welcome to my nightmare - stolen car keys

SCandelous95

SCandelous95

Registered User
so last night i go to the golds gym here by my house, and set my car keys on a table right near the front desk. about 20 minutes into my workout, i notice they are gone! i look around for awhile but no luck. i check with the front desk and everybody who works there, but turns up no keys. i dont know what to do, so i continuosly check to see if my car is still in the lot. i spend a good hour scouring the gym for them, no luck. no one has returned them or found them. i try calling every locksmith in town but no one is available or cant do it until the next day. i called my insurance co. and they said the same thing. on top of that, the entire golds gym system goes down right when im on hold with a locksmith, the phones, the tvs, the computers everything, so i cant even get a callback or call out. i left my cell at home. So what to do? i went to my car, luckily it has keyless entry (something that has saved my a$$ a number of times) and got my wallet and important stuff out. i decided i'd have walk home, a couple miles. work out number two. before i left, i popped the hood and took the battery terminal clamps with me. then locked the car. so if someone came back later trying to take it, they cant...no power to drive off, or even open the door. How im going to get back in, is a mystery to me, but better than haveing a stolen car.

so far no keys have turned up at the gym. Ford says they dont keep backup keys, only for cars 96 and later via the VIN number, so im gonna try a locksmith again and pay alot to get a key made from the ignition system. or i guess replace it altogether....not sure which is easier or cheaper?

anyhow, wish me luck, this sucks and just had to vent!
 
if it were only that simple...i only got one set of keys when i bought the car, and keyless entry is my backup. never lost my keys before, but didnt think they'd get ganked. i'll def make a backup key now though, which i usually do, but in this case i dont.
 
SCandelous95 said:
so last night i go to the golds gym here by my house, and set my car keys on a table right near the front desk. about 20 minutes into my workout, i notice they are gone! i look around for awhile but no luck. i check with the front desk and everybody who works there, but turns up no keys. i dont know what to do, so i continuosly check to see if my car is still in the lot. i spend a good hour scouring the gym for them, no luck. no one has returned them or found them. i try calling every locksmith in town but no one is available or cant do it until the next day. i called my insurance co. and they said the same thing. on top of that, the entire golds gym system goes down right when im on hold with a locksmith, the phones, the tvs, the computers everything, so i cant even get a callback or call out. i left my cell at home. So what to do? i went to my car, luckily it has keyless entry (something that has saved my a$$ a number of times) and got my wallet and important stuff out. i decided i'd have walk home, a couple miles. work out number two. before i left, i popped the hood and took the battery terminal clamps with me. then locked the car. so if someone came back later trying to take it, they cant...no power to drive off, or even open the door. How im going to get back in, is a mystery to me, but better than haveing a stolen car.

so far no keys have turned up at the gym. Ford says they dont keep backup keys, only for cars 96 and later via the VIN number, so im gonna try a locksmith again and pay alot to get a key made from the ignition system. or i guess replace it altogether....not sure which is easier or cheaper?

anyhow, wish me luck, this sucks and just had to vent!
Click to expand...

I work out at Golds as well. They have a big key board just inside the door that everyone just hangs there keys up on. I dont drive the SC to the gym but still I am thinking of keeping my truck keys on me in the future. Its just a pain to have a cluster of keys on you while working out.

Ken
 
yeah, this golds dosent have a place for keys. i would suggest to all of you to TAKE YOUR KEYS with you at the gym, you dont want to have to deal with this !!
 
It looks like you will have to go to a locksmith or buy all new lock cylinders and keys from a parts car. Sorry to hear about your trouble.
 
That sucks. I think I would have yanked the fuel pump relay though.

Maybe you'll get lucky and someone just grabbed the wrong keys.
 
thanks. got cothrons to come out and make a duplicate key. so my vehicle is now safe at home. probably going to get them to change out the ignition key completely. i'll probably leave the doors alone, so they dont try to break the window before they figure out the key wont start the car, they have the alarm part anyhow.

guess im gonna wait to see if anyone returns the keys, if not i might ask to see the security tape, if i end up going down that road. but for now, i'll be going to the OTHER golds gym. :p
 
I work at a sports club ( gym ) .. we have lockers for people to keep their stuff in, but those are so easy to break into sometimes also - theyre not looking for keys, mostly wallets and nice watches .. cars get broken into in the parking lot ALL the time, they just smash the window and grab. Happened to me, so long to my TV in dash head unit.

But yeah, as far as the keys go, my mom locked her keys in her Mark VIII, and I didnt write down the keyless entry number .. but I actually have keys for many many TBirds ( at least 4 birds, and 3 mark's ) .. and I tried a few and one of them worked to open the door, no problem. Ive had to pop a few trunks sometimes, and I'll find a key that will be close enough to jiggle, then use a plyers and turn the key .. trunk pops right open. Good to know. These keys are so similar ( not to mention 10+ year old key lock cylinders are loose ), it is possible to open anybodies cars with the right ones.

- Dan
 
If you're going to pursue a criminal investigation, I would do it now, not later. Security tapes are usually erased fairly quickly, as I understand it.
 
replace the ignition lock cylinder and MAKE A DUPLICATE for the misses or keep at home... find your alarm module and look up the manual for it.. it will tell you how to erase all programmed remotes.. that way the stolen remote won't function for your vehicle anymore... hope this helps and that sucks as$ some one would steal your keys
 
got to ask this one....

If you have keyless entry, WHY don't you use it... I lock my keys in the car all the time. I put them in the glove box or the trunk and lock it all the time.
This is what it was made for. You can put your keys where you know they are and they are safe...
I got into this habit years ago when a friend dropped his keys in the lake getting on his boat... We spent a coulpe of hours with a magnet and a string from the marina office... That was all the help I needed to make that choice... You got keyless, use it....that's all I can say.....Rich
 
mr pro street is right, when i used to go running at the park in my trousers i would leave all my belongings stashed away inside the car, and just used the keyless entry to get back in.... this one time at the mall, i was so sleepy, shopping with girlfriend, and i sit down and i couldnt feel my keys, so i say, THATS ODD! so i panic, and i run like i had just stolen something back to the car! and WOOO they were safely in the ignition, yes it was stupid to leave them in the ignition, but the morale of the story is, USE YOUR KEYLESS ENTRY.... just hope you dont leave something on that drains your battery :D
 
No worse than disconnecting the battery to change the starter...

Not having your keyless entry fob, and just the single key in the ignition and locking the doors and shutting the hood with the key in the ignition...

Keyless entry didn't work because of the battery being disconnected, I was so pissed...
 
Locking the keys in the car becuase you have a 'keyless entry' is quite common. People have been doing that for years, and thieves know about it.
It is quite common for a trunk to be broken into, the keys to be found and the keyless entry code is right there on the trunk hinge rod...not a very well hidden spot, I think. Then the thief has your keys and your car and its gone.
I worked for Ford many years ago and this scenario happened hundreds of times while I was there. Incidents were reported about this nearly every day from somewhere.

Take a spare key and hide it somewhere in the vehicle that is uncommon; Inside a seat cushion, behind a steering wheel/horn cover, under the carpet...anywhere that you know you can get to it, but that no one will look. The trick is to make it something that may take a few minutes and maybe a hand tool or two to get to...a deterrent to a potential thief.

Now, if you lose your key, you at least know the spare is accesible and known only to you.

Oh, and be sure to remove the 'keyless' code label from the trunk rod. There is also another code label attached to the keyless module in the trunk computer package tray, but it is somewhat hard to get to easily, but it can still be done.
Just remove the lables and put the code somewhere safe in your house.

The cars all came new with a credit-card style 'keyless entry code' card that was intended to be carried in the owner's wallet. Most of them actually stayed in the owner's manual package right inside the glove box...and thieves know of this too. Get those out of the glove box and put them in your house.
 
My security system is based on the fact that I am one of the few people in my area driving a 17-year-old car. Most people wouldn't want to trade down from their Escalade.

Nonetheless, I think I will hide my spare key a little better. I don't really care too much about the sticker in the trunk, because someone has to break in to see it. So if they are gonna break into my trunk, they should have no qualms about smashing my window.
 
S_Mazza said:
My security system is based on the fact that I am one of the few people in my area driving a 17-year-old car. Most people wouldn't want to trade down from their Escalade.

Nonetheless, I think I will hide my spare key a little better. I don't really care too much about the sticker in the trunk, because someone has to break in to see it. So if they are gonna break into my trunk, they should have no qualms about smashing my window.
Click to expand...

If you are the type who takes your vehicle to a shop for repairs, don't understimate the losers that populate those shops sometimes. They have been known to get the numbers and make thier 'attack' later.

But, I'm with ya: Most of my cars are older, less-desirable models that are not popular with the thieves. So that gives a little more security.
 
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