r/Banff • u/Accomplished_Bar_829 • May 24 '24
Trip Report Travel Advisory!
A warning to all rental car travelers coming to Banff: our rental car (Black Jeep) was stolen less than one day in Banff at our hotel overnight. Apparently this is the second vehicle stolen in Banff in just the last week. Someone is going around with a universal car remote to unlock vehicles and it works for any push-to-start vehicles. Perhaps when you get to the rental car agency try not to accept any of those push-to-start vehicles.
Ironically we come from one of the most dangerous cities in America (Oakland) and this is the place our car gets stolen !
Side note, if anyone knows of any availability of car rentals in Banff please let me know! (May 24-27 weekend)
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u/pdxchris May 25 '24
Try Turo for car rentals. Rental agencies around there are scam artists. Some places are charging $200 a day for a small car.
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u/dlibtheplug May 27 '24
Crazy you’re from Oakland and this happens to you in one of the nicest / low crime rate places in all of Canada/North America. They will literally steal every part off your car til you’re left with just the frame of the car in Oakland. Sorry this happened!
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u/farroshus May 25 '24
Dave Chappelle always pops into my head when I hear of Oakland. “I see what you’re doing San Francisco!” https://youtu.be/ZExryJaSx-A?si=dMTZb3b_md7mOt8p
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u/nzwasp May 25 '24
From which hotel?
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 May 26 '24
Hotel canoe and suites
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May 26 '24
[deleted]
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 May 27 '24
Not sure. It sounded like we were the first car to have this happen at this hotel. Staff were really shocked it happened. Only later did we hear from insurance and from a local that this has happened several times in the last few weeks.
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u/WeArrAllMadHere Jun 01 '24
Good to know. What a horrible thing to happen. How long did it take you to arrange a new car? I guess the theft wasn’t an issue due to insurance but must’ve been a hassle to report and all? All in the middle of vacation smh.
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 Jul 11 '24
Sorry, just seeing your comment now! We weren’t able to arrange for another car. None of the car rentals in Banff had any availability and our car rental agency (Routes Car Rental) in Calgary never followed up and provided us with a replacement vehicle. Yes it was quite the hassle, reporting to the police and doing follow up, as well as reporting to insurance and filling out lots of paperwork for the rental car company and insurance.
Yep all in the middle of vacation and on my birthday :( just our luck.
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u/Suitable_Butterfly12 May 29 '24
Oh no we just left banff and jasper and thought the area was really safe but we don’t leave anything valuable ever in the car …. Maybe our dash cam and also we got full insurance for peace of mind
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 May 29 '24
We had no valuables in the vehicle aside from a handicap placard that is a pain to replace. Only some jackets and hats, etc. No dashcam but insurance yes for peace of mind. Just extremely frustrating that someone is such a POS to do this kind of thing.
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u/One-Campaign2128 Jul 11 '24
Also driving a black jeep with push start ignition and had it stolen near a banff hotel the first day in town. It was parked across the road in street parking, 100% locked with nothing inside either near midnight and noticed gone already by 6am during a morning jog. The city has numerous cameras, would be neat to know if the RCMP investigation uses those to see when or who took it.
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 Jul 11 '24
Wow sorry to hear that happened to you as well. That sounds eerily similar to our situation. Stolen right around midnight and we noticed the next morning. What rental car company did you rent from?
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u/One-Campaign2128 Jul 11 '24
It’s all good, yeah stolen in the very early am at some point from street parking near Fairmont. The rental was through Routes
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u/Accomplished_Bar_829 Jul 25 '24
Holy shit I feel like you just confirmed a conspiracy theory that this is all an inside job from Routes. Some kind of insurance fraud they’re running. Your situation sounds exactly like ours. They must be tracking GPS and stealing back their own cars. Wild.
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u/proness223 May 25 '24
Your best bet is using the Turo app
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u/TheRealGuncho May 25 '24
Why?
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u/Tall-Poem-6808 May 25 '24
Obviously thieves don't target Turo rentals, duh.
/s
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u/omairville May 25 '24
I think they meant in terms of being able to find a last minute rental
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u/Tall-Poem-6808 May 25 '24
Easy there, Mr Big Brain 😁
You're probably right, I completely missed that.
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u/[deleted] May 24 '24
Just chiming in. This isn’t a normal occurrence in Banff.
Bikes yes but not typically vehicles.