Expert Witness Blog

Ever wonder and/or worry about what would happen if your car was stolen? Rob Painter, forensic locksmith, automotive expert witness, and principal of Rob Painter & Associates, can tell you. In this excerpt he writes on forced entry:

The first thing you must know is that vehicles are not secure. Commonly equipped with electronic door locking systems, the insured might assumed he locked the door when in fact it did not lock by use of the transmitter. Forced entry tools are readily available to anyone on the Web. Most leave no obvious signs of damage. You lock your keys in your car. You call a locksmith. He opens the car doing no damage and yet when working for the insurance company, he observed no signs of forced entry. Strange but true. On 99.9% of the thousands of vehicles I have examined, they were always unlocked at the time of my examination.

Insurance companies deem vehicles with anti theft systems “Unstealable.” This is interesting because even the manufacturer of the vehicle does not guaranty their vehicle can’t be stolen or they would warranty it accordingly. Who do we believe? The manufacturer that makes the vehicle? Or the insurance company and their experts?