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.
READER COMMENTS
Jay Baldwin
Jan 31 2013 at 12:36pm
A very Sherlockian approach…
mobile
Jan 31 2013 at 12:59pm
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.
thomas
Jan 31 2013 at 1:09pm
mobile,
wow, was that sexist, or what?
mobile
Jan 31 2013 at 1:29pm
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.
Peter
Jan 31 2013 at 2:02pm
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.
Harold Cockerill
Jan 31 2013 at 6:34pm
mobile,
A twofer, both sexist and good advice.
Peter H
Jan 31 2013 at 6:44pm
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.
Ron H.
Jan 31 2013 at 6:51pm
mobile
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. 🙂
Christopher Burd
Feb 2 2013 at 8:34pm
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.
John Fembup
Feb 3 2013 at 2:53pm
“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?
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