Last Updated: March 26. 2011 1:00AM
Tailgates join hubcaps as easy target for thieves
Santiago Esparza and Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
Hold on to your tailgates, pickup owners. Fast-acting, stealthy thieves are swiping them across Metro Detroit. It's a seemingly small crime flying under the radar of police and insurance companies as victims often avoid reporting the thefts to avoid paying deductibles and higher insurance rates.
Worse, by looking to unscrupulous body shop owners and online sites such as Craigslist to unload their wares, authorities say tailgate thieves are maintaining a black market to rip off even more parts.
Terry Hibdon lost a gate to thieves, and his brother Ron sells anti-theft devices at Lake Orion Truck Accessories.
"I've probably had a dozen customers who were robbed over the past six months or so," Ron Hibdon said. "I had one guy lost his tailgate last week and his insurance company shelled out $1,300 for a new one from a dealership."
Terry Hibdon, who owns Hibdon Motor Sales in Clinton Township, has gone so far as to remove the tailgates from the trucks on his lot so they can't be stolen. "I hate to present the trucks that way, but that's the way things are," he said. "I will also back the trucks right up against a brick wall so there's no room for thieves."
Authorities say it's hard to catch the crooks in the act.
"They come at night, make no noise and we have never caught one in the act or recovered the part," said Sgt. Dave Centala, a police detective in St. Clair Shores, a community that recently had five stolen in one night. Farther north in Clinton Township, thieves ripped off five tailgates two weeks ago.
Stealing a tailgate takes seconds if they aren't locked and just a minute or so if they are. Thieves often use their bare hands and sometimes a screwdriver.
Centala said the thefts often happen in bunches but don't have a predictable frequency and they have become popular in the past six or seven years.
Tailgates cost on average $1,200 to replace but can be found for only a few hundred dollars online or at shadier businesses.
"People go to the parts store and end up buying their own tailgate back," said Terri Miller, executive director of in Help Eliminate Auto Thefts (HEAT), which is funded by Michigan automobile insurers.
In Michigan, a tailgate theft can be considered larceny from a vehicle, a felony that carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine.
Dick Christopher, founder of Tailgate Sentry in Arlington, Texas, started his tailgate lock company last year after the tailgate of his Ford F-150 truck was stolen. He recently shipped his $25 locks to a truck parts store in Lake Orion.
"Some of these tailgates are expensive," Christopher said. "They have video cameras in them so you can see behind you when you park and can cost as much as $3,600."
sesparza@detnews.com
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From The Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20110326/METRO/103260372/Tailgates-join-hubcaps-as-easy-target-for-thieves#ixzz1I187UnQv
