Truck was stolen while on family trip

[incognito_2u]

Sad to hear this happened to you and truly hope it works out in the end.
The way in which these criminals work is impressive. They do one thing, and they do it well. I always said that their “job“ is to steal. Fortunately for us, if things don’t go the way they normally do, they leave for other prey. What I mean by that is, say they are targeting Dodge Ram trucks…..they go to their tried and true method to steal a Dodge Ram truck. Now throw one roadblock at them (Steering lock, kill switch, fuel pump fuse pulled, ect..) they give up and move on to the next “Mark”. Unfortunate but true. Moral of story……throw one roadblock at them and it increases the chance that your car won’t be targeted.

 

[Imadentguy]

Yeah, it was generic suburbia Texas. An area with a bunch of your middle of the road hotels and strip malls with restaurants and whatnot.

Naw’ man you were actually in a super seedy part of town. Webster, League City, Clearlake, is all ghetto. Anywhere on the east side / southeast side of this city turns hood quick from ANYWHERE in Harris county all of the way out past Pasadena and down 45 to Galveston. Sugarland down south west, west side of 99 toll road on the west side out in Katy, and the woodlands/ Montgomery county way up north are realistically the only areas that you can feel remotely safe in this city. It is a cesspool and getting worse everyday…

 

[Rand]

Head over to Lake Charles, LA, and you can find another one that is discounted. Not quite 20% off, but close:

Around here the 52k models are going around 48k

same trucks were mid-high 30's in late 2020

 

[zzyzzx]

It's the cops job to find my vehicle using whatever means they normally do.

Which these days is nothing.

 

[John_Conrad]

Sounds like a story! How does one steal a skid steer????

the theft occurred at a very isolated job site in a rural farm, lets say somewhere in the midwest USA, and the thief worked for the concrete company that was delivering concrete to the job site. The thief returned in the wee hours of a sunday morning when no one was working at the site. all this time information was gathered from the gps unit that had been installed on the skidsteer and made a time stamp when it ran, by the way this machine's value was at about $65k. now here is the part i am not sure of. the thief either had a key that worked on the skid steer or the crew that was operating the crew left the key in it. either way, the gps showed the skidsteer firing up at around 3am while it was loaded and then the time registered again about an hour later when it was unloaded. the crews arrived on monday morning and reported the skidsteer missing, which is when i ran the gps report on the unit. a call was made to the sheriff's office of the county with the address of the missing skidsteer's new location. the rest of the information was gathered from the local newspaper's story when it reported the theft and the recovery of other equipment.

 

[xspeedy]

One option is to buy something used, that is "good enough" to meet your needs. Drive it for the next couple of months until this all shakes out, then trade it in on whatever you buy as a permanent replacement.

Basiclly, you're buying yourself some time, by buying something that you don't intend to keep in the long term.

Thanks. I have an extra vehicle in the family to lean on for a bit. I’m not rushing a new vehicle purchase.

 

[kkreit01]

That really sux. I hope everything works out for you. Coming from someone who went from a truck, to SUV, and back to truck again, I'd say "don't do it". If you ever haul any lumber from HD or Lowes, you will not want to put it in a new X5. Last summer I was hauling 10' 2x8s in the back of a new Edge. It wasn't easy (nor fun).

 

[bdcardinal]

the theft occurred at a very isolated job site in a rural farm, lets say somewhere in the midwest USA, and the thief worked for the concrete company that was delivering concrete to the job site. The thief returned in the wee hours of a sunday morning when no one was working at the site. all this time information was gathered from the gps unit that had been installed on the skidsteer and made a time stamp when it ran, by the way this machine's value was at about $65k. now here is the part i am not sure of. the thief either had a key that worked on the skid steer or the crew that was operating the crew left the key in it. either way, the gps showed the skidsteer firing up at around 3am while it was loaded and then the time registered again about an hour later when it was unloaded. the crews arrived on monday morning and reported the skidsteer missing, which is when i ran the gps report on the unit. a call was made to the sheriff's office of the county with the address of the missing skidsteer's new location. the rest of the information was gathered from the local newspaper's story when it reported the theft and the recovery of other equipment.

There are very few key combos on equipment like that. One of my friends works for a municipality and has master keys for all of their equipment. Basically one key is needed per manufacturer.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Naw’ man you were actually in a super seedy part of town. Webster, League City, Clearlake, is all ghetto. Anywhere on the east side / southeast side of this city turns hood quick from ANYWHERE in Harris county all of the way out past Pasadena and down 45 to Galveston. Sugarland down south west, west side of 99 toll road on the west side out in Katy, and the woodlands/ Montgomery county way up north are realistically the only areas that you can feel remotely safe in this city. It is a cesspool and getting worse everyday…

I saw my first drive-by in the SW side of 610 and I lived next to the astrodome.

 

[SeaJay]

The decision to repair or total the vehicle is entirely the insurer's choice. If they repair it, and you no longer want it you can sell it.

 

[wpod]

Sorry for the loss.

 

[Alien]

Yeah, the relay method seems to be VERY popular, you just need for the vehicle to think the key is in it for it to start and be drivable, it doesn't matter once it's running and it detects the key no longer being "there", it's still fully operational.

I can see how the relay method works where a vehicle is parked in front of a house with the fob hanging inside of the front door. But how does it work in a hotel parking lot? One of the theft team would have to know which room to stand in front of, and run the risk of being caught on hotel cameras, etc. I doubt that the relay method was what was used for this theft.

 

[OVERKILL]

I can see how the relay method works where a vehicle is parked in front of a house with the fob hanging inside of the front door. But how does it work in a hotel parking lot? One of the theft team would have to know which room to stand in front of, and run the risk of being caught on hotel cameras, etc. I doubt that the relay method was what was used for this theft.

"the call is coming from inside the house"

Is my suspicion. As noted by the OP, the guy at the counter seemed sketchy, he was probably in on it, aiding in selecting vehicles.

 

[pezzy84]

This really sucks to happen on vacation sorry to hear about the misfortune.

I do have to say you all are thinking too much about front desk agent being part of some theft ring. I worked in hotels for 10+ years before leaving the industry because it is the absolute pits to work in. You are suggesting a common criminal is going to go fetch a $15-20/hr job that requires at least 10-20 hours of on the job training, wear a uniform, be nicely groomed and be a daily punching bag for customers just to scout out cars to steal. Seems like a lot of work that could be accomplished in 5 minutes by just cruising through the parking lot late at night.

Also pretty much every hotel has 3 distinct shifts that are usually exactly the same no matter where you go, the industry most common is 7AM-3PM, 3PM-11PM and 11PM-7AM. If OP checked in before 11PM the agent was most likely not there when truck was stolen at midnight. Agents don't hang out after their shifts and usually have a smoke trail behind them 1 minute after their shift ends after they ramble off any pertinent information to the next shift.

Trust me hotel work is one of the lowest paid, most thankless jobs that yet requires pretty high standards in grooming and professionalism to work in any decent hotel or higher (the likes of Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard, etc). Now the poor folks are basically being accused of being part of a theft ring.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

i have to say having been involved in the recovery of an expensive skid steer with the use of gps tracking was very rewarding.
the guy is still in jail, & the police recovered a whole lot of stolen equipment on his property! lol

You an acting Tow Jockey or a Recovery Agent? A "Writ of Execution" is all to familiar.

 

[CKN]

This really sucks to happen on vacation sorry to hear about the misfortune.

I do have to say you all are thinking too much about front desk agent being part of some theft ring. I worked in hotels for 10+ years before leaving the industry because it is the absolute pits to work in. You are suggesting a common criminal is going to go fetch a $15-20/hr job that requires at least 10-20 hours of on the job training, wear a uniform, be nicely groomed and be a daily punching bag for customers just to scout out cars to steal. Seems like a lot of work that could be accomplished in 5 minutes by just cruising through the parking lot late at night.

Also pretty much every hotel has 3 distinct shifts that are usually exactly the same no matter where you go, the industry most common is 7AM-3PM, 3PM-11PM and 11PM-7AM. If OP checked in before 11PM the agent was most likely not there when truck was stolen at midnight. Agents don't hang out after their shifts and usually have a smoke trail behind them 1 minute after their shift ends after they ramble off any pertinent information to the next shift.

Trust me hotel work is one of the lowest paid, most thankless jobs that yet requires pretty high standards in grooming and professionalism to work in any decent hotel or higher (the likes of Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard, etc). Now the poor folks are basically being accused of being part of a theft ring.

We have "Columbo" armchair experts on here.........

 

[Brons2]

Most likely across the border. This stuff is rampant along the southern border areas. Az has the highest auto and motorcycle theft in the country. I was on a rented Harley in Az when I found that out. I got the extra insurance but would still have to pay $1500 if it was stolen. I parked it by the front door of whatever hotel I was staying at. The night staff was good about that.

Houston is a solid five and a half hours from the border. More likely it was taken to some local wrecking yard of ill repute and stripped down to the frame.

 

[another Todd]

Sorry for your loss, but shoot, that's astounding that it's that easy to steal them. Maybe we have to resort to low-tech things like The Club or a good old battery disconnect.

I still use a club, been using them since they came out. I don't like my stuff stolen.

 

[Igottwobrokelegs]

I still use a club, been using them since they came out. I don't like my stuff stolen.

I might have to check on purchasing this club thing you speak of

 

[The Critic]

Conclusion?