In the city of Sunrise, Florida, there were 56 heists of car tires between January and August of this year. During the same time period last year there were just 12 thefts.
Other Florida cities, including Coconut Creek, Plantation, Margate, and Lauderhill have also seen upticks in the number of tire thieves striking their communities. Paula Montesarchio, a condo resident in Davie, woke up to a police officer knocking on her door. The officer informed her that they had responded to reports of a man lurking around the condo and when they arrived, they found all four tires and rims stripped from her Nissan 370Z. The car was left on a paver.
Tire thieves tend to work extremely fast in order to take all four tires. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a determined thief has the ability to steal 10 to 15 converters a day, but wheels and rims are common targets for their more expedient removal.
As Miami-Dade detective Lee Cowart points out, mechanics who work in the pits during NASCAR races can change tires and refuel a car in 15 seconds. While the thieves are likely below NASCAR-level proficiency, they typically have similar equipment and are encouraged by the ease of selling parts online or to used parts stores.
In Hillsborough County, Florida, thieves have even been targeting these stores as sites for their robberies. Deputies from the County Sheriff’s Office surveilled a man and saw him taking a rim from Rim Masters. The officers were able to arrest the man and charge him for burglary and grand theft for the crime. They were also able to connect him to at least two of the six thefts in the area.
These recent cases of theft are not confined to Florida. In Shelby, North Carolina, Pastor Marcus Strong of the Destiny Life Center Church found out parts were taken from his van on Sept. 26. When he started the van, it made a strange racket and when he took it to a mechanic he found out that the catalytic converter had been stolen. The Westview Baptist Church in Shelby had an identical case of theft in the same week. According to police reports, the mechanic for that van said that he had seen four vehicles over two weeks all with their catalytic converters stolen.
The expenses to replace these parts are hitting the theft victims hard.With the average length of vehicle ownership having increased by 60% in the last 10 years, vehicle owners are relying on extended ownership to save them automotive expenses. In the case of Pastor Strong, he laments that funds intended to help people now have to be spent on the church’s van.
