Is There a Black Market for Wheels?

There seems to be a black market for nearly every conceivable item. While it’s no secret that drugs, organs and weapons are sold on a variety of black markets, especially in countries that do little to dissuade thieves and dealers, other items may not be as popular on these markets. You would expect a market for electronics, and there certainly is one, and you might even expect a market for vehicles and that’s present as well, but what about wheels and tires? Is there really a black market for wheels or is it part of the vehicle market?

This question is raised because a set of thieves chose Peltier Chevrolet in Tyler, Texas as a recent target for their activities. You would think that vehicles on a dealer lot would be safe from nearly all harm, and if the location has locked security gates, cameras and bright lights the valuable merchandise would be kept safe, but there’s a reason why businesses have insurance and the events that took place at this location are certainly proof that insurance is a necessary item to protect and regain the investment a company has in their products.

As the dealership cameras captured the events, the thieves arrived around 1:30am, cut the locks on the gates behind the dealership and knocked out the bright spotlights that were in place for added security and illumination of the lot at night. Once the lock was cut they proceeded to spend the next four hours taking the wheels off 48 different vehicles while leaving these vehicles up on blocks in the process. This amounted to a theft that is valued at nearly $250,000 in wheels and tires that were taken off these vehicles, leaving the dealership with 48 cars they couldn’t sell right away and a lot full of lug nuts laying all over the ground.

Interestingly the thieves didn’t just target the Corvettes, Suburbans or high end Camaros, they took wheels off some of the inexpensive Camaro models and even some Traverse SUVs. It seems as if they didn’t have a specific vehicle price in mind or wheels style they were after, but instead took off with as many wheels as they possibly could during the time on the lot, which makes me wonder if there really is a black market for vehicle wheels that I’m not aware of.

Thankfully the insurance company will help cover much of the losses, but because these thieves weren’t careful, as you wouldn’t expect them to be, many of the vehicles that had their wheels stolen were damaged in the process. The dealership is working through this problem in order bring about a positive end and will carefully inspect every vehicle and put new wheels and tires on them to make them sellable to customers once again. At Peltier Chevrolet they aren’t allowing something like this to get them down and may even be able to turn this huge negative into a positive, but it just goes to show you that thieves will get what they want, regardless of the steps you’ve taken to keep things safe.