After getting engaged last December, Californians Aileen Bautista and Louis Ryan decided to tie the knot on Oahu.
They set the wedding date for August 2013 and visited the island last month to start preparing. They settled on a reception venue, chose a church and a minister, ordered a cake.
They also scheduled an underwater photo shoot at Waimea Bay for the fourth day of their trip. The photo would be used in their save-the-date notices.
But at some point during the two hours they were there, their rental car — a Dodge Charger — was broken into.
Most of their personal belongs, including their driver’s licenses, wallets and camera, were stolen. Also gone was Bautista’s engagement ring.
The police officer who took their report told Bautista and Ryan that Dodge Chargers are a favorite among thieves because the cars are exceptionally easy to break into. The criminals often use a flat-head screwdriver to break and enter, the officer told them.
According to Forbes, the Dodge Charger has one of the highest theft rates in the country, with more than six out of every 1,000 cars sold reported stolen during 2009.
“Apparently, with the Dodge Charger, it’s as easy as getting into the keyhole in the door,” Bautista said. “That’s how the perpetrator got into our personal belongings in the trunk.”
Dodge Chargers are also one of the most popular rentals among Oahu tourists, which means they are singled out by local thieves.
“Sadly, rental cars have always been a target for theft,” said Sharon Faulkner, executive director of the American Car Rental Association.
In a news report last December, KITV cited Honolulu Police Department data that more than half of the auto thefts reported in the Ward and Ala Moana areas late last year involved Chargers.
Still, tourists continue to rent the cars, likely unaware of their susceptibility to theft.
But now, at least one lawmaker wants to change that situation.
“There’s no notification, no signs that it is the most broken-into car on the island,” Bautista said. “[Tourists] definitely do need to know that it’s (the Charger) so easy to break into. They shouldn’t be renting out this car.”
After filing their report with the HPD, the couple returned their car to Alamo. They asked a number of employees about Dodge Chargers’ popularity and susceptibility to theft. Sure enough, the employees said Chargers rank at the top for both categories, according to Bautista.
“Their answers were all the same: ‘they get broken into all the time,’ ‘everyone returns that car,’ ‘it’s so easy to break into,’ she wrote in an email. “If rental car employees know this information off the bat, then why aren’t rental car companies not informing their customers of this potential danger? Is profit more of a concern than the well-being of their customers, knowing full well that this is the most burglarized car in Hawaii?”
Sen. Espero Steps In
The officer took fingerprints at the scene to no avail. But through an extensive investigation of his own, Ryan was able to identify the suspect, who is still on the loose on Oahu and, as it turns out, on parole.
Ryan is currently working with a detective and local officials in Honolulu to track him down. One of the officials is Sen. Will Espero, who was among several lawmakers to receive an email from Bautista last Thursday.
“It’s been a roller coaster of events since the incident in Hawaii and we believe that we can settle down into our routine once justice has been served,” Bautista wrote in her email. “Upon looking into articles and archives of robberies in Oahu, it was a total disappointment — it is actually more frequent than what the rest of the world thinks. It breaks our hearts that locals behave in such way, where they have to resort to robbing tourists, when it in fact, it is tourists stimulating the Hawaiian economy.”
“I felt for them,” Espero said. “I said, ‘Let me shake the tree and see if anything happens.’”
Espero, who chairs the Public Safety, Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee, on Friday said he called several rental car companies and is waiting for a response. Espero also plans to follow up with the local lobbyist who works with the companies.
“If these cars are being broken into on a regular basis and HPD knows it, then either these cars should be taken out of the rental pool or there should be some efforts to make them more secure,” Espero said. At the very least, he said, rental car agencies should provide better warnings and safety devices that would prevent such occurrences from happening.
“If it’s been ongoing, why are [the companies] letting it continue?” he said.
Signs that deter people from leaving valuables in their vehicles — including that at Waimea Bay — aren’t enough, Espero said. He suggested disseminating some sort of advisory through social media and other means to get the word out to tourists.
Agencies that could be behind those warnings include the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) and HPD, both of which haven’t been proactive enough, he said.
Tourism And Car Rental Agencies Keep Mum — For The Most Part
Julie Kaneko, a spokeswoman for HTA, said the agency doesn’t advise tourists against renting certain vehicles. HTA does, however, partner with local visitor assistance and crisis management organizations, such as the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH).
VASH president Jessica Rich is well aware of the Dodge Charger issue and has already met with the Car and Truck Renting and Leasing Association (CATRALA) and HPD to brainstorm how they can partner up with rental car agencies to get the word out to tourists.
“Most of the car break-ins we see with our visitors do involve Dodge Chargers,” Rich said. “We’ve been aware of this problem for several years now…We’re very concerned. It’s a serious problem. We’re working on it.”
Rich plans to release an e-brochure in January that could warn tourists against renting the model. But that’s contingent on input from various stakeholders, some of whom might resist such a measure because it’ll detract business from Dodge dealerships and car rental companies.
Ned Maniscalco, a spokesman for Enterprise Holdings — which owns Enterprise, National and Alamo — said the companies would consider taking Dodge Chargers off their markets if they receive “reliable information” that the cars are regular targets for vandalism or theft.
“It stands to reason that we would examine the merits of continuing to offer it to our customers,” he said, noting that, if nothing else, the company would require local employees to alert customers to the disadvantages of the car.
Playing Detective
Bautista and Ryan still haven’t been able to track down their belongings — but they haven’t given up. Ryan, with the help of Espero and HPD, has since been able to identify the suspect.
Although Ryan cancelled his debit card, someone impersonating him had called the bank to reactivate it. The man logged dozens of charges totaling $4,000, said Ryan.
“The first two charges were really helpful in finding out who the person was,” he said.
A purchase at Kalihi’s Sunrise Market — the only store of its kind — helped Ryan pinpoint the man’s exact location.
Then, Ryan looked into the suspect’s online purchases. He was able to look at information on past transactions, including former credit card numbers and email addresses used.
“I found out they were using a Gmail account,” he said. “It’s very simple to do a quick Google search. And there was only one result — it was the suspect’s Facebook. When I clicked on his Facebook link, I saw that this person is from the Kalihi area. These things started adding up.”
Espero was the one who discovered that the suspect is on parole.
But their progress on the investigation has proved too little too late. Bautista and Ryan are no longer getting hitched in Hawaii and have decided to postpone the wedding.
“This is truly disheartening to not be able to have our wedding there,” said Ryan, whose Hawaii roots are largely why the couple originally wanted to wed on Oahu. “It really goes to show that a few bad people can really change the way a lot of people feel. It can be a domino effect.”
“This is definitely something that needs attention brought to it,” said Bautista. “It’s not fair. We’re bringing business to local businesses. For us to be victims that’s not fair.”
