Truck stolen from dealership

[hh76]

Man what a shit show. The fact the guy lied to you saying it was being worked on while it was stolen would have me talking to a lawyer
Good luck

Benefit of the doubt, maybe the guy answering the phone looked out the window, didn't see the truck, and thought that meant it was in the bay?

I had a friend who had a similar thing happen at a chain store mechanic. Guy doing the brakes forgot to bleed them and proceeded to crash the car into a block wall right in front of us. Her local insurance agent did a lot of fighting for her, and got her more money than I thought the old car was worth. I think the store even paid for a rental until she found a new car.

I'm curious about the keys to your truck, and if they were left in the vehicle. If so, in my mind, that would be pretty irresponsible of them. Even if you signed away their liability, I'd think that they would be expected to take reasonable precautions to prevent theft?

 

[thauglor]

Benefit of the doubt, maybe the guy answering the phone looked out the window, didn't see the truck, and thought that meant it was in the bay?

I had a friend who had a similar thing happen at a chain store mechanic. Guy doing the brakes forgot to bleed them and proceeded to crash the car into a block wall right in front of us. Her local insurance agent did a lot of fighting for her, and got her more money than I thought the old car was worth. I think the store even paid for a rental until she found a new car.

I'm curious about the keys to your truck, and if they were left in the vehicle. If so, in my mind, that would be pretty irresponsible of them. Even if you signed away their liability, I'd think that they would be expected to take reasonable precautions to prevent theft?

Yeah I see your point, maybe he lied to as well. I think the courts have ruled pretty consistently that they have a responsibility to try and prevent it, but I'm just an engineer and no lawyer

 

[AZ8]

I’m sure that dealership has cameras spanning every angle of the property.

Seems like a shady place.

 

[wyosteve]

I agree with fngTony. Unless the dealership committed some unforeseeable negligence, it will likely be on your insurance company. No different than if it was taken while parked elsewhere.

 

[Brooks]

I had a neighbor leave his 2019 Ford Superduty diesel at the Ford dealer and had his whole exhaust system stole along with three other customers trucks. They cut it off up by the engine and took the whole thing. Dealership wouldn’t pay for it but his insurance covered it.

 

[RS3579]

Call attorney, call insurance, call the news, and rent the closest billboard to the dealership smearing them! It’ll get resolved quickly!

 

[Diced]

Holy crap man I'd be flipping tables at that dealership. Definitely try and get a free loaner and if they're anything but helpful get a lawyer involved. I highly doubt the dealership would be pinned with any liability honestly, but keeping your vehicle for that long is unacceptable. Sorry this happened to you man.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Sounds like an inside job.

 

[Calcoyote]

Forgive me if this has already been stated:

Most states license car dealers and require them to carry a Garage Keepers insurance policy. A dealer's license cannot obtained without proof of this coverage. Garage Keepers covers a non-owned vehicle that is in the insureds "care, custody, or control". If any damage, theft, or vandalism occurs while they have the car the Garage Keepers policy will pay the claim.

 

[thauglor]

It has not and that is good info to have. Thank you

Forgive me if this has already been stated:

Most states license car dealers and require them to carry a Garage Keepers insurance policy. A dealer's license cannot obtained without proof of this coverage. Garage Keepers covers a non-owned vehicle that is in the insureds "care, custody, or control". If any damage, theft, or vandalism occurs while they have the car the Garage Keepers policy will pay the claim

 

[MattB]

This won’t help you with your circumstances, but I have a friend who used a tile (competitor to Apple’s AirTag) to recover a stolen vehicle. I have one that I put in my checked bag on hunting trips for early notification of a baggage issue - easy to stick it in your car if you are leaving it with a shop.

 

[Splatter]

Thanks everyone. This is no doubt weird and crazy. I’ll try to explain some finer details of the theft to hopefully clarify.

So I left the keys with the dealership. The truck was stolen, and the dealership still has the keys.
Here’s how it went.

( just so everyone knows there were no plates or other identifiable characteristics that were picked up on camera. The lot is not fenced or locked, all the cars are just in a big parking lot if not in the actual building)

Around midnight on Wednesday a medium sized white suv speeds into the lot and stops abruptly in a corner near a building. Someone gets out of the passenger side with something that looks like a kestrel or obdII scanner or something. The person holds the device at arms length like a remote and, from another camera, you see a total of 5 truck’s lights blink (think when you lock or unlock with a key fob). the person walks over to my car, gets in and in less than 3 minutes they have my truck driving off the lot followed by the suv.

About 7 minutes later the suv returns and they snatch another truck via the same tactics. This one was off the lot in less than 2 minutes.

All the trucks that responded to their “gadget” were from 2004-2009.

Thanks for all the insight. Please keep the tips, ideas and thoughts coming, it all helps.

 

[Unckebob]

Get a lawyer involved. Probably not to sue but to ask some questions like this. it seems like a different set of facts if something hot wired your car vs stealing the keys from the dealer and then your car. The later likely involves someone inside the dealership. Read the agreement you have with the dealership. Like an intake form or work order or something. Don’t sign anything they give you at this point. It may limit their liability. Assuming you have coverage, the best you can probably hope for is to get the dealership to cover what your insurance doesn’t.

At the very least, I would push them for a loaner on their dime until you get your wheels back.

It is cheaper to call your insurance company. They will have a subrogation unit with employees who only work on recovering their (and your money) from the responsible party. If they need to hire lawyers, they will.

 

[Marble]

Has anyone ever had a vehicle stolen while it was at a dealer for service?

Im wondering if anyone has ever had this happen to them. Unfortunately it just happened to me and I have a lot of questions about recourse and who’s insurance should be footing the repairs (if found) or replacement (if not).

Here’s what happened.
I take my truck into a dealership for a new steering gear. The guy says that they will get my truck in asap, however with the volume of customers they are experiencing it might be a few days.
That works for me so I give it till the end of the day on the day it was supposed to be done. Having had no updates I was wondering if it would be another day or what, so I gave them a call. I was told that it would be a few more days so I say ok and wait again.
This time I call back, after hearing nothing in the meantime, the day before my truck was supposed to be finished. The excuse this time is that they thought they had the part but they don’t have the part so they ordered the part and the truck should be done on x day. Pretty frustrated at this point but what can ya do. So I wait again.

This time I call back the day before my truck is due. A Thursday. The person handling my account tells me that my truck is being worked on and should be done by Sunday (the tech was supposedly working extra just for me). I say ok and hang up wondering what will happen next. So far we are 9 days shy of a month in the garage for a job that calls for a few hours, just as an aside. The next morning I get a voicemail from the person handling my account saying please call me back. I do and the guy says, hi can I ask you a question, I say yes. He says, so did you pick up your truck around midnight on Wednesday? I say no and he tells me that someone took it off the lot.
It’s only in hindsight that I think about how my truck had been stolen for at least 48 hrs before I was notified and that it was already stolen when I last talked to the acct manager who told me, the truck was being worked as we speak.
At this point it’s just speaking to managers and police and insurance but I’ve definitely got a few questions.

Has anyone ever had this happen?

Does anyone know for certain if my insurance is the one to be covering this?

Is the dealership liable for anything at all?

Thanks.

Give me make model year...I was an auto theft detective for 12 years. I can provide some input.

There is a reason for me asking the first question.

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[Marble]

Thanks everyone. This is no doubt weird and crazy. I’ll try to explain some finer details of the theft to hopefully clarify.

So I left the keys with the dealership. The truck was stolen, and the dealership still has the keys.
Here’s how it went.

( just so everyone knows there were no plates or other identifiable characteristics that were picked up on camera. The lot is not fenced or locked, all the cars are just in a big parking lot if not in the actual building)

Around midnight on Wednesday a medium sized white suv speeds into the lot and stops abruptly in a corner near a building. Someone gets out of the passenger side with something that looks like a kestrel or obdII scanner or something. The person holds the device at arms length like a remote and, from another camera, you see a total of 5 truck’s lights blink (think when you lock or unlock with a key fob). the person walks over to my car, gets in and in less than 3 minutes they have my truck driving off the lot followed by the suv.

About 7 minutes later the suv returns and they snatch another truck via the same tactics. This one was off the lot in less than 2 minutes.

All the trucks that responded to their “gadget” were from 2004-2009.

Thanks for all the insight. Please keep the tips, ideas and thoughts coming, it all helps.

Disregard my last question.

12 years and I never had a case like this. But I had friends that did and they were all in either cities with a major port or a border town. The technology exists to do what you described, but is rare. Very rare.

You will most likely never see your vehicle again. It will also never be recovered. Most of these go to a foreign country. Some get a complete new identity. But that is extremely difficult (actually impossible) to really do. But it can be done well enough to pass.

If you haven't already, call your insurance. They should handle from here.

I have had some other cases of thefts from dealerships but they were completely different.

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[Desk Jockey]

It is cheaper to call your insurance company. The will have a subrogation unit with employees who only work on recovering their (and your money) from the responsible party. If they need to hire lawyers, they will.

I wouldn’t disagree. But in my experience, you are relying on the insurance company to move things forward - at their pace and with a focus on recovering their pay out, if possible. they are going to take weeks or months and they are not 100% aligned at ou because they are really only focused on minimizing the claim payment. IMO, they’re zero chance the insurance company is gonna lean on the dealership too hard, much less file suit against them if it comes to that.

I would add that I think things tend to move a little quicker and differently when you have your own lawyer in the middle of things. Your call if you think it is worth it.

 

[Marble]

For me, probably wouldn't get a lawyer involved. States have laws dictating payouts in situations like this. The rub will be what they pay. If they come up shorter than you think, just provide information as to why it is worth more and IME a better number is agreed upon.

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[Tjdeerslayer37]

I have read of these situations before and more times than not it has fallen outside of the dealer's insurance's responsibility and is on the owner's insurance to pay for it. Others are correct and your insurance co does have a team of attorneys that will jump through the hoops to decide who pays for what, it's part of what you pay them for.

As an aside, the run around about working on the vehicle and parts not being available and yada yada is reason #8498478 i cannot stand to let anyone else work on my stuff. Very very rare you find a solid honest shop that does anything worth a $hit on your vehicle without giving you the run around or messing it up. I'll do everything I can to do my own work.

 

[Splatter]

I usually do my own work as well however I wanted a shop to do this one because of some torque specs and then I wanted an alignment. I figured it was easier just to let them do the whole thing. Guess not!…

The truck was an 06 Chevy 2500. Great truck. Loved the engine tranny combo loved the space of the crew cab. Loved the whole thing. I had an awesome camper shell and a lot of work put into making a really slick camper set up in the back.

Oh yeah, I’m being a little vague on purpose just to not throw anyone under the bus. I’m in southwest Montana. Closest border would be Canada but that seems like a stretch. It’s just a crazy deal, I feel like I’m in gone in 60 seconds.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I disagree with those telling you to get a lawyer involved. That will cost you money that you won't recover.

Your insurer will take care of it. If the dealer is on the hook in any way financially, you can bet that your insurer will know and will minimize their/your losses.

You may be out your deductible. The truck's value on paper may not well represent it's value to you, but if that gap exists, it isn't going to be covered by either party.

Google, BBB, etc. reviews and complaints are the only remaining tool at your disposal.

It is unlikely that this theft will truly be investigated. Most agencies don't have the manpower to invest in property crimes. If they choose to investigate, they MAY find that the reason for it taking them so long to get to your vehicle had something to do with the theft. Cell phone forensics would likely identify any phone number in the white SUV. Likewise, cell phone forensics MAY show contact between that phone number and a phone number belonging to a worker at the shop. The first data pull is pretty easy from a legal standpoint. The second one may not be.

Bottom line: Engage your ensurer, blast them with reviews and move on.