August 14, 2009 by OnStar Admin
Richmond Glover
When I became an OnStar Advisor five years ago, technology was still evolving. Now, we are the only ones to have some cool, new stolen vehicle assistance tools to help police officers search for a subscriber’s stolen vehicle.
Our new Stolen Vehicle Slowdown®1 technology, for example, can actually slow a stolen vehicle while thieves are driving it. We’re also using another new tool, Remote Ignition Block,2 to help prevent a stolen vehicle from being restarted once the ignition is turned off.
Recently, officers were trying to apprehend a thief and didn’t want a subscriber’s vehicle to move. So an officer asked that I use Remote Ignition Block on the vehicle.
Using OnStar’s technology to actually help law enforcement locate and recover stolen vehicles for our subscribers really makes an impression not only on our customers, but also on Advisors like me who work with people during very stressful situations.
Helping people is what it’s all about
One young woman, who was crying and very distraught, had just found out her home had been burglarized and her car was missing. In one day, this subscriber had suffered the double misfortune of a home burglary as well as losing her car. I did my best to empathize with her because I know how I would feel if my car were stolen. So I decided to call her back with hourly updates. I wanted her to know that OnStar was there for her and that we were doing all we could to help police find her car.
OnStar did, in fact, help police locate and recover her car just a few hours after she reported it missing. She was ecstatic for this same-day recovery, and I was really happy for her.
Sometimes, we can locate a car even faster. One of the most memorable was when I had to interact simultaneously with the caller and police officer – all while attempting to track the vehicle. It turned out the car was still in the same city — so the police dispatched a unit to the location. It all happened so quickly — within 15 minutes from the time the subscriber called to the moment police retrieved the car. When I called the customer back to tell him we found his car, he said, “But I just got off the phone with you!”
I have never experienced a car theft myself but have had radio equipment stolen, so I really can understand what goes through someone’s mind when their vehicle is stolen. That’s why it’s such a great feeling when we recover a vehicle. But it’s even more rewarding to know we’ve worked together with subscribers and police to get the vehicle. You can hear the excitement in an officer’s voice when they call and tell us, “We’ve recovered the vehicle,” and the officer and subscriber both say, “Thank you, OnStar!”
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1 Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is available on select 2009 GM vehicles. Visit onstar.com for details. Success varies with conditions.
2 Remote Ignition Block is available on select 2009 and newer GM vehicles. Visit onstar.com for details. Success varies with conditions.
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Tags: Advisor, Remote Ignition Block, Stolen Vehicle Slowdown