chop shop

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A chop shop is a slang phrase for an illegal location or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts. It may also be used to refer to a location or business that is involved with the selling of stolen goods in general, or a brokerage that sells non-existent equities, both fraud and stolen goods. Another common use refers to a business whose product, service, or equipment is of questionable quality. The term is often used in a tongue-in-cheek fashion for outlets specializing in choppers, and by butchers and barbers.^[1]

For a car to be useful to the average person in most countries, it must be properly registered and insured as eventually the police would notice missing plates or that the paperwork was not in order. Thus, stolen cars of lower value are often taken to a foreign country and sold where they are difficult, if not impossible, to track down. The lower value of the car would also make such an operation inefficient, as recovery may cost more than the price of the car.

Difficulties stealing certain cars

While newer cars often have more anti-theft devices, for the car thief the risks and effort involved in stealing a car are not much greater on a more expensive car, when compared to the potential rewards, than a less expensive car. Newer and more expensive vehicles contain many anti-theft devices that are likely to be quite complicated. If not defeated, these devices make it very difficult, if not impossible, to resell the car. Many of these devices are kept secret by the manufacturers. There may be a radio tracking device, or kill switches and microchip keys unique to a particular vehicle that cannot be easily obtained. There may be many hidden places on the car where the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is stamped. The chop shop will likely be more familiar with these devices.

Operation

A chop shop must be able to take apart a car without damaging the parts and keep them organized. Time is of the essence: more cars processed equals higher profits. There is no advantage to a large inventory, as it can be done more efficiently in a "JIT" (Just In Time) manner by asking a thief only when cars are needed.

Example statistics

In the Czech Republic there are 2.7 million registered cars. A calculated estimate (made on a sample of 240 000 cars) is that 450 000 (16%) cars were once stolen or contain stolen parts. In total 23 000 cars were stolen in 2004, of which 4000 were found (17%). Following the information from Pavel Nahodil, the representative of foreign insurance companies in the Czech Republic, about 7% of the regular market price is paid for a stolen first-generation Skoda Octavia car in a chop shop.

References

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External links

• Criminal Resource Manual 1369: Chop Shops (Title 18 U.S.C. § 2322)
• City of Pittsburgh: Types of Car Theft
• Autoblog.com "BUSTED! Canada's largest chop shop caught with 700 stolen cars" - May 3 2007
• Deseret News (Salt Lake City) "Auto-theft ring and 'chop shop' out of commission" - Feb 19, 2006
• WKRN Nashville Tennessee "Car Thieves Target Hondas, Acuras For Chop Shops" - August 29, 2007
• InsideBayArea.com "Tracy authorities bust alleged chop shop" - 08/25/2007
• thedenverchannel.com "Police Discover Alleged Chop Shop, Auto Theft Ring" - October 15, 2004
• KSN.com "Feds bust Wichita chop shop for auto theft" - Aug 22, 2007
• [1] "Lidove Noviny 09/19/2007"