Stolen GMC Syclone Returned to Owner By Unknowing Buyer

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

Buying things from private parties can be risky. Even if you’re sure that you’re purchasing a legitimate, genuine product, exchanging any amount of money with a stranger is no fun. One Texas man recently had a terrible experience buying what he thought would become his dream car, only to discover his new purchase was a stolen vehicle.


Jake Rowe found the GMC Syclone of his dreams in Odessa, TX, but the warning signs started popping up almost immediately. The first was the truck’s price, which at $4,200 was significantly less than most examples. That seemingly too-good-to-be-true price was just the beginning, as the seller also admitted that they didn’t have a title for the pickup, saying that the seller’s deceased husband lost it before he died. The seller told Rowe they’d gotten the truck as payment for clearing a property for the older woman after losing her husband.


Rowe got a bill of sale, called the widow, and ran the VIN to find that it was not reported stolen. His peace of mind didn’t last long. Once he got the truck home, Rowe checked Facebook to see it had been listed by a different person with a different price, and when he contacted that seller, he got the same origin story that his seller gave, only with a different widow’s name.


“I got the truck home, and got back on Facebook, and noticed the truck was listed by a different man with a different price. I reached out and asked how he got it, and I got the same story, but the lady’s name was changed. So I knew something was up,” Rowe told The Drive.


The Syclone Facebook group helped Rowe track down the truck’s origin story, which revealed the actual owner’s identity. They had no idea it had been stolen, but Rowe did the right thing and returned the Syclone to its rightful home. Police told him not to expect his money back, but members of the Syclone community started a GoFundMe to help out, which has raised more than $2,400 as of this writing.


[Image: Jake Rowe via Facebook]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • Carsofchaos Carsofchaos on Nov 04, 2023

    After a while you stop feeling sorry for the victims. I mean seriously how many red flags did this guy need to see before he walked away from this "deal of a lifetime"? Way underpriced, no title, got it in payment for some work being done. Come on man!

  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Nov 15, 2023

    $5,247 raised of $5,000 goal (Sep 15 2023)

  • Varezhka I have still yet to see a Malibu on the road that didn't have a rental sticker. So yeah, GM probably lost money on every one they sold but kept it to boost their CAFE numbers.I'm personally happy that I no longer have to dread being "upgraded" to a Maxima or a Malibu anymore. And thankfully Altima is also on its way out.
  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
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