How did a thief start my car!?

10

Asked by Brad Nov 08, 2016 at 01:32 PM about the 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer LS RWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My car was stolen about 3 weeks ago now, and was just recovered at the
end of last week. Right now I am in a fight with the insurance company
because they claim that there was no damage to the steering column, as is
typical with car thefts, and that they must've had a key and are essentially
accusing me of fraud. I'm a college kid who uses my car daily for work and
the thing's Blue Book value is wayyyyyy less than the value I place on the
car... so I would not in a million years want the thing to be stolen as I would
not gain a damn thing.

I have an '07 Chevy Trailblazer and I still have my key and the two spare
keys are over 200 miles away at home in a drawer (I know, I would be
screwed if I lost my key at school). Does anyone have any clue as to how
the thief could've started the car without any clear damage to the steering
column?

3 Answers

103,215

Could have been towed. If it was joyrided though, it tends to indicate the thieves had access to keys. If it was recovered at a shop or parked somewhere, it might have been illegally towed with the intent of being stripped for parts. What does the police report indicate in that regard?

2 people found this helpful.
10

I don't think it was towed, because they broke on of the windows. I have not been able to actually see the police report because my name is not on the title, so I'm not positive what all they have in there. It was gone for 2 weeks though, so who knows if they made changes to it in that time as far as switching out the ignition or anything.

1 people found this helpful.
103,215

You can't just switch out an ignition module and drive away, you would have to replace or reprogram other modules as well, not likely to happen on the street or in a parking lot. The idea of 'stripping a column' for car theft pre-dates the current era of antitheft systems (just like 'hot-wiring'). They either had a key or towed it. Again this is all speculation without details from the police report.

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