chop-shop

chop shop

A location where stolen vehicles are disassembled so that their parts can be sold. We'll never get our car back if the thieves have already taken it to a chop-shop.
See also: chop, shop
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

chop-shop

n. a place where stolen cars are cut or broken up into car parts for resale. The state is cracking down on these chop-shops.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • chop shop
  • have a 20 on (someone)
  • get a 20 on (someone)
  • any old place
  • any old thing, time, place, etc.
  • secret hideout
  • a/(one's) 20
  • skip
  • hop, skip, and (a) jump
  • hop, skip, and jump
References in periodicals archive
The lid was blown on the chop-shop when a GPS stolen vehicle tracking device on the Audi RS4 traced it to Macquarrie's property.
Car pair in prison; Vehicles were stolen
She must remain undercover as a meter maid to gather evidence against Stannislav Renko, a charismatic Serbian mobster running a brutal multi-million dollar mobile chop-shop operation.
Choked Up
Chop-shop gangs are so called because those involved chop up stolen cars and sell on the parts.
POLICE IN 'CHOP SHOP' CAR RAIDS; Firms suspected of selling stolen vehicles and motor parts
This fun-house aesthetic is augmented by the structure's individual parts, each coated in a different hue--pink, green, gray, black--to simultaneously suggest chop-shop workmanship and Ellsworth Kelly's monochromatic shaped canvases.
Kim Adams: DIAZ CONTEMPORARY
Embracing the chop-shop model, the "big-pharma" industry is slated to shed more than 100,000 jobs in advanced economies.
Global "chop shops": slice, dice and outsource
Department of Justice (DOJ) assess the effectiveness of the parts marking by 1997, and, if parts marking was found to inhibit chop-shop operations and deter motor vehicle theft, extend parts marking to all remaining vehicle lines by December 1997.
Officers felt that labels provide the greatest deterrent with chop-shop operators because operators usually will not purchase parts with missing labels or without proper paperwork.
Labeling Automobile Parts to Combat Theft
A MERSEYSIDE "chop-shop" gang, who handled more than PS1.4m worth of stolen cars, have been jailed for 10 years.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the "chop-shop", one of the worst police had ever seen, was raided in 2013 when a huge collection of parts and whole cars were found - many stolen in domestic burglaries.
CHOP?SHOP GANG JAILED FOR CUTTING UP CARS WORTH PS1.4m; Vehicles were stolen from Merseyside homes to be sold on
As offshoots of stolen vehicle investigations, RATT detectives have arrested a number of gun runners, drug dealers, and chop-shop operators.
Indeed, in 1994, RATT detectives even became chop-shop operators.
Car thieves smell a RATT
Stolen cars are often broken down at so called 'chop-shops' - back street garages or industrial estate units.
Engines from stolen motors found in raid on Midland chop shop; cars nicked to order to supply parts for insurance write-offs
The team's investigative mission focuses on locating chop-shops - usually housed in garages or repair shops - that specialize in stripping vehicles and selling their parts.
Combatting vehicle theft along the Texas border