UPDATE: FOUND...stolen in los angeles - vin 11304412007568 - red on tan

[Peter van Es]

To support what Michael says...

• your profile information is private, and cannot be seen by other members, Google, or scraped in any other way
• only Board members, and membership admins can see your address details
• the Emergency Contact List shows only your city, not your full address, and your telephone number -- and only to other members who have signed up for the ECL with their own telephone number. If they need help, they need to call you, and you then choose to share your address details or not. So this mechanism is secure...
• I can tell you from good experience, looking up fellow members in their home town when you are travelling through is very rewarding, even if
  you do not need emergency help

Peter

[Artkez]

Just wanted to post a great update!

Our little red pagoda was returned safe and sound on Thursday, thanks to the effort of the Los Angeles Police Department and a neighborhood good Samaritan, who were able to track down this car not far away. Of course the thief is now in jail, we don't have too much info on him or the motives, but he luckily did not get far, its definitely unlikely that hes a forum member.  most importantly, our baby is home without a scratch.

needless to say we are grateful for everyone involved and thoroughly impressed by the swift actions of the LAPD. a great lesson to us and and inspiration to increase the security of our investment significantly. maybe we can steer the discussion towards what we can do to prevent this from ever happening again.

some actions taken already are increased locks, security alarms and cameras for the garage, security wheel locks, etc

my question is what kind of gps tracker would you guys install, an airtag seems insufficient, and how would you go about installing a kill switch

[PeterW113]

Wonderful news to hear you have been reunited with your Pagoda, excellent!

[dirkbalter]

Wow, great news.

[Leester]

Fantastic! Glad to hear car is safe at home. I too would like to hear best practices on installing devices on car to deter theft. As long as its in my garage, I think security is sufficient.

[mnahon]

That's really great news; so happy for you!

[rwmastel]

As long as its in my garage, I think security is sufficient.

As the OP for details on the locked garage his Pagoda was stolen from.

[Cees Klumper]

Congratulations, this may be the first time on this forum that a stolen car was recovered 'unharmed'.

Hidden trackers with their own GPS, that you have a subscription with a monitoring service provider for, always seemed to me the best if not somewhat expensive, option. And making sure to have the car fully insured. I have neither. An immobilizer switch will only deter joyriders, mostly.

[Pawel66]

What a relief!

The tracking devices were discussed several times on the forum, also recently: https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=38339.msg280176#msg280176

[stickandrudderman]

Great news!
It would be good to know how the thief managed to mobilise the car "without a scratch".
Is the ignition lock not damaged?

[BobH]

That is really good news, i'm so pleased for you both, and the parasite is locked up, where he belongs

Now, please update us all about your shifting issues, all sorted now?

[RAY]

To everyone who does not have, AT THE VERY LEAST, a decent monitored tracker on their beloved Pagoda, in the grand scheme of things they are not that expensive when you think about what we spend on our cars.
Seriously, put yourself in the position of opening your garage door or even returning to your Pagoda where you left it and it is GONE.
How would you feel, anger, disbelief, heart broken, panic ? One thing for sure is that after the event you will certainly wish you had one fitted and hopefully some other security features as well, then at least you can say to yourself "I had done everything I could to prevent this".
True, it may still not get you Pagoda back but you wont be beating yourself up quite so much about it.
Don't wait until it has gone, you may not be a lucky as Artkez, he is indeed one very lucky and no doubt relieved man.

[AndrewB]

Congratulations on getting her back and kudos to the LAPD for being effective

I am afraid if this had been the UK it would have been gone for good - fewer than 1% of crimes are solved and the new government has just started to give early release to prisoners !

Hopefully the villain is locked away for a decent time

[Brandini]

Great news!!

[Jonny B]

Absolutely awesome news! And with out a scratch

Now you are ready for the next Pagodas and Beer meeting on 19 October.

[AdelaidePagoda]

Artkez, great news, truly fantastic and we look forward to hearing more details on how it was located and returned.

Do not underestimate the immediate power of the AirTag. Your Pagoda would have been located to the meter within a few minutes of you noticing it was missing if you had visited Apple and paid the $20 and hid one in a very inaccessible place in your car. All that stress would not have been necessary. In the meantime, spend all that extra money on the rest of the expensive equipment you mention to prevent it from happening again.

Add one to all your cars and even your dog collar, you never know which one will go missing 😀

*I have no financial or employment ties to Apple, this is purely advice based on actual use and experience.

[Artkez]

Thank you all for the kind words and support! We are very happy, now cleaning up the car and working on replacing a couple of missing items, the guy took out the spare tire and other accessories in the trunk so that he could fit a stolen bike and other stolen items in the trunk. lost a very authentic and complete tool kit, that I was very proud of.  but no big deal, just happy shes home

That is really good news, i'm so pleased for you both, and the parasite is locked up, where he belongs

Now, please update us all about your shifting issues, all sorted now?

Shifting is amazing, the internal kickdown mechanism was disengaged and now things are very smooth! will make a dedicated post soon, still have some questions

Absolutely awesome news! And with out a scratch

Now you are ready for the next Pagodas and Beer meeting on 19 October.

We will plan on being there! sounds fun

Artkez, great news, truly fantastic and we look forward to hearing more details on how it was located and returned.

Do not underestimate the immediate power of the AirTag. Your Pagoda would have been located to the meter within a few minutes of you noticing it was missing if you had visited Apple and paid the $20 and hid one in a very inaccessible place in your car. All that stress would not have been necessary. In the meantime, spend all that extra money on the rest of the expensive equipment you mention to prevent it from happening again.

Add one to all your cars and even your dog collar, you never know which one will go missing 😀

*I have no financial or employment ties to Apple, this is purely advice based on actual use and experience.

Already purchased, 4 for $75 was too good to pass up

Great news!
It would be good to know how the thief managed to mobilise the car "without a scratch".
Is the ignition lock not damaged?

valid point, he found our admittedly not well secured valet key and garage door opener

[dirkbalter]

Already purchased, 4 for $75 was too good to pass up

Take the speaker out (youtube). This way they are harder to detect.

[Victor113]

Amazing news CONGRATS. And yes on my way to pick up some AIRTAGS to place in the car!!!!! Great work LAPD!!!!!

[rwmastel]

I don't have an AirTag, or any Apple products, but I've read on posts here that a thief's iPhone (if they have one) will detect the AirTag.  I don't know if they can manage or disable the thing, but they would certainly start searching for it immediately!

Does one need an iPhone?  Is there an Android AirTag app?

Does one need to remember to mute AirTag alerts each time leaving the garage?

[mdsalemi]

I don't have an AirTag, or any Apple products, but I've read on posts here that a thief's iPhone (if they have one) will detect the AirTag.  I don't know if they can manage or disable the thing, but they would certainly start searching for it immediately!

Does one need an iPhone?  Is there an Android AirTag app?

Does one need to remember to mute AirTag alerts each time leaving the garage?

AirTags are for Apple products only.
There are Android based trackers as well very similar in size and function. Among those released or on task TO BE released include products by Chipolo, Pebblebee, Tile, Samsung, Kzo and more. All for sale on Amazon.
An AirTag placed in a car will "log in" so to speak, by any passing iPhone, without that passing iPhone being aware of it.
However, if the AirTag is "following" one specific phone that does not belong to the owner, yes, that phone will be advised that there is an AirTag "following" them. So, if a thief steals your car with an AirTag in it, as soon as his phone is near the AirTag, that location is noted, you are advised as to the location...and if the thief has an iPhone, they will eventually be notified that they are being followed. But, by that time you already know your car was stolen and have a general idea of where it may be.
Every time my Pagoda leaves my garage--it's "home base"--I'm advised of that. I'm kept advised of its location unless it's with me. So, if I'm driving it, no notifications. If I park it somewhere and walk away, I'm told that it's left behind.

AirTags were not designed to be perfect, they were not designed to replace GPS trackers, but for $29 they do a darn good job of telling me where luggage is, for example. They won't prevent a thief from taking your car (apparently a locked car in a locked garage won't either) but they will give you an idea of where the car may be located.

[rwmastel]

So, if a thief steals your car with an AirTag in it, as soon as his phone is near the AirTag, that location is noted, you are advised as to the location...and if the thief has an iPhone, they will eventually be notified that they are being followed. But, by that time you already know your car was stolen and have a general idea of where it may be.

Thanks, Michael.  Regarding the part I quoted, if the thief is by the car in your garage, or a parking garage, or wherever the theft is being attempted, would they know then and there that an AirTag is in the car, attached to his iPhone?  He would then set about finding it before moving the car.  Just asking as I don't know how they work. (They = AirTags and thieves)

[mdsalemi]

Thanks, Michael.  Regarding the part I quoted, if the thief is by the car in your garage, or a parking garage, or wherever the theft is being attempted, would they know then and there that an AirTag is in the car, attached to his iPhone?  He would then set about finding it before moving the car.  Just asking as I don't know how they work. (They = AirTags and thieves)

It's NOT when a thief or anyone else comes near the AirTag, it's when it FOLLOWS HIM.

I had my mechanic here service my car. He has an iPhone (so much better in so many ways than an Android but I digress). It didn't tell him about the AirTag until he test drove the car. When the car was in his garage, no. But when he tested the car, then HE and the AirTag were "paired" for some time, and that's when he got the notification.

This was done to prevent bad people from stalking others...as I said, it's not perfect. It's not designed to replace a GPS based tracker. But it's sure as heck worth every penny of that $29...

[rwmastel]

Got it.  Thanks!

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

I don't have an iPhone so obviously air tag is not in the picture.  Might there be an android equivalent? But I  digress. 

My question would be how do members protect their baby?  This might be a difficult question to answer in that members might not want to share their methods but let's give it a try

I have redundant systems in that one prevents starting, another limits the fuel flow.  Of course there is always the steering wheel lock

jb