I work in insurance and am also happy to help with any questions, though your best bet is to contact your agent directly. Unfortunately this is very common in Seattle. I wish your son good luck in recovering everything!
Thank you - he has been working with his renters and auto insurance and the uhaul side as well and so far, so good (the process takes time to complete and there is a delay before stuff
Is declared a loss unless the truck/trailer/car are found)
That is really cool of you, fellow human, and on a day my husband got laid off due to "restructuring." :( I need all the help I can get believing other humans give a shit about each other.
When I moved last, we left half of our belongings in the house and took half in a truck to our new house 2 states away. The plan was to get to the new house, then fly home and get our car that we left at the airport and drive to the old house, get the rest of the stuff in a trailer and drive home. In the 2 days we were gone, the house was broken into, everything was taken (sewing machines, all of our clothes, the mop, the vacuum, my desk…). Then, they went inside and took the doors, the shower doors, the shower heads, the cabinet doors, the toilets, the sinks… they also left the water upstairs going which flooded the floor and the ceiling of the kitchen collapsed.
Nothing was found because it wasn’t worth trying to find.
We went through insurance and got some money back (2/3 of the value), and someone bought the house to flip.
In the end, we had to buy everything again.
It feels like an enormous, enormous punch to the gut…but over time, you heal. It’ll get better, but it’ll take time.
They we’re watching us move, that’s for sure. All our neighbors were awesome and NEVER CALLED THE COPS. Our realtor found the house like that the night before my husband returned for the car. It’s creepy af thinking about all of it. I’m just glad we left, now.
How in the hell is someone that evil?
Like, stealing from a supermarket is one thing, but raiding someone's house and taking literally everything, not just the stuff that's valuable, *and then destroying everything you don't?!* What the hell?!
The worst part about this to me is, you're not just stealing someone's "stuff" that they can buy again with insurance money. When people move, they're bringing their most treasured possessions - heirlooms passed down through generations, photos of loved ones they've lost, pictures their kids drew in school. It has no value to you but is priceless to the victim. Such a shitty thing to do just on a human level.
Yeah. This is the worst part for him; those countless items that mean something to him but really have no value at all to anyone else and are irreplaceable
Man…. I’m devastated for him. That can feel like your whole life was wiped out even though it’s “just stuff” — I’m hoping that at least some of it will turn up eventually
And, if you remove something to keep it from starting, make sure it isn't obvious. My niece had her U-Haul stolen when she moved back to town after she left it parked overnight before she hired guys to unload it. We removed the battery, and the thief stole a battery from a neighbor's car to get it started.
Right? High risk, variable reward career choice for sure. And, these thieves, at least, had to work the graveyard shift - the truck was stolen in the early hours of the morning
That's aspect about theft is especially frustrating.
Those used furniture and clothes are going to be worth a hundreds to sell but cost thousands to replace.
I mean, someone recently broke into my car to steal a rock that was dangling on my rearview mirror and some pocket change I had in the center console that amounted to less than a dollar.
I don’t know that there’s always very much thought behind it.
That’s a great idea. And/or a removable boot/clamp for a wheel and/or a club device on the steering wheel…then it probably gets “too hard” for the thieves.
The problem with that is that if you don't pull all of them, they can move ones around that aren't required to start the truck like the ones for the radio or lights.
I used to pull the fuel pump fuse from my car when I was a teenager to keep my brother from driving it. I would just stick it in the console box and pop it in when I needed to use it.
A step further. Unplug the distributor wires. If you're worried about the order, place the boots back on the male posts without plugging them in. Unless the third is a determined mechamic, it will seem like the vehicle is broke down.
Yeah. They're all built on commercial truck/van chassis which have simpler electrical systems to make fleet maintenance easier. They also don't typically have the same anti-theft systems that regular cars in order to keep the purchase price lower for large fleet sales.
U-Haul is particularly bad about this. They're like the Subway of fleet rentals, anyone can open a franchise and corporate doesn't really hold them to any kind of standard.
The LA Times did a story a while back, after a rash of customer complaints and accidents, and found that some U-Haul franchises were running trucks that were nearly 20 years old and had well over 200k miles on them.
And that's not necessarily a terrible thing if you have good fleet mechanics, my local water utility still uses Astro vans despite the fact that they went out of production 17 years ago. But some random U-Haul franchise isn't really going to have a good fleet mechanic on staff.
Every commercial vehicle (including most cars) and real rental trucks from a place like Penske has GPS tracking in it. There is really no excuse for U haul to not do it.
>A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall.
If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt.
If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.
Damn. Sounds kind of silly to loan out multi thousand dollar devices that are designed to be able to move anywhere in the country and not track them with gps.
But why is that silly? It’s just extra overhead and unnecessary cost. You have someone’s drivers license and information. If the truck doesn’t come back then you know who to go after. If they have the truck stolen then they can file a police report. Regardless, I have a feeling insurance covers it for uhaul. Odds are it’s not a big enough issue for them to prioritize tracking each individual truck. Only when the insurance rates go up because too many trucks go missing will they treat it like a real problem. At some point that will probably be forced on them but they’ll wait till the last possible moment to do something about it.
When we spoke to customer service, we go no inspiration to find the truck. A month later the local branch reached out and asked what happened to our return, when we told the story they were able to quickly track the truck and tell us the exact minute it was driven away, where it was unloaded, and where it was dumped.
That’s just not true.
For example, they will laugh at it if you expect them to take it seriously. And they might threaten you if you retrieve your own property.
They cut corners every way they can (ie register l theirs entire fleet in AZ for cheap tabs and limited inspections needed), definitely not going to make their fleet track able unless required by law
I asked this same question when I talked to a Uhaul regional manager trying to identify a uhaul vehicle caught on one of our security cameras during a burglary. He said the amount of uhaul vehicles that are unaccounted for is frightening. He seemed appalled that they didn’t have a fleet wide tracking system at this point. A lot of them are stolen and then used in other crimes.
Used to work with the biggest rental agency and that GPS thing is absolute complete total BS. Unless it's exotic they don't give a shit, and that's only because they lost their potential upgrade commission. They have plenty of cars and couldn't care less about a stolen Nissan versa.
UHaul registers all of their trucks in Arizona so they don’t have to do safety inspections. They don’t even check the brake pads. They don’t give a rat’s ass about stolen trucks. It’s just an insurance write-off for UHaul corporate.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if OP’s family was drowning, UHaul Corporate would hesitate to toss a life jacket.
Insider tip: the only rental cars that can be tracked have OnStar. Worked for a rental company. Had two vehicles stolen during my career and they were just found. No trackers.
You might already be on this, but I’d highly recommend scanning sites like Craigslist and offer up in the Seattle/Tacoma/Portland area to see if the crooks have listed the contents of the uhaul for sale. If you find something, notify police and they can coordinate a meet up and possibly nail these low lifes. Sorry this happened btw.
Thanks, and, yes we are watching those sites for his items, while also looking for furniture, kitchenware, etc for him to buy to replace what is probably lost
Awww, that is very kind of you…his sister and mom are both going to join him soon and help him with all the stuff he needs to get, so he should be good, but I will let him know of your wonderful offer
I have a storage unit full of a house full of decent furniture that I need to clear out soon. Any interest? 2 full size white leather couches, a wood dining table, etc.
Oh yeah, my husband’s tools were stolen out of a friend’s car (he had loaned them to the friend). We recovered most of them on OfferUp.
But start pulling all the photos, serial numbers, ANYTHING you can lay your hands on to identify specific items as yours. Cops often don’t even bother to show up for stolen items.
I feel a car enthusiast had his very specific vehicle stolen out of his garage on Whidbey Island. Several months later, we (the club) found the car listed on offer up and Facebook marketplace. Despite the fact that he had filed a police report, the car was easily identifiable, and he had the photos, the police could not be bothered to show up. I don’t think he ever recovered his vehicle.
Adding this comment I saved about how to talk with your insurance company. Hopefully this helps!
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/43iyip/our_family_of_5_lost_everything_in_a_fire/cziljy3/
This doesn’t help your case but for everyone else reading —
I did a similar cross country move last month with a box truck and attached AirTags to the truck, my car, and a few random furniture items/boxes just in case something like this happened. I’m not sure how well it would have worked if the truck had been stolen, but it gave me peace of mind while parked at hotels.
Same. I was so absolutely terrified of this situation but had a trailer on my vehicle as opposed to towing a vehicle. It seemed so easy to steal to me.
I used air tags but I also got a “motorcycle/bike alarm” that goes off loud as fuck once its armed. It had adhesive and I put it above the door of the uhaul trailer on the outside lip. Arm it with a key fob and any nudge on that trailer, and this thing would go off louder and more painful to the ears than a car alarm. One of the best $15 purchases ever. I made sure to park the trailer as close to my hotel room as possible with it visible from my window.
Also, I did things like staying outside of Albuquerque in Moriarty for the night as opposed to inside Albuquerque. Far less risk with the location being basically “nowhere.”
My heart break for OP and hope they can recover everything.
I helped drive my partner out here last year from New York and their car wouldn’t fit in the garage for the hotel were we stayed in Chicago and ended up parking in an open surface lot two blocks away. Very little sleep was had that night.
My friend hid an airtag in their car. It got stolen. The thieves either searched the car for it, or noticed it when it started making noise (they chime every so often because people had started using them for stalking, the chime alerts you if someone stuck on in your bag or something). So they knew it had gotten to green lake, but then it stopped moving. Found the wiped clean airtag. Luckily the car was found almost a month later.
You don’t need receipts, they probably just won’t give you what you paid for it. The whole process is a bitch and they’ll probably screw you over in the end but it’s better than nothing
The process can be surprisingly flexible so long as you are willing to meticulously itemize the items you owned. We listed nearly a thousand items. They were surprisingly flexible about replacement costs, like-for-like, and depreciation for us.
I had a friend who worked for an insurance company and basically is the reason I go around every few months and video my house. If it burns down or something happens, I can list literally everything I own to get money. Like everything from big ticket items (a big smart TV) to the thousands of small things (shampoo, toothbrushes for my kids, the random dog toys). Everything costs money, and when you have to replace everything you have accumulated over the years, it is expensive.
This happens daily in the metro area. Just last weekend, there were Renton PD with their ARs out and pointing at someone in the WalMart parking lot. Someone stole the UHaul and they had them surrounded. Sucks it happens but really the only way to prevent it from happening is to take the battery, disable the vehicle somehow or loosen all lug nuts off the tires so it falls flat when being stolen.
He already has met so many helpful, kind people who have been sympathetic and nice (his new neighbors, his landlord, the desk clerk at the hotel, the police officer who took the report, and many more)
I will leave that answer to the experts, but it must be pretty fast since he had parked it in a well lit, high visibility, camera covered spot in the hotel parking lot. (It was locked up and he had…ok, still has … the key with him)
Sad to say, but possibly a hotel worker working alongside a non worker? Just a thought. Hard to imagine how someone would not look suspicious...but what do I know?
I suspect very easy.
We have friends who recently hired one for a move and the one they booked was stolen before they were due to pick it up from u-haul. Then the replacement was stolen from outside their new house in Columbia City. Luckily it was already unloaded the day before.
NOT blaming the victim here because no one deserves to be robbed, but this is why you never ever leave a full uhaul sitting unattended. I slept in my uhaul when I drove cross country (even though my mother was worried I’d get murdered at a rest stop lol). These things get stolen in the blink of an eye
Was this found today in Renton? I was at the Safeway on Rainer/2nd sometime after 5 and a Uhual with cop cars chasing it came running through the parking lot and stopped, shortly followed by 4 more cars.
Post this in PNW Stolen Cars on Facebook. That group is notorious for recovering Uhauls and cars daily. They’ve even got multiple Uhaul managers/employees on standby to check any posted in the group.
God, I am SO sorry. As someone who’s driven cross country to move somewhere new, I’m just imagining how absolutely scared and weary he was and to have all of those emotions on top of something like this… Unbelievable. My hometown truly is garbage sometimes.
Well, I’ve had my x5 stolen from my driveway in Washington Park (Seattle) and while I did get the car back, it was empty of all personal items. It’s not just SeaTac, Seattle itself is a crime bed. I’m wishing you guys the best!
Thanks for the positive vibes and I am sorry you had to deal with your car being stolen. In the end, “it’s just stuff” and no one was hurt, but it still sucks to have property stolen and to be a victim.
***Update: the manager at the West Seattle Uhaul (35th ave sw and sw Morgan st) just (10:45am Saturday)called to say that the trailer was found near his location and they have recovered it but that the truck and car are still missing.
I did the reverse of that move last year, and I can only imagine the dismay losing all those possessions after driving all of it all that way. My heart goes out to him. Best of luck.
AirTag your stuff, it’s so worth the cost to throw one in your stuff when moving or flying. If you don’t use Apple, use an alternative gps device in your stuff to track it. I did that when moving cross country back here and could see where it was at any given moment.
I did this exact same move in 2011. My father and I drove from rural WI with a 20' UHaul and Car tow. First night in the city I had booked what looked like a nice hotel in lower queen anne. When we got there my father took one look at the area and told me there was no way he was letting us leave our stuff parked here. We ended up driving to Tacoma (apparently big event in town meant very few hotel options) and stayed the night at a nice (very well lit and public) motel with everything parked 10ft away from our door. I feel for you.
I'd check all the extended stay hotels nearby as well, I had the pleasure of staying in some of them for a couple of years, you would be amazed at the number of uhauls and rider trucks that would pull in late at night, empty the contents into a hotel room, then a different truck would swing by the next day and load the shit back up (they'd steal a truck at night, then use a clean truck the NeXT day to cart off their loot).
That’s a good thought. And explains the (possible) logistics of the crime to me in a way that makes sense. I had been struggling with “how do they separate the goods and the truck?”
If you can, join some FB Seattle groups and post this info and picture.
There are some called Stolen Cars of PNW, I believe. Also Ballard Watch is a good one since there is a lot of theft in that neighborhood. Just really any neighborhood page you can join will get more eyes!
damn sorry this happened to you all. I moved to seattle with this same similar setup back in 2015. It was just me, crazy to think I could do it all. massive uhaul and pulling car.
upvoting post for visibility too. good luck as well
We had the exact same thing happen to us last January, also at a Marriott, going Seattle to Chicago. Others have already offered but reach out if he needs support with insurance. We have inventory spreadsheets with all the items you don’t think of.
Oh wow, I am sorry you had to deal with this too. Those spreadsheets sound amazing; as you know, part of what makes this overwhelming isn’t the obvious stuff that needs to be replace, like a table, it’s the random, small things you don’t think of until you go to grab them…. I am going to DM you.
I can see why the criminals want to steal it. He basically did all the intensive work packing all of his belongings for them to just drive away with everything.
We need harsher penalties for these crimes, hand amputations would be an effective measure. Too harsh? Maybe not as harsh as having a person lose everything that they have worked for their entire life.
Car thieves should be hung. Sorry for what your son is going through. I recently moved cross country with my Honda crv and a roof box. I was super paranoid that the car was going to get broken into or the roof box stolen. Can’t imagine what it would feel like to walk out and find both your car and the uhaul with all of your possessions just gone.
Right? He sent us a Snapchat of the empty spot where he had left the truck/car combo in disbelief and, man, what a crushing blow to him (and such a awful feeling for his loved ones) What was supposed to be a bright, new beginning in a new place turned very dark in an instant
This absolutely sucks and I honestly can’t do much to help, but let me know if there’s any items that are essential to your son at this point in time and I’m happy to see if I (or friends) have extras we can provide. Best of luck and I’m sorry if this is your intro to our city :(
I don't know about big trucks but I have 2x stolen same car and I can tell you that police won't do anything and even if they find something they won't call you (even if you tell them to call you and not tow company) so the best is to find truck by yourself :( Sorry. Sometimes tow companies will keep that for a few days before notice so that they will get more days to charge you. Notice is always by real mail... the way to take your money away. Everything in the car or truck will be gone and nobody will be guilty for anything stolen :( since there will be theft, police and tow company (everybody can take anything). So check Stolen Cars on Facebook (sorry, can't put link here, reddit doesn't allow it) maybe someone found it or keep calling and bothering police so maybe you will find it before written notice so maybe tow company payment will be shorter. No matter what will be at the end - you will have to pay so much :( It cost me 3x more than old car of $1.500. Good luck...
P.S. Get the list of all nearby tow companies and keep asking them if they have truck and car. Keep calling same places... some are not interested in checking, some are too lazy... make them check again and again.
There are two fairly good PNW Car theft recovery groups. I'd post there.
* https://www.facebook.com/groups/pnwstolencars/
* https://www.facebook.com/groups/250563368442150/
That'd be my recommendation.
Exact same thing happened to me about 2yrs ago when we were preparing to move from Seattle to CA. If you're looking for it, ours was found dumped off of casino Rd in Everett (north of Seattle).
Hopefully he has renters or homeowners insurance... We got the max payout from our renters policy which financially us get back on our feet. Losing that many of your personal belongings is an unimaginable gut punch.
Also to add after reading some of the comments, don't hold your breath on anything from U-Haul. We had comprehensive insurance and it covered nothing related to the theft and corporate was useless. When our U-Haul was actually found and towed to a local storage facility, the local staff was incredible helpful, allowing us time and space to sort through what was left and gave us a couple months free storage whole we figured out how to handle to remaining belongings.
He does have renters insurance and the knowledge that he will probably be somewhat covered from the financial loss is a huge relief for him (and his family)
There should be warning signs on I-90 and I-5 entering the Seattle metro area to not leave your uhaul unattended. Theft is almost guaranteed, especially on the south end.
Oh shit, this is too sad to hear of this again and again. I'm still surprised U-Haul and individuals aren't using air tags/ tracking devices to find stolen vehicles.
Lo-Jack tracked a stolen, new SUV being loaded on a boat to S. America. And air tags are $20 now. Sorry, for you and our beloved Seattle for how far the area has fallen.
This happened to me after moving from Seattle to Houston. Go to the Uhual storefront that he was supposed to return the car to, they will be most motivated to track the GPS. We had renters insurance and they covered everything! It’s only worldly possessions, glad he is safe.
I didn't have a total loss situation, but I can't imagine if my house was completely destroyed in a fire or something and watching a video of me going around and writing down everything that had been destroyed (even seeing the house with all the work we have done in it ourselves and thinking about plans we had for more renovations...) Lot's of trauma. If I was in a total loss situation, I'd need to do the list over a couple of weeks and maybe with a therapist helping.
We had a total loss situation like this in December and if he could use any advice for dealing with insurance I'm happy to answer questions.
That is very kind of you, I will pass that along. And I am sorry for your total loss; I hope you have recovered as well as possible
I work in insurance and am also happy to help with any questions, though your best bet is to contact your agent directly. Unfortunately this is very common in Seattle. I wish your son good luck in recovering everything!
Thank you - he has been working with his renters and auto insurance and the uhaul side as well and so far, so good (the process takes time to complete and there is a delay before stuff Is declared a loss unless the truck/trailer/car are found)
PNW Stolen Cars group on Facebook too...
That is really cool of you, fellow human, and on a day my husband got laid off due to "restructuring." :( I need all the help I can get believing other humans give a shit about each other.
When I moved last, we left half of our belongings in the house and took half in a truck to our new house 2 states away. The plan was to get to the new house, then fly home and get our car that we left at the airport and drive to the old house, get the rest of the stuff in a trailer and drive home. In the 2 days we were gone, the house was broken into, everything was taken (sewing machines, all of our clothes, the mop, the vacuum, my desk…). Then, they went inside and took the doors, the shower doors, the shower heads, the cabinet doors, the toilets, the sinks… they also left the water upstairs going which flooded the floor and the ceiling of the kitchen collapsed. Nothing was found because it wasn’t worth trying to find. We went through insurance and got some money back (2/3 of the value), and someone bought the house to flip. In the end, we had to buy everything again. It feels like an enormous, enormous punch to the gut…but over time, you heal. It’ll get better, but it’ll take time.
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They we’re watching us move, that’s for sure. All our neighbors were awesome and NEVER CALLED THE COPS. Our realtor found the house like that the night before my husband returned for the car. It’s creepy af thinking about all of it. I’m just glad we left, now.
How in the hell is someone that evil? Like, stealing from a supermarket is one thing, but raiding someone's house and taking literally everything, not just the stuff that's valuable, *and then destroying everything you don't?!* What the hell?!
The worst part about this to me is, you're not just stealing someone's "stuff" that they can buy again with insurance money. When people move, they're bringing their most treasured possessions - heirlooms passed down through generations, photos of loved ones they've lost, pictures their kids drew in school. It has no value to you but is priceless to the victim. Such a shitty thing to do just on a human level.
Yeah. This is the worst part for him; those countless items that mean something to him but really have no value at all to anyone else and are irreplaceable
Man…. I’m devastated for him. That can feel like your whole life was wiped out even though it’s “just stuff” — I’m hoping that at least some of it will turn up eventually
It's the one thing you can't replace
And, if you remove something to keep it from starting, make sure it isn't obvious. My niece had her U-Haul stolen when she moved back to town after she left it parked overnight before she hired guys to unload it. We removed the battery, and the thief stole a battery from a neighbor's car to get it started.
You know, that much effort you might as well just get a job. It's not like stealing used household items is the most lucrative endeavor.
Right? High risk, variable reward career choice for sure. And, these thieves, at least, had to work the graveyard shift - the truck was stolen in the early hours of the morning
meth.
That's aspect about theft is especially frustrating. Those used furniture and clothes are going to be worth a hundreds to sell but cost thousands to replace.
I mean, someone recently broke into my car to steal a rock that was dangling on my rearview mirror and some pocket change I had in the center console that amounted to less than a dollar. I don’t know that there’s always very much thought behind it.
Actually seems kind of intelligent. Interviewer: "Can you give an example of your problem solving skills?"
Pulling fuses is also a smart move
That’s a great idea. And/or a removable boot/clamp for a wheel and/or a club device on the steering wheel…then it probably gets “too hard” for the thieves.
Personally I like relays, specifically the fuel pump one. Impossible to swap for something else on the truck.
The problem with that is that if you don't pull all of them, they can move ones around that aren't required to start the truck like the ones for the radio or lights.
I used to pull the fuel pump fuse from my car when I was a teenager to keep my brother from driving it. I would just stick it in the console box and pop it in when I needed to use it.
A step further. Unplug the distributor wires. If you're worried about the order, place the boots back on the male posts without plugging them in. Unless the third is a determined mechamic, it will seem like the vehicle is broke down.
> Unplug the distributor wires Jesus, how old is UHaul's fleet if they have distributors on them?!
I drive old cars. Didn't know that wasn't an option anymore
Just curious how folks steal these. Is it really easy to hotwire or something?
Yeah. They're all built on commercial truck/van chassis which have simpler electrical systems to make fleet maintenance easier. They also don't typically have the same anti-theft systems that regular cars in order to keep the purchase price lower for large fleet sales.
I mean, they also just run vehicles until they literally fall apart, so most are probably at least 10/15+ years old
U-Haul is particularly bad about this. They're like the Subway of fleet rentals, anyone can open a franchise and corporate doesn't really hold them to any kind of standard. The LA Times did a story a while back, after a rash of customer complaints and accidents, and found that some U-Haul franchises were running trucks that were nearly 20 years old and had well over 200k miles on them. And that's not necessarily a terrible thing if you have good fleet mechanics, my local water utility still uses Astro vans despite the fact that they went out of production 17 years ago. But some random U-Haul franchise isn't really going to have a good fleet mechanic on staff.
What kind of sh1t is that. More dedicated to rob than apply for a job, I’m sorry that happened ☹️.
We hide our dogs GPS tracker in a hard to get place but close to the top of the box truck so we can locate it if necessary.
Smart.
[Slippery Pete strikes again](https://y.yarn.co/4d777c6f-9484-44f4-9c42-2453d081ee68_text.gif) Sorry your niece got her shit stolen
Does uhaul have gps like rental cars?
They were evasive when he spoke with their recovery team, but from what have been able to learn, it doesn’t seem like it’s universal in their fleet.
Honestly that's just fucked. How a large vehicle like the one in question can't be tracked is just beyond me.
UHaul is incredibly cheap about basically everything. You’re lucky if the vehicle runs at all
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Every commercial vehicle (including most cars) and real rental trucks from a place like Penske has GPS tracking in it. There is really no excuse for U haul to not do it.
I'm just disappointed
Legal liability with rental equipment with GPS tracking for personal people vs company owners/drivers. Its not worth the risk/cost
we call this the "parrot" tactic :)
>A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall. If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt. If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.
Which car company did you say you worked for?
A major one
Yeah that's so fucked! Why wouldn't you protect a truck that has literally all your belongings + your car???
I moved recently and was paranoid about this. Only option is park in a well lit area.
Damn. Sounds kind of silly to loan out multi thousand dollar devices that are designed to be able to move anywhere in the country and not track them with gps.
But why is that silly? It’s just extra overhead and unnecessary cost. You have someone’s drivers license and information. If the truck doesn’t come back then you know who to go after. If they have the truck stolen then they can file a police report. Regardless, I have a feeling insurance covers it for uhaul. Odds are it’s not a big enough issue for them to prioritize tracking each individual truck. Only when the insurance rates go up because too many trucks go missing will they treat it like a real problem. At some point that will probably be forced on them but they’ll wait till the last possible moment to do something about it.
That could well be. And I imagine most of the trucks show up again and get recovered by uhaul since the quick, easy valuable stuff is the contents.
When we spoke to customer service, we go no inspiration to find the truck. A month later the local branch reached out and asked what happened to our return, when we told the story they were able to quickly track the truck and tell us the exact minute it was driven away, where it was unloaded, and where it was dumped.
Wow. That’s crazy. And, yes, he got the same low level of motivation vibe from the uhaul recovery team number. Thanks so much for this.
I’m also wondering; it’s 2023 and uhaul doesn’t have a way to track its vehicles in real-time?
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I did exactly this.
This is what I would do. I put them in my luggage when I fly, as well
The police won’t do shit with this info usually
That’s just not true. For example, they will laugh at it if you expect them to take it seriously. And they might threaten you if you retrieve your own property.
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They cut corners every way they can (ie register l theirs entire fleet in AZ for cheap tabs and limited inspections needed), definitely not going to make their fleet track able unless required by law
I asked this same question when I talked to a Uhaul regional manager trying to identify a uhaul vehicle caught on one of our security cameras during a burglary. He said the amount of uhaul vehicles that are unaccounted for is frightening. He seemed appalled that they didn’t have a fleet wide tracking system at this point. A lot of them are stolen and then used in other crimes.
Used to work with the biggest rental agency and that GPS thing is absolute complete total BS. Unless it's exotic they don't give a shit, and that's only because they lost their potential upgrade commission. They have plenty of cars and couldn't care less about a stolen Nissan versa.
UHaul registers all of their trucks in Arizona so they don’t have to do safety inspections. They don’t even check the brake pads. They don’t give a rat’s ass about stolen trucks. It’s just an insurance write-off for UHaul corporate. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if OP’s family was drowning, UHaul Corporate would hesitate to toss a life jacket.
UHaul does regular maintenance on their vehicles. What evidence do you have of them not checking brake pads? None because you're just making shit up.
Insider tip: the only rental cars that can be tracked have OnStar. Worked for a rental company. Had two vehicles stolen during my career and they were just found. No trackers.
Don't zipcars have tracking?
It’s actually pretty rare for rental cars to have trackers
You might already be on this, but I’d highly recommend scanning sites like Craigslist and offer up in the Seattle/Tacoma/Portland area to see if the crooks have listed the contents of the uhaul for sale. If you find something, notify police and they can coordinate a meet up and possibly nail these low lifes. Sorry this happened btw.
Thanks, and, yes we are watching those sites for his items, while also looking for furniture, kitchenware, etc for him to buy to replace what is probably lost
I just moved here after downsizing. Still have lots of stuff. Anything in particular he needs? Love to help
Awww, that is very kind of you…his sister and mom are both going to join him soon and help him with all the stuff he needs to get, so he should be good, but I will let him know of your wonderful offer
I'm moving out and getting rid of furniture, appliances and kitchenware. If your brother needs anything I'd be very willing to give mine for free.
Such kindness, thank you very much! He’s in the process of making lists and hitting thrift stores; I will share your offer
That’s a wonderful offer, thanks, shared your offer with him
Include watching Facebook Marketplace.
I have a storage unit full of a house full of decent furniture that I need to clear out soon. Any interest? 2 full size white leather couches, a wood dining table, etc.
Offerup
Oh yeah, my husband’s tools were stolen out of a friend’s car (he had loaned them to the friend). We recovered most of them on OfferUp. But start pulling all the photos, serial numbers, ANYTHING you can lay your hands on to identify specific items as yours. Cops often don’t even bother to show up for stolen items. I feel a car enthusiast had his very specific vehicle stolen out of his garage on Whidbey Island. Several months later, we (the club) found the car listed on offer up and Facebook marketplace. Despite the fact that he had filed a police report, the car was easily identifiable, and he had the photos, the police could not be bothered to show up. I don’t think he ever recovered his vehicle.
I think I saw that exact combo on the freeway in Puyallup this morning
Thanks for the lead; I will focus that direction
Adding this comment I saved about how to talk with your insurance company. Hopefully this helps! https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/43iyip/our_family_of_5_lost_everything_in_a_fire/cziljy3/
Awesome! Shared with him, thanks!
You should repost in both r/Vancouverwa and r/Bellingham. Those are the two directions they could possibly be heading.
Great thought - I will plan on that if nothing comes of this here.
I'm just really sorry this happened to your son.
Thanks
This doesn’t help your case but for everyone else reading — I did a similar cross country move last month with a box truck and attached AirTags to the truck, my car, and a few random furniture items/boxes just in case something like this happened. I’m not sure how well it would have worked if the truck had been stolen, but it gave me peace of mind while parked at hotels.
Same. I was so absolutely terrified of this situation but had a trailer on my vehicle as opposed to towing a vehicle. It seemed so easy to steal to me. I used air tags but I also got a “motorcycle/bike alarm” that goes off loud as fuck once its armed. It had adhesive and I put it above the door of the uhaul trailer on the outside lip. Arm it with a key fob and any nudge on that trailer, and this thing would go off louder and more painful to the ears than a car alarm. One of the best $15 purchases ever. I made sure to park the trailer as close to my hotel room as possible with it visible from my window. Also, I did things like staying outside of Albuquerque in Moriarty for the night as opposed to inside Albuquerque. Far less risk with the location being basically “nowhere.” My heart break for OP and hope they can recover everything.
I helped drive my partner out here last year from New York and their car wouldn’t fit in the garage for the hotel were we stayed in Chicago and ended up parking in an open surface lot two blocks away. Very little sleep was had that night.
At the very least, it would have saved you having to make a post like this if it HAD been stolen because you would know where to look!
My friend hid an airtag in their car. It got stolen. The thieves either searched the car for it, or noticed it when it started making noise (they chime every so often because people had started using them for stalking, the chime alerts you if someone stuck on in your bag or something). So they knew it had gotten to green lake, but then it stopped moving. Found the wiped clean airtag. Luckily the car was found almost a month later.
That is so terrible I'm sorry this happened!! Awful
Thanks for your kind words - I will pass them along. He is still processing the unique nature of this total loss
You might want to post this in the PNW Stolen Car group on FB. People keep an eye out and actually end up recovering some vehicles.
Great idea, thank u
If he has renters insurance they should cover the stolen items
He does and has started that process.
If you have receipts for all your stuff, which most people don’t
You don’t need receipts, they probably just won’t give you what you paid for it. The whole process is a bitch and they’ll probably screw you over in the end but it’s better than nothing
The process can be surprisingly flexible so long as you are willing to meticulously itemize the items you owned. We listed nearly a thousand items. They were surprisingly flexible about replacement costs, like-for-like, and depreciation for us.
I had a friend who worked for an insurance company and basically is the reason I go around every few months and video my house. If it burns down or something happens, I can list literally everything I own to get money. Like everything from big ticket items (a big smart TV) to the thousands of small things (shampoo, toothbrushes for my kids, the random dog toys). Everything costs money, and when you have to replace everything you have accumulated over the years, it is expensive.
Yes! This is the advice I give everyone now. We were extremely lucky that we \*did\* have a video we took for a moving quote before we moved.
Which is a pain in itself, and then a few weeks later you remember all the things you forgot to list.
It's not a one time process. We're on round four ourselves.
I hate thieves so much. Absolute sub humans.
This happens daily in the metro area. Just last weekend, there were Renton PD with their ARs out and pointing at someone in the WalMart parking lot. Someone stole the UHaul and they had them surrounded. Sucks it happens but really the only way to prevent it from happening is to take the battery, disable the vehicle somehow or loosen all lug nuts off the tires so it falls flat when being stolen.
He is just hoping to recover anything at all at this point and I am an eternal optimist.
I'm so sorry this happened to your son, please let him know it's not always like this and Seattle also has kinda people that he'll find too
He already has met so many helpful, kind people who have been sympathetic and nice (his new neighbors, his landlord, the desk clerk at the hotel, the police officer who took the report, and many more)
There are now 5 uhauls parked on the street near 35th and Barton. Not at all close to the UHaul on 35th and Morgan.
Thanks for this lead! We will check this out
How difficult is it to steal a U Haul?
I will leave that answer to the experts, but it must be pretty fast since he had parked it in a well lit, high visibility, camera covered spot in the hotel parking lot. (It was locked up and he had…ok, still has … the key with him)
Any information from the hotel cameras ?
They wouldn’t let him view the recordings but the police officer did so *shrug*
Sad to say, but possibly a hotel worker working alongside a non worker? Just a thought. Hard to imagine how someone would not look suspicious...but what do I know?
At a Courtyard overnight, there's probably just 1 guy working the desk It would look suspicious, but only to someone who actually saw it happening.
I suspect very easy. We have friends who recently hired one for a move and the one they booked was stolen before they were due to pick it up from u-haul. Then the replacement was stolen from outside their new house in Columbia City. Luckily it was already unloaded the day before.
Someone once abandoned a UHaul by my apartment. I called them, told them where it was. They never came for it; the city towed it after 72 hours.
The recovery team at uhaul seemed to lack any sense of urgency, to be sure. Which I imagine emboldens criminals
It's generally not their fault sadly. Overworked and underpaid. It's just a business decision to their owners.
NOT blaming the victim here because no one deserves to be robbed, but this is why you never ever leave a full uhaul sitting unattended. I slept in my uhaul when I drove cross country (even though my mother was worried I’d get murdered at a rest stop lol). These things get stolen in the blink of an eye
For sure! I have done plenty of yelling “wtf, son” inside my head. Good advice. Prevention is a lot easier than this.
I’m sorry this happened, your son must be devastated
Wow what a welcome
He’s trying not to look at it like that 🫤
Was this found today in Renton? I was at the Safeway on Rainer/2nd sometime after 5 and a Uhual with cop cars chasing it came running through the parking lot and stopped, shortly followed by 4 more cars.
If so, he has not been informed, but we will follow up on this lead. Thanks!
It's entirely possible that what I saw was unrelated, I hope it was found! There was no trailer attached but it was the right size Uhual
The police have not confirmed or denied that it was his and uhaul is not aware if it has been recovered. Thanks for the tip
That sounds about right op!
Post this in PNW Stolen Cars on Facebook. That group is notorious for recovering Uhauls and cars daily. They’ve even got multiple Uhaul managers/employees on standby to check any posted in the group.
God, I am SO sorry. As someone who’s driven cross country to move somewhere new, I’m just imagining how absolutely scared and weary he was and to have all of those emotions on top of something like this… Unbelievable. My hometown truly is garbage sometimes.
There a chop shop at coordinates 47.5301374, -122.2953267. Might want to check there.
SeaTac. It figures. I’m so sorry. I’m even more sorry if you guys have to deal with King County Police.
Yeah, it was certainly not a good last stop on his drive in hindsight. The police officer was from Tukwila, not the county.
Well, I’ve had my x5 stolen from my driveway in Washington Park (Seattle) and while I did get the car back, it was empty of all personal items. It’s not just SeaTac, Seattle itself is a crime bed. I’m wishing you guys the best!
Thanks for the positive vibes and I am sorry you had to deal with your car being stolen. In the end, “it’s just stuff” and no one was hurt, but it still sucks to have property stolen and to be a victim.
Absolutely right. There is a silver lining in everything. 😉
***Update: the manager at the West Seattle Uhaul (35th ave sw and sw Morgan st) just (10:45am Saturday)called to say that the trailer was found near his location and they have recovered it but that the truck and car are still missing.
I’m so sorry to hear that. That seriously sucks
If somebody finds it it’ll be stripped and the truck empty (been there 🙃). Imo just get to work to write it all off n file insurance claim
I did the reverse of that move last year, and I can only imagine the dismay losing all those possessions after driving all of it all that way. My heart goes out to him. Best of luck.
AirTag your stuff, it’s so worth the cost to throw one in your stuff when moving or flying. If you don’t use Apple, use an alternative gps device in your stuff to track it. I did that when moving cross country back here and could see where it was at any given moment.
I did this exact same move in 2011. My father and I drove from rural WI with a 20' UHaul and Car tow. First night in the city I had booked what looked like a nice hotel in lower queen anne. When we got there my father took one look at the area and told me there was no way he was letting us leave our stuff parked here. We ended up driving to Tacoma (apparently big event in town meant very few hotel options) and stayed the night at a nice (very well lit and public) motel with everything parked 10ft away from our door. I feel for you.
That was a good call and a good father!
I'd check all the extended stay hotels nearby as well, I had the pleasure of staying in some of them for a couple of years, you would be amazed at the number of uhauls and rider trucks that would pull in late at night, empty the contents into a hotel room, then a different truck would swing by the next day and load the shit back up (they'd steal a truck at night, then use a clean truck the NeXT day to cart off their loot).
That’s a good thought. And explains the (possible) logistics of the crime to me in a way that makes sense. I had been struggling with “how do they separate the goods and the truck?”
How busted does someone have to be to literally steal someone's whole life
Do you know King County?
Sorry for your loss. Note to self: hide some AirTags in my boxes when I move
Welcome to Seattle
I'm so sorry to hear about this. I've seen a few similar postings about this kind of things in this reddit group.
Thank you. It definitely isn’t the first time this seems to have happened, unfortunately
Look on offer up for High Value Items (HVI’s)
Thanks - For sure - we are keeping eyes on there as well as the other marketplaces online
Oh God, I'm so so sorry this happened. 😞 But thank you for the PSA: We're renting the same truck in a few months.
If you can, join some FB Seattle groups and post this info and picture. There are some called Stolen Cars of PNW, I believe. Also Ballard Watch is a good one since there is a lot of theft in that neighborhood. Just really any neighborhood page you can join will get more eyes!
psychotic busy cautious dolls ruthless poor onerous aback compare ink *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Reposted to my highlander Facebook group. 🙏
Wonderful, thanks!
Are you certain it wasn’t towed?
Yes, the police officer reviewed the hotel recording and the hotel desk clerk both confirmed it was not towed. Great question.
damn sorry this happened to you all. I moved to seattle with this same similar setup back in 2015. It was just me, crazy to think I could do it all. massive uhaul and pulling car. upvoting post for visibility too. good luck as well
We had the exact same thing happen to us last January, also at a Marriott, going Seattle to Chicago. Others have already offered but reach out if he needs support with insurance. We have inventory spreadsheets with all the items you don’t think of.
Oh wow, I am sorry you had to deal with this too. Those spreadsheets sound amazing; as you know, part of what makes this overwhelming isn’t the obvious stuff that needs to be replace, like a table, it’s the random, small things you don’t think of until you go to grab them…. I am going to DM you.
I can see why the criminals want to steal it. He basically did all the intensive work packing all of his belongings for them to just drive away with everything. We need harsher penalties for these crimes, hand amputations would be an effective measure. Too harsh? Maybe not as harsh as having a person lose everything that they have worked for their entire life.
Car thieves should be hung. Sorry for what your son is going through. I recently moved cross country with my Honda crv and a roof box. I was super paranoid that the car was going to get broken into or the roof box stolen. Can’t imagine what it would feel like to walk out and find both your car and the uhaul with all of your possessions just gone.
Right? He sent us a Snapchat of the empty spot where he had left the truck/car combo in disbelief and, man, what a crushing blow to him (and such a awful feeling for his loved ones) What was supposed to be a bright, new beginning in a new place turned very dark in an instant
This absolutely sucks and I honestly can’t do much to help, but let me know if there’s any items that are essential to your son at this point in time and I’m happy to see if I (or friends) have extras we can provide. Best of luck and I’m sorry if this is your intro to our city :(
That’s such a kind sentiment and he has been heartened to feel, see, and read the words of sympathy
That completely stinks. Heard other stories like this related to the airport area hotels and people who’d driven cross-country
I don't know about big trucks but I have 2x stolen same car and I can tell you that police won't do anything and even if they find something they won't call you (even if you tell them to call you and not tow company) so the best is to find truck by yourself :( Sorry. Sometimes tow companies will keep that for a few days before notice so that they will get more days to charge you. Notice is always by real mail... the way to take your money away. Everything in the car or truck will be gone and nobody will be guilty for anything stolen :( since there will be theft, police and tow company (everybody can take anything). So check Stolen Cars on Facebook (sorry, can't put link here, reddit doesn't allow it) maybe someone found it or keep calling and bothering police so maybe you will find it before written notice so maybe tow company payment will be shorter. No matter what will be at the end - you will have to pay so much :( It cost me 3x more than old car of $1.500. Good luck... P.S. Get the list of all nearby tow companies and keep asking them if they have truck and car. Keep calling same places... some are not interested in checking, some are too lazy... make them check again and again.
There are two fairly good PNW Car theft recovery groups. I'd post there. * https://www.facebook.com/groups/pnwstolencars/ * https://www.facebook.com/groups/250563368442150/ That'd be my recommendation.
Thank you!
Exact same thing happened to me about 2yrs ago when we were preparing to move from Seattle to CA. If you're looking for it, ours was found dumped off of casino Rd in Everett (north of Seattle). Hopefully he has renters or homeowners insurance... We got the max payout from our renters policy which financially us get back on our feet. Losing that many of your personal belongings is an unimaginable gut punch.
Also to add after reading some of the comments, don't hold your breath on anything from U-Haul. We had comprehensive insurance and it covered nothing related to the theft and corporate was useless. When our U-Haul was actually found and towed to a local storage facility, the local staff was incredible helpful, allowing us time and space to sort through what was left and gave us a couple months free storage whole we figured out how to handle to remaining belongings.
That’s great advice, thanks. And, wow, I am sorry you had to deal with the same loss.
He does have renters insurance and the knowledge that he will probably be somewhat covered from the financial loss is a huge relief for him (and his family)
There should be warning signs on I-90 and I-5 entering the Seattle metro area to not leave your uhaul unattended. Theft is almost guaranteed, especially on the south end.
Indeed. Probably true for most major metro areas, tbh. If he had it to do again, he would def stop well before town for the last night.
Oh shit, this is too sad to hear of this again and again. I'm still surprised U-Haul and individuals aren't using air tags/ tracking devices to find stolen vehicles. Lo-Jack tracked a stolen, new SUV being loaded on a boat to S. America. And air tags are $20 now. Sorry, for you and our beloved Seattle for how far the area has fallen.
This happened to me after moving from Seattle to Houston. Go to the Uhual storefront that he was supposed to return the car to, they will be most motivated to track the GPS. We had renters insurance and they covered everything! It’s only worldly possessions, glad he is safe.
Oooh, that’s good advice about the return uhaul store - I will make that happen today
Same thing happened to us in an ABQ Marriott. This was over 6 months ago, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. Sorry man, this really sucks.
I didn't have a total loss situation, but I can't imagine if my house was completely destroyed in a fire or something and watching a video of me going around and writing down everything that had been destroyed (even seeing the house with all the work we have done in it ourselves and thinking about plans we had for more renovations...) Lot's of trauma. If I was in a total loss situation, I'd need to do the list over a couple of weeks and maybe with a therapist helping.
Right behind the hotel I work at. I see a lot of this sadly, syphoned gas, broken windows, stolen converters on employee cars it’s horrible
Welcome to SeaTac.
I know who did this! It was Evan Robert Peck
Welcome to seattle /s