‘This is the fifth Toyota since Monday’: Tow truck driver warns wheel theft is on the rise. Here’s why

‘This is the fifth Toyota since Monday’: Tow truck driver warns wheel theft is on the rise. Here’s why

Marilyn-based tow truck driver, Beebo Aburish, documents an uptick of vehicle wheel theft on his TikTok (@beebotows). In a video he posted on May 22, a 2025 Toyota Camry sits in a Clinton, Maryland, parking lot, with all four of its wheels gone. There was also damage to both sides of the vehicle.

The video has over 90,000 views and over 3,000 likes.

“There’s no crates,” Aburish says in the TikTok, referring to the vehicle being flush with the asphalt. “Somehow they dropped this thing completely on the ground.” 

According to the Toyota Newsroom, the vehicle was available for purchase as of spring this year. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price is $28,400.

“Sheesh, they wasted no time,” a commenter wrote. “That car just got released like two weeks ago.” 

In the TikTok, Aburish says this is the fifth Toyota wheel theft in his area since Monday, but he isn’t sure why. 

“It’s out of control,” he says about the wheel theft. 

Most of Aburish’s most recent TikToks showcase various Toyota vehicles missing their tires and rims, but in an interview, he said thieves have also been targeting Honda, Acura, and Nissan, to name a few. 

“Some weeks I tow five to six in a week, and sometimes just one,” he said.

Several viewers shared that they’d seen similar occurrences in different U.S. cities. 

“The Toyota dealership I work at literally got our first one of these in a couple days ago,” a Toyota employee commented.

“That same happened to my Camry in Houston, Texas, during my one night rest stop,” another viewer shared.

Wheel theft on the rise in the U.S.

According to Wheelnet, a top provider of wheel and tire replacement in the United States, there was an 11% increase in wheel theft claims from March 2023 to February 2024. 

Many commenters on Aburish’s TikTok speculated about where the stolen wheels go. 

“It’s not anything about the cars,” one commenter said. “It’s the rims. What is the supply demand philosophy on these rims? Why is the market demanding them?”

Aburish said that people mostly sell the wheels on Facebook Marketplace or similar websites. 

“They should make it illegal to sell car rims unless approved by an official,” another commenter suggested. 

Aburish said that there are master kits available for wheel thieves to bypass dealer locks. Instead, he suggested that drivers use Rimlox LLC locks or other advanced wheel locks to avoid becoming victims of wheel theft.

@beebotows #toyotacamry #fypage #Fyp #stolenwheels #dmvtiktok #dmv #anotherone #wheeltheft ♬ original sound – Beebo

The classification and punishment for stealing tires differs state-by-state. One viewer commented that the penalty for stealing tires needs to be more strict. 

“Only coordinated street justice will solve this epidemic,” another viewer wrote.

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The post ‘This is the fifth Toyota since Monday’: Tow truck driver warns wheel theft is on the rise. Here’s why appeared first on The Daily Dot.


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