Well. It was fun while it lasted.

If insured, recovered, and declared a total loss, you have the option to buy from the insurance company for salvage value. In this case, probably about a grand +/- a few hundred bucks. Maybe worth considering. Good luck!

 

Damn dude, I had my Ninja stolen about 1 1/2 ye ars ago. That's a shitty ass feeling when there's just an empty spot where there should be a vehicle there. Let's just hope they recover your truck in better condition than my bike.

 

Thanks guys. Still no truck. Sucks. Nice (I guess) that I’m not the only one?

I guess I should have put an after market immobilizer on it. Or a fuel pump switch in a hidden spot. Or something like that. Ugh.

 

I had a super clean 09 Corolla xle stolen about a decade ago. It was recovered a month later with over 5k put on the odometer. The interior was trashed so badly in addition to some fender damage that insurance just totaled the whole thing.

 

How about that. Recovered. A few photos from the police are attached. Spraypaint on everything - rear windows, bumper and grill, body panels. Can't tell what's up with the fuel filler area - is that paint or soot? Stains on the upholstery. It will be the end of the week before I can get it out of the storage lot and over to the shop to see what happens next.

Friends with 1st gens: put in a kill switch or an alarm system or both!

-Dave

 

Yup. Crackheads. They punched the door lock, thankfully that doesn't damage sheet metal. I'm curious how they got the ignition to turn over after removing the cylinder, but hotwiring was never my thing.

Genuinely glad you got it back. The spraypaint should polish out.

 

BTW is that all your stuff in the back of the truck, or stolen shit they took?

Cool they left their meth foils in the seat. I wish I still had my old dash bezel I could give you. Did they steal the head unit?

And holy crap, is that a passport on the driver's floor foot rest?

 

Glad you got your truck back but I would talk to your adjuster about totaling it out because of the possible meth paraphernalia on the seat. I just won't risk my long term health over a car/truck if I were you. Good luck OP!

 

Looks like they might have tried to burn the evidence by stuffing a rag in the fuel filler neck and setting on fire

 

Fucking crackheads. Glad you got it back OP. Let us know how it goes restoring it.

 

I'm amazed it was found without more damage. Somebody needed a warm place to light up...

 

Ugh. Scum of the earth. Glad you got it back and I hope you can salvage it! I had a 1990 gmc suburban stolen from out front of my house. Glad you got some police help. When I reported mine, I didn’t get a lot of help. I guess they probably had bigger things to worry about.

 

@shifty` - not my stuff in the bed, I guess they were going to put it to work. and yeah they stole the head unit. it was after-market but not high end.

And yeah, the foil's some kind of drug. Maybe fentanyl? They didn't test. I will have to talk to the insurance agency about it.

The truck was parked 2 blocks from a police station. Really.

 

Typically meth, I think, it's called foiling. Put the drug on the foil, heat from below, and use the pen cartridges you see in the drivers seat to inhale the vapors.

Never done it myself, know plenty who have. Friend of mine I ran on drop tile jobs with as a late teen collapsed one of his lungs smoking that shit. Ruined his life.

But honestly, you're not going to experience any health issues from being in the car after someone smoked for a couple of days. Now, if they were cooking (brewing) meth in there, yes. You can absolutely get sick from that. It's why you never wanna buy a house where meth heads cooked in the bath tub or elsewhere. Nasty stuff that will absolutely harm you ends up in the walls as it would in any chemlab.

 

... heard from the body shop and insurance. It's totaled. I'll get back about half what I had in it. Ugh.

I'm going to live with it for a bit and then start shopping for a replacement. I guess I'd be open to getting a mid-2010s 2nd gen, for the newer rubber and plastic bits. And the immobilizer! I don't know what I don't know right now.

Thanks for all your help.

 

You wanna throw 10k at a 10k truck, instead of a 20k truck. Not easier, but mo' betta.

 

The later model 1GTs in DC flavor can be bought with immobilizer also. I just don't know what the "tell" is on whether it's got immob or not.

 

Don't accept the first offer from the insurance company. If you can document what you've spent they will improve their valuation. It's an ugly battle, but well worth it to get an extra few thousand at the end. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

 

To echo this, you can also send your insurance listings of similar trucks in order to get the value adjusted. If they go by blue book it will be off.