With the recent theft of one our members' E60, I had to ask this question. With todays technologies and tracking of VINs and state licensing requirements, what happens when a car gets stolen. I guess, it would be two fold. What happens to high end/luxury cars when they are stolen in the US? What happens to high end/luxury cars when they are stolen in other parts of the world. I can't imagine with new cars they are broken down for parts or anything of that nature. And, I also assume their is a market for these vehicles and the thieves have a way to create new valid information for these cars, but I am completely naive in this area. Someone please enlighten me. And for anyone who has had their car vandalized or stolen, you have my deepest sympathy!

 

i know some people just scratch off the vin and drive around . some take the cars apart and sell the parts . some just take it for a joy ride and dumb it in the middle of nowhere . and some (in other countries) just use their own boat to ship the cars to another country and sell them .

 

yeah, i have heard of those as well, the last reason in perticular, from the movie, gone in 60 secs.

 

The ones stolen on the continent mostly end up in Russia..

 

I guess your insurance company will give you a new one if your car is stolen. At least that's what I've been told by my insurance company.

I'm cancelling my Boomerang tracking service after 1 year as it doesn't pay to have it for the benefits of the insurance company. Particularly there is depreciation protection for the first 2 years.

The other day I heard on the news that newer vehicles will be re-sold in the * local * used car market. Older ones are chopped up for parts!

 

Or Poland.

 

Or Poland.
[/quote]

Isn't that the truth.

 

My SoCal insurance agent says that 90%+ of the stolen cars are broken down and resold for parts (since the parts are worth from 5-10 times the cost of the entire car). As examples, he noted that Cadillac Escalades were the top stolen vehicles because the chrome wheels/tires can be sold for about US$10K (which is 20% of the cost of the entire vehicle); he also noted that recent model Nissan Maximas were a top stolen vehicle (or vandalized vehicle) because their Xenon headlights were particularly easy to remove and resell for $1K-$2K.

The only vehicles that are routinely stolen and resold are basically SUVs to drug dealers and other criminals in Mexico, Central and South America. Other than that, exotic vehicles (to the extent available) are stolen and resold to collectors and other aficionados.

Since the e60 is still quite new in the US market, we do not know yet if it will become a top 10 stolen vehicle for its parts (nor do we know if there are particularly valuable piece parts with high $ values that criminals can resell from stolen vehicles).