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Nikhil Gowda has every right to be upset.
Last month, the Mountain View resident was the victim of a brazen theft. In the middle of the night, a thief or thieves visited the apartment carport where his Nissan sedan was parked. But the thieves weren’t interested in stealing his car or any valuables inside.
Instead, their plunder was his wheels — tires, rims and all. Apparently without anyone noticing, the thieves unbolted all four wheels from the car and discreetly hauled them away.
When Gowda next saw his car, he found it sitting on cinder blocks with its bare axles exposed.
It seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of crime, Gowda said. But three weeks later, on Jan. 14, he was walking out to drive to work, only to discover the same thing had happened again.
Just like before, all four wheels were missing, this time from his second car, an Infiniti sedan. The vehicle was left propped up on a few milk crates.
“Let me tell you, I was screaming and shouting about it,” Gowda said. “I’ve heard about nearby car break-ins, but I had never heard about wheels being stolen off of cars around here.”
This time around, the thieves didn’t target only him. The Mercedes sedan parked next to Gowda’s car also had all its wheels taken. The thieves left that vehicle resting on some stones they apparently grabbed from nearby landscaping.
While Gowda filed reports with the police, it’s the kind of crime that is understandably hard to pursue. Mountain View police officials couldn’t immediately give specifics on how often wheels have been stolen off a vehicle, but the crime does pop up occasionally. The criminal motive is that tires and rims can be resold for cash relatively quickly either as scrap or as collectibles.
“Tires can be expensive, especially if they have high-end rims,” said police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. “Cars with more expensive tires, rims and wheels could be potentially bigger targets than your typical wheel that you see on a sedan.”
As reported last week in the Voice, car-related crimes are on the rise in Mountain View. Car burglaries increased by 12 percent in 2018, while vehicle thefts shot up by 62 percent in the same year.
The theft of car wheels is an old crime, but various news reports indicate that it could be having a resurgence in some areas of the U.S. Online marketplaces to hawk auto parts have made the crime more lucrative, according to media reports. Across the county, car insurance companies have been encouraging legislation that would prohibit dealers from buying used tires for cash.
Gowda is still fuming over being targeted twice, likely by the same criminals. The one upside is his insurance will cover the thefts, minus his deductible.
More than a week after the latest wheel theft, he hasn’t had time to put new wheels on his car. His Infiniti is still propped up on milk crates, which are beginning to compress from the weight.
“There’s nothing to stop this from happening again,” he said.
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This is why I spend a bit more and buy 2 different sets of wheel locks. But shouldn’t there have been cameras in that apartment area?
How about the location of this apartment complex?
Certain areas of Mountain View, such as Shoreline movie theaters, are magnets for car thefts.
It worries me that the OSH site is just abandoned. I wonder if this is going to be a staging area for those who are about to go about unlawful activity. I wonder if Mountain View police are monitoring it. Does anyone have any knowledge of what is going to happen at the OSH site.
“Infiniti”
Infinity, Nissan.. same thing.
Anyways.. never thought about buying 2 sets of keys. But now is the time.
“There’s nothing to stop this from happening again,” he said.
They’re not professionals or else they’d take the cars, so wheel locks should do the trick.
I had this happen twice at the Americana. More than $2000 to replace the tires/rims. Then a few weeks later they stole my brand new unscratched rims/tires. I moved out a couple months later.