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Toyota Tacoma Tailgate Thefts Are Soaring... As Thousands Pop Up for Sale on Facebook Marketplace (fuelarc.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I’ve been watching this weird trend of Toyota Tacoma tailgate thefts cropping up all over the country… and I think I’ve found where they’re going.

Thousands of Tacoma tailgates are popping up on Facebook Marketplace right now, and some of these sellers? Let’s just say they’re moving an improbable amount of product if the tailgates aren’t stolen.

Read our whole analysis here!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I guess, the word got out, or the economy got bad enough where suddenly lots of folks are doing it? Or the easiness of fencing the tailgates on social media is encouraging folks who wouldn't know how to sell a catalytic converter to get into the "steal components" game? Not totally sure!

I am sure that it's newly cropping up as a common problem. It's all over the Tacoma subreddit, even the news is covering it (local news in Alameda covered a chop-shop bust that was targeting Tacomas specifically, and that was like, 2 days ago).

So yeah, I'm as mystified as you are. I explained the removable tailgate concept just for folks who maybe never drove a pickup truck or the many folks who don't use that feature.

(Edit: and thanks for the dealership insights! I never drove any F-Series other than the F-150, so I had no idea how the heavy duty models handled tailgate features)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I mean that's fair. I would think pickup owners already know how easy it is to remove the tailgate, but it is reasonable to explain to non-pickup owners that it's easier than stealing a door. I was assuming non-pickup owners wouldn't really care in the first place, but why exclude them? I guess my question is really whether this is truly trending or if it was simply sensationalism by main media outlets.

I'd also add a possible legitimate source of a bunch of tailgates: truck body upfitters. While you can order a pickup-style truck without the bed to installed some kind of work body, sometimes it's worth it to get one with a bed and remove it. Most people don't want a spare bed they'll never use, so the upfitters will keep the bed and factor it into the sale price. However, I saw that market trend up and down in my time there as well, so, sometimes, it was best to eat a little loss to save a ton of storage space. So, they'd remove the tailgate and taillights, then crush and scrap the bed. Now, they didn't upfit Tacos when I was there, but Ford, Ram, and Chevy were all viable in the 250-3500 classes