My truck was stolen yesterday in Houston

[jesdude7789]

I started a new job in downtown Houston this week after being laid off from my last job a few months ago and yesterday on my second day of work I parked in a paid parking lot near downtown Houston. I left my truck at 9 a.m. and when I came back to it at 7 p.m the truck was nowhere to be found. After many phone calls with towing companies and HPD and filing a stolen car report and wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do, I got a ride home and had a couple beers and knew there was nothing else I could do. Today I got a ride to work luckily and called all the tow yards and HPD and still nothing. Then, at noon today, I got a call informing me that they found my truck! The engine (lm7), trans (4l60e), radio (retrosound) were taken and the column and dashboard have damage. That's all I know so far because I can't go to the storage lot yet to look at it in person. My insurance will most likely only offer me $1,000 or so for it to total it out based on it's age AND/OR let me buy it back from them and I have to sink at least a few thousand into again to get it back on the road. The overall value to me before this happened was around 6-7k because the truck is all original except for the engine swap and I also just spent $600 last week installing an all new a/c system. This is a very solid truck (except for the dang rear shock mount cracks in the frame that I want to fix) and I know I could make it better than it was before. What would you guys do?? Do you think it's worth doing all that again or throw in the towel and maybe look for another candidate?? Again, I don't know if the body has been damaged or anything so far other than the drivetrain and radio are gone. Also, what anti theft devices do you guys use that have worked for you in the past? I really wish I had installed a master kill switch somewhere before this happened....

[mongocanfly]

Well that sucks...

[tommy217xxx]

Assholes!sorry to hear about that.

[tucsonjwt]

If you have theft insurance you will most likely find that the insurance company will only be required to give you the fair market value of your truck. Most insurance policies explicitly exclude paying for any modifications to the truck, which would include your upgraded motor, trans, audio, etc.

If I had to guess, I would say than someone knew that you had a nice drive train and wanted to get it. So, it is best not to let others know what a nice truck you have. Even if you trust the people you are talking to, others will overhear them talking about it to someone else who can be a thief. I would keep your modified drive train a secret in the future.

It will likely help you if you have receipts for all of your modifications and repairs. Also, you will likely have to make the case that the condition of your truck was well above average, and you can look in Hemmings, AutoTrader,Ebay, etc. for restored trucks to get a realistic value that you can present to your insurance company. There used to be an "Old Car Price Guide" which would provide some ball park figures on old vehicle values but I have not seen one of those in a long time.

So, if you have a vehicle that is restored or modified beyond an average condition, then you should consider an "agreed value" or "stated value" which is usually only offered by specialty insurance companies like Haggerty. Unfortunately, those companies limit how much and where you can drive the vehicle (not daily driver use.) I have heard of some traditional insurance companies offering a "rider" on your normal policy to cover modifications or special condition.

I have found that the best theft deterrent on my old vehicles is a crummy looking exterior. I have a 2002 Cavalier beater and when I walk out into a parking lot and can't remember where I parked it, I know for sure that nobody would steal a vehicle of so little value. The same is true for my 83 C20. I do try to keep all of my old vehicles in top mechanical condition but I no longer get any enjoyment from having an attractive looking vehicle. When I need to take an out of town trip or want to impress someone, I can usually rent a nice car for less than $20 per day.

Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.

[hatzie]

Master kill only works if they are driving it away.

I agree this is someone you know or a "friend" of theirs.

You can get a GPS locator system that gives you direct access to the vehicle location. We use a Calamp LMU4000 series device with Cellular connection at work for AVL vehicle tracking. Our version has battery backup so cutting power will not shut it down for at least 15-20 minutes.

Unlike Lojack and others that will not give the owner the vehicle location... I simply text !R5 to the phone number assigned to the SIM card in the LMU and it will return the last GPS position fix to my smartphone. I have one in all my vehicles with a GPS Geofence setup. The units will text me if it is moved from my designated locations and sends location data to my server so I can track it and locate the vehicle. It's then up to me whether or not 20 of my close friends, family, and I show up with 12 gauge persuaders to retrieve my property. Not a good idea to steal a vehicle from me.

[Dead Parrot]

Might ask the parking lot owner if they have any video surveillance. It could have been a opportunistic crime. Finder person has a regular route to check for nice targets. Finds one, takes a quick "Cool Truck" walk around, then calls the crew to come and take it. One of the parking lot attendants could be one of the finding crew.

Unless you had a special insurance policy, you are unlikely to receive anywhere near your cost. At best, you might get enough back to purchase a similar replacement truck of the same year and factory original feature set. Probably no allowance for the upgraded tech.

If the body and frame are still good, probably cheaper to replace the missing stuff then to start from scratch. And you have the advantage of knowing what parts you need.

As far a theft prevention, in this case, your truck was likely picked clean by the time you discovered it was missing. NASCAR mechanics aren't much faster then some of criminal chop shops.

If you don't mind a 3rd party knowing everywhere you go, a system like Hatzie mentioned is probably your best bet. Better chance of recovery if you can tell the Police the the truck is southbound on 33rd St as we speak.

[Westwind]

I would start printing every advertisement for trucks equal or better condition. I had two older project cars stolen and both times I was told they only give fair market value. Both times I had done my homework and after some fighting back and forth with the insurance company I got close to what I felt they were worth.

[75C10]

Sorry for your loss. Those vent windows make it so easy to get in. I have secret switches or devices that prevent anybody from starting the vehicle. If they want it they have to tow it. I have vintage insurance as well that covers an agreed value.
Hope you can recover from this.
Darwin

[Gotenntitans]

I say fix it and go again. Don't let thieves rob you of your entire truck. Take measures to keep it from being stolen again if you can and get her back on the road and enjoy it. GTT

[jesdude7789]

Originally Posted by Gotenntitans

I say fix it and go again. Don't let thieves rob you of your entire truck. Take measures to keep it from being stolen again if you can and get her back on the road and enjoy it. GTT

I think you're right if the insurance will give me enough to hopefully cover half of my losses with my receipts as proof. Hopefully I'll know more tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Westwind

I would start printing every advertisement for trucks equal or better condition. I had two older project cars stolen and both times I was told they only give fair market value. Both times I had done my homework and after some fighting back and forth with the insurance company I got close to what I felt they were worth.

Yes sir that is a great idea and I will be doing this!

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

If you have theft insurance you will most likely find that the insurance company will only be required to give you the fair market value of your truck. Most insurance policies explicitly exclude paying for any modifications to the truck, which would include your upgraded motor, trans, audio, etc.

If I had to guess, I would say than someone knew that you had a nice drive train and wanted to get it. So, it is best not to let others know what a nice truck you have. Even if you trust the people you are talking to, others will overhear them talking about it to someone else who can be a thief. I would keep your modified drive train a secret in the future.

It will likely help you if you have receipts for all of your modifications and repairs. Also, you will likely have to make the case that the condition of your truck was well above average, and you can look in Hemmings, AutoTrader,Ebay, etc. for restored trucks to get a realistic value that you can present to your insurance company. There used to be an "Old Car Price Guide" which would provide some ball park figures on old vehicle values but I have not seen one of those in a long time.

So, if you have a vehicle that is restored or modified beyond an average condition, then you should consider an "agreed value" or "stated value" which is usually only offered by specialty insurance companies like Haggerty. Unfortunately, those companies limit how much and where you can drive the vehicle (not daily driver use.) I have heard of some traditional insurance companies offering a "rider" on your normal policy to cover modifications or special condition.

I have found that the best theft deterrent on my old vehicles is a crummy looking exterior. I have a 2002 Cavalier beater and when I walk out into a parking lot and can't remember where I parked it, I know for sure that nobody would steal a vehicle of so little value. The same is true for my 83 C20. I do try to keep all of my old vehicles in top mechanical condition but I no longer get any enjoyment from having an attractive looking vehicle. When I need to take an out of town trip or want to impress someone, I can usually rent a nice car for less than $20 per day.

Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.

Coincidently, I had just finally thoroughly washed the truck (not the wheels though because they shine like mad when clean) on sunday after months of being dirty and thought about how it looked so much nicer all of sudden and how it would catch people's attention again. And it was just Dawn soap! no wax or car soap because I wanted to get some fresh nufinish on it this next weekend.

Originally Posted by hatzie

Master kill only works if they are driving it away.

I agree this is someone you know or a "friend" of theirs.

You can get a GPS locator system that gives you direct access to the vehicle location. We use a Calamp LMU4000 series device with Cellular connection at work for AVL vehicle tracking. Our version has battery backup so cutting power will not shut it down for at least 15-20 minutes.

Unlike Lojack and others that will not give the owner the vehicle location... I simply text !R5 to the phone number assigned to the SIM card in the LMU and it will return the last GPS position fix to my smartphone. I have one in all my vehicles with a GPS Geofence setup. The units will text me if it is moved from my designated locations and sends location data to my server so I can track it and locate the vehicle. It's then up to me whether or not 20 of my close friends, family, and I show up with 12 gauge persuaders to retrieve my property. Not a good idea to steal a vehicle from me.

I definitely want to know more about this and see what I can get for my other vehicles as well. Thank you for the info.

Originally Posted by Dead Parrot

Might ask the parking lot owner if they have any video surveillance. It could have been a opportunistic crime. Finder person has a regular route to check for nice targets. Finds one, takes a quick "Cool Truck" walk around, then calls the crew to come and take it. One of the parking lot attendants could be one of the finding crew.

Unless you had a special insurance policy, you are unlikely to receive anywhere near your cost. At best, you might get enough back to purchase a similar replacement truck of the same year and factory original feature set. Probably no allowance for the upgraded tech.

If the body and frame are still good, probably cheaper to replace the missing stuff then to start from scratch. And you have the advantage of knowing what parts you need.

As far a theft prevention, in this case, your truck was likely picked clean by the time you discovered it was missing. NASCAR mechanics aren't much faster then some of criminal chop shops.

If you don't mind a 3rd party knowing everywhere you go, a system like Hatzie mentioned is probably your best bet. Better chance of recovery if you can tell the Police the the truck is southbound on 33rd St as we speak.

The body and frame are in great shape so I'm about to go look at it right now with my dad picking me up from work. Maybe they left some stuff behind. I'm hoping it worth keeping but who knows. They could have hacked it up pretty good to get the stuff out of it.

[Chrispbrown36]

These trucks are always worth keeping. I hate it that this happened to you, but don't be hasty. Get it back, start working on it again, and buy a cheap KIA to drive to work...no one in their right mind would steal a KIA.

[legendman]

Wow what a bummer, if the body isn't damaged too bad I'd fix it back up.

[hatzie]

They'll look for easy things like a starter interlock and you can bypass one with a screwdriver.

Things that will make her more difficult to steal.
Hidden brake line locks on the disc brakes.
Hidden PCM power lockout.
Hidden fuel pump power lockout.

Lojack is the technology of the 1980's based on a radio transmitter and proprietary hardware in the police cars.

We have access to GPS and mobile phone networks now.
I hack embedded interfaces for work...
I have existing AVL applications for the LMU4200 series and since they are the size and weight of a pack of cigarettes. You could bury them above the headliner with industrial Velcro or in the dash or in the cab corners behind the speakers or... Anyone can buy a refurbished GPRS LMU4200 for around $30 and a glass mount GPS/GSM antenna for around $30 but you'll need to roll your own AVL app for the LMU.

There are tutorials for rolling your own very small GPRS vehicle locator by building on a small embedded development board like the Intel Galileo, TI 430, Arduino or Rasberry Pi.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Athe...acking-System/
http://makezine.com/2014/09/24/ardui...-with-gpsgprs/

The only way to access either my system or the DIY units is to know its' phone number or intercept the traffic to the location server or text messages to the unit.

Face it. None of us are interesting enough that anyone would be interested in going to the lengths necessary to hack a home brew embedded AVL CPU to find out where we are.

[RandyP]

Is there an expensive kia?

[86454k30]

Originally Posted by Westwind

I would start printing every advertisement for trucks equal or better condition. I had two older project cars stolen and both times I was told they only give fair market value. Both times I had done my homework and after some fighting back and forth with the insurance company I got close to what I felt they were worth.

Do this for sure! For as much as these trucks are selling for "fair market value" I bet would land well within what you feel your truck was worth. I know there is an red and white 87 in boise idaho craigslist for $5k, an 86 or 87 in seattle washington craigslist for $8K. I would still buy the truck back for the "salvage value. This is one of the reasons I put classic insurance on the 86 I just built, I have waaayy more in it than fair market value.

[Greenlee]

Originally Posted by 86454k30

Do this for sure! For as much as these trucks are selling for "fair market value" I bet would land well within what you feel your truck was worth. I know there is an red and white 87 in boise idaho craigslist for $5k, an 86 or 87 in seattle washington craigslist for $8K. I would still buy the truck back for the "salvage value. This is one of the reasons I put classic insurance on the 86 I just built, I have waaayy more in it than fair market value.

I agree. This is good advice. Get about 3 or 4 Craigslist or EBay ads in Houston and that's your fair market value.

I tried to go the classic insurance route and they had a bunch of restrictions. You were limited on mileage, couldn't drive it to work, couldn't pull a trailer etc. I went round and round with my insurance agent about this and finally they offered me "stated value insurance." Basically, it's regular insurance, but if something happens to the truck we agreed that it's worth $15,000.

By the way, I live down the road in Seabrook and work downtown if you need help with anything. It's a bummer that your truck was stolen downtown. I remember these trucks were a magnet for thieves when they were new, but I was hoping the young punks these days forgot about them or didn't know the tricks for stealing them!

[Low Elco]

I can tell you on an LS swap, the ground on the drivers pan rail will render the truck dead as a doornail. Maybe a relay on it and a small switch in a hidden spot. Sorry about your truck.

[jesdude7789]

Originally Posted by Chrispbrown36

These trucks are always worth keeping. I hate it that this happened to you, but don't be hasty. Get it back, start working on it again, and buy a cheap KIA to drive to work...no one in their right mind would steal a KIA.

I think you're right. I spoke with my claim agent today for the first time and he's in Tulsa. He showed me a recent claim for a truck that was practically identical to mine down to the body format and color combo! Except it had the original engine and everything. It was totaled out because the front had been crushed but the agent said he got 5500 out of it. That is waaay more than I would have expected! He said with the newer engine and stuff and my receipts then I should be happy with the settlement. The adjuster still needs to come out and I'm having them move it to my house so we'll see.

Originally Posted by hatzie

They'll look for easy things like a starter interlock and you can bypass one with a screwdriver.

Things that will make her more difficult to steal.
Hidden brake line locks on the disc brakes.
Hidden PCM power lockout.
Hidden fuel pump power lockout.

Lojack is the technology of the 1980's based on a radio transmitter and proprietary hardware in the police cars.

We have access to GPS and mobile phone networks now.
I hack embedded interfaces for work...
I have existing AVL applications for the LMU4200 series and since they are the size and weight of a pack of cigarettes. You could bury them above the headliner with industrial Velcro or in the dash or in the cab corners behind the speakers or... Anyone can buy a refurbished GPRS LMU4200 for around $30 and a glass mount GPS/GSM antenna for around $30 but you'll need to roll your own AVL app for the LMU.

There are tutorials for rolling your own very small GPRS vehicle locator by building on a small embedded development board like the Intel Galileo, TI 430, Arduino or Rasberry Pi.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Athe...acking-System/
http://makezine.com/2014/09/24/ardui...-with-gpsgprs/

The only way to access either my system or the DIY units is to know its' phone number or intercept the traffic to the location server or text messages to the unit.

Face it. None of us are interesting enough that anyone would be interested in going to the lengths necessary to hack a home brew embedded AVL CPU to find out where we are.

That is awesome hatzie. Thank you for the info on these. I will be reading those articles tonight! I like electronics projects like these and have wanted to do one with a arduino for a while.

[tucsonjwt]

It sounds like you have a good insurance agent. I think I will have to sign up with your insurance company and drive my old beater (er, classic) down to Houston for an extended parking lot stay

[Westwind]

Lets keep our fingers crossed.

[Jeepwm69]

Wow, who is your insurance company?

Hate that your truck was stolen. Build it back.

[jesdude7789]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

It sounds like you have a good insurance agent. I think I will have to sign up with your insurance company and drive my old beater (er, classic) down to Houston for an extended parking lot stay

Haha yeah we'll see what they say probably next week. I still have to get my receipts gathered up and send them.

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

Wow, who is your insurance company?

Hate that your truck was stolen. Build it back.

I've always had state farm for the last 14 years. I think what is happening is the value of these trucks has finally gone up enough in recent years and insurance companies (or at least mine) are adjusting their payouts to be more satisfactory.

Other than Hatzie's GPS gadget, I've wondered if there is a way to remotely activate a tear gas canister hidden under the dash or maybe have an air horn go off or some ear piercing noise maker. I definitely would have heard that from my office and so would the cops!

[hatzie]

You can definitely remotely control equipment by SMS command. It depends on how much program space is left after the AVL app is running and how much IO the GPRS device eats. You'll need to hack the source code for your particular gadget and then beta test it. I'd run one on stable code while you're beta testing your hack.

A piezio is small and can be set to unpleasantly painful frequencies and sound levels. You need to make sure the final location is somewhere it can't be easily disabled and the wires to it are not easy to access.
There are ready built painful piezio alarms. Agent jesdude7789. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to integrate it into your vehicle locator.
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...o-siren/1.html

Battery backup is also not in the simple DIY units I have looked over.
Sparkfun makes an Arduino Uninterruptable Power Supply LiPo Battery Power shield board. With a rechargeable Lithium cell you need to be careful to set it up so the only time you're discharging the battery is when you are using it for power. Lithium cells don't like to be charged and discharged simultaneously it will cost you battery life.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13158

The DIY trackers are not as cheap as the off-the-shelf units like BrickHouse but you're not sending your location data to a third party and you can hack the device all you like...

[andrewmp6]

Hatzie those gps systems do they have a antenna on the outside of the vehicle?

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by jesdude7789

Haha yeah we'll see what they say probably next week. I still have to get my receipts gathered up and send them.


I've always had state farm for the last 14 years. I think what is happening is the value of these trucks has finally gone up enough in recent years and insurance companies (or at least mine) are adjusting their payouts to be more satisfactory.

Other than Hatzie's GPS gadget, I've wondered if there is a way to remotely activate a tear gas canister hidden under the dash or maybe have an air horn go off or some ear piercing noise maker. I definitely would have heard that from my office and so would the cops!

Sorry that this happened bud.

I have my horns wired to a momentary normally closed switch on the radiator support. When the hood is closed, the switch is open. When the hood pops even a little bit, the horns blast you in the face. I have a hidden switch behind the bumper to disconnect it when I am doing maintenance. Total cost to install the whole circuit was $20.