Yahoo Autos Thieves Steal High-End Cars From Another Dealership
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Thieves have considered car dealerships as well as repair shops as soft targets in the middle of the night. We keep seeing groups descend on dealers under cover of darkness, masked up, and steal some of the most expensive vehicles in the showroom or on the lot in just minutes.
See what a runaway wheel did to a BMW.
It’s happened again, this time in Daphne, Alabama late on the night of March 9 at Terry Thompson Chevrolet. As WPMI points out, some are shocked these thieves were bold enough to pull of the heist since the dealership is positioned on a busy highway. But we’ve seen that and even bolder moves before.
The thieves ultimately took four vehicles which reportedly have the combined value of almost $300,000. Not only did they swipe two new Chevrolet Silverados, they also took a Suburban and a Dodge Charger Hellcat. So many times there’s a Hellcat in there.
According to police, these guys were pretty sneaky, realizing trying to pull into the dealership off the busy highway in the late night hours might raise suspicions. Instead, they had someone drop them off in the woods behind some business adjacent to the dealership.
From there they cut through a fence at a body shop, snuck over to the dealership, then forced entry through a window in the service department. We see a lot of dealer heists where thieves get in through the service department, so dealer owners might want to beef up security there if they want to prevent break-ins.
From there they got the key fobs for the vehicles and were able to drive them away, no spoofing the fobs, reprogramming the ignitions, or anything else technically required. Why dealerships don’t secure keys better is a mystery to us because we see thieves get into key boxes like they’re a joke, probably because they are.
Police anticipate the thieves are going to try VIN swapping or rebirthing the stolen cars, then attempt to sell them to some poor sap who thinks he’s getting a tremendous deal. We’ve seen quite a few people get burned after buying VIN swapped vehicles, so buyer beware.
Image via Daphne Police Department/WPMI
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