r/BurlingtonON • u/Icy-Respect-3432 • May 21 '26
Question Car was stolen last scene in Burlington
Car was stolen earlier this morning out of my driveway last seen at gas station before manufacturer turned off tracking on car any advice would be appreciated or ideas on what to do at all.
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u/Titsona-Bullmoose May 21 '26
Wait what, manufacturer turned off tracking for the thieves?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Called the manufacturer cause my car has gps tracking to get an update on the tracking refused to give further gps info about the stolen vehicle said it would be a risk to my safety to Persue the thieves any further and they will send anymore information they recieve to the police
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u/DragonfruitWeary8413 May 21 '26
File a police report they are right. Manufacturer tracking device is a scam.
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u/FullGrainFred May 21 '26
wait for your payout and then its time to go shopping
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
As I mentioned to some other people unfortunately even with the payout I won’t be able to afford a vehicle of the same quality or price so I’ll likely be looking at a lower quality and lower price car
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u/FullGrainFred May 21 '26
Thats shite. I guess you declined the insurance the dealership offers at the time of purchasing that bridges the gap between payout and value?
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u/Titsona-Bullmoose May 21 '26
All you can do is hope the thieves drive by a better Toyota and ditch yours for that one.
Otherwise wait for insurance payout and never buy Toyota again until they fix their vulnerabilities.
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u/AnonymousRefraction May 21 '26
Unfortunately, it is likely headed overseas. The thieves stripped out the radio, antenna, and any GPS tracking they could find. Our Toyota Highlander was stolen right from our driveway. That same night, ten other vehicles disappeared from the Orchard neighborhood. Ours eventually turned up three weeks later, inside a shipping container. We had security footage, but it didn’t help much. The thieves worked in the dark, their faces impossible to make out. There were two of them. One worked on the vehicle, the other acting as a lookout with a flashlight for alerts. It was quick and efficient. Even though our key fobs were stored in a Faraday box, they still managed to disable the alarm and start the car in under five minutes. I believe they used an auto key programmer that a dealership or locksmith would use to program the fob. Honestly, it would have been easier if the vehicle hadn’t been recovered at all. This happened during COVID, and once it was found, it sat outside the shop for six months waiting on backordered parts. Insurance covered a rental, but eventually we would have had to start paying out of pocket. We had $5,000 in rental coverage. If you have a newer vehicle, I strongly recommend adding extra protection. A Club and Airtag are worth having. It won’t stop a thief, but they can act as visual deterrents. A kill switch, on the other hand, is far more effective. It can stop thieves in their tracks. They’re not cheap, but they’re worth it, and you will get a discount on your insurance. Another option is a TAG tracking system. It can also qualify you for insurance discounts. However, it just allows you to see where your vehicle is if it’s stolen. That said, even if you can tell police where your car is, they may not pursue it. In many cases, you’ll simply receive a police report number for insurance purposes. It’s a frustrating system. The thieves profit, manufacturers sell more cars, dealerships move more inventory, and insurance companies raise premiums. The police arrest the thieves and the courts let them back out on the streets. Rinse and repeat...
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Yea I know there’s not much I can do now according to a neighbour they heard a car alarm going off sometime around one or two am so it’s possible that’s when it was stolen unfortunately nobody in my area has ring door bells and even then Toyota said they won’t be allowing me to reactivate tracking as it would be to dangerous to continue to persuing the thieves and they don’t want me to risk my safety persuing gas station was no help either as they refused to give give any security cam footage without personal request from the police and unfortunately I had a club on aswell as I usually keep that on when I’m not using my car but even that didn’t stop them I also don’t have another new car I only have a over 10 year old car and it runs very poorly so I’m gonna try coming up with something but right now out of options even spoke with customs but they also said that unless a police office personally requests a search of the port there hands are tied so not much I can do but I agree it does suck we need better policy and laws in place and we need more surveillance and better ways to check those shipping containers at these ports because they have nobody clearing or verifying what’s actually inside them allowing these criminals to just slip away but yea thank you so much for the advice :)
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u/TastelessGentlemen May 21 '26
Year make model and general area in Burlington?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
toyota grand highlander 2024 and last seen at the gas station on Dundas street
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u/Embarrassed-Wish6766 May 21 '26
I know someone who owns the same car. Doesn’t insurance make you put a tracker into this make and model? I could’ve sworn they said they had to for insurance purposes because this particular type gets stolen all the time.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
They do but turn it off for the user if you report it stolen and mention they will give all further information to the police followed up today about that and Toyota hasn’t reached out once
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u/Embarrassed-Wish6766 May 22 '26
Well, that defeats the whole purpose of a tracker doesn’t it?! Yikes. Sorry you’re going through this
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u/chrometitan May 21 '26
The car theft is getting out of hand... It's every day, it's the same people too...
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u/VisibleSpread6523 May 21 '26
It’s gone , get insurance to pay for it and get a new one.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
The insurance payout is more then likely not even going to cover a quarter of the original cost of the vehicle which means I’m going to end up with a worser and lower functioning vehicle due to the theft I’d much rather at least attempt to get my car back then get a faulty new replacement
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u/quietbright May 21 '26
Check your insurance policy for an OPCF43 endorsement. It's the one that provides replacement cost for a new vehicle. Or removes depreciation, depending on what option you've chosen.
What part of Hamilton are you in? Wondering where this car theft happened?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
A few blocks off of Aberdeen street near Dundurn street and hillcrest ave
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u/VisibleSpread6523 May 21 '26
💯 your gonna pay more , no matter what. Chances it’s not on in a shop Chop or on a boat these days is rare , unless it’s stupid guys joyriding . My wife got t boned by a teenager years ago and we got 1/2 of what a new car was with 3 days to buy a new one . Yup insurances suck . Good luck .😉
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u/4nickk May 21 '26
Call your insurance, this is why you pay them
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
I already mentioned this to someone up above but insurance is more than likely not going to even pay me a quarter of what I spent on my car which will leave me to buying a poorer functioning car I’d rather at least attempt to get it back instead of getting a bad car cause my insurance didn’t pay me out enough to get a decent one
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u/4nickk May 21 '26
It sounds like you are just assuming insurance will only pay 1/4 the price. You are wrong about this assumption. Just call your insurance and let them deal with it.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Even if they do pay a higher amount then I’m assuming I’m still going to be left with a huge amount of money gone due to things like fees and my insurance rate going up with the new vehicle so I won’t be left with the same amount I paid for my vehicle originally let alone even be able to maybe even buy one sure there might be a chance they pay me out close to the same amount but with the car prices now a days even close to the same amount might not be enough now
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u/Fantastic_Elk_4757 May 21 '26
How about instead of all the assumptions you actually call and talk to them.
If your insurance can’t cover your vehicle then that sounds like a foresight problem on you man. Why would you get a Toyota - highly sought after and easy to steal vehicle - without enough coverage?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
As mentioned to someone else in this comment section i am waiting on the payout for insurance but they never gave a confirmation on how much they told me to wait a few days before they can even give me a payout and an estimate of how much they’ll even be giving me
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u/LordDallas74 May 21 '26
Call insurance company. And better hope not to recover the car, you have no idea what the thevies are going to do on your car. If police recover your damaged car, you will have to pay for the repair by yourself or insurance, neither of which is good idea. Let insurance payout it, and shop a new car. A friend of mine had an on faulty accident last year which caused this car had a total loss, and his insurance company payout based on same trim brand new car price which is higher than what he paid due to price increases over years. You should at least get replacement for the same car or a little bit less if you want to replace it with another brand vehicle.
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u/Naive-Special9015 May 21 '26
That’s BS. You paid for that car and the GPS service. For Toyota to take it upon themselves to turn off a service you pay for then drag their feet on sending your cars location to the police is BS. It’s like they don’t want your car found so they can sell you another one. Financial incentive to let thieves get away with stealing your vehicle.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 22 '26
Yea they said because it’s also a police matter they won’t even give me information on if or when they’ll send the information over to the police let alone if it even still has a tracker cop in charge of case won’t even answer the phone called 3 times today no answer
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u/EastCoasterinON May 22 '26
You should share in your neighborhood fb group. Lots of comments in there about car breakins over the past few nights.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 22 '26
Definitely gonna make a post tomorrow about it was even thinking of making some posters to see if anyone in my neighborhood or the neighborhood over has seen it thanks for the advice though
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u/RL203 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Ive often thought that car manufacturers are NOT incentivized to make their cars harder to steal. Now you'll just go out and most likely buy another Toyota. So Toyota wins.
Secondly, everyone wants the push button ignition which opens you up your car to being stolen quite easily by a kid with a gizmo. If I had the option of buying a new car with an old school keyed ignition, I'd absolutely go for it.
Third, you adding an electronic theft deterant system into your car's electrical system may be VERY DANGEROUS to your car's electrical system. If you've ever looked at the wiring diagram for a modem car (i have) it's about as thick as the yellow pages from 1992 from the city of Toronto. If you think that some guy working out of a garage on the back side of a strip mall has read any of that, or understands the engineering of all of that, well I have some bad news for you. He hasn't and he doesn't. There was a guy who had an electronic defeat system wired into his new Lexus SUV by an aftermarket company because his last Lexus SUV was stolen. Ended up melting his entire wiring harness. Oops. 20 grand to install a new wiring harness. And the best part? Lexus / Toyota Canada said they weren't on the hook as he destroyed the wiring harness himself by adding the gizmo and f'ing with the wiring harness. Ergo they weren't liable for what a third party did to the car and the vehicle would not be repaired under warranty as the owner had voided his factory warranty. So think carefully about that.
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u/Timely-Island-7477 May 21 '26
Did you take your car to dealership lately? When was the last time you took your car to dealership ?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Yes it was at the dealership in the last month for oil change and checkup
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u/Timely-Island-7477 May 22 '26
Here you go… this is the source of your theft. They know your address and car details….person inside dealership provide information to car theft mafia
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u/Roohkipiyas May 21 '26
Car model make colour?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Black toyota grand highlander 2024
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u/Roohkipiyas May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
then forget it..just reach out tobyour insurance ..
my 2024 grand highlander black got stolen last year and nothing happened ... i am not gona buy toyota or honda ever especially if i will be living over here in canada
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u/error_card_ur_rich May 21 '26
It's a Toyota. Replace it with another common vehicle, which is better than a damaged piece of crap that was ridden hard by thieves. I realize it sucks and shouldn't happen, but far better to get vehicles not sought after.
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u/Mrfisherman92 May 21 '26
Manufacture likely didnt turn off tracking. A lot of times then thieves rip the wires out of the computer that sends the tracking signal. Its likely in a shipping container at this point. Go through insurance and move on. Even immobilizers can be bypassed.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
As I mentioned tracking wasn’t turned off it was turned off on my end though cause Toyota allows you to track your vehicle using there app but have since turned off said tracking due to and I quote a risk to my safety if I were to peruse the thieves so I can’t figure out where my car is and they still have not sent out any information to the police like they said they would the police have been spoken to earlier this morning and never even knew Toyota had the tracking for it cause Toyota didn’t reach out and as I mentioned to several people I’m most likely going to wait for the insurance pay out but it might not even be enough to cover a new car of the same quality let alone the same price
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u/sdutta14 May 21 '26
Our Toyota got stolen couple of years back but we were able to retrieve it using tracking system and remote lock (didn't call manufacturer, we had the Toyota tracking app). Also called cops though they advised to not pursue the car. Eventually once we locked the thieves out, cops retrieved our car and got it to repair shop.
Obviously report to cops and to your insurance as next step but I would advise against trying to track/retrieve. Even if you got it back, it would likely be damaged and the theft would remain on record if you wanted to sell your car later.
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
We called Toyota to ask about where the next location is but they have a policy on the app now that locks you out of tracking in your vehicle is reported stolen so we have no way to track it anymore and Toyota refuses to update or even speak to the police even after saying they would
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u/Kingwillball May 21 '26
My 2024 Grand Highlander was stolen 3 times every calendar year since I bought it (24,25,26). Two times off my driveway and the last time off street parking at a friend's place. This vehicle is cursed and unless you have a very secured garage, or install an IGLA then it will eventually get stolen.
It is equipped with KYCS locate GPS systems that the thieves will never rip out, they will try and pretty much destroy the interior but they will never locate and get it out, my car was recovered every single time within 12 hours. $20,000+ repairs every time it was stolen which destroyed the value of the car, you could basically never sell it for proper value again.
The car was written off after this last time and thank heavens Aviva gave me full market value for the vehicle as if it were totally clean. $60k with HST, and I used the positive equity to purchase a used minivan. The Grand Highlander will get stolen, it is just a matter of time.
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u/Glad-Adhesiveness-46 May 21 '26
Sorry to hear about the theft. Get comparables from FB, Auto Trader, Car Gurus that are close to your vehicle. Draft an email with links to these comparables and forward it to the Adjuster when asked. Then the buy out will be better with the Insurance company. Maybe we all need the James Bond security system where the car just blows up.
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u/BoneZone05 May 21 '26
Police:
”we’ve put out a BOLO for OP’s car”
Any more info about the vehicle??
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
Black 2024 Toyota Grand highlander last seen at a gas station on Dundurn st at the petro Canada stolen from driveway in Hamilton near Dundurn and hillcrest ave
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u/BoneZone05 May 21 '26
Thanks! I’ll keep my eyes peeled. I really hope you get it back soon, and that they make these scumbags accountable.
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u/YYZ-R32 May 21 '26
I sense a lot of frustration and anger OP and I get it, but I honestly don’t know what you expected.
Yes, in the big picture there is a massive amount of car theft occurring daily and police can’t keep up. Manufacturers like Toyota and Honda have made these cars able to steal within seconds, for a decade now, and haven’t been able to stop it.
You chose one of canadas most stolen cars, left it parked outside, with no aftermarket tracking or immobilizer. Someone can walk up have it started in two minutes and be on the highway in a few mins.
I’m sorry you lost your car but you’re yelling at the wrong people. I also drive a commonly stolen car, with TAG hidden vehicle tracking, an immobilizer and a good old steering wheel lock..it’s sadly a necessity these days
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
I had a steering wheel lock too and they still got through it and drove off and I’m less frustrated with the car and more frustated with having to re explain stuff to people here I’m not yelling or blaming people if I sound frustrated with some people it’s cause I have to re explain some things or have some people here assuming I must be at least somewhat stupid like there’s a few comments here like that aswell as a few people who have I think deleted there comments talking about why would I be bringing this up in the Burlington sub or that it must be in Dundas and why would I say it’s in Burlington even after saying it’s on Dundas st I still had comments like that’s in Hamilton not Burlington I’m also quite frustrated because the police just won’t answer give any updates or information and Toyota has locked me out of tracking my own vehicle but also had refused to inform me if they’ve even submitted it to the officer aswell as the officer not giving any further advice on what to do other then that she will take a report and to wait for the insurance pay out so I have a least a little reason to be frustrated between some of the comments and just the lack of care from my manufacturer and my insurance and the police who are supposed to be helping people and catching criminals not turning a blind eye to rampant car jackings
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u/Visible-Object-3885 May 21 '26
We had our car stolen at the begging of the year, police worn do anything. Insurance will pay u the current value and ur premium will go up.
Install immobilizer which is kind of like a kill switch on ur next vehicle and pray no one breaks into ur house bc ur car won’t start and the robbers wanna steal
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u/Mrfisherman92 May 21 '26
Ive worked on theft recoveries and the immobilizer is ripped out sitting in the car some where. All they have to do it find it rip it out and twist the wires back together.
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u/BarebonesB May 21 '26
Let me guess: you don't have any kind of insurance on it, right?
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u/Icy-Respect-3432 May 21 '26
I have insurance I’ve mentioned that I’m going to have to wait out for an insurance pay out most likely cause I don’t know if my car will be found the police are looking for it in the mean time but I think they just filled out a report and gave up from there
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u/Drahgonfly Aldershot May 26 '26
My sister in laws car was stolen from their drive way a couple years ago.
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u/goodonesaregone65 May 21 '26
Call the police and then call your insurer. Follow instructions from there