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PERMANENT LINK | JANUARY 31, 2013

How to Recover Your Stolen Car

Bryan Caplan

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Very cool idea from a former taxi driver on MR:

[I]f your car is ever stolen, your first calls should be to every cab company in the city. You offer a $50 reward to the driver who finds it AND a $50 reward to the dispatcher on duty when the car is found. The latter is to encourage dispatchers on shift to continually remind drivers of your stolen car. Of course you should call the police too but first things first. There are a lot more cabs than cops so cabbies will find it first -and they're more frequently going in places cops typically don't go, like apartment and motel complex parking lots, back alleys etc. Lastly, once the car is found, a swarm of cabs will descend and surround it because cabbies, like anyone else, love excitement and want to catch bad guys.

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CATEGORIES: Economics of Crime
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COMMENTS (10 to date)

Latest Comment

Jay Baldwin writes:

A very Sherlockian approach...

Posted January 31, 2013 12:36 PM

mobile writes:

Like Gavin de Becker's advice in Protecting the Gift. Teach your children that if they get lost, don't try to find a policeman, just find a woman and ask for help.

Posted January 31, 2013 12:59 PM

thomas writes:

mobile,

wow, was that sexist, or what?

Posted January 31, 2013 1:09 PM

mobile writes:

If I wasn't clear, the advice is that your children should try to find a woman, not that you should try to get a woman to help you find your children.

Women are easier to find than the police. Women are less likely to be creepy predators who will try to take advantage of a lost child. And women are more likely to have an emotional response to a child in need so they will be more helpful and protective. If it hurts your feelings that I give this advice to my children, I don't think that is very important.

Posted January 31, 2013 1:29 PM

Peter writes:

Speaking from the personal experience of having had a car stolen twice in my life (and recovered both times), you DO NOT WANT IT TO BE RECOVERED. You will get completely hosed on what insurance pays out and your car will never be back up to the same par before it was stolen. You want it to be completely gone/unrecoverable.

Posted January 31, 2013 2:02 PM

Harold Cockerill writes:

mobile,

A twofer, both sexist and good advice.

Posted January 31, 2013 6:34 PM

Peter H writes:

Other Peter,

This is true if and only if you carry comprehensive insurance with a low deductible. If you don't have comprehensive insurance, you're out the full value of the car if you can't recover it.

Posted January 31, 2013 6:44 PM

Ron H. writes:

mobile

If I wasn't clear, the advice is that your children should try to find a woman, not that you should try to get a woman to help you find your children.

But that might be a good way to meet women. At some point I could slap my forehead and exclaim "Oh jeez! I forgot. My ex-wife has them this week."

Thanks for the great new pick-up line. :)

Posted January 31, 2013 6:51 PM

Christopher Burd writes:

Have you tested this out, or is it just a theory?

No offence, Bryan, but you don't strike me as particularly street-wise. If I'm looking for advice on recovering a stolen car, I want street-wise.

Posted February 2, 2013 8:34 PM

John Fembup writes:

"If I'm looking for advice on recovering a stolen car, I want street-wise."

Well, Burd, how about advice from a former taxi driver? Would that be street-wise enough for you?

Posted February 3, 2013 2:53 PM

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