[roostere4]

OBD port lock will allow them down but won't stop any but the most basic thieves. Even with a damaged port they can still hook up their tools. All that is needed is to be able to access wires for the CAN bus. On some cars the thieves just access these through the head lights

[Pcormier66]

My theft story sounds exactly like many of these on the thread. But with a surprise ending. My car was stolen 4/2 out of my driveway at 12:15 AM. My wife heard the alarm go off, ran to the window, and saw a bunch of guys in the yard. They started the car and drove off. I had an AirTag in the car and relayed initial location info to Dallas PD. I then spent the next three hours driving around with Dallas PD (albeit in separate cars) trying to find my ZLE. I met them at the first location and found a pile of my stuff from the car in someone’s yard, but no airtag. The AirTag, then pinged at another location which turned up some more contents of my car and the AirTag. Once Dallas police filed a stolen vehicle report, and got a case number, I was able to call OnStar and their last location was about 30 minutes away. That’s where we think they disabled OnStar. Interestingly, within 15 minutes of the theft, an undercover police vehicle (some non descript toyota) spotted my car and was following it. They tried to dispatch a helicopter, but once they got on the highway, they were gone. I thought the car was gone for good, and had given up hope. Don't hate me for looking up M2's. But three nights later I get a call from Dallas PD that they found my car. Pure serendipity. They were serving a warrant at a different address for an unrelated charge, arrested the suspect, went through his phone and found a second address. They drove to that address and there was my car in the side yard. OnStar said that because they triggered the theft deterrent system, it won’t restart with the key. Only a dealer can get it restarted. That or they cloned a key and my keys won’t work. It was towed to impound where it sat for 2 weeks gathering evidence, dust and rain. Windows were down. It rained at least one day while in impound. I got it back this last Friday. It’s sitting at a Chevy dealer to be fixed. The body is perfect, but the interior is ripped up a bit as they were looking for my AirTag, pulling the OnStar module, ripping out my dash cam, my Garmin wiring, etc. And it needs a serious detail. I keep all the families key fobs in a Faraday box. The car is normally in my garage, but I had it parked in the driveway because my lemons race car was in the garage being worked on. So I traded a $65,000 car for a $500 piece of junk.

This thread has been a wealth of information for my plans to enhance security. I fully believe they knew my car was located at my address, and routinely went by to see if it was out. It sat out for two days before it was stolen. Dallas PD says my car was stolen by an organized crime ring in Dallas. As others have said, if they want your car, they’ll get it. The objective is to slow them down, so the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by Pcormier66

My theft story sounds exactly like many of these on the thread. But with a surprise ending. My car was stolen 4/2 out of my driveway at 12:15 AM. My wife heard the alarm go off, ran to the window, and saw a bunch of guys in the yard. They started the car and drove off. I had an AirTag in the car and relayed initial location info to Dallas PD. I then spent the next three hours driving around with Dallas PD (albeit in separate cars) trying to find my ZLE. I met them at the first location and found a pile of my stuff from the car in someone’s yard, but no airtag. The AirTag, then pinged at another location which turned up some more contents of my car and the AirTag. Once Dallas police filed a stolen vehicle report, and got a case number, I was able to call OnStar and their last location was about 30 minutes away. That’s where we think they disabled OnStar. Interestingly, within 15 minutes of the theft, an undercover police vehicle (some non descript toyota) spotted my car and was following it. They tried to dispatch a helicopter, but once they got on the highway, they were gone. I thought the car was gone for good, and had given up hope. Don't hate me for looking up M2's. But three nights later I get a call from Dallas PD that they found my car. Pure serendipity. They were serving a warrant at a different address for an unrelated charge, arrested the suspect, went through his phone and found a second address. They drove to that address and there was my car in the side yard. OnStar said that because they triggered the theft deterrent system, it won’t restart with the key. Only a dealer can get it restarted. That or they cloned a key and my keys won’t work. It was towed to impound where it sat for 2 weeks gathering evidence, dust and rain. Windows were down. It rained at least one day while in impound. I got it back this last Friday. It’s sitting at a Chevy dealer to be fixed. The body is perfect, but the interior is ripped up a bit as they were looking for my AirTag, pulling the OnStar module, ripping out my dash cam, my Garmin wiring, etc. And it needs a serious detail. I keep all the families key fobs in a Faraday box. The car is normally in my garage, but I had it parked in the driveway because my lemons race car was in the garage being worked on. So I traded a $65,000 car for a $500 piece of junk.

This thread has been a wealth of information for my plans to enhance security. I fully believe they knew my car was located at my address, and routinely went by to see if it was out. It sat out for two days before it was stolen. Dallas PD says my car was stolen by an organized crime ring in Dallas. As others have said, if they want your car, they’ll get it. The objective is to slow them down, so the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

Sorry to hear about this but glad you got your car back. Did you have any theft deterrent stuff done or installed? Such as fake OBD, remote starter relay, remote fuel pump relays or any other theft deterrent? Or was your car completely stock in that regard?

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Pcormier66

My theft story sounds exactly like many of these on the thread. But with a surprise ending. My car was stolen 4/2 out of my driveway at 12:15 AM. My wife heard the alarm go off, ran to the window, and saw a bunch of guys in the yard. They started the car and drove off. I had an AirTag in the car and relayed initial location info to Dallas PD. I then spent the next three hours driving around with Dallas PD (albeit in separate cars) trying to find my ZLE. I met them at the first location and found a pile of my stuff from the car in someone’s yard, but no airtag. The AirTag, then pinged at another location which turned up some more contents of my car and the AirTag. Once Dallas police filed a stolen vehicle report, and got a case number, I was able to call OnStar and their last location was about 30 minutes away. That’s where we think they disabled OnStar. Interestingly, within 15 minutes of the theft, an undercover police vehicle (some non descript toyota) spotted my car and was following it. They tried to dispatch a helicopter, but once they got on the highway, they were gone. I thought the car was gone for good, and had given up hope. Don't hate me for looking up M2's. But three nights later I get a call from Dallas PD that they found my car. Pure serendipity. They were serving a warrant at a different address for an unrelated charge, arrested the suspect, went through his phone and found a second address. They drove to that address and there was my car in the side yard. OnStar said that because they triggered the theft deterrent system, it won’t restart with the key. Only a dealer can get it restarted. That or they cloned a key and my keys won’t work. It was towed to impound where it sat for 2 weeks gathering evidence, dust and rain. Windows were down. It rained at least one day while in impound. I got it back this last Friday. It’s sitting at a Chevy dealer to be fixed. The body is perfect, but the interior is ripped up a bit as they were looking for my AirTag, pulling the OnStar module, ripping out my dash cam, my Garmin wiring, etc. And it needs a serious detail. I keep all the families key fobs in a Faraday box. The car is normally in my garage, but I had it parked in the driveway because my lemons race car was in the garage being worked on. So I traded a $65,000 car for a $500 piece of junk.

This thread has been a wealth of information for my plans to enhance security. I fully believe they knew my car was located at my address, and routinely went by to see if it was out. It sat out for two days before it was stolen. Dallas PD says my car was stolen by an organized crime ring in Dallas. As others have said, if they want your car, they’ll get it. The objective is to slow them down, so the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

Absolutely infuriating story, it's not your fault in any way. At least you still have your ZL1 1LE, this is a rare car and hope it can be restored to its previous glory.

I don't get the part where the windows were left rolled down and your interior got rained on, don't the people at the impound yard have an ounce of common sense and care for these vehicles?

Also, were you told what the Dallas PD were doing about this crime ring?

[Odabo]

Man, I hate hear these stories but I am glad yours had a good ending in that you got your car back. I agree with Arpad in the fact that it was not your fault. It's a shame people work hard to have a few pleasures in life and then some jerk who has no morals comes and takes what is not theirs. The most we can do is slow them down and sometimes that is enough.

[Pcormier66]

Thanks all. I don’t think the impound lot gives a shit. Or the tow truck driver that delivered it. When they found the car, the perps wouldn’t show the police how they started my car. I was out of town and my wife drove over with a key. It still wouldn’t start, but I texted her instructions on how to get the car in neutral by pressing the start button for seven seconds. that also allowed them to roll down the windows and turn the lights on. I have a picture of the car on the flatbed the night of recovery, and the lights are on. When I got to impound, the windows were down and the car is completely dead. The SOB tow truck driver dropped it at impound and drove away leaving the windows down and the lights on.

I did not have a Theft deterrent strategy, other than keeping my key fob in a faraday box. I also hid an AirTag for tracking. I was always nervous about leaving the car unattended. My fears were justified. I will absolutely be taking the advice of all of you, and employ a multi faceted Theft deterrent system.

Dallas PD did not share any details regarding their attempts to stop this theft ring. They just told me it’s out of control in Dallas, and I’m sure it is in any major city.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by Pcormier66

Thanks all. I don’t think the impound lot gives a shit. Or the tow truck driver that delivered it. When they found the car, the perps wouldn’t show the police how they started my car. I was out of town and my wife drove over with a key. It still wouldn’t start, but I texted her instructions on how to get the car in neutral by pressing the start button for seven seconds. that also allowed them to roll down the windows and turn the lights on. I have a picture of the car on the flatbed the night of recovery, and the lights are on. When I got to impound, the windows were down and the car is completely dead. The SOB tow truck driver dropped it at impound and drove away leaving the windows down and the lights on.

I did not have a Theft deterrent strategy, other than keeping my key fob in a faraday box. I also hid an AirTag for tracking. I was always nervous about leaving the car unattended. My fears were justified. I will absolutely be taking the advice of all of you, and employ a multi faceted Theft deterrent system.

Dallas PD did not share any details regarding their attempts to stop this theft ring. They just told me it’s out of control in Dallas, and I’m sure it is in any major city.

That sucks and you are right, the tow truck drivers and impound lots absolutely do not care one bit about the cars that come in...

Sorry that you didn't have a multi-faceted anti-theft plan in place, but I will say that is encouraging for those of us that do (if you had 5 layers of "security" and they still got your car, that would be very troubling to all of us on the forum). More than likely, they did the simple OBD Key delete/reprogram and were gone in about 60 seconds...

Again, sorry this happened to you, but I'm glad they found your car and perhaps have a good insight into the organized crime ring in your area...

Going forward, use a multi-layered approach, make sure at least some are very visible (to hopefully thwart them off before even trying) but make sure the others are difficult to hopefully make them give up if they decide to try...

Here are my 2 very visible ones (hopefully telling them "This Dude plans to keep his car and what you see is only the very tip of the iceberg and the other things you can't see will leave you scratching your head...")

They actually have to cut the steering wheel in not one but two places... These are merely to slow them a bit (or actually have them just go somewhere else)... The multiple others you can't see are the real showstoppers... But then again, my car is very rarely out in "public" without me very close by... (Jan 2020 deliver and currently has 11,000 miles on it, mostly club cruises, cars & coffee or the occasional drive to work (70 miles each way) for a team meeting (parked inside a locked fence/hangar))

What you are seeing literally cost me $77... Just $77... Lots of visual deterrent for a $50K car for $77... (And yes, the brake pedal lock is now installed 180° from what you see to make drilling out the lock a LOT harder (there is no room for the drill in the other direction)...)

[Deacon Blues]

Originally Posted by Pcormier66

OnStar said that because they triggered the theft deterrent system, it won’t restart with the key. Only a dealer can get it restarted.

The damned irony that theives have virtually no problems starting these cars but OnStar is useless to help the legitimate owner.


So sorry to hear about your situation. Infuriating, and unsurprising that someone involved in stealing our cars would also be a habitual offender...

[LazarUSAffects]

Sucks to hear and is definitely sad/disgusting. My 4thgen was stolen years ago, and unbeknownst to me, fast forward to 2 years prior to now. I ended up having a car that A holes are for sure targeting. The irony of it all. Welp!, glad you got it back man!

[Pcormier66]

Thanks for everyone's encouragement. The next time someone tries to steal my car, it will take them an extended period of time, and I intend to be able to track it regardless.

For fun, here is my lemons car (before and after) that is responsible for my Camaro sitting out. I plasti dipped it in my driveway. Ran our first race at NOLA and finished without any mechanical issues. It's painfully slow compared to my ZLE, but super fun dicing it up with other crappy cars that are also going slow.

[Curr]

.....or you could just get an IGLA, and then they would not be able to start it, and would have to tow / push it.
...then add in a hidden GPS tracker, with Geo fencing enabled and you'll know within a minute if it moves.

I'll never understand the idea of not wanting to spend an extra $1200 on a $50k++ vehicle that will be very hard to replace.

People are weird.

[KamZL1]

My ZL1 was stolen a month ago. My new Z06 to replace it has IGLA/Compustar/Drone GPS + air tags; Good luck.

[TheDocKlopek]

Originally Posted by KamZL1

My ZL1 was stolen a month ago. My new Z06 to replace it has IGLA/Compustar/Drone GPS + air tags; Good luck.

Really sorry to hear that. I see you are also in the Houston area, probably the same assholes that tried to steal my car at the Woodlands Mall.

The day before Thanksgiving I came out to my passenger window broken out, the A pillar damaged, along with the separator piece between the front and small back window. In all, it was 3,200 in damage and I have a $750 deductible.

My car is always in the garage and from now on I will never park it anywhere that I can't watch, if at a restaurant for example.

Finally going to share some pictures, I am happy they didn't get away with my car. Still not sure what spooked them off.

Between losing my first Camaro 2016 2SS in Hurricane Harvey and now this incident. I am down with shithole Houston. Just need to sell the house and double middle finger this place.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by TheDocKlopek

Really sorry to hear that. I see you are also in the Houston area, probably the same assholes that tried to steal my car at the Woodlands Mall.

The day before Thanksgiving I came out to my passenger window broken out, the A pillar damaged, along with the separator piece between the front and small back window. In all, it was 3,200 in damage and I have a $750 deductible.

My car is always in the garage and from now on I will never park it anywhere that I can't watch, if at a restaurant for example.

Finally going to share some pictures, I am happy they didn't get away with my car. Still not sure what spooked them off.

Between losing my first Camaro 2016 2SS in Hurricane Harvey and now this incident. I am down with shithole Houston. Just need to sell the house and double middle finger this place.

Very sorry that you had to deal with this crap, honestly, I feel the same way about Houston (never lived, only visited)... If you don't mind sharing, did you have any theft deterrent installed (be as vague as you'd like) or was this simply a stock car and they were complete morons (well they were complete morons either way, but at least they didn't get your car!) Any info you can/are willing to share, may help another "at risk" owner to help avoid these morons... All over the country...