Small mystery: Could someone have taken my hubcap while I was parked at Home Depot?!? (Merrick: mall)

[gk90]

I find this hard to believe but I think someone stole one of my hubcaps and left an old, beat-up one instead while I was parked at Home Depot yesterday. I have a 3 year old Toyota van and the hubcaps look fine except for one that fell off and got all scratched up before I retrieved it. In fact this is one of the problems with this van--the hubcaps fall off easily, a friend has the same van and says she keeps losing hubcaps.

So yesterday I came out of Home Depot and looked at the hubcap on the rear driver side and saw it was all chipped and peeling. It was so bad that there was no way that I wouldn't have noticed before that it was in such bad shape. I couldn't figure out why it looked that way and compared it to the other 3 hubcaps, none of which have any peeling at all including the one that's all scratched up.

The only idea I could come up with is that someone must have been desperate and crazy enough to pull off my decent-looking hubcap and replace it with their beat-up one? But then why not just take it outright instead of switching it? Has anyone ever had anything like this happen to them?

[OhBeeHave]

We've had trailer plates stolen when parked in the HD lot. A hub cap swap wouldnt shock me.

[SouthBound3]

Would not surprise me but if you come out and your set of Michelin's has been swapped out for a set of bald Sumitomo's - I'd start having someone stay with the car while you run inside or start going to a different Home Depot!

[gk90]

LOL @SouthBound3, the hubcap thief must have worked fast because we went in for just 1 item. It's not in a "bad" area either, it was the HD off Merrick Ave and Corporate Drive in the Roosevelt Raceway mall where the new Fairway just opened up. Fairway must be doing well, it's years since I've seen so many cars in that lot, but the HD itself is the least busy one I know.

[LongIslandEddie]

Obviously a low-rider...