Long drive today that included Detroit. Got me to thinking. There are storage lots of all of the built cars and trucks ready for shipping, and then the auto transport trucks. Do they leave the keys in the ignition on all of these? On the transporters are the cars locked? It would seem like the motion alarms would trigger if they were. Or does the transport driver have to sort through a bag of keys when he gets to a destination?
Do they still use those boxes attached to the window to keep the keys in?
It has been a while for me (1996-97) but the way it used to work was using runners. There were trucks lined up ready to load, and there were three or four runners. They were like valets. There was a list of who got what.
The truck pulled up and gave them a bill of lading, and the guys ran to get keys and load cars. Next truck, next load, etc.
There was of course a logistics person there to oversee everything, but it was very much like a valet.
The keys always stayed with the driver. When the truck showed up with new cars they were usually mostly unloaded before we even realized it. Kinda like when the UPS truck shows up... you know you're getting something, but you have no idea when.
N Sperlo wrote: Do they still use those boxes attached to the window to keep the keys in?
That was a dealer thing. Our dealer didn't use those but many did. There was a universal key that opened the box containing each car's key.
I don't think dealers have trusted their salesmen with that authority since 1989, but I could be wrong.
Our dealer had a wall of keys in a corner of the service department. Then they started assuming we were all thieves and kept them all in the manager's office. About the time I had to ask permission for a customer test drive, I quit the sales business.
curtis73 wrote:N Sperlo wrote: Do they still use those boxes attached to the window to keep the keys in?That was a dealer thing. Our dealer didn't use those but many did. There was a universal key that opened the box containing each car's key. I don't think dealers have trusted their salesmen with that authority since 1989, but I could be wrong. Our dealer had a wall of keys in a corner of the service department. Then they started assuming we were all thieves and kept them all in the manager's office. About the time I had to ask permission for a customer test drive, I quit the sales business.
i know of at least one new car dealer that has the lock boxes on each car..
there is a large Chevrolet dealer by me that has a vending machine that spits out the key for the salesman. then they have to return them to the machine later - think red box movie rental style machine
I worked at a Pontiac dealership for a few moments back in 1989. There was a 19 year old salesman who stole a new Trans Am and was actually driving it to work. He parked it at the grocery store a few buildings away.
At the Ford dealer I worked at we used a system called Keytrak that you logged into to get the key. You would type in the stock number of the car and it would pop the drawer open that had the key and tell you which slot it was in. It would then be logged out to you once you pulled it from the slot. It would log any key you took to your name.
When returning a key you would type in you number and hit return key and the drawer would pop open.
Most dealerships have gone to the Keytrak or similar systems for vehicles on the lot. Each employee is issued an ID which is done via fingerprint reader, one of those RFID buttons or employee ID number. Typically we are allowed only 2 keys at a time.
Dunno how the shipping yards do it, but during transport keys are always with the truck driver. I have seen lock boxes made into the cabs, the driver drops them in the lock box for safekeeping.
when i washed cars at a toyota dealership (~6 years ago) we just had a key cabinet that had the keys to all the lot vehicles in it, it was just left open during business hours... looking back that seems like a bad idea on their part
Woody wrote: I worked at a Pontiac dealership for a few moments back in 1989. There was a 19 year old salesman who stole a new Trans Am and was actually *driving it to work.* He parked it at the grocery store a few buildings away.
That is astonishingly dumb. Then again, most 19 year olds aren't renowned for their long term critical thinking skills.
Woody wrote: I worked at a Pontiac dealership for a few moments back in 1989. There was a 19 year old salesman who stole a new Trans Am and was actually *driving it to work.* He parked it at the grocery store a few buildings away.
please tell me it was a Turbo Trans Am...
I used to work for a trucking company that transported 99% used cars. We hauled them from the dealers who has to many trade-in to car auctions and from the auctions to their new owner/sellers. Since 99% of these cars were picked up and delivered the same day we kept the keys in the ignition. There were a very few exceptions to this rule but I can't remember what cars those were.
The best time was when we hauled dozens of cars with Hawaiian license plates from a railroad yard to a nearby car auction. This is the Chicago area by the way. So why transport so many cars that were in fact former rental cars in the Hawaiian islands all the way to Chicago? Well for one thing the ships taking new American rental cars to Hawaii were going to return to the mainland empty and trying to sell all those used rental cars locally would flood the market and net the seller less money then putting them on an empty boat and sending them back to where they came from.
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