Why would someone steal a 12-year-old car?

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I mean, I could make a list of possible reasons as long as my arm why they do it without understanding how anyone could consider themselves entitled to take what is not theirs, but I'm going for something concrete here...

Our 1997 Honda Accord was stolen 6 days ago in the night from our parking space in our carport at our apartment complex. It was locked and had nothing of value visible in it. It was found in a city about an hour away just today, unstripped, undamaged, and the cops just called us to tell us it was there and left it to us to fork over the cash to get it out of the private impound lot. I don't even know if they've looked into the trunk to perhaps see if it's been emptied and has a big pool of blood in it (worst case scenario... you never know; Accords do have roomy trunks).

I would almost have bet money that a stolen Honda Accord would be stripped for parts. It's not much of a joyriding car. It was well-maintained, but they certainly couldn't see that.

Anyway, it was an oldish car, and its maintenance was getting more and more costly, so it was due for replacement anyway and we do intend to do so... we were in the process and my husband said he knows I'll feel uncomfortable driving it after some thief took it and drove around in it (I'm a very lucky woman). Besides, for all we know, the thief had lice or leprosy or flesh eating disease... yes, I know the latter two are a reach.

That is weird. I can see it if it were a Mercedes or a BMW or something, but a Honda Accord?

That was probably just someone who needed to
get from point A to point B fast, and your car was
the closest easiest one - happens all the time, its
not the car they need, just transportation then and
there. Old Honda, that takes just a few seconds to
get going i think so its a good choice. And it was
found in a city an hour away, that makes me think
it was just a transportation problem

Last edited by ImTheGuyThatDidThat on 27 Mar 2009, 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well I have a '95 Honda Civic which just happens to be the most stolen car every year - still!!

Not sure if this applies to the Accord as well but this is what I have read in regards to why the Civic is the most stolen - Honda's engines have not changed much over the years so the car can be scrapped for parts and the parts will still be in demand, the theif can turn a profit.

-edit- I just saw where you said you found it undamaged. In that case, I'd agree that it was probably just convienent or they just wanted a thrill of stealing it right out from under your nose. Or perhaps they got interrupted.

Security is also likely to be easier to get around on an older car. If they just wanted free transport it would be an ideal target to get somewhere. I'd be more annoyed having to pay to get it out of a pound. It isn't your fault it is in there, so why should you have to pay?

It was probably used for drug transport or some other illegal activity. That way, if they got chased they could ditch the car and it would be traced to you, and not them. Also, it's probably easy to hot-wire, and a very common car that wouldn't draw attention.

When a old, easy to steal car is stolen,
i`ll bet its for transport 7 out of 10 times -
easy to get in, easy to start, low key
looking and usually theres no alarms
in old cars for alot of people its
alot easier to just pick up a car then
to take the bus when they need to
go somewhere - and the ditching the
car thing Jawbrodt mentioned is a
good plan, seen from the thiefs side

Last edited by ImTheGuyThatDidThat on 27 Mar 2009, 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Agreed, and the answers above all make sense. Irritating sense, of course, but then, it's not our sense, is it? It's just the sense someone else is making us cope with. And it had a full tank of gas.

Supposedly we're going to get reimbursed by our insurance, but it's still $212 out of pocket right now. Not a happy thought. But if they come through with the reimbursement, fine. I just hope the trade-in is good enough versus the insurance we were working on claiming. I can see now why they wait so long to pay you on a stolen car, though.

So, then, is a new car going to be harder to steal? I would find this a comfort. The carport is not an optional thing right now.

#1 reason lol
was the gas was worth more than the car?

It was probably joyridden by a kid trying to impress a gang into initiating them. The kids doing this are typically very young, 10-14. It doesn't have much to do with picking out a 'hot car' so much as demonstrating that they can hotwire and steal a car.

Anyhow, I'm glad you got it back!

If I were you, I would be insulted that my car was good enough to steal, but not good enough to keep.

Well, now that we have it, we see what the cops there didn't. Most of the stuff in the car and trunk was taken, some things inside the car were damaged (to him, I think we might have done a lot of that ourselves), and it stank, bad. My husband had to drive home in it and he was moody all evening. He said later it was one thing to think someone had taken it and even pulled it apart, but to ride in it and see what they'd done just really got to him. I can see that. It's just a car, we know that, but to see that someone can just grab your humble but reliable family steed, steal your stroller and carseats and baby hat and jacket and coloring books and sand toys (and not be bothered by this) and toss it, filthy, to be discovered, yeah, you feel pretty violated. He's out cleaning it now.

Personally, I hope that the thief is as callous as they seem for one good reason: I had my writer's notebook in there with a lot of material in it from the book I'm working on, and since it will be my first should I ever complete it, it's going to take me quite a while to get it ready for submission. I'd like to think that the person taking it was someone who would just toss it onto a fire or in the garbage unread. The material is all in my head; I don't often go back to my notes because writing them generally solidifies them enough for me and I'm nowhere near the final draft. But I'd hate to have someone with more time and talent take my ideas and write my book before I do! If it seems farfetched, it's still an unpleasant enough idea to bother me. It wasn't as if it was such an original story, few are anymore, so I don't need any other stories popping up that are too much like it, especially if they happen to be my stories rewritten!

My husband said someone suggested the car was dropped as a means of telling whether it had Lojack. They leave it and wait, and if it's picked up, there you go. We don't have it, so I still wonder how it was found. I'm pretty sure my husband doesn't know either, he was really more focused on concrete things like where and how far and whether or not. I'm the one saying why, and how, and what ever for. And it's all routine to the cops so I don't suppose they had much to offer.

As to the gas being worth more, well, gas is worth plenty these days, but I believe the Blue Book was still $5000 on it at the age it is, now we'll be lucky to get $2000-$3000 to put toward another humble family steed. And I can't even get green. I was looking for the bright side in all this, but as no one has the courage to sell a car that's truly green, I have to settle for dark metal. I like it, but everyone's getting that color. Silly, I know. Frankly, I'll feel lucky to have a car again. I just want to know why they bother making a green one if it's only pastel. Yuck.

Sigh... poor old car. I suppose there have been posts on other forums here about personifying objects... I guess I'm one of the people who does that. Never grew up. Fortunately, I can deal with it alright, I never even had the least expectation of justice, just a hope for answers. But it is sad to me to think of the trusty old car being raped and pillaged, car-style .