Wife's SUV was stolen last night & totaled (with Pics)

[TX-JB]

We were awakened around 4am this morning, by the ringing doorbell. I went to answer with my XD45 and light. Checked the peep hole and could see it was a deputy. I asked thru the door what was the problem. He said he our suv had been in a wreck and was abandoned and could I step outside. I told him to hold on and I put the XD on the small halltree table by the door.

I opened the door and told him not to be alarmed that there was a handgun on the table behind me and pointed it out to him. He commented he wouldn't answer the door at this hour unarmed either.

He went on to tell me that our blazer was rolled and abandoned on the hwy. 6 about a mile down the road. He asked if anyone in our house had been driving it and I told him no. By this time everyone (sons 21 & 17 & wife) came to see what was going on. We told him the suv had to have been stolen, since all our other vehicles were there, and was last seen in the driveway about midnight when my oldest boy had come in from work.

We followed him to the scene and waited for the wreckers to arrive. Apparently someone had seen it roll and then saw 2 young males exit the suv and run off. It looked bad in the dark and didn't look any better this morning when we went to sign the insurance release.

It wasn't the prettiest blazer around, but we are the original owners and for a '96, it only had 70,000 miles on it. It ran like a top and my wife simply loved that blazer. I've tried several times to get her something newer but she always said no. Terrible thing is, I can't replace it with anything as reliable for what it's worth.

Here's some pics:

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[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mcp1810]

My heart goes out to you. Any word on if they caught the little ********? I am pretty sure we could find a couple of nice fire ant mounds to stake them out on.

[C9H13NO3]

Would have been cool if the crash had trapped the thieves in the car to where they'd have to be cut out. Then LEO would be present to arrest them. Hope they catch em, and sorry to hear about your truck.

[DblTap]

Too bad the crushed roof didn't exact justice.

Sorry to see, I know how ya feel.
Had an awesome Haulmark Harley trailer stolen a cpl of years ago, right out of the driveway.

[Timberline]

If you're really attached to the truck look into buying it from the salvage yard with the insurance settlement - do NOT take the first offer from the insurance though, you can haggle pretty effectively w/ insurance companies. There should be enough left to chop the old top off, weld on a new one from from a donor Blazer, then a new paint job and some glass and she's back in business. It'll have a salvage title, but I've had several vehicles so titled w/o incident. If you're good enough at negotiating with the insurance company, salvage yard, and body shop you should even have enough left over to buy another gun or two.

[PaulJ]

I don't know if I would keep the car. Looks like the roof totally caved in. That shouldn't happen in a roll over like this with a newer car.

Too bad the two guy got away :-(. It's hard to kill roaches.

I am a bit surprised the officer didn't call first. But then again, maybe they didn't have a phone number. Certainly "scary" to have someone ring your door at 4am even in uniform.

[mkh]

Sorry to hear of you misfortune. Hopefully they will catch the hoodlums that did this.

[HKinNY]

This truck is a total does not pay to spend 10 cents fixing it up. No cutting the roof off. I can tellthe you have danage to the right side quarter panel, right side fender, and right side door also drivers side fender. Do you have collision? If so you can negatate with insurance company. They will give a lower $ number tell them to replace the vehicle with same opotions and miles. They will not replace it so they will come up with a few dollars more. I have a better question was the steering column broken? The ignition it that car is a VATS ingition. Do you have all keys for the vehicle? You know that chip in the center of the key without that chip (resister) that vehicle will not start. PM me.

[packinnova]

This truck is a total does not pay to spend 10 cents fixing it up. No cutting the roof off. I can tellthe you have danage to the right side quarter panel, right side fender, and right side door also drivers side fender. Do you have collision? If so you can negatate with insurance company. They will give a lower $ number tell them to replace the vehicle with same opotions and miles. They will not replace it so they will come up with a few dollars more. I have a better question was the steering column broken? The ignition it that car is a VATS ingition. Do you have all keys for the vehicle? You know that chip in the center of the key without that chip (resister) that vehicle will not start. PM me.

That may not be entirely accurate. It would be interesting to see if the theives had a key and if so how acquired, but a key is not necessarily required. I won't post the details here, but suffice to say, with 15 minutes of preparation before hand, the vat system is easily bypassed in under a minute or so with a little electric know-how.
How do I know says you.... I used to have a VAT compliant car says I and didn't want to pay the outrageous prices for a new key when the chip when fubar.

[bandit383]

Get a second opinion on fixing...insurance company will total for sure it being a .96. Then turn around and buy it back from the insurance company at a drastically reduced cost. If you got a do it yourselfer...might be able to repair with junk yard parts.

Sorry it happened

Rick

[SonofASniper]

I am a bit surprised the officer didn't call first. But then again, maybe they didn't have a phone number. Certainly "scary" to have someone ring your door at 4am even in uniform.

There are other reasons why they made that a face to face. Most importantly, there was no driver present and a witness who saw two males fleeing the vehicle which means that the accident immediately became a criminal investigation. This is best handled with a face to face visit where evidence may be available that would not be if a phone call was made first. It also does not give the owner or family a chance to make up and practice a story ahead of time.

Lastly, the OP has two teenage boys. While obviously they are good young men and where they were supposed to be, lets pretend for a moment that they were the ones in the vehicle and had fled. The reasons for fleeing could be numerous including severe injury, such as one was dragging the other from the vehicle into a field and then passed out from shock.

By making a face to face visit, the officer is able to gather a large amount of information that may be neccessary not only in investigating a criminal matter, but it may even be an issue of saving a life.

[dukalmighty]

It's bad down here by the border too,usually they either steal them to take across the border for resale or to run drugs or illegals in

[Cthulhu]

I'm glad that none of your family was in that thing when it rolled.

And I hope the two twits that wrecked it are in some serious pain right now.

-JT

[SheNINE]

WOW!! Not good...... Hope they catch the buggers!

[GunnyBunny]

A real shame. Just remember that a vehicle can be replaced. You and your loved ones can't. Hope they catch the b******s that took it. Maybe they won't go quietly!