8 ms·

Some people don't know that you absolutely are allowed to take back your stolen property. You don't need to involve the police unless you want to. Repo folks

Some people don't know that you absolutely are allowed to take back your stolen property. You don't need to involve the police unless you want to. Repo folks do this all the time. Keep an extra key for your car at home and put an Airtag in your car. If it's stolen, just go get it back when it's safe to do so. Calling the police in most American cities won't get you far. They usually can't pursue a speeding car anymore, and by the time they get to your parked car it'll probably have moved. Their hands are tied by a lot of red tape that doesn't apply to you, the owner. Stealing it back is usually your best option.

awb 5y ago
Walking into an unfamiliar situation without training and potentially being confronted by known criminals does not sound like a great idea to me. Sorry, but my property just isn’t worth the risk. It’s replaceable, I’m not.
- recursive 5y ago
  I really don't think it's so much worse than walking into a situation with unknown criminals, which most of us probably do on a consistent basis. I would definitely just go get my car back. I would probably try to do it at a time when there wouldn't be a confrontation, but it may happen.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Yeah, at least you can be prepared. Bring a friend ready to call for help, video tape everything, etc. Despite what cops would have you believe, criminals aren't dumb. Most will recognize that it would be a bad idea to bring cops to the place they are apparently holding stolen cars. So if they know you brought an unknown number of witnesses prepared to call 911, they will probably back off. After all, it's pretty easy to get away with property crime if you stay off the radar.
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      Indeed, I'd assume most of them know that if you found the car and are there, it's likely that others (friends/etc) also know of the location. It's in their best interests to let you "steal" the car back and (most likely) resolve the problem for good than escalating it into more violence where it's likely to result in them not only getting in trouble for the initial theft but also the subsequent violence.
      - awb 5y ago
        Not every criminal is great at critical thinking, long-term planning or self control. Any element of surprise danger is going to trigger a flight or fight response.
  - retrac 5y ago
    The difference is you are directly challenging them. Many thieves will respond to taking their stolen car back the same way most of us here would. Anger and it's personal -- you're stealing from them! And they're probably more impulsive and less risk adverse than the average person. Now I'd totally hop in and drive off if it's left unattended at the curb or whatever though. Just be quick, bring friends, and avoid confrontation.
    - nomel 5y ago
      > The difference is you are directly challenging them. Many thieves... The tricky part is figuring out if the thief is in this "many" or not. Good luck, since you can only choose wrong once! Don't forget, they know where you live!
  - abyssin 5y ago
    What if the car is used to store valuable and illegal goods? And a big amount of them? Now you’re the target of both the criminals and the police.
    - nostromo 5y ago
      Nonsense. My car was stolen. I made a police report. It later turned up with some heroin in it. I called the police again. They thanked me, took the heroin as evidence, and went along their way.
      - lupire 5y ago
        what if they suspected you of lying about the theft, or found the heroin before you did?
    - awb 5y ago
      Probably just the criminals. It should be easy enough to prove to the police that you don’t have the means or motive to acquire those illegal goods. However, if you’re mixed up in illegal activity then yeah it might look bad.
      - inetknght 5y ago
        > It should be easy enough to prove to the police that you don’t have the means or motive to acquire those illegal goods. I see you haven't had much experience with American police.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        awb 5y ago
        True, I’ve only had 6 or 7 interactions with police and they’ve all been quick and easy, but I am an educated middle age white male family man from the Bay Area so I get that other people have very different experiences from mine and yeah I could see how “just explain it to the police” wouldn’t work for everyone.
  - ada1981 5y ago
    Right, like trying to raise venture funding for instance… :p
- hnxs 5y ago
  You could just hire someone for repossession (aka “repo”)
- kingcharles 5y ago
  Having been in jail (in the USA) with dozens of carjackers and car thieves, all of them were packing all of the time, because of rival gangs. They will NOT think at all before shooting. They will just shoot you and run. The kids who do this stuff are ingrained now to just shoot at any threat. Fist-fighting is long gone. I am not exaggerating here. They will shoot. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/police-believe-carjacking-crew-in-retired-firefighters-killing-involved-in-multiple-crimes/2397426/ https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/police-believe-carjack...
- uoaei 5y ago
  Criminals are scared too, that helps a lot in these situations. You just need to not act like a target. That sounds somewhat like pre-emptive victim blaming but essentially you have to play mind games if you step to a criminal so if you do it wrong that's kind of on you.
- btgeekboy 5y ago
  My vehicles are insured, and car thieves don’t treat vehicles with care. Once it’s been stolen, it belongs to the insurance company. I don’t want it back.
  - lupire 5y ago
    Insurance companies don't give away cars. They'll make you pay some of it back over time in increased premiums.
seibelj 5y ago
I mean what are they going to do, call the cops?
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  Because they can’t/won’t, most criminal orgs take security into their own hands. It’s a big issue with the war on drugs and other criminalized industries, where a lot of violence occurs because they can’t call the cops.
- dreen 5y ago
  They may come back for more than the car.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  No, they'll just shoot you. They're criminals, remember?
chomp 5y ago
Well, definitely file a police report for insurance reasons, and don't be a hero because these are criminals you are dealing with. Also remember that (in this scenario) these criminals know where you live...
- mywittyname 5y ago
  >Also remember that (in this scenario) these criminals know where you live... Maybe. We have car theft crime rings where I'm from and I doubt they document the home of ever car they steal, since they will do several a night and have been operating for a few years now.
thrwabap 5y ago
gnicholas 5y ago
Question: someone steals your car and you go to take it back. When you drive off with it, the thief's backpack/laptop/etc. are in the back seat. Can you now be prosecuted for theft? Obviously most people wouldn't want to hang around long enough to fully inspect the vehicle to make sure they're not taking anything that doesn't belong to them! My inkling, as a former lawyer, is that this would not be theft if you didn't know the item was there. Crimes require a certain mental state, and theft typically requires that you be aware that you're taking a thing that doesn't belong to you. If you leave a restaurant and unknowingly take someone else's umbrella from the bin instead of your own, you cannot be found guilty of theft. If you do know the items are there, you could be found guilty. Of course, the practical reality is that you don't want to give a criminal any reason to come back to your house, hunting for his belongings.
- Teever 5y ago
  I would imagine that legally speaking that it is no different than the situation an Uber driver faces when someone leaves their backpack/laptop/etc. in their car.
- retrac 5y ago
  IANAL either but the mens rea doesn't exist, right. There's also another angle: if I opened up your car and tossed my backpack in knowing it's a random stranger's car that might not be there when I get back, I have abandoned my property and have no claim against the car's owner. (It's more complicated with an honest mistake, though.)
- goodpoint 5y ago
  > When you drive off with it, the thief's backpack/laptop/etc. are in the back seat. Or even much worse, and you get blamed for the item and go to prison.
- nwiswell 5y ago
  > My inkling, as a former lawyer, is that this would not be theft if you didn't know the item was there Not theft, but still conversion. The thief could sue you for the value of the items. When a car is repossessed the chattels (personal items) have to be returned to avoid liability. There is case law establishing that if you tell the repo agent you have stuff in the trunk and he drives off anyway, that's prima facie conversion (monetary liability) regardless of whether they try to return the items later.
throwthere 5y ago
> If it's stolen, just go get it back when it's safe to do so. Your entire recommendation to "steal it back" is predicated on knowing when it's "safe" to get your stolen car in procession by criminals. Yeah, you're not going to know that.
nickkell 5y ago
Considering that the car was found with bullet holes in the roof, I think you're giving some very dangerous advice.
N19PEDL2 5y ago
> Keep an extra key for your car at home and put an Airtag in your car. Tracking a stole vehicle is definitely one of the best use for an Airtag. If someone steals your car, any guy with an Apple product around the street is helping you to find it. IMO in the near future car manufacturers will integrate Find My technology into the car electronics, just as some of them already do with Apple car keys. > If it's stolen, just go get it back when it's safe to do so. I'm more doubtful on this. Better to let the police handle such potentially dangerous situations.
jsqu99 5y ago
are you allowed to show up armed, in case they are waiting for you? If you end up in a shootout, will you be considered the aggressor? Seems dangerous to me
- wing-_-nuts 5y ago
  In America? Yes. I can't speak for other countries. If you do get in a shootout, well, that's likely self defense. Many will wring their hands over taking direct action, but I can speak from experience, the police and legal system don't give a damn about you or your possessions. I would absolutely be willing to risk it rather than go through the hassle of buying a new car right now.
  - comrh 5y ago
    Buying a new car is more of a hassle than risking getting into a shootout over property?
    - phil21 5y ago
      People wildly overestimate how quickly most people, criminals included, are willing to get into shootouts or even initiate violence against someone they don't size up as a victim. If you show up to retrieve your stolen property chances are 99 out of 100 times you'll get it handed back without much of a question. They are just as scared as you randomly showing up and tracking them down as you are of them. You are not acting the part, and your actions are dangerous and abnormal - even most predators pause in such situations, and most criminals are not predators but opportunists. Most cases. Obviously it's not the safest thing in the world, and if you're not comfortable with confrontation I wouldn't recommend it. I'm financially well off enough now where I'd likely let pretty much all my physical possessions walk without recourse (what will happen if you just report to police). It's not worth the risk:reward benefit any longer. However there were times in my life where I absolutely took matters into my own hands and collected stolen property that was critical to my livelihood and too expensive to replace. It was surprisingly easy every time. There were times way in my past I would have defended certain property with my life if it came to it, since losing it was nearly the same thing.
duxup 5y ago
>Calling the police in most American cities won't get you far. This really varies widely by location. The local police in my sleepy suburb will go full DEFCON 1 if they know a stolen car is in the area. They don't have a lot to do... It might be worth seeing what the locals are or aren't willing to do.
varenc 5y ago
> ... put an AirTag in your car After your car is stolen and the AirTag is separated from your phone, you have ~12 hours before it starts randomly beeping every time it detects motion, alerting the thief to its presence. Or if the thief has an iPhone they'll get a notification that "An AirTag is traveling with you" soon after they steal it. AirTags are great but sadly I feel like they're not great for this use case. Though definitely better than nothing. (IMHO there's a fundamental conflict between preventing stalking and tracking stolen goods. The result is they're not great for either use case)
- nickthegreek 5y ago
  If the airtag is even somewhat well hidden, they would probably just dump the car instead of spending hours looking for it. $30 is a pretty cheap extra deterrent.
yupyup54133 5y ago
If you do this the first thing you should do is drive it to a car dealership and trade it in.

awb 5y ago

Walking into an unfamiliar situation without training and potentially being confronted by known criminals does not sound like a great idea to me. Sorry, but my property just isn’t worth the risk. It’s replaceable, I’m not.

recursive 5y ago
I really don't think it's so much worse than walking into a situation with unknown criminals, which most of us probably do on a consistent basis. I would definitely just go get my car back. I would probably try to do it at a time when there wouldn't be a confrontation, but it may happen.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Yeah, at least you can be prepared. Bring a friend ready to call for help, video tape everything, etc. Despite what cops would have you believe, criminals aren't dumb. Most will recognize that it would be a bad idea to bring cops to the place they are apparently holding stolen cars. So if they know you brought an unknown number of witnesses prepared to call 911, they will probably back off. After all, it's pretty easy to get away with property crime if you stay off the radar.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    Indeed, I'd assume most of them know that if you found the car and are there, it's likely that others (friends/etc) also know of the location. It's in their best interests to let you "steal" the car back and (most likely) resolve the problem for good than escalating it into more violence where it's likely to result in them not only getting in trouble for the initial theft but also the subsequent violence.
    - awb 5y ago
      Not every criminal is great at critical thinking, long-term planning or self control. Any element of surprise danger is going to trigger a flight or fight response.
- retrac 5y ago
  The difference is you are directly challenging them. Many thieves will respond to taking their stolen car back the same way most of us here would. Anger and it's personal -- you're stealing from them! And they're probably more impulsive and less risk adverse than the average person. Now I'd totally hop in and drive off if it's left unattended at the curb or whatever though. Just be quick, bring friends, and avoid confrontation.
  - nomel 5y ago
    > The difference is you are directly challenging them. Many thieves... The tricky part is figuring out if the thief is in this "many" or not. Good luck, since you can only choose wrong once! Don't forget, they know where you live!
- abyssin 5y ago
  What if the car is used to store valuable and illegal goods? And a big amount of them? Now you’re the target of both the criminals and the police.
  - nostromo 5y ago
    Nonsense. My car was stolen. I made a police report. It later turned up with some heroin in it. I called the police again. They thanked me, took the heroin as evidence, and went along their way.
    - lupire 5y ago
      what if they suspected you of lying about the theft, or found the heroin before you did?
  - awb 5y ago
    Probably just the criminals. It should be easy enough to prove to the police that you don’t have the means or motive to acquire those illegal goods. However, if you’re mixed up in illegal activity then yeah it might look bad.
    - inetknght 5y ago
      > It should be easy enough to prove to the police that you don’t have the means or motive to acquire those illegal goods. I see you haven't had much experience with American police.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - awb 5y ago
        True, I’ve only had 6 or 7 interactions with police and they’ve all been quick and easy, but I am an educated middle age white male family man from the Bay Area so I get that other people have very different experiences from mine and yeah I could see how “just explain it to the police” wouldn’t work for everyone.
- ada1981 5y ago
  Right, like trying to raise venture funding for instance… :p
hnxs 5y ago
You could just hire someone for repossession (aka “repo”)
kingcharles 5y ago
Having been in jail (in the USA) with dozens of carjackers and car thieves, all of them were packing all of the time, because of rival gangs. They will NOT think at all before shooting. They will just shoot you and run. The kids who do this stuff are ingrained now to just shoot at any threat. Fist-fighting is long gone. I am not exaggerating here. They will shoot. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/police-believe-carjacking-crew-in-retired-firefighters-killing-involved-in-multiple-crimes/2397426/ https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/police-believe-carjack...
uoaei 5y ago
Criminals are scared too, that helps a lot in these situations. You just need to not act like a target. That sounds somewhat like pre-emptive victim blaming but essentially you have to play mind games if you step to a criminal so if you do it wrong that's kind of on you.
btgeekboy 5y ago
My vehicles are insured, and car thieves don’t treat vehicles with care. Once it’s been stolen, it belongs to the insurance company. I don’t want it back.
- lupire 5y ago
  Insurance companies don't give away cars. They'll make you pay some of it back over time in increased premiums.

seibelj 5y ago

I mean what are they going to do, call the cops?

Scoundreller 5y ago
Because they can’t/won’t, most criminal orgs take security into their own hands. It’s a big issue with the war on drugs and other criminalized industries, where a lot of violence occurs because they can’t call the cops.
dreen 5y ago
They may come back for more than the car.
jacquesm 5y ago
No, they'll just shoot you. They're criminals, remember?

chomp 5y ago

Well, definitely file a police report for insurance reasons, and don't be a hero because these are criminals you are dealing with. Also remember that (in this scenario) these criminals know where you live...

mywittyname 5y ago
>Also remember that (in this scenario) these criminals know where you live... Maybe. We have car theft crime rings where I'm from and I doubt they document the home of ever car they steal, since they will do several a night and have been operating for a few years now.

thrwabap 5y ago

gnicholas 5y ago

Question: someone steals your car and you go to take it back. When you drive off with it, the thief's backpack/laptop/etc. are in the back seat. Can you now be prosecuted for theft? Obviously most people wouldn't want to hang around long enough to fully inspect the vehicle to make sure they're not taking anything that doesn't belong to them! My inkling, as a former lawyer, is that this would not be theft if you didn't know the item was there. Crimes require a certain mental state, and theft typically requires that you be aware that you're taking a thing that doesn't belong to you. If you leave a restaurant and unknowingly take someone else's umbrella from the bin instead of your own, you cannot be found guilty of theft. If you do know the items are there, you could be found guilty. Of course, the practical reality is that you don't want to give a criminal any reason to come back to your house, hunting for his belongings.

Teever 5y ago
I would imagine that legally speaking that it is no different than the situation an Uber driver faces when someone leaves their backpack/laptop/etc. in their car.
retrac 5y ago
IANAL either but the mens rea doesn't exist, right. There's also another angle: if I opened up your car and tossed my backpack in knowing it's a random stranger's car that might not be there when I get back, I have abandoned my property and have no claim against the car's owner. (It's more complicated with an honest mistake, though.)
goodpoint 5y ago
> When you drive off with it, the thief's backpack/laptop/etc. are in the back seat. Or even much worse, and you get blamed for the item and go to prison.
nwiswell 5y ago
> My inkling, as a former lawyer, is that this would not be theft if you didn't know the item was there Not theft, but still conversion. The thief could sue you for the value of the items. When a car is repossessed the chattels (personal items) have to be returned to avoid liability. There is case law establishing that if you tell the repo agent you have stuff in the trunk and he drives off anyway, that's prima facie conversion (monetary liability) regardless of whether they try to return the items later.

throwthere 5y ago

> If it's stolen, just go get it back when it's safe to do so. Your entire recommendation to "steal it back" is predicated on knowing when it's "safe" to get your stolen car in procession by criminals. Yeah, you're not going to know that.

nickkell 5y ago

Considering that the car was found with bullet holes in the roof, I think you're giving some very dangerous advice.

N19PEDL2 5y ago

> Keep an extra key for your car at home and put an Airtag in your car. Tracking a stole vehicle is definitely one of the best use for an Airtag. If someone steals your car, any guy with an Apple product around the street is helping you to find it. IMO in the near future car manufacturers will integrate Find My technology into the car electronics, just as some of them already do with Apple car keys. > If it's stolen, just go get it back when it's safe to do so. I'm more doubtful on this. Better to let the police handle such potentially dangerous situations.

jsqu99 5y ago

are you allowed to show up armed, in case they are waiting for you? If you end up in a shootout, will you be considered the aggressor? Seems dangerous to me

wing-_-nuts 5y ago
In America? Yes. I can't speak for other countries. If you do get in a shootout, well, that's likely self defense. Many will wring their hands over taking direct action, but I can speak from experience, the police and legal system don't give a damn about you or your possessions. I would absolutely be willing to risk it rather than go through the hassle of buying a new car right now.
- comrh 5y ago
  Buying a new car is more of a hassle than risking getting into a shootout over property?
  - phil21 5y ago
    People wildly overestimate how quickly most people, criminals included, are willing to get into shootouts or even initiate violence against someone they don't size up as a victim. If you show up to retrieve your stolen property chances are 99 out of 100 times you'll get it handed back without much of a question. They are just as scared as you randomly showing up and tracking them down as you are of them. You are not acting the part, and your actions are dangerous and abnormal - even most predators pause in such situations, and most criminals are not predators but opportunists. Most cases. Obviously it's not the safest thing in the world, and if you're not comfortable with confrontation I wouldn't recommend it. I'm financially well off enough now where I'd likely let pretty much all my physical possessions walk without recourse (what will happen if you just report to police). It's not worth the risk:reward benefit any longer. However there were times in my life where I absolutely took matters into my own hands and collected stolen property that was critical to my livelihood and too expensive to replace. It was surprisingly easy every time. There were times way in my past I would have defended certain property with my life if it came to it, since losing it was nearly the same thing.

duxup 5y ago

>Calling the police in most American cities won't get you far. This really varies widely by location. The local police in my sleepy suburb will go full DEFCON 1 if they know a stolen car is in the area. They don't have a lot to do... It might be worth seeing what the locals are or aren't willing to do.

varenc 5y ago

> ... put an AirTag in your car After your car is stolen and the AirTag is separated from your phone, you have ~12 hours before it starts randomly beeping every time it detects motion, alerting the thief to its presence. Or if the thief has an iPhone they'll get a notification that "An AirTag is traveling with you" soon after they steal it. AirTags are great but sadly I feel like they're not great for this use case. Though definitely better than nothing. (IMHO there's a fundamental conflict between preventing stalking and tracking stolen goods. The result is they're not great for either use case)

nickthegreek 5y ago
If the airtag is even somewhat well hidden, they would probably just dump the car instead of spending hours looking for it. $30 is a pretty cheap extra deterrent.

yupyup54133 5y ago

If you do this the first thing you should do is drive it to a car dealership and trade it in.