When you take your car to the dealership for a routine check, the last thing you expect is a call from the same dealership, informing you that your vehicle has been stolen off the lot.
That’s the call Carmen got last weekend. She took her 2013 Hyundai to Lehman Autoworld in Miami Gardens, Florida, for an oil change and informed the next day that it had been stolen. And that’s not even the most outrageous part of the story.
That would be that the theft could have easily been prevented had the dealership not made a very rookie and explainable mistake: that of leaving the keys inside the car, while it was unlocked.
“Why would they steal my car?” Carmen tells Local10. “They jumped the wall of the dealership, is what he told me, and then they went for another car first and used that car to break through the gates.”
Police later gave her the full story: the thieves did jump over the wall and stole one car, but they came back for the second. They crashed the first car through the gates and returned to take Carmen’s Hyundai, which was easy since they found it unlocked and with the keys in the ignition.
Local10 contacted the dealership and they admitted that “they, in fact, did leave her keys in the car unlocked overnight, but they said it was in a secure service garage with cameras and 24-hour security,” the report says. “They call this just an unfortunate situation that was addressed right away, but it's still mind boggling to Carmen, who believes this should have never happened.”
The dealership also calls this a learning experience – an unfortunate one, but an experience nonetheless. They’re cooperating with the police and are talking to Carmen to solve this.
That said, police have already retrieved Carmen’s vehicle, but the report doesn’t say anything about the condition it’s in.
That would be that the theft could have easily been prevented had the dealership not made a very rookie and explainable mistake: that of leaving the keys inside the car, while it was unlocked.
“Why would they steal my car?” Carmen tells Local10. “They jumped the wall of the dealership, is what he told me, and then they went for another car first and used that car to break through the gates.”
Police later gave her the full story: the thieves did jump over the wall and stole one car, but they came back for the second. They crashed the first car through the gates and returned to take Carmen’s Hyundai, which was easy since they found it unlocked and with the keys in the ignition.
Local10 contacted the dealership and they admitted that “they, in fact, did leave her keys in the car unlocked overnight, but they said it was in a secure service garage with cameras and 24-hour security,” the report says. “They call this just an unfortunate situation that was addressed right away, but it's still mind boggling to Carmen, who believes this should have never happened.”
The dealership also calls this a learning experience – an unfortunate one, but an experience nonetheless. They’re cooperating with the police and are talking to Carmen to solve this.
That said, police have already retrieved Carmen’s vehicle, but the report doesn’t say anything about the condition it’s in.