Jeepherz
Well-known member
My 392 was stolen from my driveway about 6 weeks ago. First- its finally back in my driveway after being recovered and repairs made. But I wanted to share some lessons learned.
Many of you have Sirius on your Jeep but not all of them are GPS enabled nor are people using the Jeep app. DO IT! I lost my key (in my yard probably buried under a tree) a few weeks before this happened. I signed up for the Jeep (formerly Uconnect) app. to be able to start my Jeep in case I lost key #2 while hoping Key #1 would miraculously show up. My dealer had also installed LoJack so I did NOT add the slightly-more expensive GPS tracking subscription at the time. Imagine my panic when I called LoJack after the theft and they informed me that my device was never activated. The dealer had failed to include my cell or email in the contract so I never got the registration prompt from LoJack. I had to call the dealer who immediately corrected this and LoJack said they would attempt to restart the device. Meanwhile I also called Sirius who was able to change my subscription over the phone and also attempt to engage GPS. During these calls I'd been in contact with the police. I was literally on the phone with Sirius while the local officer patiently waited for me to get this completed.
About 36 hours later I got a call from San Diego PD. They'd located my empty Jeep- thanks to a GPS ping from the above companies- one exit from Mexican border. It was out of gas. This really made me laugh at the idea that my 11 MPG might've prevented my 392 from disappearing into Mexico. The cops said it was more likely they were waiting for a secondary driver. They frequently do this to use someone less suspicious/without a record to get across the border. Both officers told me how incredibly lucky it was that I managed to get the GPS turned on in the nick of time. Which is why I wanted to post this. If you don't have your Jeep GPS enabled do it! While you can enable it afterwards like I did there is no guarantee and it takes time. And an Air Tag isn't a bad idea either. This won't come as a shock but 392s and Rubicons are the most stolen. I'd remove my 392 badge but since my plates say "V8" it won't do much good.
The damages were a broken window, glass everywhere and the various engine computer/security modules & wiring the thieves connected to in order to start the Jeep. This thief had a laptop- not a screwdriver. (or my missing key.) I've had it back from the dealer a few days and for the moment mechanically it seems ok. My insurance covered everything but it was a $7K bill.
Hopefully this can help someone prevent a theft to their Jeep or cars in general.
Many of you have Sirius on your Jeep but not all of them are GPS enabled nor are people using the Jeep app. DO IT! I lost my key (in my yard probably buried under a tree) a few weeks before this happened. I signed up for the Jeep (formerly Uconnect) app. to be able to start my Jeep in case I lost key #2 while hoping Key #1 would miraculously show up. My dealer had also installed LoJack so I did NOT add the slightly-more expensive GPS tracking subscription at the time. Imagine my panic when I called LoJack after the theft and they informed me that my device was never activated. The dealer had failed to include my cell or email in the contract so I never got the registration prompt from LoJack. I had to call the dealer who immediately corrected this and LoJack said they would attempt to restart the device. Meanwhile I also called Sirius who was able to change my subscription over the phone and also attempt to engage GPS. During these calls I'd been in contact with the police. I was literally on the phone with Sirius while the local officer patiently waited for me to get this completed.
About 36 hours later I got a call from San Diego PD. They'd located my empty Jeep- thanks to a GPS ping from the above companies- one exit from Mexican border. It was out of gas. This really made me laugh at the idea that my 11 MPG might've prevented my 392 from disappearing into Mexico. The cops said it was more likely they were waiting for a secondary driver. They frequently do this to use someone less suspicious/without a record to get across the border. Both officers told me how incredibly lucky it was that I managed to get the GPS turned on in the nick of time. Which is why I wanted to post this. If you don't have your Jeep GPS enabled do it! While you can enable it afterwards like I did there is no guarantee and it takes time. And an Air Tag isn't a bad idea either. This won't come as a shock but 392s and Rubicons are the most stolen. I'd remove my 392 badge but since my plates say "V8" it won't do much good.
The damages were a broken window, glass everywhere and the various engine computer/security modules & wiring the thieves connected to in order to start the Jeep. This thief had a laptop- not a screwdriver. (or my missing key.) I've had it back from the dealer a few days and for the moment mechanically it seems ok. My insurance covered everything but it was a $7K bill.
Hopefully this can help someone prevent a theft to their Jeep or cars in general.
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