Dale writes “In Chicago Tuesday, I came across an Auto Dismantling Demonstration, sponsored by Allstate and the Chicago Police Department. They wanted to show how a chop shop operates, taking apart a car for its parts. They wanted to show that it could be done in under twelve minutes or less. According to the Allstate spokesman, the stripped parts from a stolen car fetch more than the book value of the car and the most popular stolen car is the Honda Civic because it has interchangeable parts…”
Three men set out to take apart a Chevy Monte Carlo using only hand tools. They started by removing the hood, which is worth $510. Then, they removed front and rear bumpers followed by the doors before moving inside to remove the seats. 
Finally, they removed the wheels, which were worth $2200 on the aftermarket. It only took them eight and half minutes to reduce this car to rubble. Here is a three-picture sequence that I took with my cameraphone. 
While Allstate wants to show us how quickly car thieves can strip a stolen car, Makers might walk away from this demonstration with a different thought. Gee, maybe that old car of mine is worth more if I take it apart and sell it piece by piece on eBay or elsewhere.
8 thoughts on “Parts is Parts…”
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just as a note some of the prices of parts mentioned; which im sure were direct from the presentation are BS.
Those prices are based off of dealer retail and would never be what a thief would get on the street for the parts. Yes you can get more money for a stripped car than a whole one. This is also done because its much harder to track and a safer way to make money off a stolen car than shaving the vins and doctoring title paperwork.
They forgot the airbags. Those guys are expensive.
If they had more time the engine/tranny combo with ECU is a good bet. Hot rodders love a deal and will often not ask too many questions if you got a good engine for cheap. Acura engines fit the lower end civics with work and the mercury marauder’s souped up 302 engine fit all kinds of hot rods.
Moral of the story, if you have a fast car get gap insurance which will cover the difference between what is owed and what it’s worth.
Fitting to it Perry Como’s song
“FETCH A STOLEN CAR”
(or is the title “Catch a Falling Star”?)
Greetings,
Bert