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Here is my way to look at it. The service writer did not kick the door in, tear the keybox apart, take a pair of bolt cutters to the padlock locking the gate blocking the driveway all dealerships have, and steal the car.
Instead he used his company supplied keys and alarm codes to abuse his power and position to appropriate this customers property. Where I work, we have special procedures and protocols when we have 'high value' assets in the building.
In addition to the special protocols for high valued assets, we have more mundane security precautions in place. For example, if the alarm is not armed by a certain time, the monitoring company calls the general manager and works his way up a contact list until they reach someone making them aware of the issue. If the alarm is deactivated off schedule, meaning way before normal time for someone to be in the office, or on a day we are closed, the GM gets the same call.
In my opinion, the dealership was negligent in their security protocols for high value assets, and the access to the facilities. I would wager a bet, they have higher security protocols for the keys to the new inventory than they do the repair lot. Last time I went and test drove a car, the sales person has to key in a request for a key, use a key fob to authenticate the request, and get the one key they needed out of the drawer.
It's not uncommon at all to see the keys to a vehicle sitting on the drivers side tire when they are awaiting service at a garage.
Since in my opinion the dealer is negligent due to their lack of properly securing the vehicle, they owe the OP a bit more than a used replacement.
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