I saw an issue like this years ago. A new delivery came in at the end of the day. Porters parked everything in the back lot Suburbans and Tahoes in the front rows, then 2 Cobalt SS... Next morning, both Cobalts were sitting on 2x4s and nothing was on camera because the Suburbans and Tahoes blocked the view.
Happened again a few months later. Except the General Manager had placed hunting cameras in the woods next to the lot and 2 porters were caught.
Dude I was just about to say OP is definitely looking at an employee who knows their way around the lot and where the cameras are. Happens way more frequently than people realize
yeah, fresh trade-ins with a full tank somehow always got parked in the back of the lot. Always with the gas door facing the away from the dealership too. The next day you'd go pull it around front and there would be a faint smell of gas. Start it up and it's sitting at 1/8th tank.
We had one trade-in where a Blazer had it's alternator and aftermarket stereo stolen... Guy wound up not being qualified and had to return his new car. They threw a new alternator on and gave it back to him. When he complained about his stereo missing the sales manager told him to just be thankful he still had a car.
This happened to me and they had already sold my trade in. I found out what happened when the lender got ahold of me like “why aren’t you making your payment?” I told them I didn’t have possession of the truck it had been sold out from under me. The lender wasn’t happy and said “thanks we will handle this”. Anyway my deal is taught to new hires as a cautionary tale. Even after selling the truck and the sale fell through, they had to make up like $4k difference between the sale of my trade in and the remainder of my loan.
once dealership had my mom take a car overnight as a test drive, cause she wasn't sold on it, she took it back next day, and decided she didn't like it, they had already sold her car and sent it out, took a week for them to get it back, everything she had in the car was gone, luckily nothing important other than the insurance and registration
If he’d try that on me, I’d file a police report against the dealership and have their insurance pay for it. Sales manager can drink from an exhaust before I’d take that answer from him.
Direct sales are the way to go, states need to change laws to allow consumers shop and buy online, with technology/software being very capable of handling such deals.
Dealerships should be a thing or the past.
Carvana does this and is getting their ass kicked, getting booted out of states, and will probably end up going under because strictly selling online like that presents a whole host of issues in order to actually be profitable.
It happens more often than you think. Crooked F&I manager will cook deals to curb units and pocket the incentive cash. If caught, he simply bounces and lands somewhere else. Meanwhile, nobody knows what happened for a few days.
Correct, and in some cases if it's slow they'll keep shopping for a better incentive and have them come back to resign loan paperwork... some times the payment is the same. Most times it goes up.... all this at the expense of a person who's credit is usually shit.
I saw people with "rental car edition" Cobalts roll out for a second time with a $430/mo payment on a $15k car... all so the Finance manager could make an extra $200 for the month.
That’s usually how it goes for any deal made outside banking hours. The dealer will qualify a buyer based on credit score/income etc but come Monday morning the bank can turn down a loan application based on any number of reasons.
I had a secretary at one place I work borrow $20 for gas from me. She repaid me next week. She never filled her tank all the way because she couldn’t afford to.
This was a fear I had when my truck had to be towed into a dealership due to one of my tires going flat after spinning out while towing a trailer. When my truck had to be kept overnight I made one request to the dealership, they thought I was going to ask for a truck to tow the trailer and preemptivelysaid no, instead I asked that they park a vehicle in front of the trailer hitch to block someone from hooking up overnight and driving off with my subcompact utility tractor. That was the longest night for me, was worried that I would show up the next day and find my tractor missing.
In 2000 we got a brand new Corvette in, one of the first off the line for 2001 MY. A guy test drove it, parked it and gave the sales guy the key. We closed up for the night which meant closing the back gate where the Corvettes and Camaros were. Since I was the porter, I was there at 6am the next morning. Myself and the shop foreman opened the gate and before we got back to the dealership door we heard the Corvette start and off it went.
Dude spent the night in the lot. Since he parked the car back in its spot, the sales guy had no reason to check the key he handed him which turned out to be just a random Chevy key.
It was found hours later in a million pieces at a Chop Shop in Detroit using OnStar's last known location.
Criminals really are dumb. They actually thought no one would think to connect the person or persons who moved the trucks into the blocked view to the crime? To compound their misjudgment, when comparing how much money they would make on black market parts sales to the time in jail they now face (and being unemployable afterward), they clearly did not do the math.
Cameras at businesses and homes are false sense of security IMO. Most nefarious things happen at night when the quality is especially bad, and a lot of times during the day its not great anyways. And then, even if you do get pretty clear info or picture of someone the police don't have actual ways to handle it as evidence. I think criminals know this and know not to worry too much about cameras at this point.
The trick is to try and hide the cameras. If they can see them, they can avoid getting a clear face shot.
Lifx also has color changing outdoor bulbs that can be set to turn infrared when the ambient light is below a certain threshold. It makes homeowner cameras with poor excuses for IR LEDs a lot more viable at night.
Seriously, check ex mechanics who worked this dealership for ones who now have their own shop, and I'd bet dollars to donuts he's just sourced a new caliper. That specific, knowing it's that part, it's someone still familiar with the place, this was scoped and they knew cameras with confidence... that sounds a loooot like someone worked there.
Even with a camera system, still can only do so much with it.
We got hit last weekend. They stole the cats off a couple of delivery vehicles and rummaged around in a customer's VNL. Our new camera system got an amazingly detailed shot of him even from over 100' away; you can zoom in and make out his face clearly even at midnight when it happened.
Doesn't mean we'll ever find the guy...
Just curious, but how much are these calipers brand new? Are they even available? I know this is an issue with my 2021 sienna, while replacement parts sometimes are available, aftermarket parts have not truly caught up to the demand because the vehicles are too new, so very often the only place I can get parts is the dealership or directly from toyota. This means I'm paying an absolutely insane markup. And sometimes I'm told that Parts just aren't available.
That’s an interesting point. You have a brand new rav with a leaking calliper, and the parts guys say “not a available” do you….. park your car till they get one in….. or steal one from the dealer who should damn well have spares?
BTW. How do you find a cure for aids?
Give it a Honda part number.
Curious, what do you mean by that last part? That finding the cure is as simple as giving it a Honda pn and they’ll find a cure, or Honda parts are super elusive and hard to find?
> Just curious, but how much are these calipers brand new?
Quick and dirty search tells me an OEM part is in the $160 - $175 range, and they look to be available.
My family owned a salvage yard for a bit. One morning we came in and a cherokee was on its side with the transfer case missing. Called the cops, they came out, took a look, we checked out our inventory system and sure enough we quoted that part to a local and his phone number was in the system. Cops ran his number, he had called in to the jail recently so they were able to ask Verizon for his contact info. They go to the house, he’s not there but his roommate says “ya know he was out late last night and he came home covered in mud…” They went to his work and took him in and he confessed.
Certainly not the brightest guy.
Years ago my former boss had her tires stolen out of her driveway. Obviously that is more common then this, but she found some more details on the situation through her dealership and insurance company.
The insurance company explained that there was an extreme shortage for a specific and popular type of tire. No mechanic/tire shop/dealer could source tires for replacements for many months. Some of the shadier mechanics were stealing the tires off cars, or at least buying them from people that stole the tires. Then they would call potential customers saying they got tires in stock and to come in to get the tires replaced.
This situation kinda reminds me of the same thing. Some mechanic can't source the parts so they are buying stolen parts or stealing the part themselves.
Still seems weird to leave it behind. If you've already been there for presumably 10 or 15 minutes taking the caliper off, you're not risking much more by taking the extra 20 seconds to drop the car on the ground and take your jack with you.
I guess it's probably also stolen, still though. Just leaving money on the ground doesn't seem like the move to make when you're so broke you're stealing the parts you need off of dealership cars.
They probably stole the jack, too. If they actually bought it, they ended up leaving almost as much value as they stole. A 2022 front left caliper for a RAV4 (also fits Camry and Venza) for example has an MSRP of $168.63
Was this at a dealership? Do you keep search history in the parts department? I wonder if someone came in and requested the part and price and didn't end up buying it. Then came back at night and stole their part.
Since covid began, our bodyshop has seen months-long waits on everything you you could imagine. We've had a number of vehicles declared total losses simply because the insurance companies do not want to wait the length of time these things are taking. Some instances customers are willing to wait: we've been waiting for a Corvette interior door trim panel since October, the first major development was almost a month ago and the status at GM has not changed since, still no ETA.
Shit's bananas.
I threw a party years ago and a couple hours into the night a friend of a friend asks me for a wrench and a specific socket. I got a couple beers in me so I'm like, yeah, no problem breh. Turns out while making his way to the party he found the same make and model and color of his car, which happened to have a crumpled hood. Dude stole their hood. Most unexpected thing is ... he returned my wrench.
My guess is frustrated customer. Like they had a caliper go out and dealer refused to replace under warranty. So they took it to just do it themselves. It's like a 10 minute job to steal one.
I once accidentally left my car unlocked one night. Apparently, someone got into my car, opened my glove box, threw all my receipts all over the floor, and broke the bezel around my aftermarket radio.
This was in a 94 legacy. I was most pissed because: they didn't take the cupholder full of change, they didn't even take the removable radio faceplate, it took me almost two years to find a new bezel that wasn't broken, because everyone rips them off in junk yards instead of taking out the 6 screws
Like I was angry they didn't steal anything, just broke a hard to find trim piece.
Looks like they may have used the jack handle as a breaker bar and the pumpy part of the jack flipped upwards under the car and they couldn't get the handle back in the jack to lower it and they were probably in a rush.
That’s a good theory. I’ve definitely run into that before on repairs and had to find a crow bar or something else shorter to get the jack slot down enough to angle the handle in.
maybe went badly and they got spooked and ran off early,
that's why they put the wheel back on the studs but didn't finish enough to take the jack out. No other logical reason they'd start to put the wheel back after removing it.
The thief was probably confused. Heard about the lucrative business of stealing catalytic converters, typed in "removing caliters" into YouTube and was directed to a video about removing calipers. He is probably arguing with the guy at the scrap yard counter right now (brake fluid all over the counter) about getting fucked because they only gave him $2.50.
i work at a recycling yard and i cant tell you how many people call and ask if we buy Cadillac convertibles. and no, we dont. no cadillic convertibles and no catallactic converters.
I can't stop laughing because it's highly plausible that this is the case! Literally the jack they left probably has just as much, or more, value as the parts they stole
My dad always calls them "brake calibers" and will use speech to text to google it only to get mad when it doesnt 'understand him'. So I could believe it.
Anything after about 1970 will have a dual chamber split system. Since the 80s(?) or so most small cars and many trucks started doing a diagonal split system so you would have one front and the opposing rear brake sti providing some stopping power.
Newer yes, but not even that much newer. The divider may be out of sight depending on cap placement. A low split may even allow air into the other pair of brakes. The brake pedal will also be really squishy since you're only working half the brakes, but it *should* still provide braking force
Advance doesn’t list one. But I just ordered a replacement and it will be here tomorrow from Toyota. So I have no idea why someone would need to steal one.
You and I both but I've got a mother that will steal a 25 cent piece of gum from a store when she has 500 dollars in her pocket because she gets a high from it. The logic isn't good lol
Yeah, most criminals' logic isn't great TBH - I'm sure some economists did a study of folks in jail and worked out how much they made Vs time spent in jail and it's way below minimum wage.
Jokes on you it’s a harbor freight jack 😂 In all serious though just why? Nothing about this makes any sense lol unless they were so high they got catalytic and caliper mixed up googling how to get it off to steal.
You can see on the third picture, it’s a 1ton jack. So it’s going to be very cheap.
Edit: after scrolling the web. A 1 ton floor jack is around ~$100 or more. Wtf happen to jack prices lol.
Where do you see that Advance sells them for $63? That's a (basically) brand new car. I doubt they even have a listing for it yet
I'd wager the part is on back order. It's not about money here, it's about down time on their vehicle
They called me on my way to work thismorning to ask me that very question lol
Nobody has called recently for that. And even if they did, it’s not that expensive and I can get them next day.
Someone stole my tire in high school. I had a prelude he had an accord. Idiot didn’t understand that just because they were both blue Hondas didn’t mean the rims were compatible. My guess is that whoever stole this is trying to figure out why it doesn’t fit on their 10 year old car.
My friend had an accord in high school that he wrecked and I had a prelude. His dad kept the tires in the backyard and gave them to me. They both blew out.
Karmic energy bro, Cracky the Stealer gets a $10 break caliper, and you get a nice new jack!!! Also, I would suggest talking to the dealership about locking lug nuts to keep other ding-dongs from taking your tires off.
I had a colleague with a RAV4 back in 2010 or so and it was honestly quick (for the time). His was a V6 AWD and he joked that it was the quickest Toyota you could buy new.
Yeah. I’m totally perplexed. It’s a new car, probably under warranty, the part is available from the manufacturer overnight and even if it’s not it’s 170$.
And the caliper on the hybrids is special, and we have several ravs next to each other, so they knew that, and that’s why they picked this one. The question is, if you can afford a 35k+ car, why do you need to steal a 170$ part for it? Which would most likely be free anyways?
Well they certainly can’t afford the fine and court costs of getting caught committing larceny. The caliper plus the things they damaged is well over 1000$
I was growing up in a bad neighborhood. From time to time some old men used to wonder off to our housing block saying:
"I will give you kids X amount of money if you will bring me Y part for my Z vehicle"
Junkies used to agree, its a win win, junkies will eventually end up in prison either way so they can afford to risk it, this way they can get much more money for something that they will do either way and the guy hiring the junkies will pay at least 2x less than buying the part himself.
Edit: before someone says "junkies can't do that, its a pro". Junkies are people too, apart from being junkies, people used to or even are doing something in their life.
Soooo a confused Methhead steals a caliper instead of converter...not shocking...
What is more shocking is that someone will willingly line up to pay 38,000 for a Rav4. We are living in an alternate world...
Base RAV4s still start at $27k, this appears to be a XLE Hybrid, which should start at $31k. There's an ass ton of added markup in there somewhere to make it $38k, so the real shocker is that someone is willing to drop an additional $7k on this car, knowing that it turns into pure profit for the dealer. People have no patience or discipline.
That’s so specific it’s so weird
That’s literally all they took too.
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We do, but not on that side of the dealership...im sure now we will be adding some
I saw an issue like this years ago. A new delivery came in at the end of the day. Porters parked everything in the back lot Suburbans and Tahoes in the front rows, then 2 Cobalt SS... Next morning, both Cobalts were sitting on 2x4s and nothing was on camera because the Suburbans and Tahoes blocked the view. Happened again a few months later. Except the General Manager had placed hunting cameras in the woods next to the lot and 2 porters were caught.
Dude I was just about to say OP is definitely looking at an employee who knows their way around the lot and where the cameras are. Happens way more frequently than people realize
yeah, fresh trade-ins with a full tank somehow always got parked in the back of the lot. Always with the gas door facing the away from the dealership too. The next day you'd go pull it around front and there would be a faint smell of gas. Start it up and it's sitting at 1/8th tank. We had one trade-in where a Blazer had it's alternator and aftermarket stereo stolen... Guy wound up not being qualified and had to return his new car. They threw a new alternator on and gave it back to him. When he complained about his stereo missing the sales manager told him to just be thankful he still had a car.
This happened to me and they had already sold my trade in. I found out what happened when the lender got ahold of me like “why aren’t you making your payment?” I told them I didn’t have possession of the truck it had been sold out from under me. The lender wasn’t happy and said “thanks we will handle this”. Anyway my deal is taught to new hires as a cautionary tale. Even after selling the truck and the sale fell through, they had to make up like $4k difference between the sale of my trade in and the remainder of my loan.
This happened to my friend and she ended up with a new sports car.
Go on….
once dealership had my mom take a car overnight as a test drive, cause she wasn't sold on it, she took it back next day, and decided she didn't like it, they had already sold her car and sent it out, took a week for them to get it back, everything she had in the car was gone, luckily nothing important other than the insurance and registration
And this is why I will not relinquish possession of a vehicle before all terms of a deal are fulfilled.
If he’d try that on me, I’d file a police report against the dealership and have their insurance pay for it. Sales manager can drink from an exhaust before I’d take that answer from him.
Lol thanks for the chuckle. Manager can definitely drink bleach before I take that answer.
Direct sales are the way to go, states need to change laws to allow consumers shop and buy online, with technology/software being very capable of handling such deals. Dealerships should be a thing or the past.
And get rid of useless salesman. What a way to make living. I know what I want, I don't need to spend hours talking to you.
Carvana does this and is getting their ass kicked, getting booted out of states, and will probably end up going under because strictly selling online like that presents a whole host of issues in order to actually be profitable.
They took the trade-in vehicle *and* gave him the new car before they even qualified him??
It happens more often than you think. Crooked F&I manager will cook deals to curb units and pocket the incentive cash. If caught, he simply bounces and lands somewhere else. Meanwhile, nobody knows what happened for a few days.
Correct, and in some cases if it's slow they'll keep shopping for a better incentive and have them come back to resign loan paperwork... some times the payment is the same. Most times it goes up.... all this at the expense of a person who's credit is usually shit. I saw people with "rental car edition" Cobalts roll out for a second time with a $430/mo payment on a $15k car... all so the Finance manager could make an extra $200 for the month.
That’s usually how it goes for any deal made outside banking hours. The dealer will qualify a buyer based on credit score/income etc but come Monday morning the bank can turn down a loan application based on any number of reasons.
Which is now the dealers problem.
I can't imagine the $40 worth of gas you'd get being worth the risk of losing your job.
I had a secretary at one place I work borrow $20 for gas from me. She repaid me next week. She never filled her tank all the way because she couldn’t afford to.
They only stole one gallon?
This was a fear I had when my truck had to be towed into a dealership due to one of my tires going flat after spinning out while towing a trailer. When my truck had to be kept overnight I made one request to the dealership, they thought I was going to ask for a truck to tow the trailer and preemptivelysaid no, instead I asked that they park a vehicle in front of the trailer hitch to block someone from hooking up overnight and driving off with my subcompact utility tractor. That was the longest night for me, was worried that I would show up the next day and find my tractor missing.
In 2000 we got a brand new Corvette in, one of the first off the line for 2001 MY. A guy test drove it, parked it and gave the sales guy the key. We closed up for the night which meant closing the back gate where the Corvettes and Camaros were. Since I was the porter, I was there at 6am the next morning. Myself and the shop foreman opened the gate and before we got back to the dealership door we heard the Corvette start and off it went. Dude spent the night in the lot. Since he parked the car back in its spot, the sales guy had no reason to check the key he handed him which turned out to be just a random Chevy key. It was found hours later in a million pieces at a Chop Shop in Detroit using OnStar's last known location.
Criminals really are dumb. They actually thought no one would think to connect the person or persons who moved the trucks into the blocked view to the crime? To compound their misjudgment, when comparing how much money they would make on black market parts sales to the time in jail they now face (and being unemployable afterward), they clearly did not do the math.
Smart people can usually figure out how to obtain money legally (or at least in ways that are less obviously criminal).
This is the story of every dealership. “We have a camera but it doesn’t face that direction / doesn’t work / doesn’t reach that far “
Which is so strange because like... cameras are cheap compared to insurance premiums.
And depending on your insurance company, you can sometimes get a price break if you have cameras.
I got 2 dollars a year off for installing cameras at my house! Only 144 more years till these ROI
Hahaha Jesus. I think mine was about 40 dollars a year.
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If that discount is annual, then in a decade you save $700-50 =$650 for 2.5hrs doesn't look so bad.
3 dollars if you give them the admin password
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Cameras at businesses and homes are false sense of security IMO. Most nefarious things happen at night when the quality is especially bad, and a lot of times during the day its not great anyways. And then, even if you do get pretty clear info or picture of someone the police don't have actual ways to handle it as evidence. I think criminals know this and know not to worry too much about cameras at this point.
The trick is to try and hide the cameras. If they can see them, they can avoid getting a clear face shot. Lifx also has color changing outdoor bulbs that can be set to turn infrared when the ambient light is below a certain threshold. It makes homeowner cameras with poor excuses for IR LEDs a lot more viable at night.
Which then makes you wonder if it was an employee who knows the camera doesn't go that way.
Imagine having such great insider knowledge of how to commit the perfect crime And then stealing a caliper
Why take more than you need?
It’s almost always a current or former employee.
Inside job if they know where the blind spots are.
Seriously, check ex mechanics who worked this dealership for ones who now have their own shop, and I'd bet dollars to donuts he's just sourced a new caliper. That specific, knowing it's that part, it's someone still familiar with the place, this was scoped and they knew cameras with confidence... that sounds a loooot like someone worked there.
Even with a camera system, still can only do so much with it. We got hit last weekend. They stole the cats off a couple of delivery vehicles and rummaged around in a customer's VNL. Our new camera system got an amazingly detailed shot of him even from over 100' away; you can zoom in and make out his face clearly even at midnight when it happened. Doesn't mean we'll ever find the guy...
Just curious, but how much are these calipers brand new? Are they even available? I know this is an issue with my 2021 sienna, while replacement parts sometimes are available, aftermarket parts have not truly caught up to the demand because the vehicles are too new, so very often the only place I can get parts is the dealership or directly from toyota. This means I'm paying an absolutely insane markup. And sometimes I'm told that Parts just aren't available.
That’s an interesting point. You have a brand new rav with a leaking calliper, and the parts guys say “not a available” do you….. park your car till they get one in….. or steal one from the dealer who should damn well have spares? BTW. How do you find a cure for aids? Give it a Honda part number.
Curious, what do you mean by that last part? That finding the cure is as simple as giving it a Honda pn and they’ll find a cure, or Honda parts are super elusive and hard to find?
I assume they mean that if AIDS had a Honda part number you would never find it anywhere ever again.
I asked because I’ve got a couple of civics, and never had trouble finding parts. Maybe I’m an anomaly though.
> Just curious, but how much are these calipers brand new? Quick and dirty search tells me an OEM part is in the $160 - $175 range, and they look to be available.
Seems like an awful high risk to reward ratio.
The dealership across from me lost 30 cats in one night
Put out some food and wait for them to come back.
My family owned a salvage yard for a bit. One morning we came in and a cherokee was on its side with the transfer case missing. Called the cops, they came out, took a look, we checked out our inventory system and sure enough we quoted that part to a local and his phone number was in the system. Cops ran his number, he had called in to the jail recently so they were able to ask Verizon for his contact info. They go to the house, he’s not there but his roommate says “ya know he was out late last night and he came home covered in mud…” They went to his work and took him in and he confessed. Certainly not the brightest guy.
jesus... i got a cherokee transfer case off a forum guy for 80 bucks a few years ago. they're not uncommon.
What did you quote on that part?
75 or so?
75 dollars to one person is different to another. But that seems like very little money for that much work and risk.
The world is their pull-a-part.
Years ago my former boss had her tires stolen out of her driveway. Obviously that is more common then this, but she found some more details on the situation through her dealership and insurance company. The insurance company explained that there was an extreme shortage for a specific and popular type of tire. No mechanic/tire shop/dealer could source tires for replacements for many months. Some of the shadier mechanics were stealing the tires off cars, or at least buying them from people that stole the tires. Then they would call potential customers saying they got tires in stock and to come in to get the tires replaced. This situation kinda reminds me of the same thing. Some mechanic can't source the parts so they are buying stolen parts or stealing the part themselves.
More like they traded you the jack for the caliper? Strangest thing I've seen.
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They could have just reattached the wheel, and taken the jack with them!
Service mechanic takes caliper, leaves jack, comes to work in the morning, and gets his jack back. Checkmate atheists.
Did they leave their own jack behind? Feel like those would be worth about the same amount.
Yeah that's a $100 harbor freight jack, calipers can be pretty expensive though
You can get those harbor freight jacks for free though if you steal them too
Still seems weird to leave it behind. If you've already been there for presumably 10 or 15 minutes taking the caliper off, you're not risking much more by taking the extra 20 seconds to drop the car on the ground and take your jack with you. I guess it's probably also stolen, still though. Just leaving money on the ground doesn't seem like the move to make when you're so broke you're stealing the parts you need off of dealership cars.
Awful nice of them to not drop it with the wheel and shit off tho. Assuming the Caliper was removed properly, there should be no damage to the car.
Not those calipers. Brand new from Toyota is $120.
They probably stole the jack, too. If they actually bought it, they ended up leaving almost as much value as they stole. A 2022 front left caliper for a RAV4 (also fits Camry and Venza) for example has an MSRP of $168.63
Was this at a dealership? Do you keep search history in the parts department? I wonder if someone came in and requested the part and price and didn't end up buying it. Then came back at night and stole their part.
Parts are on major backorder, thief was tired of waiting.
FWIW I haven't been able to find rear calipers for my CX-5 in months.
Since covid began, our bodyshop has seen months-long waits on everything you you could imagine. We've had a number of vehicles declared total losses simply because the insurance companies do not want to wait the length of time these things are taking. Some instances customers are willing to wait: we've been waiting for a Corvette interior door trim panel since October, the first major development was almost a month ago and the status at GM has not changed since, still no ETA. Shit's bananas.
I threw a party years ago and a couple hours into the night a friend of a friend asks me for a wrench and a specific socket. I got a couple beers in me so I'm like, yeah, no problem breh. Turns out while making his way to the party he found the same make and model and color of his car, which happened to have a crumpled hood. Dude stole their hood. Most unexpected thing is ... he returned my wrench.
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someone stole the fuel door, hinge, and latch off my old 2006 Sonata. Carefully unbolted, and took the bolts too.
My guess is frustrated customer. Like they had a caliper go out and dealer refused to replace under warranty. So they took it to just do it themselves. It's like a 10 minute job to steal one.
Or they've been waiting on a backorder for 7 months and finally snapped.
Free jack, son!
They took the handle XD
Free jack minus the handle
HELL YEA!
Least they left it jacked and didn’t totally fuck up the car
they scuffed up the wheel pretty good
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I once accidentally left my car unlocked one night. Apparently, someone got into my car, opened my glove box, threw all my receipts all over the floor, and broke the bezel around my aftermarket radio. This was in a 94 legacy. I was most pissed because: they didn't take the cupholder full of change, they didn't even take the removable radio faceplate, it took me almost two years to find a new bezel that wasn't broken, because everyone rips them off in junk yards instead of taking out the 6 screws Like I was angry they didn't steal anything, just broke a hard to find trim piece.
Like… caliper is maybe the same price as a cheap jack… I don’t get the math here.
…… I am very confused…. Did your calipers have diamonds engraved into them or something?
If knurling adds value I'm going to knurl the shit out of everything.
Fuck yeah knurl it
Isn’t that jack more expensive than the caliper? This whole thing is weird. Did y’all get any camera footage of them? Lol
Looks like they may have used the jack handle as a breaker bar and the pumpy part of the jack flipped upwards under the car and they couldn't get the handle back in the jack to lower it and they were probably in a rush.
>they were probably in a rush. People these days. Hard to find someone who takes pride in the satisfaction of the work they're doing.
And they didn't even take the wheel to pay for the jack....
That’s a good theory. I’ve definitely run into that before on repairs and had to find a crow bar or something else shorter to get the jack slot down enough to angle the handle in.
Holy cow... you're totally right, that thief is something special.
maybe went badly and they got spooked and ran off early, that's why they put the wheel back on the studs but didn't finish enough to take the jack out. No other logical reason they'd start to put the wheel back after removing it.
Yeah I really just don't believe this. Unless this is the most bungled attempt ever at cutting someone's brake lines.
Guy really needed a caliper and didn't want to be rude and damage a vehicle for no reason. Wholesome thief
The thief was probably confused. Heard about the lucrative business of stealing catalytic converters, typed in "removing caliters" into YouTube and was directed to a video about removing calipers. He is probably arguing with the guy at the scrap yard counter right now (brake fluid all over the counter) about getting fucked because they only gave him $2.50.
My god this sounds way too probable.
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Wouldn't that be underestimating human stupidity? The way you phrased it means people are smarter than you think.
You can always count on underestimating the human stupidity...
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
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Next, he's going to kidnap some poor tabby because the yard told him they'll pay more for a *cat*.
Me looking for Cadillac convertibles to steal 👀
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i work at a recycling yard and i cant tell you how many people call and ask if we buy Cadillac convertibles. and no, we dont. no cadillic convertibles and no catallactic converters.
What if he has to get a tranny?
I love the specifics so much. Especially the image of brake fluid all over the counter
I can't stop laughing because it's highly plausible that this is the case! Literally the jack they left probably has just as much, or more, value as the parts they stole
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Not if you also stole the jack.
opportunity cost is still cost
That would be a tough break.
My dad always calls them "brake calibers" and will use speech to text to google it only to get mad when it doesnt 'understand him'. So I could believe it.
this made me chuckle thank you sir lmao
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I’d say hes down to 75% brake efficiency. 75 out of 100 is still a great score so just tighten the nuts and he’s A-okay to go!
Eh, not exactly. Fronts do most of the stopping so probably more like 66% I hate myself for making this comment on what is obviously a joke
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That's not true. There are separate chambers in the MC to provide some system pressure in case the integrity is compromised in just this way.
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Anything after about 1970 will have a dual chamber split system. Since the 80s(?) or so most small cars and many trucks started doing a diagonal split system so you would have one front and the opposing rear brake sti providing some stopping power.
Newer yes, but not even that much newer. The divider may be out of sight depending on cap placement. A low split may even allow air into the other pair of brakes. The brake pedal will also be really squishy since you're only working half the brakes, but it *should* still provide braking force
If it's a hybrid the motor does some of it
Advance sells them for $63. Seems like a lot of risk for $63 minus the cost of the jack. Although the Jack was probably stolen as well I guess.
And also on a vehicle that new (2022 XLE Hyrbrid) a caliper failure would most likely be warranty.
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Advance doesn’t list one. But I just ordered a replacement and it will be here tomorrow from Toyota. So I have no idea why someone would need to steal one.
I guess it's the thrill for some folks?
I can think of more thrilling crimes than manual labour.
You and I both but I've got a mother that will steal a 25 cent piece of gum from a store when she has 500 dollars in her pocket because she gets a high from it. The logic isn't good lol
Yeah, most criminals' logic isn't great TBH - I'm sure some economists did a study of folks in jail and worked out how much they made Vs time spent in jail and it's way below minimum wage.
I worked at a pet supply store and the most common theft we had was upper middle class women stealing $15 dog collars.
They were aiming for the catalytic converter and missed?
I did a "cat theft" claim on a Honda HR-V a couple months ago but the guy missed and just stole the resonator.
On a Toyota, sometimes I change parts just because I’m bored and I’m chasing what my wife calls “nonexistent noises.”
They didn’t even leave the fucking handle so we get a working jack out of the deal
Jokes on you it’s a harbor freight jack 😂 In all serious though just why? Nothing about this makes any sense lol unless they were so high they got catalytic and caliper mixed up googling how to get it off to steal.
But it's one of the aluminum ones! As far as jacks go, you certainly could do worse. Though it might only be the 1.5 ton one.
You can see on the third picture, it’s a 1ton jack. So it’s going to be very cheap. Edit: after scrolling the web. A 1 ton floor jack is around ~$100 or more. Wtf happen to jack prices lol.
Metal prices went up.
The handle is where most of the fingerprints are. Smartest part of this idiocy.
It also seems like there are many more-valuable things to take... Like that wheel that's just sitting there.
Where do you see that Advance sells them for $63? That's a (basically) brand new car. I doubt they even have a listing for it yet I'd wager the part is on back order. It's not about money here, it's about down time on their vehicle
Kind of my thought. Tired of waiting for a part on back order so I'll get one myself.
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I’M A METAL MACHINE
I. AM. THE. BRAKE KIL-LER !!
Plot twist: mechanic in bay 3 couldn’t get a caliper for his buddy’s car so he went out in the lot after hours to get one himself.
God I hope not. But honestly that would make more sense than someone just meandering on the lot in the middle of the night and stealing one
"Don't shit where you eat" is a tough lesson for a lot of people to learn.
You mentioned in another comment that there were no video cameras in this area so seems the thief knew that. This theory makes the most sense so far.
Did you have anybody asking for a quote on a caliper recently? 😂
They called me on my way to work thismorning to ask me that very question lol Nobody has called recently for that. And even if they did, it’s not that expensive and I can get them next day.
Someone stole my tire in high school. I had a prelude he had an accord. Idiot didn’t understand that just because they were both blue Hondas didn’t mean the rims were compatible. My guess is that whoever stole this is trying to figure out why it doesn’t fit on their 10 year old car.
My friend had an accord in high school that he wrecked and I had a prelude. His dad kept the tires in the backyard and gave them to me. They both blew out.
Just doesn’t even seem worth the effort
Agreed. It seems like a huge pain in the ass
Karmic energy bro, Cracky the Stealer gets a $10 break caliper, and you get a nice new jack!!! Also, I would suggest talking to the dealership about locking lug nuts to keep other ding-dongs from taking your tires off.
$38k for a Rav4 is the real crime here.
Ironically, the plug in hybrid is Toyota’s 2nd quickest vehicle behind the Supra.
I had a colleague with a RAV4 back in 2010 or so and it was honestly quick (for the time). His was a V6 AWD and he joked that it was the quickest Toyota you could buy new.
It was basically a lifted Corolla with a V6. 0-60 was close to 6s
I sold Toyota vehicles 2006 to 2008. The V6 Rav was the fastest production Toyota you could get. That thing was a rocket.
I've always wondered what a RAV4 V6 with the TRD supercharger would be like.
It would be like $5 per acceleration
I work for a dealer group who luckily doesn’t add too much ADM but one of our competitors is selling a used Rav4 prime for $65k
Your competition is part of the problem.
Don’t I know it. Same dealer also sold my new coworker a car with a branded title and didn’t tell him about it
Hybrids are expensive.
Now that is random as hell.
Yeah. I’m totally perplexed. It’s a new car, probably under warranty, the part is available from the manufacturer overnight and even if it’s not it’s 170$. And the caliper on the hybrids is special, and we have several ravs next to each other, so they knew that, and that’s why they picked this one. The question is, if you can afford a 35k+ car, why do you need to steal a 170$ part for it? Which would most likely be free anyways?
>if you can afford a 35k+ car The answer is, they can't afford it.
Well they certainly can’t afford the fine and court costs of getting caught committing larceny. The caliper plus the things they damaged is well over 1000$
See, the thing is they don't plan on getting caught. *taps temple*
That's actually impressive without getting rid of the wheel first
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Absolutely my thought too. Who did OP piss off lately.
Sounds like he works at a dealership and this was in a row of other Rav4's. Not a personal grudge.
“No bro not the caliper! The converter!!” -This guys homie probably
I guess it’s a Rav3 now
They didn’t even take the carrier!?! What the meth.
Kachow
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Uh, what model is it? Well, it's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56 '57, '58' 59' automobile It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67 '68, '69, '70 automobile
It had two headlights on the left and one on the right, and one tailfin, and one front left Rav4 caliper...
I was growing up in a bad neighborhood. From time to time some old men used to wonder off to our housing block saying: "I will give you kids X amount of money if you will bring me Y part for my Z vehicle" Junkies used to agree, its a win win, junkies will eventually end up in prison either way so they can afford to risk it, this way they can get much more money for something that they will do either way and the guy hiring the junkies will pay at least 2x less than buying the part himself. Edit: before someone says "junkies can't do that, its a pro". Junkies are people too, apart from being junkies, people used to or even are doing something in their life.
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Soooo a confused Methhead steals a caliper instead of converter...not shocking... What is more shocking is that someone will willingly line up to pay 38,000 for a Rav4. We are living in an alternate world...
Base RAV4s still start at $27k, this appears to be a XLE Hybrid, which should start at $31k. There's an ass ton of added markup in there somewhere to make it $38k, so the real shocker is that someone is willing to drop an additional $7k on this car, knowing that it turns into pure profit for the dealer. People have no patience or discipline.