Almost Grand Theft Auto

By an edhat reader

My neighbor Martin shared the below story and it’s too good not to reshare. Hope you all enjoy the laugh!

My 5 minutes of grand theft auto:

A few days ago we rented a great minivan (MSRP~ 50k) to drive our visiting grandkids around.  We took them to Kid’s World on Garden Street, where the parking limit is 90 minutes.  The kids weren’t ready to leave after 90, so I decided to drive the rental van around a few corners and re-park, starting the 90 minute clock over.  The van was keyless and I was carrying the fob, so the car door opened automatically.  I drove off.   

After turning the first corner I noticed some odd things: the mileage was 4000 less than the rental agent had said.  There was an apple charging cable plugged in, and I didn’t put it there.  Then the clincher: through the mirror I could see that there were no children’s car seats: I was driving the wrong car! – one almost identical to the one I’d rented.

I returned to the original location (I hope) and tried to lock the car with my fob.  There was a nice confirming chirp, but it came not from the car I had just gotten out of, but from one about 25 feet away – my virtually identical rental.  

How was this adventure possible?  My tech savvy daughter offered this theory: the owner of the other car had left the door unlocked and the fob inside.  Anybody could just walk up and drive away, just as I had done.  The moral of the story:  lock your car or at least take the fob – especially if the car is worth $50k.  Not everyone would have returned it.