Thieves across the nation are taking the removable 3rd row seats from SUVs with growing consistency. The issue is especially bad in California and Texas. Get the best car buy for your situation.



Used third row seats can fetch $1K



SUV owners are willing to pay as much as $1,000 for replacement seats for their 3rd row. They get broken and worn out regularly, and owners want to get them. A thousand dollars does not seem that bad since owner pay $4,000 or higher for replacement seats from a car dealership.



Does not require much time



A recent video seen on ABC's Good Morning America showed robbers stealing the seat out of silver SUV in a total of 40 seconds. Nice return for under a minute's work.



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Had to deal with seat burglars



Ivan Barahona has been focused on by seat thieves twice, according to ABC. She said:



“It feels really bad because people work really hard for what they have.”



James Roberts of Dallas, Texas owns the SUV that was targeted by the thieves in the ABC video. The entire crime was captured by a parking lot security camera. Roberts told ABC that his wife and daughter returned to the vehicle just seconds after the burglars fled with the seats.



Some awesome advice



Police force officials have asked that owners engrave the SUV VIN on the button of the seat in order to match up taken seats with owners later, since the Los Angeles Police Department has been dealing with a lot of reports of the crime.



Mike Ventura is an LAPD Detective. He said:



"You can use the VIN number and this way it's a unique identifier to the actual owner of the car. ... It’s something that’s very simple. With a little bit of time and effort people can protect themselves.”



It is certainly something to consider whenever you shop for your next SUV from a dealer like Miller Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Springfield. An engraving tool costs between $15 and $25 and could save you thousands.



Another thing owners can do is to secure the seats with an inexpensive bicycle cable lock. That, at least, will slow burglars down and most likely deter many thefts.



People need it because it is taken



There is an enormous irony when it comes to these thefts. The thieves are stealing the sets and selling them on eBay just to have SUV owners purchase them because their seats were stolen. SUV owners are basically getting their own taken seats.



Sources



ABC

ABC News

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