Cadillacs without doors, Monte
Carlos without wheels, an 85
Camaro stripped of top and dash
police who run the Dallas auto pound
called these General Motors cars the cars
of preference for thieves.
There's a plastic piece that fits
around here for safety reasons.
We will not show you how they do it.
But police say that beneath plastic
on a GM steering column lies
a switch.
The switch turns the ignition without
the turn of a key.
Nowadays, you take four to
five thousand dollars a day.
You really want
convicted auto thief David Nazeem
says there's a hot market for stolen
parts.
The older cars, you basically just
steal any help because I worn a little
bit of an ignition and everything's loose
and it's easier for them to go ahead and
just pop that out.
And what do the thieves use to pull
those ignitions out?
One item is what they commonly call
a slammer. It's a long pole like this
with a screw on the end.
They put it into the ignition, pull back
away and yank it all out.
In terms of getting into the car, they
may use anything from the wedge of
a screwdriver to an item
that is commonly called a slim
Jim with a slim
Jim and a slammer.
A GM car can disappear in 30
or 40 seconds.
How to fight back, you can buy
an alarm system or a steering
column lock for GM cars, common
sense like parking in lighted areas
and locking your car helps out.
Police say almost half of all stolen
cars disappear because of keys
left inside.
Shelley Kofler, Channel 5 News, Dallas.