Chop shop

This article is about the slang phrase. For other uses, see Chop shop (disambiguation).

In motor vehicle theft, a chop shop is a location or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts. It may also be used to refer to a location or business that is involved with the selling of stolen or fraudulent goods in general, an example of the latter being a brokerage that sells non-existent equities. Another common use refers to a business whose product, service, or equipment is of questionable quality.

Stolen cars are sold in foreign countries for several reasons. In under-developed countries, there are often fewer rules and less enforcement of laws pertaining to plates and title paperwork, so the car is less likely to be noticed. Criminals are also hopeful that there is little incentive on the part of the victim to search in other countries, since even if the car is found, it may cost more (in detective, legal, and transportation fees) than the car is actually worth. This is especially true if the stolen car is of lesser value.

Difficulties stealing certain cars

Late model cars often have sophisticated anti-theft devices, requiring sophisticated measures to defeat them. For the car thief, the difficulty in bypassing these security features may be nearly impossible or too time consuming. Most cars equipped with these systems are either stolen while the keys are still in the ignition - mostly from owner negligence at a gas station - or towed away by "sneaker" tow trucks. Advanced car theft "rings" have the knowledge and equipment needed to bypass these security. For instance, on cars equipped with RF transmitters inside of the key, the RF transmitter ID must match the security module and the engine computer. So, not only does the physical key cut have to match, the RF transmitter has to match as well. To get around this, some "rings" establish relationships with car dealers and get car keys cut by VIN# directly from the dealer themselves. Other methods are to have multiple pre-cut keys to try and code scanners for RF based systems. There may be many hidden places on the car where the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is stamped. The chop shop will likely be more familiar with these devices.

In Australia, buying accident crashed cars in auction and selling the cars with new fitted parts is called car rebirthing.

Operation

A chop shop must be able to take apart a car without damaging the parts and keep them organized. Time is of the essence: more cars processed equals higher profits. There is no advantage to a large inventory, as it can be done more efficiently in a "JIT" (Just In Time) manner by asking a thief only when cars are needed.

Example statistics

In the Czech Republic there are 2.7 million registered cars. A calculated estimate (made on a sample of 240 000 cars) is that 450 000 (16%) cars were once stolen or contain stolen parts. In total 23 000 cars were stolen in 2004, of which 4000 were found (17%). Following the information from Pavel Nahodil, the representative of foreign insurance companies in the Czech Republic, about 7% of the regular market price is paid for a stolen first-generation Škoda Octavia car in a chop shop.

References

External links

• Criminal Resource Manual 1369: Chop Shops (Title 18 U.S.C. § 2322)
• City of Pittsburgh: Types of Car Theft
• Autoblog.com "BUSTED! Canada's largest chop shop caught with 700 stolen cars" - May 3, 2007
• Deseret News (Salt Lake City) "Auto-theft ring and 'chop shop' out of commission" - Feb 19, 2006
• WKRN Nashville Tennessee "Car Thieves Target Hondas, Acuras For Chop Shops" - August 29, 2007
• InsideBayArea.com "Tracy authorities bust alleged chop shop" - 25 August 2007
• thedenverchannel.com "Police Discover Alleged Chop Shop, Auto Theft Ring" - October 15, 2004
• KSN.com "Feds bust Wichita chop shop for auto theft" - Aug 22, 2007
• [1] "Lidove Noviny 19 September 2007"