VIN and car thieves

It's true that they can cut you a new key with your VIN number but I don't think you should be too worried if you own a Ferrari, A ferrari dealer wouldn't just cut a key to someone who just brings in the VIN# would they?

 

It is possible, but at virtually any dealership, you have to provide iron-clad proof of ownership.
There is however, no protection from the crooked parts-counter employee.

 

To get a key from the Ferrari dealer I had to show them proof of identity and proof of ownership along with the VIN. Had to show my driver's license along with current vehicle registration or title in the same name as on the driver's license.

But a crooked parts-counter person could make a key. I would think any new car delaership would have protections in place so that wouldn't happen.

This method was prominently shown in the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" with Nic Cage, BTW.

 

That one's from 2003 - http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/vin.asp

 

I LOVE snopes. Every freaking time someone sends me an email like that, I go to SNOPES, EVERYTIME!

Send 1 million postcards, find this missing girl, gangster thugs attack people who flash headlights, etc. The list is huge at this point and its simply amazing that the email keep getting passed along.

James in Denver

 

You beat me to it. Yup, another one of those urban legends who's myth is propelled by the mighty power of the internet.

 

As you all know I sell Ferrari parts, and I can assure you to be safe with Ferrari as they try not provide locks outside each country the car is in.

For example an American askes me for a lock.I must provide the Vin of the car , the document book of the car plus a current photo i.d of the owner.Ferrari will not sell me the lock without the above information.Ferrari also prefers not to sell locks outside the same country the car is actually residing.
It will be extremely difficult to buy a new zealand ferrari car lock in japan for example.

Most times only the local concessionaries will sell you the lock and you will be asked to go to where you bought the vehicle.Atleast they might reconise who you are.
I am allowed to buy locks from Ferrari but have full responsability and am registered each time and I pass on all owners documents as well.
This sometimes happens on certain auto parts for special cars like 360CS,F50s & Enzos.

FERRARI is quite safe,but think about it : someone sees your vin at a Ferrari day,then orders the keys.Then has to wait till you go with your Ferrari a certain sunny day and hope to keep up with you on the roads and follow you till you leave your car parked unattained. Very hard job to do on a Ferrari!
They rather copy your frequency when you open the door with your remote and copy it.Hot wire the thing (I don't know how but watch gone in 60 seconds ! a real theif is faster! )

I am so glad the police stop Ferrari drivers often for regular controls as this prevents theift.Police say if they robbed the Ferrari they will not stop!

 

So many angles, so little time...

1. It's so easy to hot-wire a Ferrari as to not be worth the time of many thieves to bother with a key

2. Thieves write down your VIN in order to "clone" your car title so that they can move a stolen vehicle as if it was yours, but done with a "duplicate title" or salvage title using your VIN and a straw-man name.

3. Emails that are sent to incite panic are hoaxes. Some people are just *that* bored.

 

my 575 is all about the fob

 

I cover my VIN all the time. I'm more concerned with the "bad" guys running my VIN or license plate number to get my home address. I don't want to invite a home invasion just because someone thinks I have money. All my cars are registered to a business or PO Box to avoid this. Also be careful when you drive your car out of state for vacation, business etc. In Las Vegas crooks would scan the parking lots at the big hotels looking for out of state cars...mostly from California. They would run the tags to get the address and then burglarize the home. I'm sure their thinking was... if your car is in a hotel parking lot there's is a good chance no one is at home.

 

It would make for a good "B" movie script to have a gang of thieves who went around setting up those sorts of crooks...along the line of "thieves know that the home burglars scan VINs at certain places, so the stars of the movie send a car to that location knowing that the crooks would come...and then there's a crew there waiting with a surprise for such burglars."

 

UL, dealerships need PROOF of ownership not just a VIN.

 

Let's see, I'm a bad guy and I can either read the VIN, go track down your address through some VIN database OR just follow you home, then wait until you leave.

 

Bryan
My VIN# corresponds to a PO Box or business... never my home address. Yes you could follow me home from Vegas but it's going to be a 310 mile trip to Los Angeles.

 

Smart....just a short commute.

 

This is very true, but to elaborate on point #3, these emails are usually coded to gather live email addresses for spam artists.

 

Interesting. How does that work? You forward the spam to your entire Address Book and somehow that gets back to the spammer?

 

According to an article I read, certain coding is placed in the emails and thats how its tracked. I can't verify this, but from what I've seen it makes sense. I'm not a programmer, so the specifics escape me, but a quick search of the net turned up this: http://forwardtrack.eyebeamresearch.org/ as well as other articles disputing the theory. Is it true? I hope not, but I'm extremely cautious about where I place my email, and I never forward anything, yet I get tons of junk mail. Somewhere, somehow, someone got my email. Perhaps if I'm lucky I'll win the Nigerian lottery and get the Ferrari of my dreams.....

 

That wouldn't be one of those ideas where Microsoft and Bill Gates pay you a dollar for every email that you forward, as part of their email testing program, would it?

 

similar idea, again, I'm not a programmer, so I cant verify

 

When I needed to buy a 2 keys for my Ferrari, the dealer asked for my current registration and drivers license before they could order the blank. I didn't have any problem to supply them this information. I thought it was a good thing.

 

The idea that a thief could steal someone's car with a VIN is just silly.....cars everywhere would be stolen left-and-right.....and they're NOT.

 

That was a joke, it's not possible (nor true). From what I can gather, that forwardtrack.eyebeamresearch.org needs people to register and thus captures that info in a database. They can't get someones physical residence from an email account.

 

It's not that easy and good virus protection will normally thwart such attempts.