Opened the front door of the house to got to work...Suprise, no car, just a pile of glass on the ground where my car used to be. Yup, the car has been stolen. How the hell did that thing get stolen when I have all the keys. The only place my car has been that required someone else to have my keys was the body shop from an accident about a month ago. Are these cars really that easy to steal? I thought that unless you have the transponder then no go? What gives? Such a nightmare. And of all the cars I have owned...This one was my favorite.

 

OH NO!! Do you have any theft recovery system or anything?? I hope the police can find it. So sorry to hear this!

One more reason that I don't like most people.

 

Sorry to hear about this. I don't live very far from you. I guess it's time to keep a closer eye on things.

 

Do you have pictures or a description so people in the area might at least keep their eyes open?

 

Wow, that's horrible.

This won't make you feel any better, but Wired did an article on the transponder code thing that is supposed to make the car undriveable without the key... to sum it up, if someone really wants your car, it's a sitting duck. Here's a link.

 

I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm sure you must have such an empty feeling inside.

I hope they find it and it's still in good condition.

Bad people suck.

 

Oh crap, that is not cool! And I live near you, too. Will be locking up my MINI in the garage constantly now.

I really hope they find your MINI very soon and in OK condition.

 

Sorry to hear that. I guess I'll have to warn my little brother to keep an extra eye on his black '05 MC cabrio as he lives near Dallas as well...

Another thing, not to put down the auto body business, but I remember years ago (while I was in college), a friend of mine got his Honda Accord repaired at an auto body shop. He mentioned to me that his key looked as if someone has scraped a soap bar with it. A few weeks later, car was stolen. When he told the police about the previous repair facility and the soap thing, the officer told him that most likely they made a "negative" copy of the key imprinted in the soap bar. Then it was a matter of finding a blank key... you draw conclusions from there...
What's circling in my head is how to get a transponder signal to get the car to start. Unless the bad guys are really computer geeks....

 

I remember waking up one morning and going outside to get the paper and thinking there was something wrong with this picture. Went back outside and realized my Mustang LX 5.0 was gone. Oddly enough, we found it parked around the corner just out of sight. Which meant that whomever took it lived in the area and drove it back to get home, but not before they stole everything in it including the stock stereo. I loved that car but felt so violated that I had to sell it. They even smoked in it.

 

That sucks

Hope the insurance company gove you a fair replacement value.
I would not want my car back if it was stolen and joy rided.

My boss had his mini van stolen at a repir shop a few years ago.
Cops found the car a few weeks later with a custom sound system installed, carpeted dash/steering wheel etc..

The police department took the van back since it was not supposed to be released from the impound yard- evidence for a murder.

 

I think I'll be installing a fuel pump cut off switch on Gromit someday. I have one on my MGB. Just a tiny little micro switch that interrupts the electrical circuit for the SU fuel pump. Most thieves aren't going to spend 10 - 20 minutes looking for something they don't know exists.

Now, NO car is safe if the bad guys use a flatbed to haul it away with. Rather like fake movers emptying someone's home.

 

that is wrong, just horrible!
so sorry, hope you find him quickly and unharmed!

 

Whoa! That bites big time, other than an alrm, does LoJack work?

 

I have LoJack on mine (04 MCS) and, luckily, I haven't had the opportunity to find out how well it works. In any case, it doesn't stop the theft, just helps the cops to find it.

 

Here in San Diego all LoJack means to police is "oh hey, another car was stolen with LoJack..." "Oh hey, there's the gps locator signal...there it goes right across the border...."

There's no hope of getting it back with LoJack because it just goes immediately south to Mexico!

 

I subscribe to the "simplest explanation is probably the most likely without further evidence" rule. They probably broke the window to release the parking brake and take the car out of gear to then tow it. If they really had the means to bypass the RFID system, then they probably had the means to get by the door lock, so why break the window?

Hopefully the MINI will be recovered and you'll be able to get an answer as to how they took it.

 

Occams Razor!

 

Thats horrible... hopefully it's found close by with little additional damage.

Great article Monk, scary how easy it is to bypass some of these "sophisticated" systems.