Moms car stolen today while at Doctor's office for a checkup...

[MossRoad]

Hey, have you thought about contacting Toyota and your local Newspaper with her story.... maybe they'll help her out. Worth a look.

 

[MossRoad]

That day was certainly in my lifetime. My parents never removed the key from the ignition in the car and they never locked a door to the house in Oklahoma and Texas. In the 1950s & early '60s, the guy who delivered Mobil gasoline in the Plano, TX, area filled his tank truck each evening to be ready to go the next morning. He then parked the truck behind our service station and left the key in the ignition every night. No one ever bothered it.

We never locked our doors in the early 60's. Then in one year, a divorced lady (that in itself was a scandal ) that lived two doors west of us had her home robbed while she was home. Then a house three to the east got robbed, vandalized heavily, and their dog tormented. People across the street got broken into. Strange people (not known to us and we were a secluded neighborhood) would be seen walking down the street at all hours of the day and night. We got a dog and we all got keys to the house and had to lock it if we were the last one out. Had to close all the windows, too. When I moved out of the house, I installed an alarm system for my parents, because I wouldn't be there to protect them. However, looking back on it, my dad was a bad dude when it came to home protection.... WWII vet with combat training and a loaded .45 in his night stand. I think I just felt better knowing they had an alarm for when they weren't home.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

If I was a gambling man, I'd put my 2 centavos on it being disassembled and sold for parts. Easier to get rid of.

 

[Danno1]

I'm sure I'll never forget the first automatic transmission car my parents owned. They had been driving manual transmission Plymouths, but in 1952, my Dad traded their Plymouth for a 1948 Oldsmobile 76 with a hydramatic transmission. When he brought that Olds home, Mother was furious; said to him, "You just bought that knowing that I don't know how to drive an automatic!" Of course, it didn't take long for her to get over that.:laughing:

Most of my learning to drive was Dad's sister teaching me to drive her 1947 Ford business coupe on country dirt road from the time I was about 10 years old. Then I took Drivers Ed in high school using a 1956 Ford, manual transmission, that the local Ford dealer loaned to the school for one school year. My own first car was a 1946 Chevy 2-door with a manual transmission, vacuum shift.

And I became a police officer in 1964 and our first automatic transmission squad cars were the 1969 models. I never drove one of those because I was a detective sergeant in 1969 in the CID and we used pool cars that were all still manual transmissions. So my own first automatic was the 1970 Plymouths after I became a patrol lieutenant.

My Grandmother ordered her 1969 Bel-Air custom from the factory because she didn't want to learn how to drive the auto trans that all the dealers were selling off the car lots. I learned to drive on that car. Straight 6, 3 on the tree. Not a one of my friends could drive it. Which was just fine w me!



.

 

[Danno1]

If I was a gambling man, I'd put my 2 centavos on it being disassembled and sold for parts. Easier to get rid of.

Unfortunately, this is probably what happened.



.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been scouring the net and came across an ad the day after the car was stolen offering 2001 Corolla parts and with a picture of a shadetree removed engine for sale...

Everytime the phone rings we hope it might be about Mom's car.

Found something similar in Indiana... except I've heard cars have more issues from exposure to winter there... so it might sound good and still come up short.

 

[ultrarunner]

Over a week and nothing...

Did find a real clean 2009 and made an appointment to see... it was near Stanford University and as we pulled up... I said I think this is the one to Mom... knocked on the door and the lady said she had just sold it to a Stanford Grad Student...

Here is the link and what I had hoped would cheer her up ended in disappointment...

2009 Toyota Corolla S low miles

Also surprised at the very high number of Salvage Title cars being offered... at least a third of the 5 to 7 year old Toyotas have salvage titles???

Some look great... have heard too many stories of salvage flood vehicles never being right... especially the electrical parts... maybe flood damage?

I've been spending way too much time searching the net for her stolen car as a friend did when his car was stolen... he actually found his advertised about 75 miles away.

So... will keep looking and hoping... hard to replace a like new 14 year old car with 60k miles owned by a little old lady that only drove it to church and grocery store.

 

[ultrarunner]

So every night I have been scouring the Internet For Sale ads and just now I found an ad with picture on Craigslist of a local for sale 2001 Corolla with the wrong wheel covers for the car and new tires... on a high mileage junker.

Moms car has these same very rare wheel covers with the one damaged from hitting a curb... just like the one in the ad and I had just put on a set of expensive Michelins... what are the odds?

Checking more into to it the same contact number has been used for numerous 15 year old Honda, Toyota and Nissan cars all $3500 or less and CASH only.

I'm in California and the number is Texas???

Sheriff Department said only emergencies on weekends... period. So no help from Law Enforcement and I'm sure by Monday it will be too late unless I answer the ad and go look at the car to verify this car has the tires I BOUGHT and were stolen...

Then what is the next question?

 

[tman1020]

Be careful you might be treading into dangerous territory. Don't do anything without the police.

 

[MikePA]

So every night I have been scouring the Internet For Sale ads and just now I found an ad with picture on Craigslist of a local for sale 2001 Corolla with the wrong wheel covers for the car and new tires... on a high mileage junker.

Moms car has these same very rare wheel covers with the one damaged from hitting a curb... just like the one in the ad and I had just put on a set of expensive Michelins... what are the odds?

Checking more into to it the same contact number has been used for numerous 15 year old Honda, Toyota and Nissan cars all $3500 or less and CASH only.

I'm in California and the number is Texas???

Sheriff Department said only emergencies on weekends... period. So no help from Law Enforcement and I'm sure by Monday it will be too late unless I answer the ad and go look at the car to verify this car has the tires I BOUGHT and were stolen...

The location of the phone number is irrelevant. Lots of people have cell numbers unrelated to where they are geographically.

Tires have serial numbers. Are they on your receipt?

Finally, pursuing this on your own is VERY dangerous. Let the cops handle it.