I have always wondered - in fact I was just asking my friend the other day - what is the motivation behind stealing a thing which will probably get you just $50 in black market , if that? GPS units are so cheap these days.. and 10 CDs? thats just low .. I mean they are causing more damage to the car than the things they steal

In baltimore they are sawing off the catalytic converter.. this damages the car more than what the converter is worth. Of course thieves do not car about your car, but at least there needs to be SOME risk /reward ratio to justify the break-in

Stupidity!

When I own my own home - I will get a logitech wireless camera that will be focused in on the car. You can then get a live video stream of the car anywhere in the world ! ... Good way to keep an eye on ur car.. if u go away on long trips.. these cameras cost abt 125$ a piece..

This will obviously not solve the problem of theft in public parking places

 

I'm with you Matty. I've got several guns. I've got a permit to pack and I do. Don't let the anti-gun crowd beat you down. The supreme court just decided they were wrong (again) two weeks ago. Thank you for serving! When you get back, if you're ever in the Charlotte, NC area send me a PM and I'll take you to my favorite range to put some holes in paper.

GUNS KILL! That's why there's so many of them in prison!

 

I gotta ask, what were all those goodies doing in the unmanned vehicle in the first place?

 

This is a warning to all in this thread. Please cease discussion of the politics of gun ownership (both pro- and anti-). Political discussions are not permitted on NAM. (see the Site Guidelines, #10)

Any further posts in this thread that speak out for or against guns (which really are not the point of the thread) will result in warnings and/or infractions.

Please - let's just stay on topic, OK?

 

I had my stereo stolen out of my car because it looked expensive and I left a whole bunch of CDs in the floor of my car. I drove a Toyota Corolla at the time, and there was a Jaguar parked next to my car. My car was the one they chose to broke into. On the black market, that stereo was worthless, but the cd's were worth about 4$ each because there are a lot of shops here that buy used cd's, so they probably made about 80$ off of my car that night.

80$ buys a lot of certain types of illegal, recreational substances. That's why they do it. They don't care about the damage to your car. They care about the fix and how much money they can get to get them their next one.

 

You don't sound very crime conscious. You kept the mother lode in your car. I assume all this stuff was visible on the seat and dash, and not locked in the trunk / boot.

Here in San Francisco they reported on the news that there are thousands of vehicle window smash burglaries each year. And there's lots more since many people don't report them.

But you sound very wise to have had proper insurance. Many people don't know, but normally whatever is not attached to a car [installed] is not covered by auto insurance.

That's where homeowner or renter's insurance comes in. Most electronics would be covered on any property that one might have in the car.

Did you have replacement cost coverage on the property? If not, consider getting it. It's hard to find, some carriers call their coverage replacement cost, when in fact it is not. I have it through Allstate here in California.

Made only one claim in 18 years, where someone stole my two road bikes in the basement. Allstate paid $4800, the cost to replace them, without blinking an eye or questioning me. Was a phone call claim with no paperwork.

Tips for the future:

I have a P.O. Box. That is the address that goes on my driver's license, registration and title. I hide the reg in the vehicle. I don't keep it in the glove box.

Before exiting my MINI I look around to see if anyone is watching me. Burglars will often sit low in a car or stand across the street to watch what people do when getting out of a car. If they see you simply getting out and walking away, you are a good mark for a break in, assuming you have stuff inside. So I look.

And I especially relish those moments when the perp and my eyes meet, we stare each other down, me looking like I shoot first then ask questions. Sometimes I have had to police the area until the fool realizes I'm gonna do something about the thug casing the parking lot. Many would be burglars scamper off when they realize someone cares about what is going on and is watching.

I never leave anything in the passenger compartment. For example, I have a dark blue jacket in the back seat, a sort of emergency jacket. Well on a dark night that jacket looks like it is hiding something underneath, so I put that in the boot as well.

To show window smash burglars looking for a target that there is nothing in my MINI, I open the glove box to show it is empty and leave it open when the car is locked. [The box is always empty, I never put stuff in it.] I also have an armrest compartment that I slide open to show there is nothing there either. Both of these acts tell the burglar that I have most likely taken care to not simply stuff items under the seat.

Lastly, one way criminals know whom to target is looking for suction cup marks on windshields. They know that those cars most likely have a GPS and/or radar simply shoved under the seat.

To combat this, use mounts that do not attach to the windshield. Or simply clean the window with some glass cleaner each time you remove the mount.

Some of these tips are a hassle, but that is what the car burglars are counting on. And yes, it's sad this is how one has to act, constantly looking over one' shoulder or sleeping with one eye open, so to speak.

But this is the world we live in. One can say "won't happen to me" or "I refuse to act so paranoid." Those are choices we can make. Me? I prefer to have the burglar surveying the area to pass on my MINI and move on to someone else.

Hope this all helps.

 

That's what I was going to say. Even if you take precautions about not leaving anything visible, you still see the suction cup marks on the windshield.

Not sure about you men-types, but females seem to have typically been (as a social norm) brought up to be on the defensive, and to take these kinds of precautions. Well, IIIII was, anyway - my husband and male friends have not been quite so vigilant, and have ended up with cars broken into more often. Hm... I feel bad for our society.

 

(slight hijack. . . )

25 years ago my future hubby rode his one-speed beach cruiser from New Jersey through NY up through Vermont and New Hampshire. The one place he felt in direct danger of his life was. . . Yonkers, NY! So sorry about your car break-in. . . I suppose it could have been worse!

(Back to our regularly scheduled discussion now! )

 

I dunno about Yonkers, but let me tell you about the time that I got off at the wrong stop on the NYC subway and ended up in Harlem, a really bad section, at about 1:00 am. Was just me and my friend. Two white guys that looked like walking calcium deposits. I digress.

But your post brings up another tip.

I practice my tips no matter where I am at, good area or not. In the military we called this discipline, at least we did. It was to get us into the habit of doing something at all times, not just when we think we might need to do whatever.

I park the MINI in a secure "public / private" garage [where about 70 cars park total.] It's got two big rolling metal doors that close on each entry/exit of a car. In other words it's simply a big personal garage.

Even in there I leave my glove box open and leave nothing inside the car. Odds are nothing will ever happen in there, but if something does, my car will look the least attractive to a thief. But mostly I do it to discipline myself to always take security measures, not simply when in my opinion I might be in a risky area.

And just for stats purposes, in all my years of parking in bad areas [shopping malls or large public garages], I have NEVER been hit, while many times cars around me have been.

My tips are most effective because of how these thieves operate. Car burglars work fast. They don't have time to "window shop" while making their selections. They literally walk by each car, take about 5 seconds to look inside and if they see nothing, or my signal to them that there is nothing, e.g., the open glove box, they move on.

Once deciding to break in, the average window smash burglar takes less than 45 seconds to get in and get out. And that's on the long side because the crack addicts tend to move slower and more clumsy. The pros can be in and out in as little as 15 seconds.

Bonus Tip: The pros and doped up low-lifes are NOT deterred by car alarms. They can be in and out before anyone even wakes up to the sound of a blaring alarm. So don't think your alarm is reason to let down your guard.

And don't let your guard down in nice areas. Be disciplined at all times. I live on *** Hill, surrounded by million dollar condos. In the dead of night, almost every night, there's a window smash burglary. Just last week, on the curb in front of my place, I had to sweep up shattered auto glass from a break-in. Directly across the street was a 24/7 doorman / security for a condo building. Even his presence did not deter the criminal. Sidenote: I was cleaning up the glass because it was strewn across the sidewalk and a hazard. Did not want to wait for the City to clean it up.

And that is why I sleep with one eye open.

 

renters ins from allstate is covering most of the cost of losses but im still out a few hundred but its better than nothing and not that big of a deal and i take the yonkers thing offensevly it is a **** hole but i live here so i can say it not u

 

Moral is... no matter what you do, there is a chance someone will break in. I have five dogs, an alarm system, etc for my house, and while statistics say I have a .7% chance of being broken into (compared to a house with none of the above), it can happen. That is why I sleep with my service weapon next to me. Ya never know.

Anywhere, anytime. Car thieves are thieves, and you can do things to prevent it. It sucks, but it could always be worse. You could be without the MINI, or your life.

 

Yes. Theft can happen to anyone because
1) Thieves do not car about what precautions you have taken (they don't know about it.)
2) They are stupid.

I m sure you must have heard and seen this video but anyway here it is. Two idiots try to steal a bike in front of a house with a van which says "Security automation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEOfMOnbUAU

Duh!

 

Maybe they should steal some brains before they try to steal anything else.