Stolen vehicle tracking and recovery hypothetical

[Onceler]

Let's say you bought a pile of a barndoor bus for next to free and over a couple of years of your own labor and cash, you've finally brought it up to a very nice bus that you've always wanted. You did it all: metal,body,paint, drivetrain, everything the best you could do and its worth quite a bit of money and it'd be difficult to replace even if you had the money to buy one.
Now, let's say you decide to install a GPS tracking device in it just in case.
One day you drive your beautiful bus to work and someone pulls up in a rollback and snatches it without anybody noticing. A couple hours later when you try to leave you find your beloved bus is gone.

What do you do?

Say the thieves have taken it 200 miles away to someone's house and it's in their garage.
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[Cusser]

[EverettB]

Yes, exactly what Cusser said above.

The same goes for anything, I know people are using Apple Air Tags to track other items lately.
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[Pruneman99]

Is this a joke? Call the cops, report it stolen. Let them know you have a GPS tracker on the vehicle and can tell them exactly where it is.

If the cops know where to go find it, they will.

Are you asking us if we would go all vigilante and confront them? Nope. I'm not getting shot for a Bus.

[Xevin]

Not to hijack.
At what point would one call their insurance company? I have a couple of thoughts. Just curious what others would do.
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Keep on Busin'

[Abscate]

Call the cops in the jurisdiction where the Bus is.

Warning. An apple tag doesn’t tell you where your Bus is. It tells you where your apple tag is.

Criminal possession of an apple tag is rarely prosecuted.
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[Xevin]

[Pruneman99]

[Xevin]

[finster]

is this really hypothetical? asking for a friend...
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[Joe 20]

Of course you'd call the cops unless say, there is a shit ton of dope in the bus or a dead body...hypothetically of course
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[Onceler]

Thanks for all the responses to this hypothetical and yes it is purely hypothetical. However, I do have an interest in gps tracking for a vehicle.
Everyone seems to be in agreement that calling the police is the correct answer and I agree. But will the police actually be able to do anything? I would imagine the thieves wouldn’t just allow the police inside to look around. Maybe I’m wrong.
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[Xevin]

[TDCTDI]

Call your local PD & report vehicle stolen. With report in hand, call PD where tracker pings at & give them the specifics, they (should) will get a warrant to search the property.
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[scottyrocks]

[ToolBox]

A lot of the GPS trackers have features such as tilt/bump sensors, the abality to set geofence, speed limits, power cutoff, listen to in car sounds and many other options that can alert you almost in real time what is going on.

[finster]

I'm telling you officer, it's in one of those containers! do something!

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[busdaddy]

If it's like the one my Son has (2-3 years old) the signal would have been lost as soon as it went into the container, that thing can't even make contact when it's located under the hood, we had to mount it up under the dash so there was only plastic and glass in the way.

Great for when it's on the move to the hideout, but if they put it in a building or can it disappears, you'd only have the last known location for the cops.
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[Onceler]

^^^ Well, that’s disheartening, but good to know.
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1972 Karmann Ghia

[finster]

nobody has suggested posting the info on the samba and vw enthusiast facebook groups. if it's on an open trailer it will be spotted by someone. I remember there was a green bus stolen in the uk a couple of years ago, owner posted info on the net, within hours it was spotted headed for europe and then found by enthusiasts on the continent.
I would not expect much from the police other than a refence number for the insurers
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nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect...