Holy effin shnizzle pizzles!!!!!
 

Sooooo.... I'm sitting here in a Wal Mart parking lot in Melrose Park/Chicago, and someone's knocking on my door. A guy that was parked next to me asks if I saw a tow truck pull his semi away. I told him that no tow truck was attached to it and that it was being driven away. I saw it drive off but I didn't think anything about it.

SOMEONE JUST STOLE DOOOOD'S S#%T!!!!! :eek1:

Everything he had in it is gone! He said he had a $4,000 laptop, lots of hard drives, hundreds of DVDs, all of his clothes and a bunch of other stuff. He said he walked into a buffet restaurant and ate. Came out and walked over to Wal Mart and saw his truck still sitting where he left it. When he came out of Wal Mart, the truck was GONE and he still has both set of keys in his pocket!!!!

I feel really bad for him. I wish I would've known that it wasn't him that was driving it away. I definitely would've been able to stop the crook. That's f%#ked up! Somebody's s#%t just got jacked right under my nose. :thumbsdown:

He didn't say whether or not he had a load.

Orrrrr... maybe it was a repo.

If he gets real lucky, in a week or so he will find his stuff at some random truck stop in
America.. You will hear an individual on the CB trying to sell all his DVDs as times are hard and he hates to give them up BUT.. he has to do it... cheap price...


Timberwolf

anybody looking to buy a laptop or a c.b. :rofl:

that's a possibility.

and freebird, i need a c.b. what kind and how much are you looking to get rid of it? :rofl:

I'm not sure just how long ago I read the article, but somewhere near Chicago, they had a "no trucks" thing going. Local drivers would stop there to get coffee, and others would stop for a sandwich or something. While they were inside, their rig was impounded. They generally did not use a tow truck. Instead, they have a ring of keys for Frieghtliner, Kenworth, International, Peterbuilt, and Volvo. They simply find a key that opens the door and use that to start the truck, then drive it away. In a few cases, the driver leaves the truck running, and they have no trouble at all. The way it came to light... A team parked in there, and when the impound guy got in while she was in the station, her husband beat him over the head with the tire thumper. But, they did not have a tow truck. They simply sat in a car and waited for the driver to leave the truck, then took it. They've got rings of keys for each make of truck.

So this would be a legal repossession? I have seen that repo show on A&E and I thought people would get pissed when they had a car repossessed, I could only imagine how pissed off a driver would be that he is losing his home, transportation and livelihood in one fell swoop!

I have heard that the locks to these tractors are not very secure. One key may open the door to several rigs of the same make. If this is true, thieves would be able to have a few keys and keep trying till they find a key that fits into a truck. Also lots of drivers will leave the truck running and lock the door while they run into the store real quick.

The bonus here is that the carrier should be able to track down a truck if it was stolen as opposed to repossessed! After all Big Brother is always watching :bigthink:

Did he call the cops?? Did he have you talk to the cops??

What I had read about was not repo. It amounted to being towed away for being parked in an unauthorized location. Except they were not towing it. They were simply driving it away. I have no idea what the impound fee is. There was a place in CA that has been doing that to trucks for years now. Is it Ontario Mills Plaza? Signs saying "NO TRUCKS" and they will take your rig to impound.

They will not approach your truck if you are sitting in it. But step out and get out of sight, and when you look again, you'll be riding "SHANK'S MARE". I know I got a chuckle when I read about the woman going inside, the impound guy getting in, and the husband beating the Holly Crap out of the guy.:bow:

Look at the "points" on your key. There are only about 5 or 6 pins in the tumbler that must be lined up. That means a limited number of keys, and duplications among the trucks. At one time, a ring of a dozen keys would open every truck ( of that make) made.

Now, as to the carriers tracking them down... The communications equipment, and the GPS can easily be disabled by pulling 2 fuses that are generally located behind the circuit breaker panel. Pull those fuses, and the company has absolutely no information.

Note to drivers... If you do pull the fuses in your own truck so that they can not track you, you could be subject to firing. Not sure the exact reason they might state it as, but they will know that you've been up to something. And, you can bet your --- they won't like it.

Years ago- late 1970's- A fellow who had been the Spokane yard guy for the company I was leased to, turned up in LA working for some people that were stealing trucks, stripping them out and selling the parts into Mexico. I thought my problems were solved. I would just have George's crew steal my truck. I would get a motel for the night, give him my spare key, and be healed while I slept. I even offered George money and some weed to put the deal together.

"They say we don't want Road Commodes with Detroits"

It makes you feel pretty bad to find out you own such a POS that you can't even PAY somebody to steal it.

There is a way to fix the door's so only you can get in. Requires some work and doctoring of the door, so company drivers shouldn't do it. You can rig up a bar that locks in on the inside of the door and have it work by key on the outside. Wal-Mart had a problem with doors on their trucks, you could lock it, but if someone yanked hard enough it would pop open. They had a lady driver who had a guy try to climb into her truck one night. She beat him back out of the truck as he slid into the drivers seat. After that the company asked the shop to rig up something that only she could open. From the inside, she slide a lever forward to lock the bar into place, from the outside she turned a key that was totally different from any truck key. Never had another problem with her having someone actually climbing into the truck after locking the doors.

This sounds like a normal repo. I mean the first words out of his mouth were, "Did you see a tow truck?" So either he knew he was behind on payments if it was his truck or his company was behind on payments and had told him to watch out for repo men. It probably wasn't an impound for a no parking area. Maybe some more info Carlos? Was there any other trucks unattended around you that didn't get swiped?

Hey Syncrosonix...

Your video loop is getting "REPETITIVE MOTION INJURY"...:D

Most volvo's have either laser or electronic keys, good luck :).

Luckily enough, about a minute after he walked away from my truck, a police car just happened to be cruising by. He managed to flag the officer down, got into the cruiser and then they both drove off. I was never questioned by the officer.

At the time, there were probably 4 other semis besides mine parked in the lot. Whether they were occupied or not at the time is beyond me. I'm assuming they were. There was a box truck and a car that was parked there that appeared to have been there for quite some time... the box truck was at least there for a while. It was definitely there the next morning when I took off. That truck was definitely unoccupied. The car was gone later in the evening. There was a sign on one of the poles that read, "All unoccupied vehicles will be towed." To mean that means abandoned vehicles. There were no 'NO TRUCK PARKING' signs present.

Just wondering who would be in the chit if your truck is impounded and driven from the scene and while bying driven gets into an accident??? They didn't have your permission to drive it and I'd bet that legally they can't just drive it away( think grand theft). I'm sure your insurance company would't pay for the accident and ferther more they would also have to pay damages on the truck, HMMM stupid way of impounding a truck. I'd just throw a boot on it and charge $$$ to remove it

I grew up in a tourist trap town, so there are a lot of paid parking lots there. The town laws allowed the operator of the lot to boot cars there that did not pay, and the town law said $35 was the set amount one could charge, of course most of them charged like $50 to $100, paid the lot owner the $35 and kept the rest ;)

Whomever the person either repo-ing or impounding the truck would have to pay for any damage if they crash it. Your insurance would not cover it, their insurance would have to pay for it and they are supposed to have insurance to get a license to do that stuff. It isn't grand theft like your thinking. It's more the legal version of grand theft. Your or I couldn't do it without going to jail unless we were licensed to do it. Either way, if they take you vehicle, they have to call it into the police so the police aren't out looking for a stolen vehicle that isn't actually stolen.

I was thinking along the lines of them takeing your truck cause your parked where you shouldn't be, towing it is one thing BUT the second someone breaks in and drives it away it becomes more than an impound! Plain and simple they don't have permisson to operate it so it becomes theft . I don't care how many cops are there and say it's ok, they don't have the authority to let someone else drive your truck! ( assuming it's not an emergency)

Your splitting hairs repete. What if the truck is running and the doors unlocked? You gonna still put it behind a hook or take the easy route and drive it off to the impound lot? They do have the authority to take it whether they hook it or drive it away. You can ask for them to be arrested but it won't happen unless you were parked in a legal spot. Trust me bud, my area has been having a big row over this same deal. While morally what the towing folks are doing is considered wrong, they have the authority and are doing a civic duty no matter what your opinion is on them doing it. Your right it's theft but it's the legalized version of it no matter how you slice it.

A "REPO", whether it's your car, your truck, or your house, is considered "HOSTILE ACTION". Impound, the same thing. It's not the same thing as having your truck towed in for repair. It cancels your TITLE until you redeem it and claim it back. And, it's going to cost you money. If you don't claim it back, they have the right to sell it, and your title is null and void. Yes, in order to do that sort of thing, they must have insurance for it and a business license to be in that line of work. But, how they go about moving it is entirely up to them. And, THEY DO NOT NEED YOUR PERMISSION.

In most states, they are not allowed to tow or move a vehicle that is occupied, but don't quote me on that.

Aside from the fact that theft is rampant in "Chicagoland"....every freakin' one of the burbs around there have "no truck parking rules"....... Just about the only places you can park around there are the restareas/service plazas, a shipper/receiver...if they let you.

I was bobtail once a couple of years ago....in a small office/warehouse place off 294 and a nice local officer pulled up in front of me....I got out and talked to him....he politely, and I do mean "politely" advised me that if I stayed I would get a $395.00 parking ticket:eek1: He smiled and left.....and I left right behind him!!

I can only imagine that someone in that area would steal your garbage if they got a chance...