How is Tesla gonna prevent looters?

[JetFalcon]

So I'm sure everyone is aware there is tons of looting going around. But I was surprised looters took it to another level and stole a bunch of brand new cars from a Dodge dealership in North CA. And all they had to do was break into a safe and take the keys and drive off with the most expensive car they can find. Its like to the point a wannabe thug who only shoplifted a few shoes can now get a car instead. Why would the dealership leave car keys inside their dealership if they were gonna be closed during the pandemic and no employee will be present much to watch over things?

I would have thought those car dealerships would have done much more than just keep a bunch of keys in a safe. Especially when alot of them were closed and didn't have anyone around. Dealership could have taken the car keys to an offsite office location. Or take the batteries out. Or owner could have taken the keys to his / her own house. Or hide the keys in an attic or inside the walls of the buildings which at that point would force looters to stick around longer which they wanna avoid.

Since Teslas don't require traditional car keys, does that mean the showrooms and delivery locations can protect themselves against thieves / looters? Think they could be tracked like an iPhone, can they do what Apple did and make their cars useless if they know the vin or serial number of what cars were stolen? But then, I feel Tesla could protect themselves before an stealing happened and make their cars immobile / useless while they sit inside a parking lot / inventory area.

Thankfully all the Teslas are safe from the looters for now. I just hope not having a traditional car key like Dodge is what deterred thieves from considering stealing Teslas.

 

[israndy]

Did you say the most expensive car they can find? At a DODGE dealership? Don't get me wrong, that is my Dodge dealer, but not a fancy car manufacturer. With the keys on a Dodge you just press the unlock button and see which car lights up. Tesla's use keycards on the Models 3 and Y so you gotta go to each of the cars to see if you have the right card. I don't work for Tesla so they may have even cooler ways to protect the cars from being stolen, but if they were, it's hard to get away with them as you ALWAYS know where they are, easy to track them to their chop shop. I think I read the statistic that of the 155 Teslas ever stolen, 153 were recovered.

 

[mattack4000]

Maybe they don’t mind their new car stolen....

 

[Chasis]

How about a next level "keep summer safe" system

 

[1.21GW]

Dealerships / Tesla stores are insured. As long as they have taken reasonable precautions, insurance will pay. This is how it works.

I don’t like the premise of this thread trying to start a debate about current events. Please save that for facebook or twitter. Tesla will be just fine.

 

[JetFalcon]

Did you say the most expensive car they can find? At a DODGE dealership? Don't get me wrong, that is my Dodge dealer, but not a fancy car manufacturer. With the keys on a Dodge you just press the unlock button and see which car lights up. Tesla's use keycards on the Models 3 and Y so you gotta go to each of the cars to see if you have the right card. I don't work for Tesla so they may have even cooler ways to protect the cars from being stolen, but if they were, it's hard to get away with them as you ALWAYS know where they are, easy to track them to their chop shop. I think I read the statistic that of the 155 Teslas ever stolen, 153 were recovered.

Are you really the owner of that Dodge dealership? You don't really seem distraught to hear over 100 cars were stolen. Your bio says Ex-Apple employee. Which I would assume you would know all the possible scenarios of what one can do if a Tesla was stolen since Apple had their bases covered making stolen iPhones useless.

Plus how do keys / entry to Teslas work before they're bought? Do they all have a keycard assigned at the moment they're out the factory? Or is there some master key that only select Tesla employees have through smart phone access? I assume no Tesla is assigned a traditional key since they're not included in purchase.

If my Tesla was ever stolen, would I be able to track it just like I can track where I parked it in a major city? And will that be enough evidence for the police to use to recover it? Or simply just find your car and drive off with it?

 

[1.21GW]

If my car is ever stolen, I probably don’t want it back. Insurance will cut me a check and I’ll get a new one.

It is in my insurance companies best interest to recover the vehicle. Not mine.

Only feature I would care about is the ability to clear any personal information remotely.

 

[RayK]

Are you really the owner of that Dodge dealership? You don't really seem distraught to hear over 100 cars were stolen.

My understanding is that the Dodge dealer lost just over 70 cars, not over 100.

The dealer is located in San Leandro, CA, close to Alameda. Randy is probably saying that's where he has purchased a car from, rather than actually being the owner.

ref: More than 70 premium cars stolen from dealership amid looting in Northern California

 

[Carolina Karl]

Um, doesn't "PIN to Drive" solve the problem? Maybe not for vandalism, but definitely for drive-offs.

 

[TMThree]

This is what will happen to your car.

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And because of covid, good chance they'll have a mask on, so sentry won't help. They'll also be on foot, riding a bike, or skateboard. So no licence plate either.

 

[kevin1]

At least stolen car recovery rates are much higher than other types of property Recovery rate of stolen property in the U.S. in 2018, by type | Statista

 

[Mr Jones FL]

Dealerships / Tesla stores are insured. As long as they have taken reasonable precautions, insurance will pay. This is how it works.

Just so you know, most insurance policies do not include "civil unrest". So insurance will not pay. Check your personal insurance also, many will not pay if your vehicle is damaged/stolen during a time of civil unrest.

 

[Missile Toad]

Three words: "Electrify the cars"

 

[SlimJim]

Tesla should have the cars automatically drive to the nearest police station.

 

[Knightshade]

Just so you know, most insurance policies do not include "civil unrest". So insurance will not pay.

Not sure where you got that idea?

Insurers say riot damage is covered under most insurance policies for businesses

How about a next level "keep summer safe" system

Tesla rolls out 'Rick and Morty'-inspired voice command to enable Sentry Mode

 

[SSedan]

Good people don't think ahead to riots and looting.
A virus doesn't steal cars so why would the pandemic cause folks to put the keys off-site.
What if there were a fire on site wouldn't you want the keys handy so cars can be quickly moved away?

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Some people do

 

[Sophias_dad]

I understand Teslas are among the least-stolen vehicles around...a year or two back the number successfully stolen and not recovered was ONE.

With all the connectivity in these things, Tesla can track them to within a few meters, disable them completely, lock the doors, notify the police, tell the horn to sound every N minutes, and so on. Other than immediately driving them to a chop-shop and disabling the cell connection(preferably driving them to some remote location before killing the cell connection), the car would be found in a few hours at most.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if a dealership could request EVERY car on the lot be disabled every night. Pin-to-drive or some variant of it would probably be sufficient.

 

[ellett]

I'm not usre I understand this question. Tesla stores don't have huge inventory, just 2-3-4 cars in the showroom. And Tesla stores don't typically look like big auto showrooms; most are just another door on a strip mall. Downtown SF is a large property, extended showroom plus service center, but very atypical.

And most pick up locations don't have huge inventories either. Tesla (the Fremont factory) ships cars to pick up points just in time for your pick up appointment.

Looters may not understand how difficult it is to steal a Tesla, but they will certainly head to a huge car lot as opposed to a small Tesla storefront.

 

[Cardi3]

Imagine being that oblivious to the continued genocide of black people that you're sitting there worried about "looting".