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3rd row SUV seats taken with increasing frequency


roxannedetierro

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Burglars across the nation are targeting an automobile part that may shock some. Apparently, there is a healthy underground for the removable third row seats in some SUVs. The issue is particularly prevalent in Texas and California. Get the best car buy for your situation.

Making more than a thousand with a third row seat

SUV owners with worn out or broken 3rd row seats snatch up replacement seats on websites like Craigslist, and they often pay as much as $1,000. Owners are happy to pay that much for used seats because replacement seats from a dealership can run as high as $4,000.

Only a minute alone

A recent video seen on ABC's Good Morning America showed burglars stealing the seat out of silver SUV in a total of 40 seconds. Nice return for under a minute's work.

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Had to cope with seat burglars

ABC quoted Ivan Barahona, an SUV owner who has twice been focused on by seat robbers:

“It feels really bad because people work really hard for what they have.”

James Roberts of Dallas, Texas owns the SUV that was focused on by the thieves in the ABC video. The entire crime was captured by a parking lot security camera. Roberts told ABC that his wife and daughter returned to the automobile just seconds after the burglars fled with the seats.

Police advance

The crime has become very common in Los Angeles, and the police department has been having a difficult time finding the seats after they are taken. SUV owners are being encouraged by police to engrave the car’s VIN in the bottom of the seat in the event there is theft.

LAPD Detective Mike Ventura said:

"You can use the VIN number and this way it's a unique identifier to the actual owner of the car. ... It’s something that’s very simple. With a little bit of time and effort people can protect themselves.”

You can save thousands of dollars with a $15 to $25 engraver kit. Whenever you go to a dealer like Miller Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Springfield for an SUV, make sure you learn about this issue and prepare for it.

Another thing owners can do is to secure the seats with an affordable bicycle cable lock. That, at least, will slow robbers down and probably deter many thefts.

Market produced because of theft

There is an enormous irony on the subject of these thefts. The thieves are stealing the sets and selling them on eBay just to have SUV owners buy them because their seats were stolen. SUV owners are essentially buying their own stolen seats.

Sources

ABC

ABC News

AOL Autos

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