Fields Auto Group a repeat victim of theft
Cars have been flying off the lot of the Fields Auto Group dealerships in Northfield, but not how ownership would prefer.
Eight vehicles have been stolen in two separate incidents on the Fields "campus," three dealerships in a contiguous stretch along 670-770 W. Frontage Road, between Tower and Willow roads.
"In 50 years of being in business, we've never had that happen," said Dan Fields, president of Fields Auto Group, which has 34 dealerships in Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida and North Carolina. The company started with a single Cadillac dealership in Evanston in 1971.
"We're just happy there's been no violence, but we're seeing a lot more theft up here," he said.
According to the Northfield Police Department, at 6:18 a.m. June 21 officers responded to a report at Fields BMW, 700 W. Frontage Road. Fields staff had discovered the building had been burglarized overnight and five vehicles had been stolen from the service area. They were a 2015 BMW, a 2016 BMW, a 2018 Audi, a 2018 BMW and a 2019 BMW.
At 1:32 a.m. July 8, Northfield Police again were called to the campus for a report that Fields Land Rover, 670 W. Frontage Road, had been burglarized and three vehicles - two 2017 Jaguars and a 2018 Land Rover - had been stolen.
All of the vehicles have since been recovered, police said. Both thefts remain under investigation.
"What tends to be the pattern is the cars tend to be stolen, then taken for a joy ride and found in Chicago somewhere," said Fields.
On one occasion the thieves operated with the subtlety of a Hollywood action-adventure movie.
Though police said in both incidents the thieves broke a window to gain access, Fields said in one of the thefts, a Land Rover, was used as a battering ram.
First, an entrance guarded by another Land Rover was bashed in, then the service area garage door.
"We really thought when we blocked the entrances with a 5,000-pound vehicle we thought we'd be OK. We didn't expect that commitment from the thieves," said Fields, whose inventory suffered a previous loss this year when two cars went off the I-94 Expressway and hit several vehicles in one of the lots.
Reached last week after he'd just returned to Illinois from Florida, Fields said he had yet to quantify any financial loss. The Land Rover that was used to crash through the garage door was a new car from the lot.
He said thieves have started taking cars straight from the mechanics' racks since they have the keys in them. Fields said he will look into ways to improve key security. He hires off-duty police officers for after-hours security in his Florida dealerships and is considering expanding that practice.
"It's a little unfortunate that we have to do that now on the North Shore, but it is what it is," Fields said.