97 Svx - Stolen

[NeedForSpeed]

Maybe it's parked in a garage, and he goes out every night and stares at it?
That's what I do

[Green1995SVX]

Originally Posted by NeedForSpeed

Maybe it's parked in a garage, and he goes out every night and stares at it?
That's what I do

Same here!

[svxcentric]

I don't know if my efforts had anything to do with it, but when I got home from work there was a message that the Elizabeth, NJ Police Department had recovered my car. Elizabeth NJ, is one of the towns right next to Linden. I grew up in Elizabeth.

I have no idea what condition it is in. I was told that the detectives will process the car for fingerprints and evidence tomorrow. After they are done with processing, I'm guessing that they will let me have it back. Then I'll assess the damage and start the repairs...I'm sure there will be repairs.

Now I just have to call off the dogs and create another flyer which says it was found. Gotta fax it to everyone that I faxed before.

LoJack is about to get a new customer.

Thanks everyone for the support. I'll keep you posted.

Jim

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by svxcentric

I don't know if my efforts had anything to do with it, but when I got home from work there was a message that the Elizabeth, NJ Police Department had recovered my car. Elizabeth NJ, is one of the towns right next to Linden. I grew up in Elizabeth.

I have no idea what condition it is in. I was told that the detectives will process the car for fingerprints and evidence tomorrow. After they are done with processing, I'm guessing that they will let me have it back. Then I'll assess the damage and start the repairs...I'm sure there will be repairs.

Now I just have to call off the dogs and create another flyer which says it was found. Gotta fax it to everyone that I faxed before.

LoJack is about to get a new customer.

Thanks everyone for the support. I'll keep you posted.

Jim

Very good news even if you don't know the condition. Just hope and pray that possibly nothing is wrong with it. And don't think for a second that your efforts didn't make a difference or help. Some people just sit back and wait for the Police to find it.

[Blacky]

Excellent news. With luck there may be no damage, just the ignition.

[Wikedjuggalo]

Glad to see you were able to recover the car. I mean it is a pretty unique one so shouldn't have been hard to spot. I just hope the damage isn't too bad.

[Green1995SVX]

Originally Posted by Blacky

Excellent news. With luck there may be no damage, just the ignition.

They stole his car keys.

[Blacky]

Ah. Perhaps zero damage then.

[NeedForSpeed]

Originally Posted by Blacky

Excellent news. With luck there may be no damage, just the ignition.

Perhaps the thief crashed our network, realized there was a huge DRAGNET after the car, and gave it up? You bet all the work and the concern paid off

Hoping for even more good news

[michael]

I heard they found it in the back of here


Glad you found it!

[NeedForSpeed]

Originally Posted by michael

I heard they found it in the back of here


Glad you found it!

Well, it's red, sure would look fantastic delivering PIZZA
Delivering anything for that matter

[subeman90]

Awesome. I hope they didn't tow it back to the impound yard with 2 tires on the ground. Check your car carefully!

[ShiuludeSVX]

It's good to hear that it is coming back.
I hope it's in good shape for you

[svxcentric]

I reclaimed my car this evening. I'm sure that the question that everyone wants answered is; "Was there any damage?"

I'm happy to say that the damage was minor. So far the most severe damage I can see (it was dark when I picked it up) is a white and gray paint scrape on the passenger side rear plastic lower rocker panel. It looks like it was done when someone was trying to reverse into somewhere. When I ran my hand over it it felt raised, like the paint was deposited on the panel. I'm hoping I can polish it out. If that's the case then the exterior will be pretty much like it was before.

The interior had some candy wrappers on the seat & floor, and ash in the cigarette tray (at least they used it). As far as I can see there's no damage to the interior.

Mechanically it sounded and felt OK. I didn't notice any unusual noises or anything. I'll have to wait until the daytime to have a better look under the car to see if there is anything obvious.

I don't know if the detectives recovered the car key or if that wasn't found in the car. I used an extra key to drive it home. If it turns out that they don't have the key, then I'll have to look into getting the locks and ignition changed. That's going to be expensive, but given the criminal knows where the car may be, I can't risk that he will come back for another joy ride.

In the process of picking up the car, I gained some insight as to the timeline of events.

The car was being held at a towing company yard. I had to go to the police to get a release for the car before picking it up. When I first went to get a release from the Elizabeth Police, I didn't have proof of insurance with me. I explained that the insurance card was in the car. They gave me permission to go to the yard and get inside the car so I could get the card.

I was let in the car only to find that everything had been taken out of the glovebox. I did, however, find a parking ticket on the floor behind the passenger seat. More on that later. When I asked the yard attendant if the detectives had taken any papers out of the car, she produced a file folder. In it was my insurance card and the other papers that were in the glovebox. I wondered silently why she didn't open this folder when I told her I needed to look for the insurance card in order to get the car released. Anyway, while she was de-stapling the papers, I noticed that my flyer was also in the folder.

Anyway. I went back to the police department with insurance card and parking ticket in hand. I presented the insurance card and the officer completed the release paperwork. I asked about the parking ticket and if I would be liable for the fine. Common sense would say that since I wasn't in posession of the vehicle at the time, I shouldn't be responsible for a parking ticket. The officer agreed with me in principle but said I would have to call up the court and speak with the procecutor on the matter. I got the release paperwork and headed back to the tow yard.

Here's the interesting thing about the parking ticket-It was written on December 1st 2009 at 2:10 PM. I reported the car stolen on November 30th at around 8AM. The ticket lists the location of the violation as Van Buren and Louisa Streets in Elizabeth. As far as I know, that is where the car was picked up on Friday December 4th.

What this means is that the thief drove it around for a while and left it parked sometime between 2AM Monday morning and 2PM on Tuesday. A parking enforcement officer left a ticket on the car at 2:10 PM. They must not have run the plate (parking enforcement usually doesn't) and the car sat there until discovered on Friday.

When I got back to the tow yard, I presented the release papers and the attendant started her paperwork. $181.35 was the cost to release the car. As she was doing the paperwork she opened that folder again and I saw the flyer. I asked her if that flyer was found in the car or if the detectives gave it to her. She replied that it was faxed to the office. Inside, I was beaming! I had lots of towing companies on my fax list. I then asked her if the police found the car or if the tow truck driver found the car. She said the tow truck driver spotted the car.

Until I actually get to speak with the tow truck driver to verify the story, it appears that my flyer faxing campaign alerted the truck driver that the car was stolen. Once he spotted it, he called the police.

That's one theory...

Another possibility is that the car sitting there illegally parked had reached the end of its grace period and a tow truck was called to take it away. When going through the towing process and running the plates, the car came up as stolen.

Either way, I win in the end. If I find out that the tow truck driver found the car as a result of the flyer, he'll get an early Christmas gift from me. I'm very grateful to have the car back with almost no visible damage.

So what now?

Risht now the car has THE CLUB on the steering wheel. Tomorrow I'll install a battery disconnect switch as an additional measure. I'll have LoJack installed ASAP. I'll change the locks and ignition (if needed-hope the detectives have my other key). I know that the factory alarm system has a starter interrupt, which is probably the most useful part of the system. For the most part I think people are so desensitized to alarm sirens and horns in an urban environment that they are an ineffective deterrent. Still, I'm using the factory alarm anyway. I've reprogrammed the spare remote and I understand that by doing this the remote on the key that was stolen will be useless. I might think about adding a kill switch.

Many thanks to everyone who helped out and encouraged my efforts to bring my car home. Hollywood couldn't have written a happier ending - and during the Christmas season to boot.

Jim

[Hocrest]

Congrats on the happy ending. As far as reprogramming the alarm... The car has memory for 5 remotes, when programming the replacement did you hit the remote 5 times to take all of the memory slots? If not, the old remote code is still in it's memory.