Hey All - I just joined here to post on this topic. I had an Escalade stolen w/o the key. Police found it about 30 days later with new locks, new plate, new rims and a fake vin in a couple spots. Clearly a professional job. If those plates had been called in they would read some bogus message that would make the vehicle check appear ok. The only reason they knew it was mine was b/c of a small dent/mark in the rear that I had described. This was in MD and the officer who recovered my car was with a stolen vehicle task force. He explained that someone had likely spotted my car and looked through the windshield (driver side) to see the vin#. From there, as others have mentioned, one can find a dishonest person anywhere in the country who works for an auto dealer to make a key. The officer suggested that I get an index card and color it black with permanent marker and use this to block my windshield vin#. It is illegal to do so but he said most law enforcement would understand and not ticket.
Hope this info might help some others out. It is an awful feeling to wake up and see your car GONE
