The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Saddle up, it's long.)
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From: Darkside,, Moon
The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Saddle up, it's long.)
Before I begin, let me say that the car was not just stolen, so don’t add another one to the list of cars gone this week. 
This all started back in May…
Well, my saga with the stolen car is finally coming to an end, so I thought I would share the story with you guys, as I haven’t really explained what happened to very many people yet.
The car was a lease, and in the early part of May the end of the lease was approaching (on the 20th), so I had to decide what I wanted to do. I wanted something I could turn into a dedicated track car, but the R was still too valuable for me to risk totaling it on track, so I decided I wasn’t going to keep it after the lease. The residual value of the car was $14K and the bluebook value was closer to $18K, so I thought it would be a wise move to buy the car from Honda, and then turn around and sell it for a small profit. Not to mention I was way over mileage for the terms of the lease and would have had to pay fees up the ***. (I wonder how many other Rs they misjudged the residual value on? Ross?)
So, I get a loan from a credit union and send Honda finance a check for the residual value. To get ready to sell it, I take the car to Detail Authority in Herndon to get detailed on Friday, May 17th. When I go to pick the car up, the alarm is acting funny and the manager says, “It’s been going off all day.” I get the car home and read the alarm manual and find the car is in “protected valet” mode, which can be done by holding a button on the remote. In this mode the doors aren’t armed, but the trunk and hood are. Could it have been an accident? I get it back in normal mode and all is good.
The next day, Sunday, I go out and take a bunch of pics of the car and then write up a post in the classified forum. Sunday night I go to bed and the car is parked outside where it normally is.
Monday morning, I look out my kitchen window and see a yellow R parked across the street in front of another building. I wonder briefly who’s it is, then I look out my side window and my car is gone. I call the police and we go and check the car out.
Here is what we find:
Stereo gone, shift **** gone, alarm wires cut, alarm module removed, major damage to the steering column, and some evidence of trying to hotwire the car under the hood. I’m still not clear whether they ever got it running, or if they pushed it to where it was.
The police actually tried to lift some prints, but didn’t get anything.
I call my insurance company (USAA) and have the car towed to Pohanka Acura in Chantilly, VA. Technically I don't own the car yet, but the plan was to get the damage fixed then out it up for sale again. The tow truck driver leaves the car parked in back and I give the key to the service writer. He says that they can’t start working on the car until USAA writes a claim, so I get back on the phone with USAA and try to get a field appraiser to come out. No go.
Them: “They should be out in 3-5 business days.”
Me: “Uh, I’m worried about the car parked out here. It isn’t secure.”
Them: “Sorry. 3-5 days.”
Okay.
The next day, Tuesday, Honda receives my check and sends me the title. Now I officially own the car.
I stop by the dealership and check on the car a few times over the next couple days, and everything looks fine. On Thursday I call USAA again to see what’s up. I told them I was going to leave to go out of town for the weekend and was hoping to get it looked at before then. Again, I stressed how worried I was about the car. Whatever.
I go out of town and return on Monday evening. I go by the dealer on my way home from the airport and the car is nowhere to be found. I ask to speak to the manager and I ask him where it is. He has no idea it’s missing. No one does. “Did you look all over the parking lot?” :middlefinger: We call the service manager (he was off that day) and ask if he knows where it is. Nothing.
We walk into the service area and look in the lockbox for the key. It’s still there, not that you could use it in the steering column anyway. (I was a little surprised that the lockbox was unlocked though.
) So, I call the police again. They come out and we file a report. I call the insurance company and it takes every ounce of restraint to keep from saying, “I told you so.” When I get home, the title is in the mailbox signed over to me.
After 30 days, we can finally settle. They come up with a number that is close to bluebook, so I take it. I get the check from them and pay off the loan from the credit union. I hadn’t even made a regular payment yet. J USAA wants me to send them the title, but the only problem is the title has been signed over to me, but I haven’t gone to the DMV to get a new title so I can sign it over to USAA. So off to the DMV I go.
After waiting in line for about 4 hours I finally get up to the counter. I tell the clerk that I want to transfer the title to my name. She punches some buttons on her terminal, and goes in the back, then comes back out and says there is a problem. I tell her I know the car is stolen (which in hindsight I should have made clear at the beginning) but it’s too late; they have already called the police.
The detective that works in the back calls me into his office and we go over the whole thing. He knew right away after looking at me that I wasn’t a car thief, but we had to wait for the police to show up anyway. No biggie, he has a nice chair in his office and it sure beats sweating my *** off in the waiting room. The police show up and we all get a good laugh over the whole thing.
I go back out front and try to get this resolved, but alas, I didn’t have any paperwork releasing the lein on the car from the loan. Crap. 5 hours wasted.
A few weeks later, when I finally get all the paperwork in order, I go back to the DMV. This time, I speak to the manager and she helps me right away. I tell her about my last experience and she has a good laugh. It’s a good thing I was able to keep my sense of humor through the whole ordeal.
So, here I am. Still no word on the car. I’m sure it’s gone for good. I’m not sure if the detail place had anything to do with the first attempt, but it was awfully suspicious. I don’t think the second attempt was related to the first. I think word just got around that an R was parked at the dealer for a week.
The whole time this was going down I was worried the insurance company would suspect fraud, but I was never given a hard time. With the circumstances the way they were (the car gets stolen right when I am trying to sell it, it's worth more than I just bought it for, my repeated "warnings" about the safety of the car, etc.) I could easily see them being suspicious. It would have been nice if USAA had gotten out there to see the car sooner, but after it was gone they were pretty good to work with. And, if I had known it was going to take so long, I wouldn’t have had the car towed to the dealer to just sit.
In retrospect, I don’t think I was as upset over the whole thing as I could have been. Partly because I had seen so many posts of stolen Rs on the board, and because I had already resolved to myself that I was going to sell it. I had already put it back to “street” mode and had said my good-byes and gone for my last ride. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been a lot more upset.
I guess it's time to move on...
This all started back in May…Well, my saga with the stolen car is finally coming to an end, so I thought I would share the story with you guys, as I haven’t really explained what happened to very many people yet.
The car was a lease, and in the early part of May the end of the lease was approaching (on the 20th), so I had to decide what I wanted to do. I wanted something I could turn into a dedicated track car, but the R was still too valuable for me to risk totaling it on track, so I decided I wasn’t going to keep it after the lease. The residual value of the car was $14K and the bluebook value was closer to $18K, so I thought it would be a wise move to buy the car from Honda, and then turn around and sell it for a small profit. Not to mention I was way over mileage for the terms of the lease and would have had to pay fees up the ***. (I wonder how many other Rs they misjudged the residual value on? Ross?)
So, I get a loan from a credit union and send Honda finance a check for the residual value. To get ready to sell it, I take the car to Detail Authority in Herndon to get detailed on Friday, May 17th. When I go to pick the car up, the alarm is acting funny and the manager says, “It’s been going off all day.” I get the car home and read the alarm manual and find the car is in “protected valet” mode, which can be done by holding a button on the remote. In this mode the doors aren’t armed, but the trunk and hood are. Could it have been an accident? I get it back in normal mode and all is good.
The next day, Sunday, I go out and take a bunch of pics of the car and then write up a post in the classified forum. Sunday night I go to bed and the car is parked outside where it normally is.
Monday morning, I look out my kitchen window and see a yellow R parked across the street in front of another building. I wonder briefly who’s it is, then I look out my side window and my car is gone. I call the police and we go and check the car out.
Here is what we find:
Stereo gone, shift **** gone, alarm wires cut, alarm module removed, major damage to the steering column, and some evidence of trying to hotwire the car under the hood. I’m still not clear whether they ever got it running, or if they pushed it to where it was.
The police actually tried to lift some prints, but didn’t get anything.
I call my insurance company (USAA) and have the car towed to Pohanka Acura in Chantilly, VA. Technically I don't own the car yet, but the plan was to get the damage fixed then out it up for sale again. The tow truck driver leaves the car parked in back and I give the key to the service writer. He says that they can’t start working on the car until USAA writes a claim, so I get back on the phone with USAA and try to get a field appraiser to come out. No go.
Them: “They should be out in 3-5 business days.”
Me: “Uh, I’m worried about the car parked out here. It isn’t secure.”
Them: “Sorry. 3-5 days.”
Okay.
The next day, Tuesday, Honda receives my check and sends me the title. Now I officially own the car.
I stop by the dealership and check on the car a few times over the next couple days, and everything looks fine. On Thursday I call USAA again to see what’s up. I told them I was going to leave to go out of town for the weekend and was hoping to get it looked at before then. Again, I stressed how worried I was about the car. Whatever.
I go out of town and return on Monday evening. I go by the dealer on my way home from the airport and the car is nowhere to be found. I ask to speak to the manager and I ask him where it is. He has no idea it’s missing. No one does. “Did you look all over the parking lot?” :middlefinger: We call the service manager (he was off that day) and ask if he knows where it is. Nothing.
We walk into the service area and look in the lockbox for the key. It’s still there, not that you could use it in the steering column anyway. (I was a little surprised that the lockbox was unlocked though.
) So, I call the police again. They come out and we file a report. I call the insurance company and it takes every ounce of restraint to keep from saying, “I told you so.” When I get home, the title is in the mailbox signed over to me.After 30 days, we can finally settle. They come up with a number that is close to bluebook, so I take it. I get the check from them and pay off the loan from the credit union. I hadn’t even made a regular payment yet. J USAA wants me to send them the title, but the only problem is the title has been signed over to me, but I haven’t gone to the DMV to get a new title so I can sign it over to USAA. So off to the DMV I go.
After waiting in line for about 4 hours I finally get up to the counter. I tell the clerk that I want to transfer the title to my name. She punches some buttons on her terminal, and goes in the back, then comes back out and says there is a problem. I tell her I know the car is stolen (which in hindsight I should have made clear at the beginning) but it’s too late; they have already called the police.
The detective that works in the back calls me into his office and we go over the whole thing. He knew right away after looking at me that I wasn’t a car thief, but we had to wait for the police to show up anyway. No biggie, he has a nice chair in his office and it sure beats sweating my *** off in the waiting room. The police show up and we all get a good laugh over the whole thing.
I go back out front and try to get this resolved, but alas, I didn’t have any paperwork releasing the lein on the car from the loan. Crap. 5 hours wasted.
A few weeks later, when I finally get all the paperwork in order, I go back to the DMV. This time, I speak to the manager and she helps me right away. I tell her about my last experience and she has a good laugh. It’s a good thing I was able to keep my sense of humor through the whole ordeal.
So, here I am. Still no word on the car. I’m sure it’s gone for good. I’m not sure if the detail place had anything to do with the first attempt, but it was awfully suspicious. I don’t think the second attempt was related to the first. I think word just got around that an R was parked at the dealer for a week.
The whole time this was going down I was worried the insurance company would suspect fraud, but I was never given a hard time. With the circumstances the way they were (the car gets stolen right when I am trying to sell it, it's worth more than I just bought it for, my repeated "warnings" about the safety of the car, etc.) I could easily see them being suspicious. It would have been nice if USAA had gotten out there to see the car sooner, but after it was gone they were pretty good to work with. And, if I had known it was going to take so long, I wouldn’t have had the car towed to the dealer to just sit.
In retrospect, I don’t think I was as upset over the whole thing as I could have been. Partly because I had seen so many posts of stolen Rs on the board, and because I had already resolved to myself that I was going to sell it. I had already put it back to “street” mode and had said my good-byes and gone for my last ride. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been a lot more upset.
I guess it's time to move on...
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 8,203
Likes: 2
From: ROLLING PARANOID WITH A SMILE, ca, USA
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Saga)
like i always say an alam does nothing if you know what your doing,,
the black plastic part ( this is the same on all honda/acura cars) of the ignition is how they started the car after they disconnected the brain wire connection. all you need is a screw driver turn it and the car starts so they did not hot wire the car.<< meaing they touched wires to gething like in the movies)
easy,, no hot wiring needed,, so remember that owners... the only way to slow a theif is layered security, and hidden kill switches to the ignition, starter and fuel pump, and dont forget a car jack system.. because whats the use of an alarm is they can car jack you and take it???
you have to think like a thief to slow one done... as if there was anything else in the world to worry about.... but if you love your cars please get those things done... i hate hearing all this ****......
sorry for your loss, but at least you had insurance , alot of people dont....
the black plastic part ( this is the same on all honda/acura cars) of the ignition is how they started the car after they disconnected the brain wire connection. all you need is a screw driver turn it and the car starts so they did not hot wire the car.<< meaing they touched wires to gething like in the movies)
easy,, no hot wiring needed,, so remember that owners... the only way to slow a theif is layered security, and hidden kill switches to the ignition, starter and fuel pump, and dont forget a car jack system.. because whats the use of an alarm is they can car jack you and take it???
you have to think like a thief to slow one done... as if there was anything else in the world to worry about.... but if you love your cars please get those things done... i hate hearing all this ****......
sorry for your loss, but at least you had insurance , alot of people dont....
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 4,629
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From: Flying in my F16..Cleeean Ayyy
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (88hf)
wow...
Im glad insurance didnt give you a hard time
USAA to being so understanding and not questioning you like some other insurance companies.
Im glad insurance didnt give you a hard time
USAA to being so understanding and not questioning you like some other insurance companies. 
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Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 5,216
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From: Charleston, WV, USA
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Floyd)
Sorry to hear that but at least now your free to build your track car \
Couple questions:
What are you planning on getting for your track car?
If you don't mine me asking how much did your insurance company give you for your ITR and how many miles did it have?
\Couple questions:
What are you planning on getting for your track car?
If you don't mine me asking how much did your insurance company give you for your ITR and how many miles did it have?
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 162
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From: LONDON, UK
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Chris93Si)
Sorry to hear all that man sounds like a nightmare! I cant imagine R's in this country being such hot property. No ones gets stolen although someone did have their wing ripped off...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,003
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From: Chicago, IL
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Year One Racing)
That sure is one hell of a dramatic story. Its so sad when you see how easily these thieves can get through many of todays alarm systems
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 18,151
Likes: 2
From: Hollywood Babylon
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (py1188)
crazy story, much of it sounds like mine did. After mine was broken into when it was at a shop and left out overnight, I had it towed it to my house and decided that I was going to fix it myself. Interior was a mess, broken drivers window, painted passenger windows, wires and cables hanging out everywhere, nothing left inside at all. But no way was I going to let it sit anywhere other than my house, blocked in by 4 other cars with a car cover on it. I was lucky enough they didnt take my car that night. Car still ended up getting totalled, and they gave me more than I paid for it, but they didnt cover anything I had added to the car even though I had ever single receipt. The shop is still in court battling with my insurance company.
Atleast you can move on now
Atleast you can move on now
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 3,957
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From: Hype R less in Pa...
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (RTW DC2)
bummer, sorry to hear that your R was snatched from your hands... Ins companys **** me off when the damn adjusters are too lazy to go and see your car quickly 
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From: NYC
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Floyd)
Glad to see that the ins co. cooperated with you. At least you walked away with a downpay for another car. I'm reaching the point, that I actually hate owning an ITR! If my car sees the light of day once a month thats alot! What is the use? The negative attention these cars attract is not something that is going to go away overnight. These cars will be a very hot theft item for years to come.
I may end up replacing the R with an STI soon......
I may end up replacing the R with an STI soon......
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From: Darkside,, Moon
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (88hf)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 88hf »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the black plastic part ( this is the same on all honda/acura cars) of the ignition is how they started the car after they disconnected the brain wire connection. all you need is a screw driver turn it and the car starts so they did not hot wire the car.<< meaing they touched wires to gething like in the movies)</TD></TR></TABLE>
They had stripped the insulation off of some wires under the hood, and tried to wire up the injectors from cyl1 and cyl3 directly. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was. Maybe they couldn't keep it running for some reason. The alarm had a starter kill, but I didn't think it had a fuel cutoff.
They had stripped the insulation off of some wires under the hood, and tried to wire up the injectors from cyl1 and cyl3 directly. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was. Maybe they couldn't keep it running for some reason. The alarm had a starter kill, but I didn't think it had a fuel cutoff.
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From: Darkside,, Moon
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (Chris93Si)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris93Si »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What are you planning on getting for your track car?
If you don't mine me asking how much did your insurance company give you for your ITR and how many miles did it have?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm picking up a used GSR. It'll be familiar, yet different at the same time.
The settlement was for right around $18,100. I had 75K on the odometer. Bluebook was around $18,500, according to nada.
If you don't mine me asking how much did your insurance company give you for your ITR and how many miles did it have?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'm picking up a used GSR. It'll be familiar, yet different at the same time.
The settlement was for right around $18,100. I had 75K on the odometer. Bluebook was around $18,500, according to nada.
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13
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From: edison, nj, USA
nj?
wow sorry to hear about all of this, i took my r in last week to get seviced and they said that they were goin to store it in the garage because a type r was stolen last week from off the lot, where are you located?
Joined: Mar 2003
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Sorry to hear about your car, but at least you were planning on selling it anyway and got pretty close to what it is worth.
Out of curiousity, what would have happened insurance wise and everything, if the car was still leased?? Would you have gotten anything? Mines leased right now, so that's why I'm asking... Thanks.
Good luck with your next purchase.
Out of curiousity, what would have happened insurance wise and everything, if the car was still leased?? Would you have gotten anything? Mines leased right now, so that's why I'm asking... Thanks.
Good luck with your next purchase.
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 117
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From: Brisbane, Australia, Australia
Re: The complete and unabridged saga of my stolen R. (NA gs-R 05 C)
Well you could always move to Australia where Type-R theft is extremely rare and you have beautiful views like these: 
Modified by RickV at 11:53 AM 8/8/2003
Modified by RickV at 11:53 AM 8/8/2003
