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Mechanic: Stolen car parts could be worth thousands more than actual car

Posted at 4:24 PM, Dec 11, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-11 18:02:11-05

One Patterson Park couple woke up to two missing doors on their 2014 Toyota Camry on Sunday.

It happened near their home on East Baltimore Street.

RELATED: Patterson Park couple’s car doors stolen overnight

Maybe they were pros, to Ann Carmody, whoever jacked her two car doors has done this before.

“They just came, got what they wanted and were gone,” Carmody said.

The doors to her Camry are gone. They were stolen in the middle of the night, and according to Ann, it was quick work.

“They broke the driver’s side window, reached in and opened the hood, and then disconnected the battery cable right away so no alarm would go off and the electric would be dead to the door,” she said.

David Scherr says you’d only need a few tools to get it done.

He’s the general manager at K&S Associates, a body shop in Hampden.

“They can do it pretty fast. There are about five bolts that hold a door open. There’s a wire harness in the back of the door. You cut that, you pop off the five bolts, and the actual door will come off the vehicle,” Scherr said.

And in minutes the thieves can be on their way.

In some cases, the 30-year mechanic says, the parts by themselves can be worth more than the entire car. It all depends on the buyer.

“A lot of times you might see a lot of things taken out. Most times they break open the car door and they take things that are inside of the vehicle, usually,” Scherr said.

But in Ann’s case, it was the doors to her vehicle – a job she says was almost laughable.

“I have to admit it was a professional job. There’s not a scratch on the car, not a mark anywhere. None of the hinges that the door attaches to are bent. I mean they knew what they were doing,” Carmody said.