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Who is stealing Westies and why?
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RBEmerson
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:08 am    Post subject: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

It seems that every 3-4 days another Westy's been stolen is VanAlert is right. Who is stealing them (angry tree huggers, envious non-owners, GoWesty looking for stock)? Can't see these being thought as "Fast and Furious" tuner material.

There seem to be al ot disappearing in the PNW and SFO area (skewed by owner density, of course).

Are they parted out? Sent to Terra del Fuego?

What is going on here?
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Steve M.
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:26 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

In the pacific Northwest-Seattle the common reason you hear is the drug users steal them for the cargo space. Supposedly they use them so they can break into houses and load up on stuff to sell.
The latest threesome in San Francisco I think two of them were for shelter. I think they were having a lot of rain out there.

All considered I've mostly only seen opinions of why they get stolen in the northwest and no hard facts- but who's keeping track of that?

They are so easy to steal that it's no wonder they get stolen.
Even if they got broken into an anti-theft device i.e. "your switch" would have prevented them from being able to start it to drive away.

I think this thread needs a "Poll" to get a quick glimpse of reasons
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levi
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 9:35 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

Yes, they ARE so easy to steal.

And if they get caught in some states apparently (especially right now with the covid) they know that they won't even go to jail.

So I guess why NOT steal a vanagon.

There was a weird story I read a couple weeks ago of a guy who was caught 3 times in one day (not vanagons though) stealing or attempting to steal cars and they effectively just gave him citations each time, since they aren't arresting folks for that.
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Steve M.
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:08 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

levi wrote:
Yes, they ARE so easy to steal.

And if they get caught in some states apparently (especially right now with the covid) they know that they won't even go to jail.

So I guess why NOT steal a vanagon.

There was a weird story I read a couple weeks ago of a guy who was caught 3 times in one day (not vanagons though) stealing or attempting to steal cars and they effectively just gave him citations each time, since they aren't arresting folks for that.


If the punishment is not worse then the crime where is the deterrence?
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RBEmerson
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:11 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

Interesting...

We have '04 BMW X3 (SUV) which was stolen. Long story short, it was in one robbery (confirming carting space), and activity related to stealing small dirt bikes (story omitted).

It was recovered mostly intact (repairs ~$4K out of pocket, State Farm wanted to total it - NFW)

Finger prints were taken - no immediate match. Odds of getting thieves this time were given as minimal. But... with prints on hand, sooner or later they're likely to arrested for whatever. At that the point the old stuff gets thrown at them, too.

BTW State Farm was as useful as t**s on a boar hog. We were in TX at the time (in Westy). They just couldn't let go of signing stuff in person. Related incompetencies list on request.
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RBEmerson
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:17 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

Steve M. wrote:
levi wrote:
Yes, they ARE so easy to steal.

And if they get caught in some states apparently (especially right now with the covid) they know that they won't even go to jail.

So I guess why NOT steal a vanagon.

There was a weird story I read a couple weeks ago of a guy who was caught 3 times in one day (not vanagons though) stealing or attempting to steal cars and they effectively just gave him citations each time, since they aren't arresting folks for that.


If the punishment is not worse then the crime where is the deterrence?
A public hanging followed by head on pike over the perps' entrance to the nearest PD would be nice...
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MarkWard
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:18 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

Interestingly, if they are smart enough to break in and Hotwire the ignition, they could probably make an honest living as an auto technician.
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RBEmerson
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 10:18 am    Post subject: Re: Who is steal Westys and why? Reply with quote

Steve M. wrote:
levi wrote:
Yes, they ARE so easy to steal.

And if they get caught in some states apparently (especially right now with the covid) they know that they won't even go to jail.

So I guess why NOT steal a vanagon.

There was a weird story I read a couple weeks ago of a guy who was caught 3 times in one day (not vanagons though) stealing or attempting to steal cars and they effectively just gave him citations each time, since they aren't arresting folks for that.


If the punishment is not worse then the crime where is the deterrence?
Being serious "Lehigh Country Ani-Auto Theft Task Force" was the unit saying "sooner or later they'll trip up". Close enough for me.
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DanHoug
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:01 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

we all need the Trunk Monkey option...

Link

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Irishcalifornian
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:08 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

I normally just use my kill switch if the Westy is left unoccupied for a longer time (like just getting things from the store)
Now with this economy I use it a 100%.
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Steve M.
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 11:18 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

I want "Trunk Monkey" Laughing

Somehow I remembered this story I heard about an animal in the trunk...
Funny story about two little old ladies who were in court just listening to a drug bust of a circus where they hide the drugs under the tigers cage. After the sentencing the law had a tiger leftover. Somehow these two ladies got custody to bring the tiger to a sanctuary.

They drove from Washington state to California stopping off at McDonalds along the way buying hamburgers for the tiger in the back of their station wagon. I can image being behind them at McDonalds seeing the tail sticking out the window! (He was a super nice tiger.)
I know for a fact about the circus bust and two old ladies did bring a tiger to a sanctuary from Wa. to Cal., but not too sure about the McDonalds part!

I did turn around the other day when fiddling around with my new trailer and found a raccoon looking around inside because I had all the doors open!

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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 2:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

MarkWard wrote:
Interestingly, if they are smart enough to break in and Hotwire the ignition, they could probably make an honest living as an auto technician.
Nah, Mark, they’d only want to steal the tools and get free knowledge to make it as a Tech.
Let’s not encourage them to change Vocations..... Wink Wink
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PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2020 3:24 pm    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

Only problem with trunk money is the window's totaled which means the asshat insurance people will want to total the vehicle. >:(

With the X3, I beat on State Farm hard enough to get a "you get $X and never come back." I knew I could fix the big parts for under that much.

Much of going that way was to avoid a salvage title, which would have cost a bundle.
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vanis13
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 4:22 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

jlrftype7 wrote:
MarkWard wrote:
Interestingly, if they are smart enough to break in and Hotwire the ignition, they could probably make an honest living as an auto technician.
Nah, Mark, they’d only want to steal the tools and get free knowledge to make it as a Tech.
Let’s not encourage them to change Vocations..... Wink Wink


and they may be one of those honest looking thieves.....you can take the thief out of (insert regional reference) but can you ever take the (insert regional reference) out of a thief?
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PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2020 7:06 am    Post subject: Re: Who is stealing Westies and why? Reply with quote

In general, one part of the "don't steal me" strategy for anything, vehicle or other, is make it too hard to steal. For the most part, criminals are lazy. If something takes too much effort, there's a try or two before giving up.

We chartered a sailboat with friends. The boat was broken into. Anything in the main and back cabins were swept clean. the front cabin had something of value in sight but was still there. Staying too long is a problem - grab in a hurry and run.

When on any extended trip, there's no hope of hiding luggage - we use various-sized "gym bags" stowed over the motor. Needless to say, that raises the "I wonder what s*** is in there" problem. Which is a driver for guarding the perimeter, not just "can't drive off". Ditto for sheltering homeless.

In general, we avoid "drive to the city" and look for alternate transportation.
For example, in San Antonio, we took a bus. That leaves the Westy in a setting with at least some degree of filtering out "undesirable persons". Most of our stops are in county, state, national parks which provide some removal.

In Mass. a county park had strange access rules to limit/stop a homeless family from running a car repair "garage" from a big tent. Saw it first hand.
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