Four years ago — soon after we moved into this house — somebody broke into my car.
We only have room for one vehicle in the garage, so I park on the street. One foggy February morning, I walked to my Ford Focus as usual, opened the back door, and put my stuff on the seat. But when I slammed the door closed, a shower of glass fell to the ground. Somebody had smashed the driver’s window.
I didn’t have time to mess around with the broken window, so I swept the glass from the seat and drove to work. It was cold. On the way, I tried to inventory the damage. Only the one window was broken. All of my CDs still seemed to be there (who would want to steal music from the 1920s?), but my cell phone was gone. (The stupid thief had left the charger to which it had been connected.) That was all that was missing from the front seat.
When I got to work, I searched the rest of the car. Nothing in the back seat was taken, which was good, because I had both my personal and my business checkbook sitting in plain view, with checks made out to both accounts from various sources. And I had my business credit card there, too. (Yes, this was very stupid of me.) But it was when I checked the trunk that my heart sank. My bag of camera equipment was gone. I was missing a small fortune in lenses and filters and more. I cursed my carelessness.
I reported the theft to the police, and they took down a report. The woman I talked to was sympathetic, but not hopeful. “There’s been a rash of car burglaries in your neighborhood,” she said.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked. “Is it better to park in the driveway instead of on the street? Should I lock the door? Keep it unlocked?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “A determined burglar is going to get in. If it were my car, I’d leave it unlocked, because then at least there’s less chance of having the window smashed.”
Ever since, I’ve left my car unlocked when I park it on the street — which is every day. And I never leave anything of value in the vehicle anymore.
A month later, a friend found my camera equipment. The burglar had dumped it in the bushes by the corner of our property. He had apparently gone through the bag looking for valuables, not realizing the camera gear itself was worth a couple thousand bucks. After a little clean up, the equipment was fine.
I was fortunate my foolishness did not cost me more.
The next year, a thief broke into Kris’ car. Maybe it was a different thief. Maybe not. Fortunately, Kris doesn’t keep anything of value in her vehicle. In fact, there’s rarely anything in the cabin at all.
When the burglar’s search came up empty, he popped the trunk. That’s when he found the jackpot: jumper cables. That’s right — a burglar ransacked Kris’ car, and all he took was jumper cables. I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through this his head.
Fast forward a couple of years. I’ve been parking on the street without incident since that first act of vandalism. I keep my doors unlocked and there are no valuables in the car — unless you count my CDs of music from the 1920s.
Today I went out to run some errands. When I got into the car, I was surprised to find my water bottle on the floor. “That’s odd,” I thought. And then I realized…I’d been burgled again. I performed a quick survey. Trash on the floor of the back seat? Check. CDs of music from the 1920s? Check. Everything in the glove compartment? Check. iPod transmitter? Uh, no. Parking-meter change? Also gone.
Sometime during the past few days, a thief — possibly the same thief as three years ago — broke into my car and stole an iPod transmitter and a handful of quarters, nickels, and dimes. He didn’t steal anything else because there was nothing else to steal. He didn’t smash my window because the door was left unlocked. All he got was a cheap electronic device and enough change for a two-liter bottle of soda. I hope he’s having a good time.
Sometimes when bad things happen to me, I get tense. I get frustrated. But for some reason, none of these thefts bother me. Maybe it’s because the burglar hasn’t actually absconded with much: just a cell phone, an iPod transmitter, some jumper cables, and a handful of change. Still, it would be nice if I didn’t have to worry about thieves breaking into my car…
Do you have any suggestions? Have you ever experienced a similar problem? Is it even worth my time to take further precautions? Have I exhausted the statistical likelihood that a burglar will break into our cars again? (I mean three times in four years — come on! Go pick on somebody else.)
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Tinted windows could help. 1, it makes it hard for somebody to see into your car so they’re not going to see anything of value (if you leave anything out). 2, if somebody smashes the window, it doesn’t crumble, it stays in tact. I think often car burglars are less likely to tamper with windows with tint.
That and get an alarm (with shock sensor).
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I think there is something JD is forgetting that can be stolen aside from items inside the car: the car itself. Having it parked on the street, unlocked, with no alarm and away from the lights of house driveway a thief could have it hotwired and on his way in under 20 seconds. Of course if they’re determined to they’ll get it anyway, but as former professional thieves have attested they will always take the path of least risk and resistance so unlocked car on the side of the street is a quick and easy target for theft. Taking it from the driveway after having a security light light them up would present more risk and some thieves will move on to find an easier target.
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I guess I consider myself lucky living in a place where I can’t imagine that happening. I do have a car with an OEM alarm, and I always lock it, but I’ve never been worried. My GPS and MP3 player just sit in there all the time. At one apartment, I left my $500 bike on the porch and didn’t even think twice about it. And at my current house, I lived there half a year before I started locking the rear sliding doors when I left.
When I go into the city (Harrisburg, PA), though, I put the electronics out of sight.
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People make up the environment.
In some environments, anything left unattended get stolen.
In other environments, people are caring and sharing.
People using Booze & Drugs do stupid things
But only to cars, easy accessible to their immediate vicinity.
Cars parked far away, rarely get broken into.
Time of day has a lot to do with the way people act.
Day time Straight Arrow business, gives way to
Nights, loosen up, unwind, anything goes.
People make up the vandals.
If you have a new shiny expensive car, it will attract trouble.
If you have a old, dirty, cheap car, no one’s interested in it.
So:
move to another environment,
move the car farther away from temptation,
or get a “Boring Bare Bones Beater” that Blends in.
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Don’t sweat it. That’s the price for living where you live. I assume YOUR vehicles arent’t the only ones getting broken into.
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A friend of mine left her car unlocked until the night when she opened the door to find a man in the back seat who held a gun to her head. Luckily, she screamed and he fled. I ALWAYS tell people that the most valuable thing in your car is you. Replacing a window is trivial compared to your safety. Sorry that this is happening to you. Take Care.
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Thanks for all of the advice. I think the “leave nothing in plain view” mantra is one I’ll take to heart. Though I don’t leave anything of value in the car, there are books and CDs and magazines and piles of junk. (I have a messy desk; I have a messy car.) Time to change that habit.
I also like the idea of a motion-sensitive light. There’s a nice spot that I could put one, I think.
EscapeVelocity asked an astute question: Is that “one-car garage” or “two-car garage, but with so much stuff in it there’s only room for one car”?
It’s more like the latter, though it’s more complicated. It’s an old garage, and we had a heck of a time getting the first garage-door opener installed. We haven’t even tried with the second door, which will be even more bothersome. But maybe we should.
RE: Crime
This isn’t really a high-crime area. It’s just prone to car burglaries, apparently. (And, sometimes, to mail theft.) All the other crime stats are pretty low. I think the car/mail theft is easier for the crooks on our street because many people park on the street, which has low traffic. Because most of the houses are set back from the road, it’s easy to prowl without attention.
Finally, I like the tongue-in-cheek suggestion of leaving a crazed animal in the car. I could take whichever cat is annoying me most at the moment and leave it in the vehicle overnight to thwart the burglar.
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I don’t know if it is the same in the US as it is here in the UK, but if you leave your car unlocked and is stolen/has items taken from it, it invalidates the car insurance. It seems a good idea as it saves a window, but if the thief wanted to steal your car they have gained entry easily and just need to then hot wire it and drive off.
Get a cheap alarm and/or immobiliser.
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Tidy your car up – you’ll notice when you’ve been broken into sooner.
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Nobody would want to break in to my car! Just by looking at it they would know nothing is in it!
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Good grief – why do you live there? My wife would have had us out of there no later than crime #2. Life is way too short to put up with an environment like that.
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You have my sympathies. I’ve lived in the Seattle area for the last seven years, and had my car stolen twice, and broken into at least 4-5 times. I’ve been ‘lucky’ (if you can call it that) that they haven’t smashed a window to get in–they’ve just popped the locks. (I have a VERY old Dodge Caravan–incredibly easy to get into, apparently).
Some things I learned from all this:
It doesn’t matter how old and/or crappy your car is. At least in this area, most of the car thefts are from punks who joyride around in it until it’s out of gas, then dump it and go steal another. (Both times my car has been found that way.)
My car was so old there was no point in installing an expensive alarm system. But the Club (or a similar product) *does* work. It doesn’t make your car impossible to steal (they can still cut through your steering wheel if they’re really motivated), but it’s an effective visible deterrent. Casual thieves will not want to deal with it–they’ll go to an easier mark. (The second time my car got stolen was because I’d moved to the suburbs and gotten out of the habit of putting it on–BIG MISTAKE.)
Whatever you have in your car, they will take. The first time my car was stolen, they took a set of socket wrenches I had stashed away in a compartment. After that I didn’t keep anything even remotely of value–but successive break-ins still took a handful of Canadian coins, some costume jewelry, and some tape cassettes respectively. One even left their screwdriver behind–net gain on that one, I guess!
If you don’t want the hassle of replacing your 1920′s CDs, I’d definitely recommend you take them out of your car–I had *movie soundtracks* on tape cassette, for crying out loud, and they still took them. I was more amused than anything–I can’t imagine any pawnshop that would give them anything for what they took!
I was tempted to leave my car unlocked–but I didn’t want to make stealing it any easier (or invite bums to sleep in it). After a while, though, I stopped fixing my locks–they worked just fine as-is. If you do leave your doors unlocked, I’m make extra sure to check your backseat/passenger areas through the windows for unwanted guests *before* you get in. (Carry a maglite to help with this if it’s usually dark out when you go to/come home from work–it also makes a good club if needed.) Especially if you’re a woman–but good advice for anyone!
Hope this helps!
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I never locked our car either, until one day someone opened the door, threw up all over the floor, and closed it again.
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In my old place we had to park on the street (it was a duplex and the owners had the other apt so they got the driveway parking). My car was broken into several times. The back windows were the type that “vented” up so they would take a screwdriver and pop the locks and then reach in and open the front doors. They took my radio, change, and any loose items (each time).
The locks were expensive to replace so after the third time, we wired the locks shut. We also installed a “fake alarm” box. My husband made it–it was a blinking red led, powered by a battery and held in a little black box which I could turn on (parts from Radio Shack).
One day I go out and there is a small screwdriver laying near my car. I think they tried to open the windows but the wire was too strong and they dropped the screwdriver in frustration. Made me feel good. At least they didn’t break my window like you’ve had happen.
Definitely don’t leave anything visible in the car. I drive to a local park for walks and the car next to me recently was broken into because the woman left her purse on the seat while going for a walk (the area is notorious for thefts from cars because it is a walking trail park and lots of people leave stuff in cars).
Alarms are a good idea, as is parking in the drive way if you can (with a sensor light above).
Doors unlocked keeps the windows safe for small-time thieves but the car could easily be stolen, so it depends on what you want to risk.
Hard to protect a car when you live in an area where you are prone to this (as I did before I moved).
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My car was burglarized earlier this year while i was at a softball game. Unfortunately I lost about $1000 worth of electronics including my ipod, a gps, a digital camera and various other electronics and accessories. strange thing was that my car was in my sight while i was at the softball game, and the person doing the burglary had to have been pretty sneaky. Frustrating – and makes you feel violated.
Luckily for me I blogged about the experience and had friends in the blogosphere donate a brand new ipod shuffle, a digital camera, and some cash. The kindness of strangers amazes me!
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I few months back we had something similar happen in our neighborhood. Someone was breaking into all of the cars and taking radios and anything else of value. We thought we had been skipped, but were wrong.
I am from a small town were we always left our doors unlocked, house and car. When I moved to the Tampa area, I never thought much of it. I always left my car unlocked. The thief did get in my car, but left my windows intact, unlike my neighbors. The only thing they took was my husbands half dead ipod mini with a broken screen that will not hold a charge. I hope he likes Buddy Holly! We never leave anything in the car now.
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As to the idea of whether or not to leave the door unlocked…I had a friend who stopped unlocking his doors for the same reasons as you – and then a few months later someone broke his window anyway to try to steal something. You have to realize, casually wandering by a car and breaking a window is often the quickest way to get in and out – and taking time to check the doors takes time…
On the flip side, when I was a kid and I would stay late with my parents at their business, we would always be surprised at how often people just walking down the street late would “test” the front door…I think in most cases they weren’t necessarily thinking about breaking in, and may have just been doing it similar to when people take a stick and rattle a fence as they walk by…but if that door had been open…who knows if the opportunity might have overridden their previous benign intentions.
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One time a thief (or set of thieves) broke in to a bunch of cars in our apartment complex in the middle of the night. They took a grocery club card (???) and a flashlight (guess they forgot to pack one). Our pickup truck has a key for its spare tire, which we used to keep in the glove box, and the thief tried to use it to start the car apparently. But other than that all that happened was that we had to pay $80 to get the lock fixed.
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Move.
I’m not even being facetious. 3 burglaries in 4 years is a good indicator you live in a not so great place. You mentioned that the other types of crime have a low rate, but car break ins are high. What degree of crime will it take for you to decide it’s best to abandon the neighborhood? Theft from your car and property damage doesn’t seem to bother you. What about theft right from your home? What about a loved one at gunpoint? If people are comfortable walking right up to your house and breaking into your car it isn’t much of a leap to break into the house itself.
People steal because they are desperate. The difference between breaking a car window for electronics and change and pointing a weapon at someone and demanding the electronics and change they have on them… isn’t as big of a leap as you’d think.
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Having lived in Memphis for the past decade I’ve learned there isn’t much you can do, even in the nice areas. I’ve never been bold enough to leave my doors unlocked, but the only thing of value in my car is the car itself. Moving isn’t an option cause crime is going to follow you – it knows no boundaries.
I have learned to be careful where I park – I park under street lights and in plain view of lots of people if possible. I usually will pay for secured parking. I don’t park in isolated areas in broad daylight. My car has been broken into more during the day than at night and that was due to being behind a building.
When I had an 89 Stanza I got broken into all the time. Then I bought a used 01 Acura, only been broken into 1 time and they smashed the window. Clearly it was easier to pick the lock of the older car than the newer one.
It’s my humble opinion that with all the meth-heads, crack-heads, whatever you want to call them, running around that petty crime is going to be rampant in this country. I truly blame it on drugs cause a sober criminal isn’t going to risk jail time (or getting shot) by stealing change out of the cupholder. A sober criminal is coming in your house, not your car.
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When I lived in the Bronx, my car was broken into twice. Both times windows were broken- after the second one- we ended up getting plexi-glass. But after that I started leaving the glove compartment open- with nothing in there. Inside I left a bag by the door with all of my cds, registration,and other car needs and took this to the car and back to the apartment everyday- it seemed to work. Sorry this happened again! Emptying the car is key in my experience.
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Did you check the bushes? Probably an Ipod charger covered in cat piss in there.
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Even if your car insurance doesn’t cover property stolen from your car, check your homeowners insurance. I know my rental insurance covers items in my car if it is in my driveway, and I would assume you could have a similar clause in your insurance. Of course, since you’re keeping expensive things out of it, it doesn’t really matter I suppose.
Yes, definitely clean up your car – the burglar doesn’t know all the CDs are music from the 20′s until they’re in your car to look at them.
I also have a solution you’ll really like!
Trade in the Focus for that Mini Cooper you want, and make sure it has a clearly visible alarm!
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If you leave your car unlocked, they can just hide behind the seat until you get in and carjack you.
This is bad. Don’t do it.
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we used to live right near downtown, so we had to be careful. we never leave anything visible in the car anywhere. not a thing. i have an ipod adapter in there (the hardwired, more expensive kind) and that’s buried in the dash with no visible evidence. my bag never stays in the car, and all cupholders and such are covered up.
my car’s windows are tinted as well, which makes it very hard to see anything in there at night. during the day it’s harder but not impossible.
i have some burned cd’s in the center console, that’s it. they say around here “out of sight, out of mind” – if the burglar can’t see anything, he’s not going to take the chance of breaking in.
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Maybe someone has mentioned this, but I always thought the insurance company wouldn’t cover damage if the car had been left unlocked.
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My parents had their (disabled-adapted) van broken into in the supposedly secure, patrolled, carpark of a children’s hospital. Seriously!
The thief only stole the radio, (leaving literally thousands of pounds of medical kit and drugs untouched) but in the process broke the one window that was non-standard due to the adaption. Took three orders from the VW factory in Germany to get the right one in one piece. So my Mum installed the replacement in the glove box and taped some loose wires in the hole left by the thieves. Never got hit again.
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Sorry to hear it. I know how you feel. I had my car stereo, amplifier, and speakers stolen, the day before leaving on an 800 mile road trip. I had to buy a $20.00 radio to keep my sanity. That was my car stereo for the next 3 years. Memories of college life.
Best regards,
Dan malone
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In Baltimore you had to make sure there was nothing shiny in your car as someone might mistake it for money and smash the window.
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Our solution is to drive a really crappy looking older car. I find this deters thieves better than locks, alarms, and motion sensors and it’s cheaper, too.
We live in a college town and car theft/vandalism is the most common crime in our small city. People leave our 95 Subaru Legacy with the ugly peeling paint alone. It does have a nice stereo (came with the car when we bought it on craigslist) but it has that device that makes it unplayable without entering a code, and so it wasn’t taken when some local student party-goers took the iPod transmitter out of the car when it was parked in the driveway. From this I learned that I shouldn’t ever demonstrate that I’ve got anything of value (though your tale about stealing the jumper cables is a cautionary one that will require some pensive moments and possible revisions to my strategies).
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I had my old Nissan Sentra broken into 3 times in 1 year back when I was in college. The first time they smashed the driver’s side window and stole an amp out of the trunk and my radio faceplate, but not the radio itself. The second time they broke the passenger side window (which was actually kinda nice since they had been tinted and after getting the other one replaced they were mismatched). There was nothing to steal except a pair of gloves. The kind you get at the grocery store for 99 cents. Obviously after the first time I removed everything of value from the car. The third time, with the doors unlocked and no radio faceplate I just found the glove box and ash tray open.
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I had my car broken into at the gym a few months ago. Door was locked, thought i had the alarm on, but the person smashed the window and got my wallet and phone from the glovebox. I think about not even bothering to lock it since I had to pay $200 to fix the window, but what if they steal the actual car????! ugh
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In my urban neighborhood, there has been a rash of car thefts but instead of stealing items from the car, they steal the car and use it to run drugs. It’s happened to two co-workers and several neighbors. Unfortunately for my boss, leaving the car unlocked only made it easier for them to actually steal the vehicle.
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Put rat traps under the seats!
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It’s funny- I was talking to my husband about burglaries just last night. We’ve had a bunch (and some assorted armed robberies) in our neighborhood recently as well.
I asked him: What do you think that they need the money for?
He replied, drugs, rent, child support, etc. I wondered if anyone was using the money from selling the stuff from the robberies to buy food or to pay their electric bill. It just made me incredibly sad to think that might be the case.
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I leave my doors unlocked. Only have one issue. Once when I lived in Navy Housing, someone absconded with my radar detector. It was old and illegal to turn on in the state so no biggie.
I suggest you get a trunk monkey: http://www.trunkmonkey.com/content/view/44/51/
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You have a 2 car garage and you only use one side because the other door doesn’t have an automatic opener on it yet? Open it by hand and park inside. Problem solved, and it’s good exercise.
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The neighbors across the street installed motion sensor flood lights pointed at the street. Every time someone walks/drives/wildlife moves in front of their house our bedroom lights up like a football field. It’s the most rude obnoxious thing ever. We talked to them about it, now they’re aimed at our neighbors house and he’s getting fed up as well.
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JD, you may want to pay attention to comment 58 above. I don’t know about invalidating car insurance, but there are areas of the country (I’ve seen signs saying as much from around the Dallas area, for instance) where it is actually illegal to leave your car unlocked (the justification being that it costs taxpayer money and police officers’ time to investigate crimes, so you should do what you can to prevent them).
I think that’s an absurd case of blaming the victim, but it’s still true. You may need to be careful you’re not running afoul of the law by leaving the car unlocked.
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yeah… did you try to lock the doors??
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You might try an surveillance system. Try http://www.wilife.com
It is really easy to setup and use.
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Around where I live, thieves don’t bother stealing things inside cards, they just steal the cars themselves. A good thief will open a car, ignite it and drive away in under 2 minutes. And drive it where? To some clandestine disassembling operation that’ll make your car disappear (and lots of cheap parts appear in the black market) in under 3 hours. In short, leaving doors open here would be very counterproductive, to say the least.
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Maybe you should ask yourself what you would do if the car in question was your much desired MINI? I imagine you would clear the garage and fix the door pronto- so do it for this car and when the MINI is finally purchased you’ll sleep well knowing it is safe.
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Unfortunately, leaving your car unlocked doesn’t really stop determined (but stupid) thieves from doing damage to your car as they try to break in.
My car (which contained nothing of value – I had some pennies (perhaps $.20) on the floor, and that was it) was broken into while it was parked in front of my house. Not only was it unlocked, but I had the front window open. Nonetheless, the thief broke one of the rear windows to gain access to the car, stole my pennies, and attempted to steal my CD player by ripping it out of the dashboard.
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i think we have a sort of knee-jerk or instinctive reaction to the idea of someone going through *our* stuff. but i think if you stop and think about it for a minute, the first question should be – so what?
unless you are concerned that someone will steal the car itself, i would drop the issue from my mind immediately. doors unlocked means no damage, and nothing valuable in the car means nothing of value stolen. so how are you affected by this really?
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I think that you just ran into some bad luck. Like the lady said, a determined thief is going to get what he wants. You might have better luck, telling the cops. You and the rest of your county pay their salaries, so why would there be such a obviously huge problem within a small concentrated area (your car). Suggest that they send a patrol car out to your neighborhood a couple of times a week at night to scan the area.
When I was in college, I had my car broken into 3 times. Every time was during the day, while I was parked at a meter. The incidents happened so much in the area, the cops didn’t even bother responding when I called. I just looked forward to the days of gated communities and garages.
Caleb
http://www.mefinanciallyfree.blogspot.com
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I am one of the ones who can’t imagine living in an area like that. I live in a rural area and the thought of my car, or house, being broken into rarely even crosses my mind. We leave our house unlocked at night sometimes, if we forget about it. I have an 05 model year car which came with an immobilizer and car alarm. It works so well that sometimes it won’t even start for me.
I leave all kinds of crap in my car, but nothing really valuable. When I lived in Japan, amazingly enough, my friend left his car doors unlocked and my back-pack got stolen. It had my credit card, bank card, foreigner card, everything but my passport. That was a huge pain, so I can empathize with those who have been burgled.
Living where I do now, though, I have to say I have gotten complacent. The fake LED alarm thingie sounds like a really good idea, I would probably try that out in your situation.
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It may have been posted already, but…if you don’t leave *much* in your car, have you thought about not leaving *anything* in your car? Just take a couple of things in and out every time you go to your car. Not that big of a deal, and there won’t be anything for them to steal or you to replace anymore.
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Hooray for Ford Focus’s….such great cars! I also park on the street, but my car doesn’t have anything that a burglar would want…maybe the CD player, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work outside of the car. Hope everything works out well for you Trent!
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I don’t leave anything in the car, not even an empty paper bag. Anything can look like something to a criminal. The only time I had my car broken into was when I left a plastic bag of clothes on the floor in the back seat.
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