I have a friend with a VW R32 that was stolen yesterday from his apartment complex. It was a damn nice car. Had an EIP tuning turbo kit on it ($10k) and he had just added a nice stereo. What I can't figure out is how it was stolen. His car had a laser cut key with the RF transponder chip similar to what we have. I thought that made it damn near impossible to start the car without the owners key. Any thoughts? Makes me a little less happy evertime I park my car for the night!

Really shitty part is those cars still sell for almost what they cost new $30k, but the insurance company is only giving him $18k.

 

That sucks. That 10K investment in the turbo just makes it so much worse.

On a side note, so when he had the car, how did yours stack up against his?

 

ever seen gone in 60 seconds???
nothing is impossible to steal.

 

Hp wise I was a little higher. Unfortunately, by the time he got his turbo installed I had moved about 2 hours away and we just never got a chance to race.

 

if they can't start it, a flat bed can easily grab it... just disable the car alarm if it has a motion sensor.

 

wow.. when u said r32 i immediately thought skyline.... but still... that sux bout his vw

 

^^^

I thought the same thing when reading the thread title.

That really sucks though...makes me think back to another thread I read here about the most stolen cars in the US. I think the cadillac escalade was #1 and that car also had keys with chips in them. I guess if they REALLY want to steal your car there's nothing to stop them.


I wish your friend luck.

 

Thats weird now that i think of it, I havent heard anybody say that their 8 has been stolen before.

 

if you can prove cars in similar shape are selling for that in your area get as many examples as you can and bring it to the insurance company. that establishes fair market value and then they need to pay up.

 

Yup

 

There have been reports of stolen rx-8's on this forum.

One guy had his stolen from longterm at an airport. they apparently drove the car out of there...

 

Not positive on his insurance company but as long as I keep all reciepts State Farm compensates me 100% for modifications as well...

 

for the most part, i think it has to be "bolted" to your car. But that would cover the turbo anyways.

 

I think a flatbed tow truck really late at night would do the trick as well.

 

i work for insurance company. this may sound weird, but we are finding out that alot of thieves are going around looking at vin numbers that are found behind the winshield. once they obtain that they call the dealership saying they locked their keys in the vechicle. The dealership will ask for vin info, once they get the info they make the keys and ready to be picked up.

its funny just last week we had a meeting bout this. im not sure how easy it is. but i heard a recording of person calling the dealer ship and how she forget her keys in the car. she read off the vin info and wala she was told a key will be ready for her ot pick up. and they never asked for ID when she came to pick it up. i got ot hear numerous of recording of this type.

 

Yes, I had thought about that to, Alfy...

I was tempted to put tape over my VIN, but decided that might make it look like I'm driving around in a stolen car.

 

I would think that by not asking for any kind of ID to prove the person getting the key is the owner of the car, the dealership could be held liable for what happens in a case like this.

 

i agree, but i just wanted to show how easy how thieves can get your vech. when asked the person at the dealership why they just gave keys to someone who didnt show proof of id, the person said the vin was enough id he needed.

and mysql101 i feel the same way as you. i was told that we are allowed to hide the vin, but if for some reason i get pulled over and i do not feel like explaining to the police why my vin is covered lol. he might off the back think i stole the car and get hostile hehe jking. but yah i dont want to make situation nervous. so yep mysql101 i agree with you on hiding vin

 

That is if they ever figured it out. If my car was stolen my first though would not have been. "The dealer must have made the thief another key and not even asked for ID!"

 

yeah, some dealerships are dumb enough to sell extra keys to people who steal other people's identity. One of my friends that works at my local lexus dealership said it has happened multiple times at his dealership.

 

Just seems too eay to steal a car with all the measures they have taken to prevent it from happening. Good luck to your friend.