West Seattle Crime Watch: Thieves target car racks

| Crime | West Seattle news

If you have a Yakima-brand rack on your car, beware – ahead, two theft reports in 2 nights:

Received this from Nick this morning:

Sometime last night, February 1-2, between 6 pm and 6 am, our Yakima car rack with two bicycle mounts was stolen off my 91 Honda Civic at the corner of 42nd Ave Southwest and Southwest Findlay [map]. All the components had locked locks.

That follows this note from Kerry that we posted on the Crime Watch page yesterday:

Just FYI to people…our Yakima car rack and bike attachments were stolen from the top of our car at the corner of 36th and Myrtle [map] last night (Saturday). The rack was locked on. (Just 3 months earlier the windows were bashed in and stereo stolen). This is not a nice car either–’91 Honda Accord

Rich February 2, 2009 (2:21 pm)

Great, so my yakima locks are pretty much useless?

Brian February 2, 2009 (2:28 pm)

Maybe it’s the Thule rep?

:-)

Amy February 2, 2009 (2:59 pm)

I’m sure it’s not just Honda Civics that are being targeted, but my 91 Honda Civic DX has had the windows bashed out and stereo stolen 3 times in the past 2 years. I downgraded to a cheap $15 tape deck. Last Friday someone tried to break into it again only they were nice enough not to break any glass. They managed to push my window down and unlock the door. Broke my window guard though…at least now it matches the other side they broke a year ago…

Oh I’m at 34th and Henderson. I’m thinking about moving somewhere that has a garage that I can put an alarm on…preferably one that shoots out hot spikes.

carencaren February 2, 2009 (3:14 pm)

are they stealing the crossbars as well?
i assume they can’t get to the clips without causing some major damage to the door frames?

furor scribendi February 2, 2009 (3:57 pm)

Possibly a connection between the 34th & Henderson theft and some items taken from the alley in 8600-8800 32nd block. Resin adirondack chairs etc were taken boldly from yards/deck, on the same night. Beware the slimy night thief…

Brian February 2, 2009 (4:10 pm)

Found this on Craigslist….

Maybe the stolen rack?

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/bik/1018232258.html

Holly February 2, 2009 (5:58 pm)

The same thing happened to us last Saturday night (1/24). Our Yakima rack with ski attachments was stolen off of our car. We live on the block of Hinds & 42nd.

Since the rack was locked on our car, they pried off the clips with a crow bar and it badly damaged our door frame in 2 places.

KR February 2, 2009 (6:15 pm)

Yes, they are stealing crossbars-they took ours.

billyru February 2, 2009 (9:59 pm)

There’s a group of kids at West Seattle High school who drive older model Hondas that are constantly coming with new stuff. Someone should ask some questions up there.

Dave February 3, 2009 (7:36 am)

FYI an older model Civic is gold for the professional car thief as they are very popular cars and thus the parts are worth more on the black market.

CMP February 3, 2009 (8:06 am)

Brian, that’s an interesting Craigslist ad…only used once or twice but never on the car. Huh? And why would someone be selling two of them? Either the seller works for Yakima or the racks are probably stolen.

Nulu February 3, 2009 (8:59 am)

Of course if the racks were removed after each use as the user in the Craig’s List ad, they would not have been stolen.
Car racks and carriers also reduce a car’s mpg. I often marvel at how many people keep such mileage drags on their cars year round. They also advertise the vehicle as one that someone is willing to leave exposed valuables on and in.
CMP should simply call the Craig’s Lister, before casting dispersions. The phone number is there for all.

MissingMyKayakRack February 3, 2009 (11:35 am)

My Yakima racks & kayak components were stolen from my car in mid-December. They were locked, however the thieves pried them off (leaving very difficult to repair dents on my car).

I too checked Craigslist, not because anything could be done to prove that mine were what was being sold, but to find replacements.

Comment to Nulu: Thanks for the pontification… you clearly either do not own car racks or have lots of time on your hands to install/uninstall – that really was a preposterous suggestion! Not that I am casting aspersions or anything. :)

carencaren February 3, 2009 (4:39 pm)

KR – thanks for the info. i usually just drive with the crossbars/clips (and put on whatever attachments I need when I need them), so it sucks to hear they are stealing just crossbars…and even worse to hear they are prying out the clips. Yes, if they pry the frame to get out the clips, then the locks won’t delp.

patrick February 14, 2009 (4:49 pm)

Our Thule rack was pried off our roof as well, I have a Jetta,I have been looking on craigslist but no luck, I’m pretty sure I could spot mine, and I still have the keys to the rack, which could prove it was mine I guess, I filed a police report.

Nick Jahn February 23, 2009 (2:49 pm)

As earlier posted, our Yakima cross bars and bicycle mounts were stolen on February 2. They were pried off and the roof is dented. All four mounts for the cross bars were locked as well as the bike mounts. I don’t understand what possible use anyone could have for them because they don’t have the keys to the locks. Are they doing it for the metal?

sa March 9, 2009 (10:17 pm)

I also posted this on the other discussion.

We had our Yakima rack stolen off our Mazda Protege in the Alki area in January. Our rack was the kind where you buy towers that mount on to the rain gutters fitted into the door of the vehicle.

they took some kind of pry bar and dislodged the towers and lifted the entire rack system off of the vehicle and made off with it. We had two Yakima Steelhead bicycle runner type mounts, a fairing, and two bars with towers. All with locks. I figure they take a drill to the locks back in their garage and list them on Craigslist.

Unfortunately Craigslist is so full of rack system parts there is no hope of tracking this back.

We didn’t bother to report this to police, but now I think I probably should. Is it too late to report something like this to police?