My First 'Total Car Theft" Sucks

So Friday morning my Wife goes to start our much liked 2019 Chrysler Pacifica and finds it missing, just a spot of glass. This is the first time I have had a car stolen. I guess it makes them enough money as they have enough people to take two or three cars that same morning from my neighborhood and left them just a half mile away at a vacant house lot. Mine was taken before sunrise and found before lunch. I saw it as it was getting towed out by the police missing all of the wheels and with the driver window and rear glass broken. I was able to have time to empty out all of our stuff but if only I had my winter wheels and tires set I wanted to buy over the summer. I could have had it towed to the shop. Instead, without any wheels on the van, the insurance company couldn't get someone to tow it that day. So the police stated that because it was on private (even if it was vacant) property, they could not allow me to leave it there. If on the street they could have left it there for me and the insurance company to get later. They dragged it onto a flatbed.........sickening.

Police gave me background of how this was a migrating operation but couldn't really help beyond that.

Insurance is USAA and they are hyper respectful but aren't consistent in their information to me about what the next steps are. I think we are on track to get the van from the contracted police lot.

And oh my what fun it is to deal with a contracted police lot. They of course are trying to scam everyone for more money. Wouldn't let me see the van and threatened to call the police if I chose to walk their 'private property' to look for my van. Ran USAA through circles trying to get them to pay more money for them to deliver rather than allowing USAA's contracted towing company to get it. So I couldn't get the van released from their lot before the weekend starts. It sat over the weekend with the driver window and rear glass broken and it rained all weekend. Soooo...ugh. 

This is all very painful. My first time having a car stolen in my life of cars. I guess I never owned a car that someone really wanted. IDK. Just depressed and angry and sad that when we do get the minivan back that it just won't be the same brand new van we just finished a long vacation in. My 8 year old is actually in mourning over this and feels unsafe.......

So hoping to get the van into the hands of USAA and the repair shop today. Just step by step. 

Man, that sucks.

When I lived in St. Louis, now-Curtis's Le Mans got stolen out from behind our apartment building one night.  Being a '67 that was easy peasy and being a ragtop I never locked it or left anything of value in it.  But they joyrided it around for a day before they ran over a parked motorcycle and wiped out the right front corner.

It sucks.  Thieves suck.  I hope you get made whole and the van gets put right.

Argh that stinks - only vehicle I have had stolen was found running before I knew it was stolen.  Unfortunately sounds too new to be considered totaled.  Hang in there and keep your paper trail going via email so that you have records when you get close to the finish line.

Damn, that sucks.  Especially the crooked contract lot.

Sorry to hear it.  Yeah, tow yards are bastards and thieves.  It's sickening.  Let me know if you need anything.

Insurance companies have deep pockets.  Let them know what the tow yard did (and failed to do) and let them sue to recover the costs of having the interior replaced (water damage and mold).  

Also the towing/dragging will need to be addressed and a thorough undercarriage inspection performed.  It probably needs new brakes and exhaust at a minimum.  

You were an innocent party in this and for the "authorities" to treat your property so crappily is unacceptable.  Be the shiny happy person now, being nice won't get you anywhere.

Thanks for the sympathy guys.

@KyAllroad

I am not too good at that shiny happy person thing. I will try to go into my work mode when I am dealing with a terrible contactor. But when I do that outside of work I seem to shutdown my options rather than open any up. Which is also why I suck at price haggling type shopping. On the other hand, I think I am over the shock and destabilization of my thoughts now. So at least I am thinking more clearly about it all. Didn't help that I was fighting the flu the majority of last week. I will have to pressure USAA to replace the interior carpet in the back, driver seat and door trim. The underbody was already a bit beaten up by whatever method the thieves used to lift the van to get the wheels off. Both facias were smashed. The van had the radar cruise control and I could see that sensor was crunched on the front. The liftgate I would assume to be non repairable due to the many areas pushed in along the crease lines. Don't see them getting those back to stock conditions. 

I am trying to get my head to be ok with living with this van long term as the thieves were in it but just long enough to take the wheels off. I think I would have had a harder time if it was used for weeks as a mobile drug lab or something. 

I guess my last sentence in the post above really tells how differently I look at my cars. 

If this was my Evo I wouldn't care or if it was one of my past cars like my racing Neon or my G35. They are just cars.

But the van I use to take my kids to school seems sacred almost part of my family as it is linked to memories of my kids in it. 

Any possibility of it being totaled? 

Saron81 said:

Any possibility of it being totaled? 

Sitting outside in the rain for a weekend with no glass I'd be fighting tooth and nail to see it totaled. Electrical circuits and water don't mix and don't always show problems right away.

If planning to take the approach of rain water intrusion, it might be wise to keep some records of local rainfall and precipitation for the days it sat unprotected. 

In reply to Saron81 :

Totaled, I don't think so. I am sure they have some algorithm to trigger that. 

We owned the van for a couple weeks shy of one full year. We leased it and I am not sure if the lease holding bank has a say. But I assume USAA will total up the cost and decide repair is the better choice for them. 

All for stock wheels...

I've never understood it and still don't.

A local Dodge dealer has had it happen once or twice within the six years I've lived here. They now close/lock their gates and park a truck/long van in front of every gate door. They've also gotten even brighter LED lights to cover the entire lot.

Without seeing photos, I couldn't say for sure, but I doubt it'll be totaled.  Unless it got submerged in a complete downpour, I don't think some rain inside will total it.  I wouldn't.  Let the carrier do their jobs and go from there.  They're very unlikely to go after the tow yard for damages to the interior.  Again, I wouldn't. 

Don't forget to push for diminished value also.

It'll have a theft/recovery record on the books.

FuzzWuzzy said:

All for stock wheels...

I've never understood it and still don't.
 

It is a crying shame that these "free wheels and tires", which might have an insurance replacement value of $300 per alloy and $150 per tire or sub $2k total replacement, the van likely has more than $10k damage.  Worse yet, these wheels and tires will be sold via CL for less than $1k.  

So, $10k of theft/damage results in $1k.  Maybe even less than $1k, a lot less. Sure, it's "free money" to the thief but still hugely upside down.  

I'm glad to hear it's a lease.  This just at least implies that this was not a vehicle that you planned to own for the long haul.  In a couple of years it will be out of your life...if not out sooner.  

Sucks that the "recovery ring" after the theft ring was made it even worse. That sux.  

johndej said:

Don't forget to push for diminished value also.

It'll have a theft/recovery record on the books.

That's an important consideration, but I don't know who that affects in the case of a lease. I'd sure like to know more about that.

pinchvalve said:

Sucks that the "recovery ring" after the theft ring was made it even worse. That sux.  

HA! 'recovery ring' Yes exactly!!

That made it much worse of a day. I figured I just had to go sign the release so USAA could take the van and was still a little off balance mentally. Then realized I was not amongst anyone that had any sympathy and were in fact working to steal more from me. I will say the actual tow truck driver that took my van tried to talk his coworker/Dad? (he called him Baba) into being nice. I don't know if that was some good cop bad cop BS or if he thought I walked out to call USAA but I was just standing behind another guy in the waiting area as he admonished his Dad for trying to scam me. Nope he just turned his scam effort to 11.  

In reply to Klayfish :

Thank you for your words. I got some photos but realized the misty rain made most of them fuzzy blob photos. So I only have two good ones from further back. 

What makes things a headache is that USAA's towing contractor can't find wheels yet to put on the van to tow it to the actual repair shop. So I am on still have to be ready to go to the lot sometime as the current lot guy demanded that I am there with the truck driver to release the van. USAA says that this is usually not the case as their contractor shows up with all my information anyway and a boiler plate statement of release that I guess we give by signing up with USAA and initiating a claim process. That authorizes USAA to transport the van as necessary to complete the repairs. IDK.

Sort of a side question, but how (no need to be overly specific of course) do you even steal a 2019 car without the key fob?  How do they get past the security systems?  It's not like you can just how wire it like it's a 58 Buick!

And yes, all that for stock wheels is stupid. But then again, if they were smart, they wouldn't be stealing cars in the first place...

John Welsh said:

FuzzWuzzy said:

All for stock wheels...

I've never understood it and still don't.
 

It is a crying shame that these "free wheels and tires", which might have an insurance replacement value of $300 per alloy and $150 per tire or sub $2k total replacement, the van likely has more than $10k damage.  Worse yet, these wheels and tires will be sold via CL for less than $1k.  

So, $10k of theft/damage results in $1k.  Maybe even less than $1k, a lot less. Sure, it's "free money" to the thief but still hugely upside down.  

Sort of like the scum who steal copper out of unoccupied buildings.  They do thousands and thousands in damage to make $100 in scrap.

aircooled said:

Sort of a side question, but how (no need to be overly specific of course) do you even steal a 2019 car without the key fob?  How do they get past the security systems?  It's not like you can just how wire it like it's a 58 Buick!

I often wonder what the range on the fobs is.  For example, keys are on the nightstand on the other side of a wall less than six feet away from the car.  Maybe it will start?

In reply to aircooled :

Jack it up and throw it on a trailer is my best guess.

I did recently learn on accident that my wagon's alarm will go off if it's locked and the car is getting jacked up, so that's nice.

Or if there's movement inside the car because you didn't see the cat jump in when you shut the door and lock it.


Which reminds me, do you or your neighbors have any sort of CCTV or video doorbell like Ring? Wouldn't hurt to see if any of them could check if they could see anything.