stolen trailer

[#1Townie]

Straight outta Compton...

Fo shizzle.

[BadR6Man]

Come on now. A 24 - 8.5 - 8 foot enclosed trailer is quite huge. You cant hide or fit it into a typical garage.

Insurance? Good luck trying to get what you paid and invested in it. Which is close to $10 k. Take $1000 straight off the top for deductible. Yes this sucks for me but it is what it is.

So what if I do get a check from insurance. I cash it. And then my trailer is found and returned to me? Do I reimburse insurance company money? Minus the damages to the trailer?

[longrider]

When insurance pays you for a theft you sign the title over to the insurance company and they now own the trailer. I dont know if you can buy it back from the insurance company if found or if it has to go to the salvage auction.

[Wrider]

It's pretty normal. They aren't going to expend increasingly limited resources on a full-blown investigation that has a very low probability of turning up anything whatsoever, especially when nobody was physically hurt and you can just file an insurance claim. Maybe they might lift a useful print off your busted fence, and maybe that person is in the system for some other reason, but those are big 'if's. Doesn't sound like your trailer was hugely unique in its identifications, which is also why it was targeted - nobody would ever think twice about a normal looking white trailer going down the highway. Also chances are it was out of the Springs area before you even made the call on it.

Trailers are enticing targets because they are usually easily stolen, usable for a range of things that make the thief money, and really pretty hard to recover. Rybo got lucky on this last go around, partly I think because when I had that trailer previously I adorned it with racing stickers. They tried to paint over it, couldn't hide them completely, and eventually ditched it rather than get caught pulling it around (which would have been more ideal IMO). Even with the trailer back, I doubt the cops 'dusted for prints' to see if they could catch the offender.

Really all you can do is insure it, and lock the hell out of it. Even the relatively cheap flatbed I just bought is secured enough that it would take some very determined work to hook up to it. Bolt cutters might get through the first hardened lock, but the second one would take an angle grinder to cut metal off - something both time consuming, and attention-getting due to the noise and shower of sparks that would ensue.

Sorry your trailer got lifted. It's frustrating, expensive, and just sucks all around. But like someone kicking in your door, the reality is that the cops will always be 5 minutes (or 12 hours) late, and you need to do everything conceivable to protect your ass(ets).

No I didn't have a trailer stolen. We had a guy break into our house a few years ago. We even showed the cop where the prints would most likely be (he came through a window into some blinds). We found out more by researching than the cop found out when he showed up.

[#1Townie]

When insurance pays you for a theft you sign the title over to the insurance company and they now own the trailer. I dont know if you can buy it back from the insurance company if found or if it has to go to the salvage auction.

You can buy it back from insurance.

R6man odds are its not even in the springs anymore. If it is its in a shop. You would be surprised the hiding places for stolen units. Working for Randys I picked up all sorts of cars from crazy places.

One time two streets over from my place picked up a wrx stripped to just a rolling shell. Who ever did it just rolled it down the hill into a park at about 3am.

[Husky]

Just wondering if anyone has a insurance company that not only covers the trailer but the contents. My Farmers will only do the trailer telling me I have to get individual insurance if I carry a dirt bike, atv etc.

[FZRguy]

Any motor vehicle requires a separate policy. Personal property (tools, leathers, etc.) is covered under a homeowners or renters policy.

[BadR6Man]

So I got my trailer back last monday from police impound lot.

it has some more dings on it and there was a hotel baggage cart in it and likely broken auto glass. Also found two cut padlocks that werent mine. Steal a trailer to steal more stuff. Wtf. Havent called for a police report yet to see where they found it or if they caught who stole it. No visible attempts of finger printing at all.

Happy I got it back. Now I have to deal with insurance company again to report it recovered since they wrote me a check fot it. Ugh.

[Cars-R-Coffins]

Let it sit in impound. Keep your insurance check and call it a day.