STOLEN TRUCK - Montana Owners Club

ALAN · 12-07-2011, 12:08 PM

Probably will not save your truck, but if you live in Texas, New Mx, or Arizona, look out. My truck was a 2005 Ford Superduty crew cab with a high priced alarm system. They took it from my driveway with no problem. My neighbor who has trouble sleeping, was working on his computer at 2:30AM and heard the alarm being turned off (he has heard it so many times he knew what it was), shortly after that the truck started and drove away. He thought I had been called out for some emergency and did not get up to look. The police said that crew cab trucks are being stolen to either carry drugs or people not across the border but from the border North. They defeat the alarm with electronic scanners that look for the signal from the alarm, match it and then turn it off.

The only advice the police and insurance gave me is either park inside a locked garage or add features to your truck to slow them down i.e. club on both steering wheel and brake, secondary kill switch that must be turned on to start the truck, armed guard, etc.

Alan & Kathy

stiles watson · 12-07-2011, 12:27 PM

Sorry for your loss. Trucks in south Texas have been a target for some time now.

moutard2 · 12-07-2011, 12:30 PM

Welcome to my world! Our 2005 Ford Superduty crew cab went missing during a 30 minute lunch stop in a new strip mall in Avondale, AZ (greater Phoenix) in 2008. They also defeated a sophisticated alarm system. The truck was found a week later by a BLM agent in the desert southwest of Tucson. It was thrashed, lights all painted black, and not a square inch without deep scratches (from brush) or dents. The insurance company wrote it off after a 7 week fight with us. Definitely not a fun experience. I do recommend a club device even with an ignition disabler.

Ozz · 12-07-2011, 12:45 PM

So sorry for the experience, nothing worse than a thief.

NewFlyLady · 12-07-2011, 01:34 PM

So sorry for what happened to you. This is the exact reason we had lojack installed on our truck when we bought it. After hearing that the police loved lojack because they can track the car, we felt that we made the right choice. A relative had his car stolen with lojack on it and the police found it within 1/2 hour of the report.

patbarton · 12-07-2011, 02:11 PM

Buy one here.

**DQDick** · 12-07-2011, 02:53 PM

Sorry about your truck! When Joyce and I were on our honeymoon in 1995 the rental company wouldn't allow us to take the 4runner we rented within 40 miles of the border. I'd mostly forgot about that experience, now with us going down there in February I'll have to try and find a club or maybe a gun

. Oops! Sorry, wrong thread

SlickWillie · 12-08-2011, 01:28 AM

Not only the Superduty trucks, but any truck. One of our neighbors had a Ford Ranger stolen from right in front of his TT. They used a crow bar on the door, and he had keys in the console. Just got it back from Fort Worth. Back cap was gone, along with aluminum tool boxes and about $6000 worth of tools. Police believe the truck was being used to transport stolen copper.

CORattler · 12-08-2011, 01:53 AM

Stealing a mans truck... that's pretty low. There's a special place in hell for those people. I know what it's like to be a victim of theft and it's a feeling of violation. For me, it has never gone away. Sorry to hear about this but it's a good post to give the rest of us a "heads up" to be on the alert.

DarMar · 12-08-2011, 02:07 AM

Sorry to hear of your loss Alan & Kathy, these scumbags really make one's blood boil!!!

The lowjack system looks like a good theft deterrent system. I also wonder for us GM owners if our OnStar system works as well as we are led to believe or have they found a way to get around all these systems as well. At any rate one would think that a good system of any kind would thwart most thieves.

**DQDick** · 12-08-2011, 02:14 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by DQDick

Sorry about your truck! When Joyce and I were on our honeymoon in 1995 the rental company wouldn't allow us to take the 4runner we rented within 40 miles of the border. I'd mostly forgot about that experience, now with us going down there in February I'll have to try and find a club or maybe a gun

. Oops! Sorry, wrong thread

Alan you have my apologies for the humor. Losing your truck isn't funny, it appalling! Woke up in the night and realized, once again my foot was firmly in my mouth.

ALAN · 12-08-2011, 03:47 AM

dodick, Dick, Don't worry about the humor. After the first shock, humor is all you have left, literally. It has been 3 weeks since the theft and the insurance has deemed the truck a total loss. Now the fun begins to see what they give me to buy another truck. I asked the police about the lojack system since my son has one on his truck. They said their experience is the same with that system as mine. The difference is that the non professional thief will not know it is there and you get your vehicle back. The pro can find it and disable the system. My son was bragging to a friend that installs these systems, about his lojack and the friend brought out a sensor and showed my son how to find and disable it. Scary.

Alan & Kathy

**DQDick** · 12-08-2011, 04:14 AM

It really is scary what technology can do in the wrong hands. Ordered a club today and will be talking to my dealer about a kill switch later today. With us having a new Maxi Cab and wanting to see the museum in Columbus, NM we might as well put a sign on ours "please take this one".

SlickWillie · 12-08-2011, 04:17 AM

I sure don't count on On Star if it is a professional thief. I would think popping the fuse to the On Star would disable it. IIRC, that was all that was necessary to disable it when adding a programmer to the trucks.

HamRad · 12-08-2011, 05:40 AM

Alan,
Sorry to hear of your loss. That is such a sickening feeling! I keep thinking about discovering our truck has been stolen. Every time we go to a movie or are both away from our truck I'm afraid we'll come out and find a hole where our truck was parked. Our only hope is that it is so big that the thief will not want it and take a 250 or 350!

I hope the insurance company does you good. Good luck. Dennis

Dick,
I'm with you on the technology thing. I had no idea it was so easy for someone to defeat a modern system. A club might slow them down but I doubt it would mean much to the type of folks who can defeat a modern alarm. All they would need is a big set of cutters. And they don't even have to touch the club..... They will just cut the wheel and slip it off.

As far as visiting Columbus ... it is a nice little place to visit. We spent 4 or 5 days there. They have a nice new museum at the park (Pancho Villa SP) and right across the street is a nice little train museum. We did not visit the train exhibit but really enjoyed the one at the park. We drove down to the border (about 2 miles) and walked across and had dinner. Walked around the town a little bit. It is only a couple of blocks of businesses. Then back across and back home.

Pancho Villa SP is a wonderful park. Hugh sites. Most of them are the type you can just pull into. Sort of an arch type arrangement. We had water and electric. No sewer hook up but a real nice dump station.

A couple of years after we were there we read with dismay that the local cops of the Columbus area were all arrested. They were acting as weapon suppliers for some of the drug cartels. Scary! But certainly no reason to not visit the area. By the way when we were there I could have sworn we were in the middle of a war zone! By that I mean I've never seen so many military vehicles as well as Customs and Border Patrol folks. I cannot believe that anyone could get through such a massive amount of people checking you for legal status and guns and dope! There were so many official folks there that I felt really safe. Good luck and have fun. Dennis

luvmywestie · 12-08-2011, 05:44 AM

Thank you for sharing this with us. It has given us more to think about and we will see what extra precautions we can take. I am so sorry that you had to go through this!

Ozz · 12-08-2011, 06:26 AM

From all I have read, a layered defense if best, (kill switch, fuel cut-off, alarm, so on) the more layers, the bigger PITA it is, here is one idea:
http://www.amazon.com/Denver-Wheel-B.../dp/B0051UOF3C

It depends on who is stealing it, how competent they are and how much time they have.

8.1al · 12-08-2011, 06:41 AM

Given a chance the thieves will figure out a way to get that boot off

HamRad · 12-08-2011, 07:24 AM

You would think that one could put enough anti theft devices on a truck to keep it safe. But Charlie is right. Give a thief enough time and they will figure out a way to defeat whatever you've installed. Even if you have a "fool proof" system they can figure out a way to steal it. Heck I've even heard that they will simply use a tow truck to take a vehicle. You just never know! Good luck to us all. Dennis

richfaa · 12-08-2011, 08:39 AM

All a alarm system will get you no matter how expensive or sophisticated is a small discount on your insurance policy. To the experienced thief they are little deterrent. A noise maker, kill switch or steering wheel lock will deter the amateurs.

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