03 Camry Stolen

[zanderch]

Hey guys. Last Sunday one of our vehicles were stolen off the driveway. It was a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE. I left at 7PM and it was sitting in my driveway, and was back at 10PM and it was gone. I have all the keys for it and there was no glass on the driveway where the car was. It believe it had an electronic immobilizer/chipped keys, and it had a stock security system (alarm upon forced entry). I filed a police report and everything, haven't heard anything yet, but I'm just curious. With those security features, how is it possible that my car was stolen? I thought it was impossible to steal without those chipped keys? And none of my neighbours saw anything. Does anyone have any experience with having a vehicle stolen? How long does it usually take to show up? Is it usually alright or totalled or does it dissappear forever? Anyway, thanks for your help guys.

[CJCride]

Some criminals steal a car to use as a "getaway" car for a preplanned crime.
If this is the case you car may show up sooner than later abandoned.

[Tom 2000]

With the right tow truck, a thief can haul your car away in less than a minute.

Take a look at these videos.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...3465394611724#

You Tube

You Tube

Couple of possibilities.

- thief took it for a joyride/geaway car, it will be abandoned somewhere after its use. Condition can vary.
- thief took it to strip it and sell for parts. It will be abandoned after the thief takes off what they want. Condition can vary
- thief took it to ship it overseas and sell it. Once the car leaves port, you'll never see it again. There has been a rash of RAV4's stolen in Montreal (a port city) and that's what happened to them. They steal it, put it in a shipping container on a ship.

[MrSo0h0o]

im pretty sure the XLE's came with chipped keys so that, combined with no glass on the driveway makes me think that it was hauled away by a tow truck like tom 2000 said.

[workerant]

goodluck getting it back.

a stolen car end up in the impound lot, who pay for it? the owner or the insurance to get the car out?

[techtable]

Did he or she missed any payments that they not aware of ? Why would someone steal the camry, it's not a very expensive car, unless some tight ass bastard out there just need a ride. I hate to see it happened to you, if you didn't miss any payment at all.

[Netforcer]

hate to say it, but they'll eventually find it thru VIN... it will most likely be stripped since there was no breaking in. and they may burn it just for fun

[satyrias]

Interesting since I had almost a close call.

I have a Camry XLE 2002 that I bought it in December 2001. Just after one month I bought, someone got into my car. He didn't break any glass or took any property from the glove boxes, but things are all misplaced. I had some money and a cell phone and some tools. He didn't touch it. The only reason he couldn't drive my car away is because of the Engine im-mobilizer. I think he has the key to that car. I didn't change all the lock cylinders since I have to spend few hundred dollars and it is not possible to get the chip code for him to duplicate.

I took my car to the Toyota dealership and they actually questioned me about all other keys. Finally, the mechanic explained how they get the duplicate keys. Some of the crooked guys work in any dealership who can help these guys. Just like when we lose keys, we can make a key if we go to the dealership with the VIN of our cars. SO he might have written down the VIN of my car and made a key with his friends at any Toyota dealership. However, nobody can duplicate the chip since the code is unknown. If you lose an electronic key, they have to reprogram the code for the car all over again. That is why he can get into my car but no way he can drive the car away. Also, he may be looking for any second key that usually people keep in the car.

Almost after one year he came again, but didn't take anything at all. After five years he got into it again, that time he took all the 6 CDs in the CD changer, money and all tools and trashed everything inside. The first two times he didn’t take anything. I think he didn’t want to alert me at all, so that I don’t change the lock cylinders or looking for a probability of leaving a second key in the car. Third time he got irritated and got what he can get out of it.

I think this guy may be a prisoner and might have been in jail. Whenever he gets out of the jail, he does it again wherever he can. Probably he is in jail now, and I didn't see any break in for the last few years.

So, from this experience, I wonder, you have all the THREE chipped keys with you.

There is no way anyone can drive away without that chipped key. Even if he hot wired it, the alarm will come off when he cut the wire, or disconnect the battery.

Or pulled away with a tow truck as the above post, but I doubt that because it is from your home driveway and a residence area, not a public parking place.

[El Loco VG]

My friend has a 06 Camry XLE and about 2 years ago he locked his key in the car with the car running. He called me panicking and told me he was going to smash out the back window, I told him "you dumb ass call a tow truck to jimmy it" he was like no this car is jimmy proof he wont be able to do it. Finally he called them, it took the driver literally 5 seconds to pop the lock. I was amazed I mean he put in the bar and click thats it. So the car is easily slim jimmied. The bypass is great but nothing is theft proof. I've read on the Ravs that they simply swap out the ecu with there own and using there chip vroom! How accurate that is no idea but I've also heard of ppl hacking the system with a laptop so its a help but not a lock to keep your car safe.

[willt]

Originally Posted by TTM77

goodluck getting it back.

a stolen car end up in the impound lot, who pay for it? the owner or the insurance to get the car out?

the owner pays for it like what happen to my honda accord then paid paid again to tow back to my place

[satyrias]

Originally Posted by El Loco VG

My friend has a 06 Camry XLE and about 2 years ago he locked his key in the car with the car running.

Something is not correct here. No Camry XLE will be locked if the key is in the switch. That is a security default of the car. If you turn the knob to lock and close the door, the lock will come back to open position automatically soon after you close the door.

When someone use a slimjim to open the door the alarm will sound. That doesn't matter for an owner who wants to open by any means.

As for the hacking, anything in the world can he hacked by the creator of a respective program. Whoever created the algorithm for this chip knows how to get in for troubleshooting but the problem is when it passed on to a crook or the creator himself become a crook. Like someone work in a Toyota dealership who is in charge of making keys with their computer can be misused by the same employee for money.

[zanderch]

Hey guys. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. The car was found about 10 blocks away from my place. It had minimal damage and some stuff was stolen from inside it (not the stereo) but I don't think it had been towed. It was parked nicely at the side of the road and was even locked. It smelled like smoke, and none of us smoke, and so someone had been driving it. There were no wires hanging out of the steering column or underneath, and I started it and everything. The engine is making some funny noises so they must have bagged it but other than that it doesn't look like anything was dismantled. SO I'm super confused, because if it wasn't towed, the glass wasn't broken, and I have the keys, how did they take it? I'm not actually sure where my valet key is, but if the car is locked with the remote, doesn't the valet key not manually open the doors? The car was just serviced at a Toyota dealer a few weeks ago, is it possible a crook that works there got my address and VIN off the invoice and made a key and stole it?

[workerant]

Originally Posted by willt

the owner pays for it like what happen to my honda accord then paid paid again to tow back to my place

Well.. that sux.

Zan, glade your car is back home. Look like U going to need a new alarm system seeing how this one seem to be compromised.

[El Loco VG]

His car had an alarm but no auto start so he would turn on the car and and when you close the door the alarm automatically locks it, he left his wallet in the car with his spare by mistake. If they want it bad enough it doesn't matter if you pay Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris to sleep on the roof of your car they will find a way to steal it. In the Dominican Republic almost everybody has 1. An alarm with the immobilizer 2. Some sort of the Club 3.A hidden switch that needs to be pressed as you turn the ignition. 4. What they call a Multi-Lock which is pretty cool it bolts through the floor of the car and then has a big u bolt type thing that locks around your shifter in part and into the other piece so you cant take the car out of park. And cars are still stolen like crazy.

Originally Posted by satyrias

Something is not correct here. No Camry XLE will be locked if the key is in the switch. That is a security default of the car. If you turn the knob to lock and close the door, the lock will come back to open position automatically soon after you close the door.

When someone use a slimjim to open the door the alarm will sound. That doesn't matter for an owner who wants to open by any means.

As for the hacking, anything in the world can he hacked by the creator of a respective program. Whoever created the algorithm for this chip knows how to get in for troubleshooting but the problem is when it passed on to a crook or the creator himself become a crook. Like someone work in a Toyota dealership who is in charge of making keys with their computer can be misused by the same employee for money.

[TheKevin]

sorry to hear that. hope it gets recovered with no to minimal damage