Car was broken into this morning....

[thefed]

Well, not broken INTO....just gone thru.


We are in a very quiet, semi-rural neighborhood, on a dead end street with no homes flanking our street....it's essentially a street cut into a 360 acre farm.....and that lulled me into complacency

We never lock out house doors, let alone car doors.

Our neighbor called to tell us someone went thru her car and stole a pocket knife....i figured it was kids and brushed it off.

But when i got down to my wifes van to look for my wallet....BAM.....there's my wallets contents all over the seat. yes, my wallet! (we went to get chinese the night before, and its in a not so good area...so i grabbed exact change from the wallet and left it with my wife in the vehicle....theres always a homeless guy trying to bug me for change and i dont like flashing a wallet...and i FORGOT IT in the car! NEVER, have i left a wallet in the car)

Well, they took the cash ($70), but left all the credit cards, gps, satellite, etc. Turns out 4 or 5 other neighbors got it too....


I guess I'll be locking em now! duh

 

[Leonidas]

Probably somebody looking for a little dope-buying money.

 

[thefed]

Probably somebody looking for a little dope-buying money.

yeah...and go figure i give em the frigging jackpot of a WALLET with CASH in an unlocked car!! come on.....

 

[Westernskies]

Happened to me a couple of times, in the summer when the kids are out of school; on both occasions I forgot to lock up... I don't leave much in my truck, so nothing interesting or even remotely valuable to steal. I have this mental image of the little b*astards digging furiously thru my console in the dark driveway, thinking there just has to be an ipod, digital camera, pda, cell phone, credit card, something in here besides a couple of old cassettes, a roll of toilet paper, 3 bungee cords, 2 screwdrivers and a handful of loose change.. all the while thinking, this has to be the most boring, worthless car burglary we have ever done... The last time they stole the little divider tray out of the console- probably just so they didn't have to leave completely empty handed. I'm sure the contents of the tray were equally disappointing when they stopped to examine their loot.

 

[samclem]

Well, they took the cash ($70), but left all the credit cards, gps, satellite, etc. Turns out 4 or 5 other neighbors got it too....

Wow, you got off really light. This wasn't a theft, it was practically a gift. I'm sure it stings, but imagine the PITA of replacing your driver's license, all your CCs, the electronics, etc.

 

[thefed]

For instances like this, and one other I've explained in the past, i'd love to wire my house with a few security cameras connected to a huge hard drive.


anyone do this before?

yeah, i know it wouldnt help much, but i'd like to explore my options! ive been robbed at gunpoint before and wouldve loved to catch them on video

 

[Sue J]

We always lock any cars left outside because we all have garage door remotes in our cars. If someone got into one of the cars they would have easy access to the garage and it's attached to the house. We lock the door to the house at night but during the day it's unlocked because the garage door is closed.

Sorry that this happened to you. I hope everyone on your street made a police report.

 

[samclem]

For instances like this, and one other I've explained in the past, i'd love to wire my house with a few security cameras connected to a huge hard drive.

I've never done it, but have looked into it a little.

The X10 site has very inexpensive cameras X10.com - Security Cameras, Wireless Camera, Wireless Webcam, Home Security Camera, Spy Camera (a very tacky site--the women can apparently not afford much in the way of clothing).

Be aware that X10-style wireless home automation systems/alarm systems/camera systems have a reputation for being finicky and marketed to geeks/hobbyists who like to tinker. They are not robust, serious, top-flight home security products.

 

[Janet H]

I've also had my car gone through, in my driveway. I live 3 blocks from a high school and I suspect kids as they took the change from the change holder and went through the CD's (leaving most) but left more valuable stuff.

More annoyingly, last year I had my gas tank siphoned twice in one week. Now THAT was expensive and so was the locking gas cap!

grrr....

 

[bright eyed]

we had the change from our car taken a few times,we didn't really notice it, then SO was up late one nite and saw someone walking through our neighborhood just pulling handles to get into whatever car was open.

 

[dex]

Fed - does it mean someone walked into your area?

Growing up in NYC I know to never leave anything in sight in the car - even radios. I used to see cars with a side window broken and the radio stolen. Also, back in the day the battery was stolen.

 

[W2R]

I have lived for periods longer than a year, in many places.

One place in Mississippi was so crime-free that their idea of local news was "A wrench was stolen from the back of Billy Bob's pickup truck on Wednesday. Or, Billy Bob says he might have lost the wrench himself somewhere around the house on Tuesday." Honestly, that was in the paper and it was the big crime of the week.

But even there, I kept up my habits from less crime free areas. You never know when things will change, and who wants to be the first victim? I ALWAYS lock the doors on my home and car, no matter where I live, and I never leave anything in my car other than the necessary paperwork in the glove compartment or items in the trunk. These are easy habits to acquire, and require zero thought or hassle.

Back in Hawaii more than half a century ago, this wasn't necessary and most houses in the neighborhood where I grew up didn't even HAVE locks on the doors. But times have changed. They sure do now and besides, I haven't lived in "Mayberry, HI" for a very long time.

 

[FinanceDude]

I've also had my car gone through, in my driveway. I live 3 blocks from a high school and I suspect kids as they took the change from the change holder and went through the CD's (leaving most) but left more valuable stuff.

More annoyingly, last year I had my gas tank siphoned twice in one week. Now THAT was expensive and so was the locking gas cap!

grrr....

Don't all cars now have the kind of gas caps that only release from inside the car?

 

[thefed]

Fed - does it mean someone walked into your area?

if by 'in your area' you mean my property...well....yes....the car is a good 100 ft from any boundary, including the street. that feeling of violation gets me more upset than the money

 

[TromboneAl]

When in Oakland, someone tried to get into our car by putting a screwdriver in the locks and turning it. It didn't work, but we had to spend $300 fixing the locks.

But even there, I kept up my habits from less crime free areas.

Same here. Locals think it's strange that our doors are always locked.

 

[Gworker]

Don't all cars now have the kind of gas caps that only release from inside the car?

No, only expensive cars that financial advisors buy have that.

My truck doesn't have it.

More proof that FAs aren't in touch with us regular folk.

 

[CuppaJoe]

... that feeling of violation gets me more upset than the money

That's the feeling that stuck with me. My car was stolen and missing for a couple of weeks in the '70s. Turned out it was probably taken for a joy ride; police found it at the beach with minnows left on the back seat. I still remember the icky feeling I got from seeing blotchy finger and hand prints all over the interior.

 

[Janet H]

Don't all cars now have the kind of gas caps that only release from inside the car?

LBYM.
The current ride is a 10 year old Ford Exploder with 60 K miles on it that I paid cash for new. It is a "farmers special". Crank windows, rubber floor mats, no center console, no power mirrors or seats, no moon roof or wet bar and... gasp... a manual transmission. I expect to be driving this for the next 4 years (or handing it off to my college kid).

 

[FUEGO]

Someone went through my car the other day. They didn't take anything. In fact they left me a $20, and a hastily scribbled note that said "Please accept this small amount of money as a donation to help you buy a better car stereo and some more electronics. I was going to steal things from your car and buy dope with the proceeds of fencing your stuff, but I now realize you need your stuff more than I need dope." Probably one of the roving bands of unemployed English PhD's scrapping for a buck...

 

[Trek]

When I lived out in Washington State some a-holes took a crowbar, wedged it between the roofline of my car and the top of the door and pryed the top of the cardoor back until they had enough room to put their arm in and unlock the door from the inside. That was nice. Then they punched the trunk lock out and opened that, only to find nothing.

When you head out on hiking trails in the PNW you really take a risk with your ride in the parking areas. They are notorious for broken windows with people looking for anything they can grab (lots of meth heads). Most my friends would either leave thier cars unlocked completely or they had special "trail rigs" which were basically crappy stripped down jeeps that they used when leaving their vehicle at a trailhead.

 

[Bestwifeever]

You don't need surveillance equipment--just stick a few with thefedsignal picture on them near your driveway and that should take care of it.

 

[bbbamI]

Don't all cars now have the kind of gas caps that only release from inside the car?

Yeah, I was thinkin' the same thing too. I reckon you and I are just high falootin' LBYMer's.

 

[FUEGO]

What is this "gas cap" of which you speak and how would it lock? Does everyone else not just shove a shred of old oily rag into the whole on the side of your car where you siphon gas into? Now that's REAL LBYM.

My oily rag plug even comes with state of the art evaporative VOC recapture equipment.

 

[FinanceDude]

I would just buy two things:

1)A Lifetime NRA Member Sticker

2)An FBI or DEA hat

Put the NRA sticker on the car and leave the hat on the front seat

Problem solved.........

 

[TromboneAl]

Someone went through my car the other day. They didn't take anything. In fact they left me a $20, and a hastily scribbled note that said "Please accept this small amount of money as a donation to help you buy a better car stereo and some more electronics. I was going to steal things from your car and buy dope with the proceeds of fencing your stuff, but I now realize you need your stuff more than I need dope." Probably one of the roving bands of unemployed English PhD's scrapping for a buck...

Like the story of a guy who lives in a high crime area, and puts a note on his dashboard saying "I don't have a stereo." The next day he finds his window smashed and a new note on the dashboard that says "Get one!"