Truck stolen from dealership

[Wrench]

I found my truck through a social media carpet bombing campaign. The cops in the town my truck ended up in were badass and gave zero shits about the perps feelings.....they had it a few minutes after it was spotted.

 

[wyosteve]

I've also read to not use the FOB to lock the doors when you leave it. Push the lock button on the door. Thieves will sit in a parking lot and snatch the 'RIF' from the fob if you use it.

 

[Scrappy]

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.

I hate relying on folks to work on my stuff. I'm a youtube expert mechanic just for the above examples. Can't help you on what to do, other than to say sorry man.

 

[browning2480]

I leave my keys in the car all the time at home. I will lock it up when out somewhere. Guess it all depends on where you live. Not many vehicle thefts in my neck of the woods

 

[WCB]

I do not know if they are shitty police or not. This was in King County WA, so definitely politically directed. Police can only do what they are allowed to do.
I understood that once the truck was stolen, the only way it would turn up is if it were abandoned or caught in the commision of a crime. Literally no one is actively looking for a stolen vehicle. Unless it had a kid in it or something.

I wasn't referring to them not looking for it. But telling you that if you found it and took possession of it you would get in trouble. I can see them telling you be careful and if you spot it occupied give us a call and we will take care of it. But telling you that you will get in more trouble than the thief?

 

[full choke]

I wasn't referring to them not looking for it. But telling you that if you found it and took possession of it you would get in trouble. I can see them telling you be careful and if you spot it occupied give us a call and we will take care of it. But telling you that you will get in more trouble than the thief?

The unsaid portion of that was I would most likely fight and or assault the thieves. In this state- yeah, I would probably get in trouble and the thieves walk away with a slap on the wrist. That is why vehicle theft and vandalism is so high here- prosecutors hardly charge anybody.

 

[CorbLand]

I hate relying on folks to work on my stuff. I'm a youtube expert mechanic just for the above examples. Can't help you on what to do, other than to say sorry man.

If you haven’t made a 1 am Walmart run for some Little Debbie’s to snack on while watching Chris Fix, you haven’t lived.

 

[Splatter]

Thanks again to everyone reaching out on this. I did have full coverage as this truck was very loved, well taken care of, my daily driver and was my dads before I bought it from him, I’m a little butt hurt about it.

I would really not expect this where I live (not in Bozeman) but even as big as Bozeman has become I’m really surprised that this happened. I don’t even know where the keys to my house are for god’s sake.

The folks talking about it being a pain in the ass are spot on. I get that the truck is gone at this point but I’m still driving a rental as all the courtesy vehicles are 2wd (screw that out here). It’s getting toward the end of the season and I’ve got a very busy start to a summer of guiding that I need to be preparing for and a lot of side gigs that are falling apart because I haven’t had a truck since feb21. If it weren’t for talking with you folks I’d have pulled my hair out by now.

This week (hopefully) I’ll hear what insurance has to say about pay out settlement etc. I’ll let everyone know what they say. I’m hoping I can leverage a good deal from the dealership that with the settlement will give me enough to replace the truck with a true equal, I hate thinking about settling.

Thanks again.

 

[wyosteve]

Good luck and hope it works out. Can't be any worse than a friend of mine who had his 2020 Chevy 6.2 gas engine lock up. Truck sat at the dealer from July 2022 until mid-January 2023 due to inability to get a replacement engine.

 

[Marble]

Thanks again to everyone reaching out on this. I did have full coverage as this truck was very loved, well taken care of, my daily driver and was my dads before I bought it from him, I’m a little butt hurt about it.

I would really not expect this where I live (not in Bozeman) but even as big as Bozeman has become I’m really surprised that this happened. I don’t even know where the keys to my house are for god’s sake.

The folks talking about it being a pain in the ass are spot on. I get that the truck is gone at this point but I’m still driving a rental as all the courtesy vehicles are 2wd (screw that out here). It’s getting toward the end of the season and I’ve got a very busy start to a summer of guiding that I need to be preparing for and a lot of side gigs that are falling apart because I haven’t had a truck since feb21. If it weren’t for talking with you folks I’d have pulled my hair out by now.

This week (hopefully) I’ll hear what insurance has to say about pay out settlement etc. I’ll let everyone know what they say. I’m hoping I can leverage a good deal from the dealership that with the settlement will give me enough to replace the truck with a true equal, I hate thinking about settling.

Thanks again.

For your settlement, it depends on the state laws on how long the company can wait to pay out on the claim. IME, 30 days of the vehicle being stolen and not recovered, is standard for most companies to then pay out on the claim.

Like I said above, the manner in which your truck was stolen is super rare. These types of thieves already have transportation/buyers lined up that go out of the country. Sometimes the vehicles return to the US with a new identity but the rate a at which that happens is unknown.

This type of theft could happen anywhere, but is not random and there is nothing you can do to prevent the theft from occurring.

Things you can do is have OnStar, LoJack ( if the area you live in has it), or there are some other GPS based systems you can install to help recover vehicles when they are stolen.


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[MattB]

The shitty part is how prevelant vehicle theft is. No one really cares, it is almost tolerated. First thing the LE told me when I filled out the report was to not go looking for my truck. And if I did find it, do not try and get it back. I would get in more trouble than the thieves.

Think about that for a minute. Remember it before you vote.

A friend of a friend had a truck stolen on Maui. He had the technology to locate exactly where it was - at an abandoned plantation a local gang has basically laid claim to. The local police would not go in there to get it, claiming they were not in the personal property recovery business. They referred him directly to his insurance company. A very sad reality.

 

[MattB]

Sounds like you have shitty police in your area.

That sounds more like shitty laws than shitty police.

 

[FLATHEAD]

That sounds more like shitty laws than shitty police.

Sounds like a chit show all the way around.
Police AND Laws.

 

[Fatcamp]

I do

Yup, 22 year old 4runner.

 

[Wrench]

I'd not push the insurance company yet. Mine waited one day past the legal limit to make an offer. I took the offer to the insurance commission and the insurance company paid 3x the original offer, which put it in line with comps.

 

[Fatcamp]

If you haven’t made a 1 am Walmart run for some Little Debbie’s to snack on while watching Chris Fix, you haven’t lived.

That's funny because it's true.

 

[CorbLand]

That's funny because it's true.

“It should only take me 30 minutes.”

Famous last words on a Friday night.

 

[mydogsmonkey]

So I actually work for an insurance company as an adjuster. Garagekeeper's liability actually covers this scenario. What typically happens is that your own insurance will cover it and subrogate after the dealerships insurance to cover the loss. Pretty typical situation. Just let the person taking the information know that the dealer's garagekeeper's liability is reponsible. They'll note for the subrogation department to go after them for the loss once its paid out.

 

[Lordnel]

That's crap man!!