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Comment by beezle | Hacker News Reader

Just as an aside - a friend had their car nicked in NYC this winter. He was able to tell the cops the car location from some Toyota find my car type thing. The cops said they saw nothing on the street so unless he could come and make the horn beep infront of a garage - and then get a warrant - there was nothing more to do.

He now has a new vehicle.

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a friend had their car nicked in NYC this winter. He was able to tell the cops the car location from some Toyota find my car type thing. The cops said they saw nothing on the street so unless he could come and make the horn beep infront of a garage - and then get a warrant - there was nothing more to do.

Here's the way it's done with Volvos (from the manual):

   If the vehicle has been stolen or otherwise used without permission, the vehicle's owner, police and Volvo Assistance can agree to track the vehicle.
 
   Note
   This applies even if the vehicle has been opened and stolen using the associated remote key.
   
   The following needs to be done:

   1. Contact Volvo Assistance and say that you need help tracking the vehicle. Tracking begins.
   2. File a police report.
   3. Contact Volvo Assistance again and give them the police case number.
   4. Volvo Assistance notifies the police of the vehicle's location.

5. Police thank you/volvo and tell you you'll probably never get your car back (because that requires effort on their part).

This might say more about the NYPD than Toyota

If I'm a sensible person running a police department, with full knowledge of the here-described bugs and hazards as well as the deep experience all police get in the general "people being jerks" spectrum, it's gonna take a lot more than someone on the phone saying "my car manufacturer's app says the car is in there" to bust down the doors of some random place.

I'm starting to come around to the idea in general actually with all the comments promoting the benefits. I still don't see why travel locations need to be recorded though. A pining service would suffice if it was always connected.

Is your comment supporting the find my car feature or saying it was useless?

The cops could only act if the car was on the street without getting a warrant first and they would not even consider that unless he went to the area in question and made the car do something distinctive enough.

We all know that even if the cops would file for the warrant, it would not happen quickly and the car would be chopped and gone long before.

So basically, yes this was a useless feature. Perhaps if it happened in a small town/remote area the outcome might have been different. Major city? I doubt the result would be much different than NYC.

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