# Where would criminals store their getaway cars in this case?



## ironpony (Nov 10, 2018)

For my story, whenever the villains go out and commit crimes, they do not want to use their own personal vehicles, cause they can be traced back to them of course.

So they would have to use cars that are untraceable somehow, and that they could keep hidden somewhere, without being found.  But where would they hide them?  I mean they could maybe rent storage units, that are big enough to drive a car into, but if a whole group of them rented these all around the city, and they would switch out their cars every time before going out to commit crimes, that it would it seem kind of suspicious to anyone at all?

Or what do you think?


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## Underd0g (Nov 10, 2018)

How about having them switch license plates with cars of the same model and dispose of the plates after the crime was committed. 
That way the police wouldn't have a reason to pull them over before the crime was committed, since the stolen car doesn't have the registered license. 
The odds that the person whose license plate was stolen would notice is very slim. Who reads their license plate every day and who even knows their license number.


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## ironpony (Nov 10, 2018)

Okay thanks, so you are saying they would still use their own cars registered personally to them but just with switched out license plates?

But if they did that, wouldn't the police be able to trace possible tire marks to their cars, and that can be used as a piece of the puzzle in the cast against them?  Wouldn't it make more sense to use a car where the tire marks cannot be traced back to you?


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## Underd0g (Nov 10, 2018)

ironpony said:


> Okay thanks, so you are saying they would still use their own cars registered personally to them but just with switched out license plates?
> 
> But if they did that, wouldn't the police be able to trace possible tire marks to their cars, and that can be used as a piece of the puzzle in the cast against them?  Wouldn't it make more sense to use a car where the tire marks cannot be traced back to you?



How often are tire tracks used for convictions, what is the likelihood of looking for every car of that model that has that model's tire pattern, it takes how much time to change and store tires, and can't a criminal avoid leaving tire tracks at their crime scene?


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## ironpony (Nov 11, 2018)

A tire track will not get a conviction on it's own, but it can still be used as a piece of a puzzle to build a case.  And wouldn't the criminals want to eliminate as many puzzle pieces as possible from the cops to put together?

Also, tire tracks are not entirely unavoidable, especially if you have to make a quick getaway like they do at one point and still not get caught, aren't they?


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## Underd0g (Nov 11, 2018)

ironpony said:


> A tire track will not get a conviction on it's own, but it can still be used as a piece of a puzzle to build a case.  And wouldn't the criminals want to eliminate as many puzzle pieces as possible from the cops to put together?
> 
> Also, tire tracks are not entirely unavoidable, especially if you have to make a quick getaway like they do at one point and still not get caught, aren't they?



Well if they changed the tires, that would make it easier to store and more complicated to find and connect. To me though, fast getaways gain attention. If your plan puts you within seconds of getting caught for your crime, and you have to peel out, your plan has some flaws. I'm assuming these criminals are in the business for the long haul. If they're willing to store their cars in commercial storage units, they're serious about making some loot.

Maybe if you walked me through how an investigator could get the tread pattern from the crime scene, find the tires stored randomly (maybe at your shade tree mechanic's house who knows nothing of the crime) against some fence with dozens of other tires, connect them to your certain model car, I'd see my flaw. Heck, if the job paid enough, get used disposable tires that you know wouldn't blow out.


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## ironpony (Nov 11, 2018)

Okay thanks.  When you say get used disposable tires that you wouldn't blow out, what do you mean?   Why would you blow them out in the first place?

Normally they are not planning on a quick getaway all the time, but I mean in case of emergency.  For my story, I want a cop on patrol to spot them and they get in their cars and take off.  One of them gets caught by the cop, but I don't want the criminals to leave tire marks behind that can be traced to personal vehicles.  So in a situation like that, is when they would want that, I thought.


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## Underd0g (Nov 11, 2018)

ironpony said:


> Okay thanks.  When you say get used disposable tires that you wouldn't blow out, what do you mean?   Why would you blow them out in the first place?
> 
> Normally they are not planning on a quick getaway all the time, but I mean in case of emergency.  For my story, I want a cop on patrol to spot them and they get in their cars and take off.  One of them gets caught by the cop, but I don't want the criminals to leave tire marks behind that can be traced to personal vehicles.  So in a situation like that, is when they would want that, I thought.



Oh, I see. It's hard to see what's in another person's mind and what perspective would help. 

The blow out reference was that you wouldn't want a weak tire when committing a crime that could blow out. If you were going with disposable tires.

I'm sure criminals wouldn't want to leave evidence behind but you can write it any way you want. 
I was trying to give interesting elements that you could embellish on if you desired.

On second thought, if they got away in a chase, they could destroy the tires at that time.


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## Winston (Nov 11, 2018)

Car thefts are pretty common, and differentiating between an actual theft and a "joy ride" is nearly impossible for most over-stretched police departments.  The only way cops can make a theft charge stick is by finding the car in a chop-shop or a China bound shipping container.  The legal standard is "...an intent to permanently deprive the owner of their property"
That said, it makes no sense for criminals to keep a stable of "getaway vehicles".  Logistically difficult and risky.  Just steal the car you need for a job, then dump it.   Of course, you can use a crew of poorly paid kids boost the cars.  If they're caught, they won't even do any time.  
I know you tend to over-think these things but it's this simple:  If the car is seen by someone, it gets torched.  If not, it's abandoned.  The police will not be going all CSI over a joyride recovery.


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## ironpony (Nov 11, 2018)

Oh okay thanks.  I thought that theft is whenever something is taken away from you without your permission.  But I'm not expert of course .

But wouldn't it create a lot of attention to keep stealing different cars every time?  I mean you say that it's good to dump it after a witness sees the car used in a crime.

But if someone were to use a stolen Chevy Cobalt for example in a crime, and then dump it, does this mean that the police will be pulling over every Chevy Cobalt they see to run evidence tests to try to get possible DNA matches from the crime scene and all that?

It seems to me that sticking to the same car for every crime, rather than dumping it every time and getting new ones, is not a bad idea, cause the police will not be pulling over every one of that same car to run tests.  Or would they?

Plus dumping a new car every time, might lead to clues, cause someone is going to find those dumped cars.  Which is why using the same car over and over and keeping it hidden, might make more sense to not leave clues?

Unless I am wrong, and there are other advantages to dumping cars every time, that I am not seeing?


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