They're should be a security guard at each park 'n ride at high volume times, perhaps?

Sorry to hear about your car, Ken. I wonder if any of the people who've been ripped off on here ever got their rides back? We have friends back home who got their car stolen and five , yes FIVE, years later they got it back! Never give up hope I guess.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

A lot of people on here having this problem at LRT stations. Security is almost non-existant at most of them, no?

That's something I was thinking of as I stood in that empty lot talking on the phone to the police (very nice police lady btw)- why are there no cameras at the stations? How hard would that be- given the problems with thefts. At least be a bit of a deterrent.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Looger

i haven't had my car stolen but my last ride had at least three attempts, a previous owner had installed a switch under the seat that i believe disabled the starter relay without pressing it while you turn it over.

That sounds absolutely brilliant. How do you get one of these installed or is it completely a Macgyver style do it yourself?

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by ken0042

That's something I was thinking of as I stood in that empty lot talking on the phone to the police (very nice police lady btw)- why are there no cameras at the stations? How hard would that be- given the problems with thefts. At least be a bit of a deterrent.

After the killing that took place at one of the south stations not too long ago, there was a big outcry about this. Only days after, the Conservative government made a committment to put x amount of dollars into public transit in major cities across the country. Calgary got the smallest amount.

They talked to Bronco about this and although he said he was dissapointed, they would do whatever they could with it, most or all of it going to security cameras. Where and how they locate those cameras is going to be key in deterring the crime.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

That sounds absolutely brilliant. How do you get one of these installed or is it completely a Macgyver style do it yourself?

A lot of new vehicles come with immobilizers, no? I know mine has one.

[Looger]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

That sounds absolutely brilliant. How do you get one of these installed or is it completely a Macgyver style do it yourself?

this was macguyver style.

as to Eddie Bronze's reply the entire point of this is that it's unique, not that those immobilizers aren't bad.

the solution on my car probably cost four bucks and an hour of fiddling around.

EDIT: i'm sure anyone installing car stereos can put in a proper immobilizer type system or a low-buck jobber style if you're paying the labour.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

Sorry to hear about your car, Ken. I wonder if any of the people who've been ripped off on here ever got their rides back? We have friends back home who got their car stolen and five , yes FIVE, years later they got it back! Never give up hope I guess.

After 5 years, you can have the damn car! I'll take my insurance cheque please!

They talked to Bronco about this and although he said he was dissapointed, they would do whatever they could with it, most or all of it going to security cameras. Where and how they locate those cameras is going to be key in deterring the crime.

The cameras are more meant to positively identify criminals and spot suspicious packages/activity on the train itself - I doubt there's extra money to cover the parking lots. Not that they shouldn't though.

[Cube Inmate]

What model of car, if you'd be kind enough to divulge? If it's a GM crapmobile, I'll understand any reluctance to admit it :P

[feartheflames]

mine was stolen last week!!! i am so mad, it was my jeep grand cherokee, i named him Igor, and the jerkoff ripped him to shreds! i am very upset about it

[Rifleman]

What about those GPS tracking systems? I heard they can be pretty tiny nowadays. Sure, your car might be taken apart by the time they track it, but one on say, the bumper or inside the tire would at least give police the lead on where to look for the part, and then they can question how they got said part/tire and go from there.

[Tron_fdc]

There's a set of wires that run off your solenoid (sp?) that if you put a relay switch through you can disable your car. I used to do it with all the landcruisers and 4 runners I drove years back. It's pretty simple to do: locate your solenoid, find the power wire running through it (usually red) cut it, and run a wire from it through your firewall to a toggle switch hidden somewhere under your dash, then back to the original solenoid wire to complete your circuit.

Just be sure to tell the person you sell your car to what you did: if they accidentally bump the switch the car will turn over but not start.

[Bobblehead]

My buddy had a McGuyver type switch in his car. It was a toggle under the dash (Edit: exactly as Tron noted). He forgot about it once(he hadn't used it in a while) and when he couldn't start the car one day he had it towed to a shop. About 5 minutes after the tow-truck pulled away it dawned on him as to what the issue might be.

Many cars have immobilizers. I had a '99 Grand Am where, if someone tried to start the car without the key the fuel pump would shut off for 20 minutes. That was standard in that model. I was at Quinn Security and asked the guy about those types of theft deterrents. He said the chances of my car getting stolen were slim (but I should get an alarm to try and prevent the theft of contents).

[Flame On]

Brutal man this exact thing happened to me at Dalhousie last year. Then you get the fun of insurance haggling. Especially if they recover it.
Makes you sick that's it's probably some punk that the police know about; as they told us, that they can do nothing about. 14 year olds. Messed it up, smoked up and it and left it upon running out of gas. F***ers!
Good luck and I hope it goes very smoothly for you.

[CaptainCrunch]

I like the idea of putting an anti personal mine under the drivers seat, and setting it up so that if the driver dosen't disarm it before he starts the car he's blown into a million pieces.

Hey if I can't have my car nobody else can

[Burninator]

Sorry to hear about your car.

I had my stereo stolen in my last car while parked at the Canyon Meadows train station. I was parked right in front a video camera. Called numerous people and left messages with city transit and nothing. I was pretty choked about that. Atleast insurance gave me an excellent replacement. But I park there all the time now and have never had a problem since.