You've seen our video on the huge number of HSV/Holden V8 thefts. Well, now the police and Holden has responded. We also cover the methods being used by thieves to steal modern Toyota products and why there's little you can do to stop it.
Our original video that explains the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxzFCm5gyak
Skip Ahead:
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - GM Holden response
03:13 - Police response
07:16 - What has happened since
10:02 - I met with two informants
13:47 - Police are actually catching people
17:00 - How Toyota products are next
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
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#holden #toyota #stolen
Our original video that explains the situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxzFCm5gyak
Skip Ahead:
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - GM Holden response
03:13 - Police response
07:16 - What has happened since
10:02 - I met with two informants
13:47 - Police are actually catching people
17:00 - How Toyota products are next
We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.
Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.
Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1
You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.
Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!
Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!
CarExpert:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au
Paul Maric:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric
#holden #toyota #stolen
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MotorTranscript
00:00G'day, I'm Paul. So, we've got a follow-up video to our last video on the huge uptick of thefts of late model Holden and HSV's V8s.
00:10Today, I'm going to give you some updates that I got from the police, some updates that I got from Holden,
00:15and also some information from a couple of guys that I met up with that have a pretty deep understanding of what is going on here,
00:22and it is genuinely crazy stuff. So, let's get straight into it.
00:26So, firstly, big response to our last video, like half a million views, which is incredible stuff because it means that people are now more aware of the issues,
00:35and if you're the owner of one of these cars, you will at least now know some of the big security flaws that thieves are able to exploit with a basic tool off eBay.
00:43And if you didn't see that video, there is a link in the description below or a card on the screen there that you can click on to watch that.
00:50Now, first up, before we get to the response from the police, let's go with the response from Holden.
00:55Now, I was a bit surprised by this. I'm going to just read this out to you, quote from a GM ANZ spokesperson.
01:03So, just as a reminder, GM is still operating in Australia under General Motors special vehicles.
01:11GM ANZ is basically who I've got this response from. ANZ, not the bank. Australia, New Zealand.
01:16So, the quote is, GM ANZ is aware of reports of vehicle theft where offenders are misusing an aftermarket locksmith's tool sold for general vehicle use.
01:28The purchase of this tool is currently unregulated.
01:32Now, what that's called, if you're not from Australia, Australian sporting term, that's a handball.
01:36It's where you pass the ball in sport over to someone else, so it's no longer your problem.
01:40They are basically washing their hands of this, and it is so disappointing because Holden, for more than 50 years,
01:47they were basically operating in Australia, taking your money, taking taxpayers' money to operate here.
01:54They then sold these fantastic cars that people bought right up until the end.
01:58And to now know that they're still operating in Australia, still taking money and still operating under General Motors,
02:05they're not just washing their hands of this and going, well, you know, it's an aftermarket tool, people aren't meant to use it, not really our problem.
02:11Well, look, I actually think it is your problem, and there's an easy fix to this.
02:16They have so many smart engineers that work at GM that will know an easy way around this.
02:21The fact that you can buy tools now that will prevent people from getting access to your ECU through that OBD port
02:28tells me that there are simple solutions here that they can probably solve very quickly and very efficiently.
02:33And if they did want to make a bit of money out of this, they could say, hey, come and service your car at ACDelco,
02:38which is their sort of owned brand for genuine parts, and as part of your service, we'll fix your OBD port
02:45so that you can't actually use this tool anymore.
02:48But they're just not really doing anything as far as I can tell.
02:51I'm pretty sure they're working with police in the background, but again, that doesn't really fill me with confidence
02:55because neither of those two parties will be able to do anything just by working in the background.
02:59This is an active issue that is happening as we speak.
03:03And the fact that there appears to be nothing going on to solve this from a customer's point of view,
03:07I think is incredibly disappointing.
03:09So, yeah, a bit of a kick in the face, I reckon.
03:12Now, response from the police wasn't glowing.
03:16Now, I was a bit harsh in my first video regarding the police force and what they're doing on this,
03:20and sort of clarify my position here before I ran you through what they responded with.
03:24I have the utmost respect for police officers.
03:26They have the hardest job of really any job out there.
03:30They have to go and catch these criminals, only to then have a magistrate, a piss-weak magistrate,
03:36then go, nope, you're out on bail.
03:38And they were literally boasting about this on a live stream.
03:42The kids that are stealing these cars, and they are kids, based on the stats that we had last time.
03:47Hey, listen, if I get arrested, I get released in there at home.
03:50A huge percentage of these are youth offenders.
03:53These are kids aged from 10 through to around sort of 16 or 18 years old.
03:56They are youth offenders.
03:57They know the system.
03:58They know that they'll get bail.
03:59Bit of a sob story, out they go again, and they're stealing cars the next minute.
04:03Now, can you imagine how disheartening that must feel if you're a police officer
04:06who puts your life on the line to go and catch these arseholes,
04:10who then just get bailed the next minute because a magistrate feels sorry for them all,
04:14or just doesn't have the tools around legislation to fix that.
04:17And a lot of this is driven by, again, a government that is so weak on crime.
04:22This is happening beyond just car theft.
04:24You've got home invasions and all these other issues that people are dealing with at the moment,
04:29and a government that just has no idea how to respond.
04:31I mean, the fact that police can't even get paid properly at the moment is alarming.
04:36They want more money for the job that they're doing.
04:38They deserve more money for the job that they're doing,
04:41yet they're in this massive pay dispute at the moment
04:43where they just aren't getting the money that they want.
04:45And the ultimate irony here is that the government, in conjunction with the police,
04:50they've got this pay dispute written all over their cars,
04:53and they've got it written on like X5s and 5 Series BMWs.
04:56It's the ultimate irony that they're driving around in $120,000, $150,000 cars,
05:02wanting more money.
05:03And it's like, who came up with this deal to start with,
05:06where they went, okay, we're going to take a $50,000 car in the SS Commodore
05:09that they probably got for much cheaper as well,
05:12that they were using as police cars, highway patrol cars.
05:15We're now going to replace them with an X5 or a 5 Series.
05:18It's like $150,000.
05:19And now you want more money as well.
05:23It's like, well, how about don't spend all your money on a fancy European car
05:27when you can get countless other cars that do the same thing for much cheaper.
05:30You might then have enough money to pay your police force properly.
05:32So anyway, what I'm getting at here is full respect for the police.
05:36This is not their fault.
05:37They are trying as hard as they can to fix this,
05:40which then leads me to the response I got from them,
05:42which I just thought was very petty.
05:44Basically, I asked, can we interview whoever is in charge of the car theft division
05:50to see what is going on?
05:51Because based on your feedback from that last video we did,
05:55what if you don't have any confidence in what the police is doing at the moment?
05:58And I thought, well, if we can get someone on to talk to them and say,
06:01hey, what are you guys actually doing at the moment?
06:03And how is it working?
06:05Then at least there would be some reassurance for the public that things are happening,
06:10but they didn't want to be involved.
06:11And it all hinged on a stat that I used in my last video, which was incorrect.
06:16So the stat was with regards to the amount of cars that are recovered after they're stolen.
06:21Most alarming part, though, is that something like 5% of those are returned.
06:261,005 vehicles were returned and recovered between January and June 2024.
06:32So assuming that that extrapolates out a little bit, let's call it 2,000 cars, so 10%.
06:37In our defense, while we reported on that stat incorrectly,
06:40the stat was actually from an earlier press release that the police put out midway through last year.
06:47That press release has been deleted off the police media website as far as we can tell.
06:51But we used the Wayback Machine, which is basically an internet archiving tool to see the original press release.
06:56And it was some very clumsy wording in there that led us to the quote that we used in our further reporting on car thefts in Victoria.
07:03So, you know, in our defense, we kind of just based it off what they had written in there, which was poorly written, but was incorrect.
07:09So anyway, based on that being incorrect, they kind of cracked it and said, well, we don't want to be involved.
07:14And I'm like, all right, whatever.
07:15No dramas.
07:16We'll just continue on with life.
07:17So anyway, that was the response from the police.
07:19Now, what has happened since then?
07:21We've had some new developments and there's been some interesting stuff going on.
07:24I went sort of looking for all of this information to try and show you what was going on.
07:29But let's start off with the thefts.
07:31Are they still happening?
07:33Yes, they are.
07:33And I've tracked down a couple of videos here just to show you the scale of what is going on here and how brazen these people are becoming.
07:40So this video here is from a car park where this Subaru, which is presumed to be stolen, has pulled up and someone's got out of it, got into a clubby and then just burned off out of there.
07:54And this bloc that's standing there was basically trying to stop them.
07:57Presumably, they produced some weapon and he just didn't want to get involved.
08:00So they disappeared.
08:02We've seen countless images of this sort of stuff.
08:05This is a Maloo that's been dumped.
08:07It was actually dumped in two parts.
08:08So this was in one area of Melbourne and then the other half of it was in another part of Melbourne.
08:13But it is the same vehicle, same VIN.
08:15This is one that I believe went missing in November last year.
08:19So it's been gone for a little while.
08:20And you can see here they've dumped it there.
08:22It still has all of its VIN details on there.
08:26So they don't really care too much about who sees it.
08:28But there is something to know here.
08:30So you can see how it's all sort of been cut up there.
08:33And then I'll run you through why that's interesting in just a second.
08:36And this is another one.
08:37Again, completely brazen.
08:38These two knuckleheads, obviously weak as piss because they can't move the motorbike.
08:43I mean, just have a look at her as well.
08:46It's like Benny Hill music over that.
08:49That's how stupid these people are.
08:51But presumably this motorbike, they can't even shift one millimetre.
08:55They want it to load into the back of the ute.
08:58Broad daylight, middle of the CBD.
09:00They do not care.
09:01The car doesn't even have any registration on it.
09:03So there's people that know they're going to get bailed in no time.
09:07Now, the other interesting development as well, before I get on to the two people that I met up with, is this.
09:12So there was a whole bunch of cars dumped in this one particular part of Melbourne.
09:16And some internet sleuths did some digging and found a house.
09:19And I won't reveal where this house is or anything like that because I don't know where it is, who owns it, or whether they're legitimate or not.
09:25But basically this house, through the use of what appears to be software similar to NearMap, which is far more recent satellite footage than you're going to find on something like Google Maps.
09:37They found this house which was nearby where all these cars are getting dumped.
09:40And basically you can see there is a procession of Holden's there.
09:45You can see that's a Series 2 VF because it's got the gills on the bonnet there.
09:49You've got another vehicle over here that appears to be a Commodore as well.
09:52Basically this is some kind of a residential chop shop.
09:56And whether they're doing it legitimately or not, I don't know.
09:59But these cars are sort of being dumped around that area.
10:02And this is the scale of stuff that's going on.
10:04So I met up with two guys that reached out to me on social.
10:08And I've got to be careful with what I share here because I don't want to get them in trouble.
10:12But I just wanted to run you through some of the stuff they talked to me about.
10:15So they came to see me and these guys had intimate knowledge of what is going on, what was going on with some of the people that have recently been caught.
10:24And just how some of this stuff is working.
10:26And it is just crazy.
10:28The reason there are so many of these being stolen is because they're parting them out.
10:32So basically they'll take an intact vehicle, chop it up, and then take those parts and sell them at dodgy wreckers.
10:38So when you think about it, when you go to a wrecker to buy parts off a shelf, if you're buying a set of brakes for a GTS or something,
10:44the brakes don't really have any identification that links them to a stolen vehicle.
10:49So by the time you part them out, it's actually pretty straightforward to then sell all of these parts.
10:53And for quite a premium because a lot of this stuff is now hard to come across.
10:56And what these thieves were doing was basically stealing these cars.
11:00And now that a lot of these cars have tracking devices and other material on them that is going to be able to make them easier to find,
11:07they would then go and park them in the car parks of large, again, trying not to reveal too much,
11:13large 24-hour businesses where they will leave the car in an employee car park for 24 hours
11:19and then check to see whether the car is still there or has been tracked down by police.
11:23If it's not, they know that it has no tracking stuff and away they go.
11:27They then go and park this out.
11:29What's happening here, though, with these cars that are sort of chopped in half,
11:33they're basically going to an auction and buying an economic write-off.
11:37So this is a vehicle that's been stolen previously.
11:40And typically it's an SV6 in the example of this, in this Maloo.
11:44It'll be an SV6.
11:45It'll be written off by an insurer, sold at an auction for cheap because it'll have some sort of damage on it.
11:51But what they'll then do is use the VIN of the economic write-off to then build a Maloo.
11:57So they'll go and steal this Maloo that they've dumped here.
11:59They've basically chopped out all the parts of this vehicle that have a VIN on them
12:03because they're going to use the VIN from the original SV6 to then build up this V8.
12:07They'll take badges off.
12:09They'll basically build a replica of a Maloo that's on an SV6 chassis.
12:14And then they'll go and get it registered.
12:16And you're going to ask, well, how do they do that with an engine number?
12:19Well, the thing that I found out is that VicRoads doesn't actually check engine numbers
12:25if you tell them that it's a crate engine.
12:27And apparently crate engines don't have engine numbers that can be associated with a VIN.
12:32So when you're going to register one of these rebirth cars as a new vehicle,
12:36you're basically just saying, well, I've got a crate engine.
12:38So that's why it's now this.
12:39And then you legally re-register that vehicle.
12:41So basically you're getting a car for cheap, stealing a car,
12:45taking all the parts off it and creating this rebirth vehicle.
12:48Now, these vehicles that are then sold to unsuspecting punters out there,
12:53not really doing due diligence, not doing a whole heap of homework.
12:57They pay probably what is a reduced price and away they go.
13:00Perhaps sometimes they know that it's rebirthed,
13:02but then they go off and just drive and enjoy their car.
13:06So this is what's happening in the background.
13:07So it is pretty sort of pretty scary stuff.
13:10The other thing they're now using as well, I've seen a few videos of this.
13:14They're walking around at nighttime when they target these VFs with towels or blankets,
13:20and they'll use those towels or blankets to cover up taillights and headlights.
13:23And then when they go through the process of cutting a horn cable and then breaking into the car,
13:28the lights are flashing, but you can't even see them because they've got this thick blanket over them.
13:32So a number of times now they've actually been caught walking around with these blankets,
13:36and they're clearly used for that purpose.
13:38So if you do see any of these knuckleheads walking around at nighttime in your area with blankets,
13:42that is pretty much what they're doing.
13:44They're not cold in summer.
13:45They're out there to cover up lights as they start flashing.
13:48Now, here's the bit that I am excited about.
13:50I mentioned before the police.
13:51What are they doing in the background?
13:53Well, they are doing something because there has been recently a stack of news stories
13:57about some of the people that they're catching.
13:59And they're quite satisfying to watch because when you see these people, they are just kids.
14:03It's really scary to see that they are basically just children.
14:08There was some vision of these kids on Chapel Street in Paran.
14:12They looked like they were 12 or 13 years old.
14:15You know, they were just in a stolen car hanging out of the window and not realising that they were getting filmed.
14:21And when they see they're getting filmed, they quickly retreat because they're terrified of the attention.
14:26But these are kids.
14:28And we've now seen a number of vehicles being recovered,
14:31people being a little scared of sitting on a hot Commodore.
14:34This one was in Geelong, basically dumped in a sort of a shed outside of a sort of construction area for a new development.
14:42So these are two cars that were stolen.
14:44And it appears that they've either kept them there to come back later
14:47or perhaps put them there because they didn't want to be with those vehicles anymore.
14:52But we're now seeing here some footage courtesy of Wyndham TV.
14:55It is quite entertaining to see some of these kids with a couple of scratch marks on them from the dogs when they let the dogs out.
15:03And they are finally catching up with a lot of these people.
15:06And the police are.
15:06You can see there you've got some some tactical police there that aren't just your run of the mill divvy van police.
15:14They are putting a lot of effort into catching these thieves.
15:16And it's really good to see that they are focusing on this and realising this is a serious issue that is affecting people,
15:23driving up insurance costs and making it harder for you to get by and live day to day.
15:27So it is it is really good to see that that that is all sort of coming together nicely.
15:32I did spot this other one as well.
15:33It was from Channel 9 News.
15:35Quite entertaining to watch one of those schmucks getting tackled by one of the cops getting slammed,
15:42having his ass dropped to the ground there, which is really good to see.
15:45And then one of his friends over here.
15:48Now, can you imagine if that was your daughter just here getting waltzed off by the police there?
15:52It really is just crazy to see that they give so little care to these issues and and to think that some of these kids are literally just kids.
16:01They are just out there causing all this mayhem for no reason other than to get there to get their kicks off from this stuff.
16:09So I am glad that the police are catching up with them.
16:12But unfortunately, though, like I said before, the bail laws are so weak in Victoria and really weak across the country.
16:18But specifically in Victoria, you can go and do whatever you want, pretty much.
16:22And the thing that frustrates me the most, if you or I don't pay our rego on time and we're out driving,
16:27it's like a $900 fine and you will get no mercy whatsoever.
16:30You go steal a car, break into someone's house with a machete, you get done by the cops and you're out on bail.
16:37I mean, and then it's just this cycle of just continuously getting out on bail and not caring.
16:42There are some of these people that will have like 30 offences due before the courts that are still getting let out on bail.
16:48And it just blows me away that any magistrate would think that is OK.
16:52That person needs to be in jail.
16:54If they don't have parents that know where they are or can control them effectively, they shouldn't be out on the streets.
16:59Last thing I want to touch on in this video is that this is now spreading beyond just classic Australian cars.
17:08I want to share this with you.
17:09This is a video out of the UK.
17:10I'd seen this mentioned previously.
17:12It's basically a new method they're using on other vehicles, Toyota vehicles specifically, which uses CAN bus injection using exterior parts of the car, like the headlights.
17:24So you can see these thieves here.
17:26They're basically just waiting for this car to pass.
17:28But what they'll do is they'll pop the side of that panel off to get access to the headlight.
17:32They'll then disconnect the headlight and use that same tool that they're using to steal these late model Holdens and HSVs to basically plug into the vehicle.
17:43They're able to then access the vehicle's computer using that cable that takes charge of the headlights.
17:49And in this case, the alarm doesn't even go off.
17:51Within seconds, you can see the lights switch on there.
17:53They actually have access to the vehicle.
17:55It unlocks, and then seconds later, they literally jump inside with not one alarm sounding, and then away they go out of the driveway.
18:04So the headlight's screwed, but basically they're away with the car there, which is why you're seeing a lot of RAV4s stolen at the moment as well.
18:10They're using this method to basically steal a whole stack of those.
18:13And while that one is from the UK, that is the same method they're using here in Australia.
18:17So it is just going to get worse and worse.
18:20Now, following on from that point from the General Motors person, there is a time here that manufacturers need to be responsible for this stuff.
18:27You can't create a car that has some security vulnerability that you can defeat with a $100 tool off eBay.
18:33You need to be doing better as a manufacturer, making these cars secure and making sure that you can't actually get access to them.
18:40Now, the other thing I'll mention as well, these guys that I met up with, I actually got a lot of information from them.
18:45And they said to me that they were actually willing to share all of that information, some that I can't repeat with the police.
18:52So I did get in touch with the police now three weeks ago at the point that this video was shot.
18:57I was told someone would get in touch with me, and I have not heard anything at all.
19:02Not one little bit, which is pretty disappointing, I reckon.
19:05Even if you don't like the videos that we do, I would think that you would want to know this information and deal with these people who clearly have a very firm understanding of what's happening and the people involved, especially on the money side of things.
19:19If there is all of these parts being sold, someone is making a lot of money out of this.
19:24It's organized crime.
19:25You really should be taking this seriously.
19:26So hopefully they do reach out to me at some point so that we can actually give them all of that information.
19:31Anyway, all right, that's enough on this video.
19:33We're going to do another video in the coming days on this stuff.
19:37This is a stolen HSV that was spotted in Dandenong.
19:41Have a look at that rego.
19:42Looks a bit weird, doesn't it?
19:43We actually had a real-life example here in our car park at work where we came across a car with a cloned plate.
19:50I'm going to do a separate video on cloned plates and what you need to watch out for there as well.
19:54So anyway, that is enough for this one.
19:56Now, if you do have any other information, please feel free to reach out to us.
20:00We are happy to deal with you anonymously if you do have anything you want to share.
20:04Just go to the Car Expert website, reach out to me on social media.
20:07I will sort of just endeavor to get back to you and I just want this to stop.
20:12So I want to just get as much information as I can.
20:15We will pass on anything we can to the police if they decide to ever get back to us
20:18and hopefully we will start putting an end to some of this stuff.
20:22So thank you again for watching and please stay safe.
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