Unlock your car door with a cell phone! You could pay a surcharge for buying gas at the
pump with a credit card! Your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) could be used by
thieves to steal your car!
E-mails with these headlines are probably cluttering your inbox right now. But they're
urban legends, those rumors repeated so routinely that they must be true. Or are they?
Here, I take a look at a few of the most popular automobile urban legends out there and
uncover whether they're true or false.
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Can you unlock your car door with a cell phone? No.
Your car door will not magically unlock if someone with your spare remote holds
it up to the phone and presses the button. As remote entry devices work on radio
waves and not sound waves, your cell phone cannot send the signal needed to
unlock the door. The technology's not here…or at least, not yet.
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Will you be charged $10 for buying gas with a card? No.
Gas stations are not charging you a fee for using credit or debit cards at the pump.
Since the amount of the purchase is not known until the gas is pumped, stations
may put a pre-authorization hold on your purchase. This amount can vary, but
most gas stations set the authorization for $1. The estimated total stays in the
system until the actual amount reaches the issuer. These holds do not show up on
mailed bank statements but can appear online, only to disappear within a day or
two.
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Can thieves use your VIN to have a key made to your car? Yes and no.
It's true that these numbers can be used to generate a new key for many cars. But
most reputable dealerships require people wanting a key made to provide proof of
ownership. The law requires these numbers to remain visible on your vehicle, and
while covering them up may protect you from having a thief make a copy of your
key, the numbers are valuable to police to locate and recover your car if it is
stolen.
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