Community Discussions

Car Vin#

Seems that car thieves have found yet another way to steal your car or truck
without any effort at all. The car thieves peer through the windshield of
your car or truck, write down the VIN # from the label on the dash, go to
the local car dealership and request a duplicate key based on the VIN #.

I didn't believe this e-mail, so I called a friend at Chrysler Dodge
and pretended I had lost my keys. They told me to just bring in the VIN
#, and they would cut me one on the spot, and I could order the keyless
device if I wanted.

The Car Dealer's Parts Department will make a duplicate key from the
VIN #, and collect payment from the thief who will return to your car. He
doesn't have to break in, do any damage to the vehicle, or draw attention to
himself. All he has to do is walk up to your car, insert the key and off he
goes to a local Chop Shop with your vehicle.

You don't believe it?  It IS that easy.

To avoid this from happening to you, simply put some electrical tape or
duct tape across the VIN Metal Label located on the dash
board. By law, you cannot remove the VIN, but you can cover it so it can't
be viewed through the windshield by a car thief.

This does happen.  I used to work in a dealership, and our parts department was very liberal about cutting new keys.  (The policy was that a customer could request additional keys thru the parts department, at no charge, for as long as they owned the vehicle!). According to my friends that still work there, this policy has since changed, but I'm sure there are many dealerships that have a pretty liberal policy regarding key replacement.

Well your car makers only have so many differnet keys.  I have open about 3 cars with my keys before. One GM car a Dodge truck and a Ford van. If you dont beleave it next time your at a dealer of the same brand as you have walk around and try it and you will find one that your key will fit pretty quick.

I think the pats(passive anti theft systems) in cars now make this a moot point.  Sure they may be able to cut a key that will mechanically turn the ignition, but without first programming the car to accept that key, the car still won't start.  So the thief could open your door, put the thing in neutral and pull it away, but not drive it.  I have reprogrammed a couple of cars, and know that the pats will prevent the car from being started with an infamiliar key.  To program the system requires all keys, and if you lose a key you have to have the thing scrubbed by a special piece of equipment that only dealers have.

Unfortuantely not all passive systems work the same.  Some mfrs. are not using programmable or "chip" keys in their system.   Yes, for those makers with Chip keys, it is much more of a deterrent, plus those dealers charge 50-100 to cut and program keys.  For those cars using low tech systems, it is still feasible.  Or for that matter, older cars made in the last 4-8 years are still frequently stolen for the parts market and they (most) would have been before the widespread use of the chip systems.

I use alarm systems that when tripped disable the ignition and won't reset it until you do so manually with the remote. Someone could probably bypass it somehow but it would take a little time to do so.

For our new (old) 01 Chevy Venture with the programmed keys I had to have my registration and driver's license to get my new keys cut.

C