Thieves steal around $80K worth of dirt bikes from North Highlands dealership
NORTH HIGHLANDS – Less than a minute. Capitol Yamaha said that is how long it took for a group to ransack its North Highlands dealership and steal eight dirt bikes before placing them into a U-Haul early Sunday morning.
The store said the bikes cost about $10,000 each.
Seven people waltzed inside after maneuvering the front doors. Capitol Yamaha declined to do an interview but did allow CBS13 to share their video in hopes of catching the people behind this act.
It is currently offering a $2,500 reward to anyone with information that can help lead to an arrest.
"It's a big hit and it's not just about the monetary losses," said Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of the California Retailers Association.
The advocacy organization has been sounding the alarm to lawmakers about these casualties. It has been pushing for reform on Prop 47, which relaxed certain nonviolent offenses.
While inventory usually features a barcode scan – or a VIN for dirt bikes – businesses say it is hard to track down stolen merchandise.
"A lot of times, it will go out of state," Michelin said. "Or it'll go out of the country."
The brazen thefts also mean it is just costlier to do business.
"It used to be a huge amount of commercial carriers that we were able to place people with," said Colby Bell, an insurance agent. "But it's just been a lot less recently."
Recently, major insurers began pulling their policies off the marketplace citing natural disaster concerns. Insurance experts say commercial premiums are no different considering how insurers do not like risks.
What would make an insurer consider pulling policies from businesses? It comes down to how much exposure there is for loss.
"If it's a lot of organized retail theft happening and those losses are adding up," Bell said. "It's not appealing to an insurance company to say, 'Hey, I would love to insure in California."
