I thought this might be of interest to you guys…

I work at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, CA as a C/O. I was talking to an inmate on my pod and I asked him what his charges were. He said he was in for car theft and evading. He explained how he was in a stolen CL-S and was running from the police at 100+ MPH. He said he came to his senses and pulled over and he was arrested. I asked him where he got the car and he said in a parking lot in S.F. He also said that the registered owner was from Fremont, CA. I asked him how he bypassed the chip embedded in the key and he said that he had a “shaved key” that would get him into the car and then he would simply look in the leather owners manual case where he would find the valet key. He would then use the valet key to start the car.

There are guys like these out there looking to boost cars. Be careful, protect your investment and get that valet key out of there!

 

good thing i lost my owners manual. :o

 

Anyone dumb enough to leave a spare key INSIDE their car deserves it to be stolen.

Shawn S

 

 

no one deserves to have their car stolen. PITFA!!!!

Stolen: 97 Integra GSR 19K miles- missing Sept 24 1997"
Philadelpha, Pa. @ 32nd and Market

only advice, think like a thief and park where a tow truck can't get it.

 

I don't keep the manual in the car. I have more important things to take up space in my glove box.

 

Although I wouldn't wish anyone's car to be stolen or vandelized, I have to agree in part, who is dumb enough to keep a spare key inside the car?

Thanks for the advice though.

 

I never understood leaving a key in the car either.

 

BMW dealers insist u keep the valet key in the car...y i have no clue...that's how my friend's new 7-series was stolen not once but twice :shakehd:

 

Sorry, but you should of smacked that guy senseless as soon as you heard the words ACURA come out of his mouth...!!! j/k

I am sure he is sorry for his crime..

I spoke with an unemployed Ex-auto thief that never got busted, (he is older now) but his car got stolen recently and he flipped out... I asked him "So.... How does it feel?"....... LOL... I just had to rub it in...

Like I said before "Touching my car is like touching my child"....


Smitty

 

I was worried for a minute, then I read that he got a key out of the glove compartment... wtf? Why the hell would you leave a key in your car?!?!

 

I thought this was going to be a thread about talking to the dealer.
Dan

 

On Drexel's campus huh? I parked my car there all the time when I was there

My car was stolen once ( not the Acura)...I got pick pocketed while at the movies....8 days later my little brother goes to the movies, turns out it was a movie theater employee that stole my car because he was still driving it back and forth to work....What an ass...Needless to say - he was arrested

 

yup, right in the middle of Drexel's campus. Came out from
Nesbit Hall and thought I was losing my fooking mind. Even walked over to 33rd and 34th just to confirm.

and ofcourse nobody saw a thing.

 

You are suppose to keep the spares with YOU! Imagine if you somehow lock your key in the car, then what's a spare key good for?! It just defeats the purpose. duh!!! That car deserved to get stolen in a way.

 

Who needs a key to get you out of a bind when you have OnStar!

 

Shaved key huh? SOrt of like a master key?

 

Yup. It's an art. And jail is a institution of higher criminal learning.

 

jeez, i've never though about it! I can easily get $5000 if my car is stolen.

 

So let me get this straight--

His car was stolen with the use of the valet key that he kept inside the car... then he got the car back.... then it got stolen again using the valet key that was STILL inside the car... Am I missing something here? Is your friend really that stupid?

BTW, I have never heard of BMW insisting that you keep the valet key in the car. I never once had a BMW dealership tell me that when I went in for service...... And even if they had, I'd tell 'em to not worry about what I do with MY car's keys....

 

Why would anyone leave a key in the car? That' just dumb. Might as well leave all the doors open and the engine running.



One question is... if there were no valet key in the car, then would the thief have been able to steal it? I think he might have been BSing with you. No thief breaks into a car expecting to find a key inside. But I guess there are enough idiots out there to do that, and thieves probably have like 50/50 chance of finding a key in there. Bottom line is, if you leave a key inside your car, then you have no right to complain that it was stolen. Period.

 

So true........

I don’t even keep my NAV & Radio code cards in the car and my wheel lock key is hidden pretty well where it won’t be easily found.
I can’t imagine leaving a key to the ignition in there.
What’s the point of all the fancy factory security systems and encoded “smart keys” if your gonna leave one in the glove box?

Shawn S

 

 

I was about to reply to this but I see the resident asshole has got me covered

 

 

Good thing I lost my valet key. I'm also backed by the all powerful lojack dealer option.

 

this caused curiousity on my part.

went to my car and looked and found no key with manual

did get 2 reg keys and 1 valet when car was delivered, is there another key?

on my 98 i30t, there was a razor thin emergency key in with the manual.

 

two black keys, two fobs, and one grey valet key.. you're covered.

 

Anyone see the COP show where they did just that. They had a honda accord that a woman would drive into a lot. Her boyfriend would show up and start arguing with her. Tell her to get into his car, they'd leave. Leaving the Accord running. And the police would wait and see who took the car...

(they had a wireless system to disable the car, and lock the doors/roll up the windows)

 

Yeah, I guess some states allow you to set-up Bait and Trap scenes to catch criminals.. but isn't that Entrapment?...

Smitty

 

I've met plenty of people that never take their key out of the ignition, and never lock their car doors. Most of them lived in pretty rural areas, or in 'trustworthy' locales.

I've had and have friends that don't even have a house key because their front door never gets locked.

I could never be that trusting of society.

 

I used to live in an area like this. Nothin' quite like it! A step further? Some people left the engine running while they stopped at a quick mart or gas station to pick up a gallon of milk, coffee, etc.

 

I could never do that either. My ex's house was always unlocked even when no one was home, front AND back doors. She didnt even have house keys. She'd just walk right in back from school or in the middle of the night. She'd always tell me to just walk right in when i came over. never did tho, i always rang the door bell.

However, I do leave the car running at the gas station when i'm paying inside or when i stop into a quickie-mart for a second. i just do it out of lazyness. since i got my remote start, i still do that, but i take the keys out of the ignition while the car is still running. most of the times i dont even bother and leave the keys in there tho.

my brother locks every single door at our new house. like, even when he's home! i'm talking deadbolting the front AND back doors. so like if someone rings the bell, ya gotta get ur keys and unlock it from the inside. i guess cuz we grew up in Jersey, lol. i only leave the doors unlocked when i'm home.

 

insist on leaving the key in the car?!? car salesmen......sheesh.

 

 

He definitely wasn't BS'ing me. It sounded to me like he's done it several times before. And yes, there are plenty of people who are dumb enough to leave a valet key in their car. Isn't there a key ring inside your owner's manual? Why would Acura put that there?

As far as being able to steal the car without the valet key...I don't know I didn't ask him that, we didn't talk that long. If he is still around when I get back to work on Friday I'll ask him.

 

It isn't entrapment because no one forced the thief to get in the car and steal it, he made the choice to steal it when he could have just ignored it. Not just anyone drives off in any car they see runnning.

 

My Valet is on my keychain, one of dem quick releases, I put it on there for something were I was gonna do Valet, and then never took it off.

 

up until about five years ago I was like that.