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While sitting on my front porch a little after noon, a realtor pulled his pickup to the curb in front of my house to show the vacant house next door. I was enjoying the first day of not having to teach school and was sipping my coffee and minding my own business when an older model heavy-duty Ford pickup pulled up behind the realtor's pickup, lowered a tow bar, backed up to the realtor's truck, lifted the truck, and took off down the street.

This all took place within a time of about 15 - 30 seconds with the driver of the truck not even getting out. I yelled at the driver and left the porch, but he went on down the road. Fun times in Old East Dallas. The realtor told me this was the third time his truck has been stolen. Kind of weird, huh?

most likely a repo

My truck was actually stolen and found stripped later

there is a BIG difference between a repo and a theft

The truck was a 2003, so I don't know. I asked the guy if he was late on the payments and he said no. DPD came and took a report.

I've seen the quickness of a repo truck in action. When the owner flies out of where ever to talk to the repo man turns out they have NEVER been behind on payments. What a phenomenon!

fizteach wrote: ... I asked the guy if he was late on the payments and he said no. DPD came and took a report.

It would take some nerve to file a police report if you knew you were behind on payments and this was likely a repo. People have done stranger things (like calling the police to report that someone stole their dope) but, still, not the response I would expect from someone who was repo-eligible (especially if it was the third time ).

If you ever hear how this comes out, I would be interested to know myself.

when mine was stolen DPD basically interrogated me for 20 minutes assuming that my paid off truck was either Repo'ed or taken by a girlfriend with keys

He was pretty adamant. They must see repos all the time.

the repo companies report the pickup to the local police as soon as they get it on the hook, just to avoid that kind of problem.

If I remember correctly, a friend of mine who used to repo told me they count on you leaving the front wheels straight for speed. If you crank the front wheels over into the curb, they have to gain entry, force the steering column, and straighten the wheels. Adds quite a bit of time and a legit repo man probably won't break the steering column lock. If your car is front wheel drive, you're out of luck.

I also tend to believe this was theft as the police were called. I have been backing my truck in since there is no way this rig could have pulled engine end first.

Fizteach,

It could be theft and it could be a repo. I took a lot of theft calls that turned out to be repo's later. People who come out and find their vehicle call will almost always assume it was stolen and not repo'ed, even when they know they are behind on payments. Different cities have different rules on it, but most require the repo company to notify the police after they take the car for this reason.

Think about it. If you came out and found your truck missing, would you call the police or would you assume it had been repossessed? If you knew it was being repo'ed, would you be calm and take it or would you call the police to try to get even with the guy who did the deed? A lot of people get emotional about this and do not respond rationally.

From the description of the truck and the actions, I would guess it was a repo, but it could go either way. I cannot think of a single case that i know of that the theives used a tow truck to actually steal a car.

They obviously followed him into the neighborhood and went around the block, if it was a repo.

fizteach wrote:I also tend to believe this was theft as the police were called. I have been backing my truck in since there is no way this rig could have pulled engine end first.

After riding with my buddy - that wouldn't slow down a good repo man
He doesn't even get out of the truck
Push a button - lowers the boom - as soon as the boom is lowered an email is sent with the GPS info and time sent back to his office
Another button extends the arm - third button closes the wheel capture arms, - push boom up and simply drag the truck out with the rear wheels squealing because its in park
once you are out in open - drop the truck - grab it from the back and take off - stop a block or 2 away and strap the wheels and slap on the wireless signals,
all told 90 seconds

that said MOST of the time they have keys or attempt to contact the owner to get keys and return personal effects - easier to do that than store and catalog the personal crap for free

srothstein wrote:I cannot think of a single case that i know of that the theives used a tow truck to actually steal a car.

Not a car but a scumbag used a repo wrecker to steal my old racecar hauler trailer. Euless cops caught him going down the highway at night, they noticed no lights, pulled him over, he claimed it was a repo, they saw through it. I didn't know it was gone as it was parked in the back of the complex and it had the high zoot hitch lock but that doesn't do any good when a wrecker wraps a chain around the hitch! I got it back thanks to the Euless PD.

92f-fan wrote:most likely a repo

My truck was actually stolen and found stripped later

there is a BIG difference between a repo and a theft

Yep and it sucks when it happens and they don't leave much. Mine was stolen and stripped. I thought it had been accidentally towed by the people that manage the parking lot because I couldn't read the slot number to find out where to put the money and might have put it in the wrong one. The officer that responded told me that if it was towed it would have been reported to them and that was why he initially considered it stolen. They found it the next morning. Fortunately the insurance company totaled mine out and I was able to replace it. What was really annoying was that almost exactly a year later someone broke into the new one and stole a lot of stuff from it. I was on an out of town business trip so my company laptop and other things were in it. For that I got an alarm that locks out the ignition, had the key lock removed from the driver's door (the others don't have one), and installed a console vault. http://www.consolevault.com/ The nice thing about these is you can't tell there is one and it is a great place to lock a firearm as well. Hopefully it makes a next time a bit less likely.

fizteach wrote:I also tend to believe this was theft as the police were called. I have been backing my truck in since there is no way this rig could have pulled engine end first.

Keep backing it in cuz I can still get it. i can drag it or i can get out and pop the linkage on the transmission (only adds about 10sec to me getting it) but either way it is going with me.

PeteCamp wrote:If I remember correctly, a friend of mine who used to repo told me they count on you leaving the front wheels straight for speed. If you crank the front wheels over into the curb, they have to gain entry, force the steering column, and straighten the wheels. Adds quite a bit of time and a legit repo man probably won't break the steering column lock. If your car is front wheel drive, you're out of luck.

yes it is easier if the wheels are straight but it wont stop me or slow me down enough to matter. we dont have to open it till we get down the street and we dont BREAK the column. We just set it down and get it from the other end>>>>see above reply<<<< Dont forget about the ones that steering does not lock on......we still get em.
There is not very many things that one can do to keep a DETERMINED wrecker driver from getting your ride.

I am not a repo man but we do basically the same thing. I tow out apts and private property for unauthorized parking, permits, and my two BIGGEST pet pieves, Handicap violations and firelanes.

And we are both required to report the pull to local PD within a set amount of time depending on the city. FTW gives us 45min as does many other surrounding cities but some we must call it in before we leave city limits.

< Don't blame me, I didn't park your car there. YOU DID>

Target1911 wrote:I tow out apts and private property for unauthorized parking, permits, and my two BIGGEST pet pieves, Handicap violations and firelanes.

There are apartments that actually care enough to do anything about that?