In 1991 my friend locked his keys in his car. He called somebody who came and inserted a thin piece of metal between the gasket and the window, and popped up the lock.
Are newer cars built the same way, so you could pop the lock like that?
Isn't it awfully easy for a thief to open a lock this way?
Yes.
It requires a larger array of little metal devices, but for the most part, yes.
Takes too long. With an auto body dent puller they can have your lock out completely and the door open within five seconds flat.
--scott
Tell me about it.. 2 months ago someone popped my passengers side door lock and stole my '98 Breeze (busted the column up too). Found it
14 hours later.. 2 weeks later it gets broken into again (this time they popped the drivers door). They didn't steal it this time (must have been different people). I don't think they notices that the column was still busted and they could of had a free car. They just went through my center console this time.. Now I can't lock my car up at all. :(
Do you think a Slimjim would work on a 2003 Honda Civic?
There's probably a special purpose metal tool specifically designed for that model car. If you call a locksmith out, he'll bring a whole bag of different tools, each specifically designed for particular lock configurations.
If he can't use the tool, he can usually pick the lock but that's apt to take longer, and time is money.
The thieves don't bother with any of this stuff, because the thieves don't care if your finish gets scratched up. (And if they do, they'll just bring a towtruck and tow the car away, which is very popular in the DC area at least.)
--scott
Richard Fangnail wrote:
easily , I've done it.
What kind of person steals a 98 Breeze????
As a practicing "repo-man", I can say with authority, that I can take your car and be on my way in about a minute and an half with a "stinger truck" and 30 feet in front or behind your ride.
This is not bullshit.
someone who wanted a free ride.
Or as my friend calls them "easy steal Mopars"
A guy gets into an accident in a '98 Breeze, dings up a door, say. He takes it to a body shop... the body shop needs a door for a '98 Breeze of a particular color. They call a chop shop. The chop shop has guys who roam around the city with a list of desired vehicles.... when they find one they like, they break into it and start it up, or they tow it off with a tow truck, taking it to the chop shop (sometimes with a couple days' cooling off time in a lot somewhere), where they take the thing down into parts which they sell.
For a while there were a number of GM car with ECU issues, and a lot of people were going out, finding their cars wouldn't start, and discovering that the ECU had been stolen in the night. But for body parts it's easier to just take the whole car.
If there is a demand for a particular part in the aftermarket, there are criminals who will supply those parts well below aftermarket prices.
--scott
I've seen it. It's scary how fast you guys work.
--scott
snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:ghmj3b$hg3$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:
I've seen it done with a regular wrecker. The target car was parked in a driveway nose-in. The repo man (at least that's what I hope he was!) lifted the car up from the back, then just dragged it away around the corner. The car's front tires were skidding on the road and not turning. Took him about a minute, I'd say. Maybe less. I guess he must have stopped at some point later and put the front wheels on a dolly.
Yeah, he stopped to put it up right. The trick is to get a block away or so and either "run around" the car/truck to pick up the drive axles or put it on dollys *AWAY* from the "customer" that was unwilling to turn over the keys in a timely fashion (well over 60 days). This method keeps a fella from getting shot in the hood.
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