West Seattle Crime Watch: 2 more cases of crooks vs. cars

| Crime | West Seattle news

At this rate, we may have to set up the subtopic West Seattle Car Crime Watch. First, from Susan:

Sometime last night all four wheels and tires were stolen off my (poor grad student) niece’s Honda Civic. The car was parked on the street in front of our home near the waterfront park on Beach Drive…it was left jacked up on a car jack and a brick. The car itself was not broken into.

Next, from Ashley:

My* foolish* boyfriend parked his car on Avalon Way and what he thought was a well-hidden snowboard in the backseat. Upon returning to his car this morning he found his GMC truck broken into and the snowboard stolen. It is a K2 Electra 167 snowboard that is brown with white bindings. If anyone has seen it or seen anyone attemping to sell it, I would highly appreciate it.

RobertSeattle March 19, 2009 (2:11 pm)

Be on the lookout for a snowboard with 4 tires!

Stumped March 19, 2009 (2:45 pm)

I don’t get it. What would anyone want with four wheels/tires? There has been a rash of these lately. Are they wicked expensive?

Amy March 19, 2009 (3:27 pm)

2 words: LOCKING LUGNUTS

Lucile 2 March 19, 2009 (3:34 pm)

A snowboard with 4 tires and a bunch of GPS systems!

CMP March 19, 2009 (3:59 pm)

It’s a Honda Civic…you can get a set of decent tires for under $200. Maybe they were stolen to go with the Civic that was taken apart near Admiral last week. Regardless, my heart goes out to all Civic owners. Those are great cars and it sucks that prowlers target them for parts and break-ins.

As for the snowboard, never trust that anything is well-hidden. I’ve been that “foolish” person before and was soon calling the police and insurance company to file reports. I hope the board turns up somewhere, that’s a bummer!

bridge to somewhere March 19, 2009 (3:59 pm)

I don’t think four wheels and tires need to be wickedly expensive for the theft to be profitable and tempting. Even if it they can get $50 for the set, it probably takes less than 10 minutes to steal. That equals a pretty decent hourly wage. Of course, that doesn’t take into account the cost of getting caught — but still, even small thefts can be profitable over time . . .
To Amy’s point though: getting locking lugnuts will reduce your chances of this happening to near zero. Not bad for a <$10 puchase!

sa March 19, 2009 (7:31 pm)

There was a thread on here a while ago about a rash of car robberies where they are taking a pry bar and prying off Yakima and Thule sport racks.

Tony March 20, 2009 (9:52 am)

I worked at 2 car dealerships throughout college, “Stock/OEM” factory wheels are much more expensive than you are led to believe. My assumption is that if her vehicle was a newer civic, those wheels, probably cost anywhere from $250-$500 per rim. $250×4 = $1,000 plus the cost of tires, mount and balance, and an alignment could put the cost to almost $2,200 in damage.

kittylove March 20, 2009 (10:39 am)

how do you not notice someone taking off all four wheels of a car parked on the street???

MercyMe March 20, 2009 (8:34 pm)

I was driving southbound on California Ave this evening (at about 5:30pm) and noticed on the west side of the 3700 block a guy checking out a brown snowboard with white bindings. It was leaning up against a fence (near a Notice of Proposed Land Use sign) and the guy was crouched down as if examining it or something. It was such an odd scene and because I’d remembered reading here that a board was just stolen, I drove around the block to see the scene again. Of course when I got there the guy and the board were gone. I remember the colors distinctly and promptly got on my Blackberry and saw it matched the stolen board’s description. I don’t have much more info than that, unfortunately.

Ashley March 21, 2009 (12:26 am)

Mercyme!!! Well thanks for the info! My boyfriend should of known better!! Do you remember where you were?? Thank you so much!!

Ashley March 21, 2009 (12:28 am)

I might go and post lost signs!!

MercyMe March 21, 2009 (11:59 am)

Sorry, it was the 3200 block. I drove past again this morning. You can’t miss the Notice of Proposed Land Use sign. Good luck!

onceachef March 24, 2009 (5:30 pm)

Kittylove…it happens so fast (when they know what they’re doing)… an acquaintance of mine had all his wheels stolen in front of our house (he was at my next door neighbors house)…no one heard a thing…they at least left it up on blocks (a beautiful BMW sportster!)…it was the only good thing about a bad thing.

Sorry, comment time is over.