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No more honor among thieves
By adamg on Tue, 10/31/2017 - 10:54am
Time was, wheel thieves would use cinder blocks to prop up the cars they were taking the tires off of. But LaTasha Martin noticed this morning that somebody used a plastic milk crate while removing the wheels from an Accord on Mass. Ave. in the South End (so maybe police should check with BMC to see if anybody came into the ER with a crushed hand).
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Comments
Isn't this a really blatant
Isn't this a really blatant area to steal wheels? It seems like someone would've noticed that they were being stolen.
Get yourself a boiler suit
Get yourself a boiler suit with a name tag, maybe some hazard flags, anyone passing by and not looking closely will think you're roadside assistance. Until they notice the milk crates and the *two* tires off per side.
I have metal crates.
Wouldn't trade them for two wheels. Best secondary safety devices ever for working under cars.
Besides putting the wheels
Besides putting the wheels underneath? Maybe I'm spoiled by my nice, thick truck wheels and tires but I've seen purpose-made metal ramps get crushed under the weight of a car.
There are cheap ramps and jack stands
And there are good ramps and jack stands.
As they say, you get what you pay for.
No one cares
There's a depressing video of some people in NYC who locked their own bikes to poles and then in full view of the police and general public used angle grinders and other theft methods to "steal" the bikes. The most the police said was not to stand in the road.
Sadly, a bunch of people might of seen these guys in action and did nothing. It wasn't their car or problem.
It's not that blatant.
Because it is not Mass Ave, it is Northampton and Dilworth St, on the Southwest Corridor.
City that always sleeps
Ever been in the area around 4am? Like most of the city, it's dead.
As long as they don't make a racket, they're golden. Now, if it was a delivery truck forget about it.
I saw one of those
Shit boxes that sound like a lownmower the other day with brand new Honda rims, it was an Acura!
Speaking of thieves, Adam how
Speaking of thieves, Adam how did you make out with getting verified status on Twitter to deter the trolls?
Was rejected
Twitter said I'm not worthy of a blue check mark. They at least turned off the account of the guy who was imitating me, not because of my complaints (which they also rejected) but because a lot of people filed complaints, for which I'm very grateful.
Blue Check Mark
It's a pain to get.. I checked into it for my political account... You basically can't change your account after you get it. It's super silly how they verify it.
Of course they said that
Because Twitter is a garbage company with a garbage product.
Forget it, Jake
it's Mass Ave. in the South End.
Perhaps the current generation of wheel theves
aren't physically fit enough to lug cinder blocks around.
No, you've got it all wrong.
No, you've got it all wrong.
Nobody stole the tires.
This was an intervention.
Some jerk put out the milk crate as a space saver Monday morning after the rain/wind storm the night before. Neighborhood organizers conveyed the message (that space savers, annoying as they are, are only socially acceptable after snow AND putting some sort of actual effort into clearing the space) by crushing the milk crate with an abandoned car.
This crew has been stealing tires
...for ages now. The same one took my wheels off my 2003 Honda Civic back in 2006 in somerville.
The milk crate is a dead giveaway. On the other side they will have used a "spare tire" jack and left it precariously balanced while they ran off.
The milk crate collapsed in my situation, too. Insurance company was horrible, didn't understand you can't tow a car like that. I kept asking for multiple jacks and replacement tires but they wouldn't authorize the purchase until it was "towed to an inspection station". Kept trying to get me off the phone.
In the end I had to both demand a supervisor who authorized the purchase of new tires/wheels ($1,700 back in 2006, must be really bad now) and I had to lie to AAA to get them to send someone to help jack it up. AAA kept me on hold for an hour while they debated and finally said they "didn't want to take the risk of damaging the car".
I hung up, called back, and said I had a flat tire. The guy who showed up had three jacks and we made it work.
tl;dr: get wheel locks on any car. They'll not bother with you and will steal the wheels from someone else.
I'm just curious but if this
I'm just curious but if this really is an operation that has been ongoing for over 10 years, wouldn't they have a set of wheel lock keys common to Honda/Toyota wheels by now?
I had wheel locks so they
I had wheel locks so they busted a window to search the car. Just made even more of a mess. Even without the 'key,' it takes about 15 seconds with the right tools. You think people don't lose those things all the time?
Glad I have a "worthless" car....
Audi A1.... otherwise known as a Jetta TSI
:)
Looks like a Honda Accord Sport
In my area (Medford), four Honda Accord Sports within the space of a few blocks were left in similar condition -- their rocker panels sitting on on rocks, milk crates, etc. with all four wheels stolen.
Apparently the stock alloys that come on them are highly desirable (and they'll fit on most Civics, Accords, and Acura sedans), so they've been a popular theft target.