Preventing truck thieves
11-27-2007, 09:27 PM
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Preventing truck thieves
Well, there has been about five vehicles that have been stolen in my area lately and it has made me a bit uneasy. 
A couple of them have been trucks and Suv's. My neighbors was just taken Thanksgiving evening. 
The police think they are stealing them on flatbeds and taking them to Mexico. I park my dodge outside because it wont fit in my garage and I was wondering what you guys do to keep it from being stolen? Do wheel locks work? Anything else?
Thanks.
A couple of them have been trucks and Suv's. My neighbors was just taken Thanksgiving evening. The police think they are stealing them on flatbeds and taking them to Mexico. I park my dodge outside because it wont fit in my garage and I was wondering what you guys do to keep it from being stolen? Do wheel locks work? Anything else?Thanks.
11-27-2007, 09:45 PM
#3
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There is a ravelco distributor in your area. www.bestautosecurity.com and click on arizona. He will be able to answer all your questions about the product. it saved my hind end this summer.
11-27-2007, 09:50 PM
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I had the ravelco installed on my truck a few months back after a few cars were stolen in my area. I to live in the phoenix area. If you would like the name of the guy that installed mine shot me a pm. He was awesome and did an amazing job on the install.
11-27-2007, 09:52 PM
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One more thing, about a month ago somebody hit our area again. They broke out a couple of windows on my truck. My truck was the only one that was not accually stolen and I firmly beleive they saw the ravelco and did not bother.
11-27-2007, 10:47 PM
#7
can't be that good if they still break the windows...
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11-27-2007, 11:04 PM
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cost the same? show me a truck that cost a couple hundred $$ unless a person has gap insurance, their insurance company is only going to give "fair market value" and could be out a bunch of money or if they are unlucky, they don't have full coverage insurance and be out a bunch more.
11-27-2007, 11:13 PM
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cost the same? show me a truck that cost a couple hundred $$ unless a person has gap insurance, their insurance company is only going to give "fair market value" and could be out a bunch of money or if they are unlucky, they don't have full coverage insurance and be out a bunch more.
11-27-2007, 11:44 PM
#12
"California Style"
I have a red dot light on my instrument panel that flashes every so often while locked up. Is this for the factory security system indicator? Nothing I've found in my manual really tells me much about such security system...
11-28-2007, 12:04 AM
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Hey everyone... Chris pointed this thread out to me, so I figured now would be a good time to get involved here.
My name is Kellen, and I own Thieftech, we are the Phoenix dealer for Ravelco.
While I didn't do the install on Megacab07's truck, I have done a ton of diesels.
Right now in Phoenix, Diesel theft is a huge market. Many of these trucks are a piece of cake to steal without using a flatbed. A flatbed is loud, and slow. A thief will get inside your truck and be as stealth as a ninja up until the second he gets it started.
Even if you happen to be sleeping in your own garage with a loaded shotgun at the time, once the truck is started, they will be out of sight within 5 seconds... Most of the time the thief will have the vehicle in Neutral, and they will release the parking brake, THEN attempt to start it. If it starts, they are even closer to Drive, and have no brake to release. They are gone before you can jump out of bed.
I have had so many Diesel owners call me up, telling me about how their brand new truck was stolen, and they just now got it back.
Insurance won't always be there to help you. It's great to have, but honestly, it is just like health insurance. They do whatever they can to save money.
Anyone that believes they can risk losing their vehicle because they have full coverage is just asking to be taken advantage of.
I got into this business because last December, my F350 Crew Cab Diesel 4X4 was stolen. I paid cash for it on the spot when I bought it. I had the best coverage that USAA offers. Not only had I been a member with them for as long as I can remember, but so had my grandmother and grandfather, my mother, and my uncle, his wife, and his kids. We all also banked with USAA.
One night while vising here in Phoenix, I was staying at a friends apartment while I was here, and I had my truck parked on Bell and Central.
When I came out in the morning, it was gone. I called the police to report it stolen, and they asked for my license plate number. After not-so-nicely explaining to the dispatcher that the thieves weren't kind enough to leave my plate behind for me, she told me to call back when I had the number. 30 minutes later, I called, and they filed the report.
How helpful.
To shorten the story, USAA denied my claim in full, stating that "...the vehicle was parked in an exceedingly high crime area without prior approval for coverage of theft in said high crime area."
Basically, they pulled a fast one on me, and that was that. I cut the loss.
I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful in any way whatsoever, but I see so many unsettled claims, its ridiculous.
On top of refusals to accept your claim, you have deductibles, rental cars (think your insurance company will pay for that? Re-read your claim contract closely... Usually no longer than 14 days, when they usually wait 1 month to even BEGIN processing your claim.), loss of valuables and personal belongings, hours and hours and hours of paperwork and phone interviews. And you still have the 50/50 chance of getting an insurance "loss agent". These guys are some of the most rude people you will ever have to deal with in your life. Their sole job is to make you look bad and save the company money. They will interrogate you, accuse you of lying, pull up financial history (they tried to tell me that maybe I had my truck stolen because my grandmother had filed bankruptcy 6 years ago, I swear to god). You don't ever want to deal with these people.
Then again, when my truck was hit, I made the claim, and received $2900 CASH within 9 days. MUCH better than trying to deal with a total loss situation.
2001diesel- Do you know why the police believe flatbeds are being used?
And are these vehicles being stolen from homes or work?
I'm just curious...
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to PM me.
And thanks for having me here.
My name is Kellen, and I own Thieftech, we are the Phoenix dealer for Ravelco.
While I didn't do the install on Megacab07's truck, I have done a ton of diesels.
Right now in Phoenix, Diesel theft is a huge market. Many of these trucks are a piece of cake to steal without using a flatbed. A flatbed is loud, and slow. A thief will get inside your truck and be as stealth as a ninja up until the second he gets it started.
Even if you happen to be sleeping in your own garage with a loaded shotgun at the time, once the truck is started, they will be out of sight within 5 seconds... Most of the time the thief will have the vehicle in Neutral, and they will release the parking brake, THEN attempt to start it. If it starts, they are even closer to Drive, and have no brake to release. They are gone before you can jump out of bed.
I have had so many Diesel owners call me up, telling me about how their brand new truck was stolen, and they just now got it back.
Insurance won't always be there to help you. It's great to have, but honestly, it is just like health insurance. They do whatever they can to save money.
Anyone that believes they can risk losing their vehicle because they have full coverage is just asking to be taken advantage of.
I got into this business because last December, my F350 Crew Cab Diesel 4X4 was stolen. I paid cash for it on the spot when I bought it. I had the best coverage that USAA offers. Not only had I been a member with them for as long as I can remember, but so had my grandmother and grandfather, my mother, and my uncle, his wife, and his kids. We all also banked with USAA.
One night while vising here in Phoenix, I was staying at a friends apartment while I was here, and I had my truck parked on Bell and Central.
When I came out in the morning, it was gone. I called the police to report it stolen, and they asked for my license plate number. After not-so-nicely explaining to the dispatcher that the thieves weren't kind enough to leave my plate behind for me, she told me to call back when I had the number. 30 minutes later, I called, and they filed the report.
How helpful.
To shorten the story, USAA denied my claim in full, stating that "...the vehicle was parked in an exceedingly high crime area without prior approval for coverage of theft in said high crime area."
Basically, they pulled a fast one on me, and that was that. I cut the loss.
I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful in any way whatsoever, but I see so many unsettled claims, its ridiculous.
On top of refusals to accept your claim, you have deductibles, rental cars (think your insurance company will pay for that? Re-read your claim contract closely... Usually no longer than 14 days, when they usually wait 1 month to even BEGIN processing your claim.), loss of valuables and personal belongings, hours and hours and hours of paperwork and phone interviews. And you still have the 50/50 chance of getting an insurance "loss agent". These guys are some of the most rude people you will ever have to deal with in your life. Their sole job is to make you look bad and save the company money. They will interrogate you, accuse you of lying, pull up financial history (they tried to tell me that maybe I had my truck stolen because my grandmother had filed bankruptcy 6 years ago, I swear to god). You don't ever want to deal with these people.
Then again, when my truck was hit, I made the claim, and received $2900 CASH within 9 days. MUCH better than trying to deal with a total loss situation.
2001diesel- Do you know why the police believe flatbeds are being used?
And are these vehicles being stolen from homes or work?
I'm just curious...
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to PM me.
And thanks for having me here.
11-28-2007, 12:06 AM
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Did you buy your truck used? 99% chance that is an aftermarket alarm or "dummy light".