Car Vandalism...

[Sun Tzu]

Has anyone here ever had their car broken into?

So, I live in a pretty affluent and safe neighborhood. The houses are nice, we're several (like...10) blocks from any decent sized streets/intersections, and you can generally walk around here no matter what time of day/night it is, and feel safe.

This morning I woke up to find my Prius broken into, and my Wife's work laptop stolen. She (for whatever reason) felt it was too much trouble to park in the garage last night, but we never really think twice about that stuff because...well...this is a nice area. There's broken glass all inside of the car, and in our driveway. Thankfully nothing else of great value was in the car. Still it's a shitty situation, and I feel the need to vent about it.

Bastards.

Oh, they also stole my Wife's apple earphones. WTF? What the hell do you want those for?

Bastards.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Has anyone here ever had their car broken into?

So, I live in a pretty affluent and safe neighborhood. The houses are nice, we're several (like...10) blocks from any decent sized streets/intersections, and you can generally walk around here no matter what time of day/night it is, and feel safe.

This morning I woke up to find my Prius broken into, and my Wife's work laptop stolen. She (for whatever reason) felt it was too much trouble to park in the garage last night, but we never really think twice about that stuff because...well...this is a nice area. There's broken glass all inside of the car, and in our driveway. Thankfully nothing else of great value was in the car. Still it's a shitty situation, and I feel the need to vent about it.

Bastards.

Oh, they also stole my Wife's apple earphones. WTF? What the hell do you want those for?

Bastards.

That sucks.

Luckily, *knock soundly on wood* I have never had my car broken into. After having to park it on the street for three years while living in Washington D.C., however, I learned very quickly never to leave anything of potential value in my car. I would even make sure that any change I had in the car wasn't visible. I didn't want to give anybody any reason to break into my car.

[Alan T]

My mother had her car broken into once when parked at my house during the night. We live in a nice neighborhood, but about 10-15 minutes away from what one might consider a more high-rate of crime neighborhood.

What the police told us was that the people who broke in likely watched her at the nearby grocery store that she stopped at, identified that she had a GPS in her car and simply followed her to my house. They waited and then broke in when the coast was clear. All for a silly $80 GPS at the time.

Even though it was not my car, for me I felt a little violated because it happened in my driveway. I actually still to this day go to sleep with all of the flood lights and everything on in the drive way every night to discourage future acts, even though it is a relative safe neighborhood.

[Sun Tzu]

I actually still to this day go to sleep with all of the flood lights and everything on in the drive way every night to discourage future acts, even though it is a relative safe neighborhood.

Bummer about your Mom's car. We have flood lights too, and pretty strong ones. I had them on all night, but that obviously didn't deter this person.

Sucks for them...they're going to open up that laptop case and find a Dell.

[Sun Tzu]

Oh, and props to AAA auto insurance. I called them this morning, and they're going to have someone out here before noon to clean up all the glass, and install a new window.

Not bad.

[Apathetic Lurker]

Lol......A Prius...... Must have been some Republicans looking for secret environmental case studies on the laptop.

On a serious note, this sucks major suckage.....

[CraigSca]

Oddly enough, when I was shopping locally yesterday there was a cop in the parking lot passing out leaflets about auto theft. The biggest things - lock your doors (90% of "break-ins" are because someone didn't lock the door) and never leave valuables showing.

Sorry to hear about what happened - I can imagine it's a little unnerving.

[Sun Tzu]

Lol......A Prius...... Must have been some Republicans looking for secret environmental case studies on the laptop.

On a serious note, this sucks major suckage.....

Laugh it up fuzzball. I get 49 miles per gallon :-)

I have to say, I'm happy they didn't try to steal the built-in GPS system. That could have caused some mondo damage.

[Breeze]

never had a car broken into...did have one stolen one time...

that wasn't a whole lot of fun...

[DanGarion]

Laugh it up fuzzball. I get 49 miles per gallon :-)

I have to say, I'm happy they didn't try to steal the built-in GPS system. That could have caused some mondo damage.

I don't think there is much of after market for built in GPS systems, it's actually one of the good reasons to get those.

[Warhammer]

I had one in my driveway. The hell of it was I walked in and forgot to lock the car (was on the phone for work, was going to head back out and got sidetracked). They took my IPOD and a rosary my mom made for me. I understand the IPOD, but a rosary?

[jeff061]

Had my Wrangler broken(unzipped) into and my stereo stolen. The stereo was dead and they left my nice speakers. I considered the change they stole from the cup holder to be a tip for removing my trash.

[miked]

We have friends that live in Peachtree City, an affluent suburb about 20-30 minutes south of Atlanta. Their house was broken into (while they were home actually) and they were told by the cops that the criminals love to drive in to the affluent neighborhoods. Why? Because there is more good stuff and people are less concerned with safety since they live in a nicer area.

[JAG]

Oddly enough, when I was shopping locally yesterday there was a cop in the parking lot passing out leaflets about auto theft. The biggest things - lock your doors (90% of "break-ins" are because someone didn't lock the door) and never leave valuables showing.

Sorry to hear about what happened - I can imagine it's a little unnerving.

Only time I ever had a car 'broken into' was when I accidentally left it open. Car was ransacked through and they took some change worth maybe $10 and a garage door opener (but apparently found nothing of value in the garage).

[AENeuman]

Buddy of mine lives in the piedmont (the good part) in Oakland. One morning he noticed a woman in car going through his things. He then called the cops. When he started to call the Bluetooth in his car picked up his phone. All of a sudden the person in the car heard, "this is 911, what is your emergency?" She FREAKED out, ran out of the car, wondering how KIT did that.

[Ben E Lou]

We have friends that live in Peachtree City, an affluent suburb about 20-30 minutes south of Atlanta. Their house was broken into (while they were home actually) and they were told by the cops that the criminals love to drive in to the affluent neighborhoods. Why? Because there is more good stuff and people are less concerned with safety since they live in a nicer area.And even in the nicest neighborhoods, someone has a 23ish-year-old son who went off to college and got addicted to cocaine and/or gambling in his frat, and he will steal to support his habit. :D

[DaddyTorgo]

Buddy of mine lives in the piedmont (the good part) in Oakland. One morning he noticed a woman in car going through his things. He then called the cops. When he started to call the Bluetooth in his car picked up his phone. All of a sudden the person in the car heard, "this is 911, what is your emergency?" She FREAKED out, ran out of the car, wondering how KIT did that.

There's a good part of Oakland? :D

[AnalBumCover]

I have to continually tell my wife to hide away anything of value if she's going to leave it in the car. Almost every time she leaves her purse just sitting on the passenger seat, just inviting someone to come and take it.

[johnnyshaka]

My sister-in-law and her husband went to Portland on holidays (they spent a few weeks driving down the coast) and literally a few hours after landing their rental car got broken into as they were eating lunch. Their luggage was in the trunk but their carry-ons were on the back seat. Laptop, toiletries, and my brother-in-law's snoring machine (CPAP machine) were in the bags. Great way to start a vacation, right? Ugh.

Feel for ya, Sun, that's no fun at all.

[Sun Tzu]

Ouch, Johnny.

My wife was heading out of town for work this morning, so she put her laptop and everything else in the car last night, just in case she were to forget it early this morning. She almost lost it when she walked out to the car this morning and saw the busted window. It's a good thing I was around...I think she would have had a meltdown. I think it's safe to say she won't be randomly parking the car in the driveway with a laptop on the floor again.

How strange and random this all is. Just two days ago I parked the car in a terrible neighborhood to jump on BART and head into SF (for the Giants parade).

I appreciate the well-wishes.

[sterlingice]

Only time I ever had a car 'broken into' was when I accidentally left it open. Car was ransacked through and they took some change worth maybe $10 and a garage door opener (but apparently found nothing of value in the garage).

Pretty much same story here:

I lived in a dumpy apartment in Lawrence, Kansas (still only cost $450 a month when we moved away a few years ago). I think I must have forgotten to lock my doors one night- something I'm usually very good about. They opened the door, rifled through the glove compartment and storage areas, and all they got was the ~$5 in change I kept for tolls, etc. I think they were probably more pissed they went to the much trouble to find nothing.

SI

[JediKooter]

Sorry to hear that Sun Tzu, that sucks big time.

Lived in one of the nicest neighborhoods in San Diego and had someone tear the molding off my car above the passenger side window. House paintballed and several neighbors cars broken into. All the problems I've ever had were when I was in a nicer area of town. I think it's just easier pickings for the theives because of complaicency and they use it to their advantage.

My rule is: if they can walk away with it with one hand, don't leave it in the car. :)

[Scoobz0202]

I've been broken into a few times over the past couple years. Once I left my doors unlocked and that was when stuff was actually taken. Twice I have had the same window broken out, once with a brick that I found inside the vehicle and once by who knows what, but both times nothing was taken.

People piss me off sometimes.

[gstelmack]

The problem with the affluent neigborhoods is sometimes bored teens. A second issue are crews doing home repairs - I had one friend whose neighbor was getting their house painted, and he watched two guys on the crew studying his upstairs window while holding their ladder...

[INDalltheway]

I had two tires slashed a week after moving to a new apartment complex. I'm pretty sure whoever did it was mad at the person parked next to me. They had all four tires slashed and a not so nice word keyed into the side. The police were involved but nothing ever came of it of course and set me back 2 new tires minus the shitty depreciation offer I got from my insurance.

[Scoobz0202]

The problem with the affluent neigborhoods is sometimes bored teens. A second issue are crews doing home repairs - I had one friend whose neighbor was getting their house painted, and he watched two guys on the crew studying his upstairs window while holding their ladder...

A neighbor of ours had their roof redone a couple weeks back. They finished on a Saturday afternoon, and Monday morning they woke up to their living room emptied out. Lady works third shift so it happened while she was sleeping early in the morning. She thinks they saw her and bolted so they didn't make it much past the living room.

Could be a coincidence with the roofers having nothing to do with it but it is definitely suspicious.

[Karlifornia]

I had my car broken into once...all my cd's stolen. It was all indie rock music, so they probably neither enjoyed nor profited from it. Haha, suckers!

The same car was actually stolen and then found by police a few days later. Of course, the police were nice enough to have it towed to an impound lot even though I had reported it stolen immediately. I had to pay like $200 to get it out. I remember yelling at the impound staff "I was the victim of a crime, and I have to pay? You people are sick!"

[stevew]

You're not getting your Credence back.

[Sun Tzu]

stevew wins.

Thanks for playing.

[bulletsponge]

Laugh it up fuzzball. I get 49 miles per gallon :-)

I have to say, I'm happy they didn't try to steal the built-in GPS system. That could have caused some mondo damage.

http://www.imgnook.com/R3x91.jpg

[britrock88]

This thread is making me paranoid (I'm mid-move, with a jam-packed new car.)

[Vince, Pt. II]

Had my car broken into twice. First time was down in Santa Barbara. They stole my golf clubs and a big ass CD case. As much as I love golf, the CDs have been a much longer replacement process.

The second time was in Almaden (quite affluent suburb of San Jose), right in front of my parents' place. They stole the stereo out of the car. Left a 250+ CD case sitting on the front seat, as well as golf clubs and softball gear (including a very expensive bat) in the trunk.

It's a really, really crappy thing to have happen, even if it's something easily replaceable. I feel for you guys.

[Dutch]

Back in high school when I lived in the DC/NOVA area I had my car broken into like four times. It sucked when I didn't have the cash on hand to pay for a new window....I guess my insurance back then didn't cover such things because I remember driving around half the time with a garbage bag taped to {insert random window here}<insert here="" window="" random="">.</insert>

[BillJasper]

My mother-in-law had her car broken into a few months ago. The culprits took a bible, condiment packets and some napkins. It would've been funny if I hadn't been the one who ended up paying for a new drivers side window.

[cartman]

I agree with the bored teens theory. I live out in the country, in a gated community with only one road coming in or out. All of the houses are on at least one acre lots, with most 1.5 to 2 acres. My house sits about 150 feet from the street. Also the sheriff for my county lives on my street. Someone swiped my radar detector out of my car. I never would have expected that to happen. A few other people had small electronic devices swiped out of their cars at the same time as well. It is a bit awkward to call the sheriff's office to report a stolen radar detector. It is a bit like calling to report a stolen bong. It isn't illegal to own one, but...