On a completely unremarkable Monday morning, I used to be serving to my grandmother prepare to go to a good friend when somebody knocked on my door. Upon opening it, I used to be greeted by a metropolis police officer whose first phrases had been, “Don’t fret, you are not in any hassle.” That, paradoxically, isn’t a comforting assertion; it hits with the identical believability as a physician claiming the factor they’re about to do will solely really feel like a pinch. A discombobulating 60-second dialog ensued, throughout which I gathered that one thing was occurring with my automobile, besides I wasn’t fairly certain what.
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After placing on my footwear and taking a brief journey down the elevator, I stepped into the parking storage to see that my assigned parking spot was empty. Just a few spots over, a neighbor’s automobile — one which simply so occurred to be the identical make and mannequin as my 2015 Hyundai Elantra — had its driver’s door deal with partially peeled off. It turned out that a young person had stolen my automobile in the midst of the night time utilizing a way popularized on TikTok called the “Kia Challenge.” The ensuing joyride prompted roughly $10,000 in injury.
Who the heck are the ‘Kia Boys?’
In 2021, some cities within the U.S. reported an uncommon enhance within the fee of automobile thefts involving Hyundai and Kia automobiles. Over the approaching months, the explanation for that drawback grew to become clear: sure key-start automobiles offered by Hyundai in the USA lacked a now-common function referred to as an immobilizer. With out that cheap safety element, anybody with entry to a susceptible Hyundai or Kia may open up its steering column, slide out the ignition change, after which use an strange USB stick or charging cable to start out the car.
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Information of this vulnerability unfold like wildfire on TikTok, the place youngsters throughout the nation realized that it’s surprisingly straightforward to steal a automobile and take it for a spin -– one thing that has since resulted in a number of deaths and probably half a billion {dollars} in damages. Many cities throughout the U.S. — together with my very own — have filed lawsuits against Hyundai and Kia over the burden attributable to the TikTok problem. Some insurance coverage corporations have stopped insuring these automobiles. A category motion lawsuit resulted in a settlement that’ll see Hyundai no less than partially reimburse victims for a few of their out-of-pocket prices associated to a automobile theft — although for many individuals, it will not totally make up for the bills and problem that outcome.
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Preventative measures can solely achieve this a lot
My automobile had a practical alarm system when it was stolen — and it did not go off at any level in the course of the ordeal. The explanation, one of many cops defined, is that it is doable to get into these fashions with out setting off the alarm by eradicating the door handles. That is precisely what occurred with my Elantra, which was recovered with its driver’s door deal with utterly lacking.
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Whereas there are methods you’ll be able to (most likely) stop your automobile from being stolen, they do not handle the basis of the issue: these particular Hyundais and Kias are focused by automobile thieves, and those self same thieves don’t have any means of figuring out whether or not a safety add-on has been put in simply by wanting on the car. You’ll have spent a number of hundred {dollars} having a hidden kill switch put in — or maybe you are one of many drivers who pull the starter relay each time they park — however that will not stop a thief from bodily breaking in and cracking open the steering column.
Even when your car is in the end left the place you parked it, the tried theft may lead to a whole lot or hundreds of {dollars} in injury, to not point out the danger of an elevated insurance coverage premium. Hyundai will reimburse you for no less than a part of the price of a steering wheel lock, however such contraptions are little greater than a visible deterrent — one {that a} well-prepared “Kia boy” can take away in seconds utilizing a easy hacksaw. What in regards to the software program safety replace Hyundai is putting in on a few of these fashions as a part of a recall? Many drivers had the software program replace put in, solely to have their vehicles stolen regardless.
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So, somebody stole your Hyundai. Now what?
Standing in your unexpectedly empty parking spot is a horrible time to understand you haven’t any thought what occurs subsequent when a car is stolen. The excellent news is that each your native police and insurance coverage firm will information you thru the method. Issues begin with regulation enforcement, as you may must report your car stolen (and relying on the place you reside, you might also must let the DMV know). From there, you must name your insurance coverage firm to file a declare. If the automobile hasn’t been discovered but, a protracted ready interval begins — sometimes 30 days, although your individual coverage could differ. If the car is not recovered by that deadline, insurance coverage could lower you a examine for the worth of the automobile minus the deductible.
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Whether it is recovered, issues get extra sophisticated. Assuming you have got full protection insurance coverage and never simply state minimal legal responsibility, you may have to rearrange to have your car towed from its first vacation spot — seemingly a metropolis impound lot — to a restore store tasked with figuring out how a lot injury was prompted and what it’s going to value to repair it. You get to select the store, however in the event you do not have already got a spot in thoughts, the insurance coverage firm will advise that you’ve got the automobile towed to the closest Hyundai dealership with a service middle. Some dealerships work alongside an area physique store to restore vehicles that want extra in depth work finished, which may imply having to rearrange a second tow.
Transferring on the pace of insurance coverage claims
Although insurance coverage moved shortly once I first filed the declare, issues slowed down significantly after that, and some days handed with none form of standing replace. The next week, I acquired the primary name from my insurance coverage adjuster, who’d taken a take a look at the automobile and gotten the preliminary restore estimate. I used to be instructed that I needed to make a journey to the auto store myself to drop off the keys and signal some paperwork. I additionally needed to look over the automobile and report again with any noticeable injury that wasn’t on the preliminary estimate. That is once I acquired my first post-theft take a look at the Elantra.
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The teenage thief and his good friend most likely used the car to go on a joyride, the police stated, and I may see the proof of that. The burnt stays of some marijuana cigarettes had been left on the console and empty junk meals wrappers coated the passenger aspect flooring. They’d trashed the within of the automobile whereas looking it for gadgets to steal, and in some unspecified time in the future throughout their journey, they managed to tear off the entrance bumper and cut up the rear bumper, amongst different issues. As a little bit of maybe unintentional salt within the wound, in addition they left behind the USB cable they’d used to start out the automobile.
Following a radical inspection, the auto store concluded that the price of repairs would exceed the car’s worth. Insurance coverage instructed me to launch the automobile in order that they might tow it to a salvage lot, and after I signed the title over to the corporate, they printed me a examine to select up at their native workplace. Your entire course of, from begin to end, took two weeks.
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Hyundai could ship you a examine, but it surely may take some time
In the event you stay in the USA and somebody steals your eligible key-start Hyundai or Kia car, you’ll be able to file for reimbursement from Hyundai Motor America, although it could in the end solely cowl a portion of your out-of-pocket bills associated to the theft. Funds will likely be made to victims as a part of the revised settlement addressing a category motion lawsuit filed over these TikTok-adjacent thefts. There are some main caveats concerned with this, nevertheless, the primary of which is that funds will solely be issued if the courtroom accepts the revised settlement. That announcement is scheduled to reach any day now — as of this writing –although it is not possible to say what the result will likely be. Additionally, you will need to file your declare by January 11, 2025.
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Data on the settlement might be discovered on the Hagens Berman regulation agency’s web site, and victims of theft can file a declare on the devoted Hyundai Theft Settlement web site (there’s additionally a version of the website for Kia owners). In the event you stay within the U.S. and owned your susceptible Hyundai or Kia car previous to March 2024, you may have additionally acquired a paper packet within the mail that included kinds you’ll be able to manually fill out and mail again; those self same kinds will also be downloaded as PDFs from the settlement web site. Advantages probably accessible embody partial reimbursement of the whole lack of a automobile, reimbursement as much as a sure threshold for prices associated to wreck and misplaced private property, as much as $375 towards an elevated insurance coverage premium or the deductible you needed to pay associated to the theft, and extra.
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