Yet another way to steal your car

[bethmaup]

Check out this site:

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Crime (VIN Laden)

Snopes says it's true.

[Frank Hudon]

gotta laugh out of an article in the local paper where this couple had their Honda Prelude stolen and who ever did it fixed the car up, replace a damaged door, cleaned it up and replace the front seats and installed a new stereo and even painted it and new tires and wheels. Left the stolen plates on the car. Got picked up and returned to the origional owners, who were quite happy for all the work that had been done. dumb or what?

[Starbug]

Gee, I wish that would happen to my Blazer. It needs help......

[KTPhil]

Not likely to happen with the Prius' key fob arrangement. Also, you need more than the VIN-- my dealer told me I would need the little stamped metal tag that came with the fob.

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

As Prii owners aren't we kind of immune to this scam?

First problem: The massive bill the dealer presents the thief . . . especially if it is a SmartKey car. "Yo dealer man, I ain't got dat kinda cash on me!" ("Here, let me give you my credit card" will not be the thief's next sentence)

Second problem: Doesn't the key have to be registered to the car first? Didn't I hear somewhere that if you loose both keys your car must be towed to a Toyota dealer to have new keys made???

[Frank Hudon]

if you lose both fobs and don't have the metal tag that came with them you get to buy a new immoblizer and two new fobs and pay to have them initilized to the immpblizer, want to bet this will eat up the better part of two grand.

[TimeFor]

I've had keys made for my BMW. 1st, they copy your ID... The name of the ID must be a registered owner of the vehicle. Second, it takes several days.. 2-3 days at least. Finally... when I picked up my new key, they asked to see a copy of the registration with my name on it. The bill for a BMW key, mind you it was laser cut….. but it was $180. I would bet a Prius fob to be 200+

Now this was at my dealer. I was already in their system and they knew me. So they must really need proof if you try to get a key at a dealer that doesn't know you.

[DaveG]

Second problem: Doesn't the key have to be registered to the car first? Didn't I hear somewhere that if you loose both keys your car must be towed to a Toyota dealer to have new keys made???

Well, to program a new key into the computer, the dealership needs to have one of your old keys, plus the dealer scantool for working on the computer. To get everything together (car + old key + new key + scantool) would be extrodinarily difficult for someone who's not a dealer themselves.

I'm not too worried about mine getting stolen.

Dave

[daniel]

Without a working fob, the only way is to replace the computer. The expense of that guarantees that the Prius will be very low on thieves' list of cars to steal. This has been discussed before here on Prius Chat. I think two grand was the cost mentioned. And the recommendation that you NOT lose both your fobs. A couple of hundred was, I think, the cost of a new fob + programming, if you still have one fob.

If they're going to chop the car they can tow it away. But demand for parts is still low enough that there's little incentive.

A variation of the original post is that some locksmiths don't bother to check for ID. ("I left my ID in the car/house/whatever.") But again, this will get them into your Prius but they still won't be able to drive away. They could hide in your back seat and then reach up and strangle you while you're driving down the freeway. But I've got better things to worry about.

[disneydad]

daniel

Hide in your back seat ? how much stuff do you keep back there, enough to hide a thieve ? :guns:

The prius has sooooo much glass how could you miss them, the inside lights come on when you unlock. :idea: