Happy New Year to my car = broken into

kinda like the people that broke into my mom's van one time and took nothing more than a $1.50 in change. But they left us with a new Hammer!!, oh.. and a $300 window repair bill. (removed)...

Watch the language ~BDub

That sucks on all counts. The mix CD is the worst part! Did you look to see if they turned the lock or if they jimmied it with a bar?

And reporting it was a really good idea, even if you don't get the radio back at least the cops know something is going on in the area. I'd tell your complex management too.

The car's been sitting a while with a bad clutch. It's driveable but needs some work. There were no pry marks and the dust on the window wasn't disturbed in such a way as to point to a slim jim, so it looks like they turned the lock with another key or something.

I was fully planning on reporting it to the property management company in the morning.

On a side note, it's been skipping a lot and I need new speakers something fierce. The Focus is less than $1000 from paid off, then I start putting my car payments toward the clutch and other crap the Escoer needs, towards the new timing belt my Focus should have gotten 700 miles ago (yes I've put that many on since xmas), and maybe a nice set of stiff engine mounts from FocusSport. Then we start saving for my wife's surgery and probably a down payment on a pickup. Unless I get this job I've had a few interviews for. Then I'll just save up for a year and buy a new truck with cash.

leaving the car sitting for so long. I live in Boston, and thieves will just sit watching for cars to stay in one place gathering dust for even a few days. I've known several people that were broken into, and that's always how it happens. We built a Nissan 240sx Silvia conversion a couple years ago, the owner lived in Boston for about 7 years, lived in the same house for 4.5, the weekend he moved out of state he left the car for 3 days, the window got smashed, and the thieves tried prying the custom guage panel out. Needless to say that without a lot of tools that panel wasn't coming out, but they left the stereo, cds, radar detector, you name it. Cost $70 for a new window at the junkyard, now the car is garaged out of state in the woods, and is hardly ever driven.

it was broken into. I had gone out to a karaoke bar with some friends, and drank a little too much. Being the upstanding citizen that I am, I got a ride home. Unfortunately, when I came back, I found that the right rear quarter glass on my car had been broken, and my Nikkormat FT-N stolen from the back. The sad thing is that my (at the time) brand new 40gb iPod sat in the front seat undisturbed. Fortunately, insuranced covered the damage to my car 100%, but not the stolen camera. Took it to the Ford dealer (don't trust anyone else working on my car) and $700 later, my car was fixed. (new glass, tint, and some paint work). It's a terrible feeling when someone breaks into your car. The feelings of violation are never easy to deal with.

i remember a time i had my subaru wagon broken into and someone stole the speakers i and subs i had in the back. i knew who did it but could never proove it. to this day im still mad about it. this was 6 years ago. i got so mad that night i took everything of value out of the car for a week in paranoid behavior. but after a week of no stereo i started to want it all back in there again and this time made sure no body could just walk off with it all..

We had a rash of car break ins at work in te back parking lot. They kept coming back and would always steal aftermarket stereos. They hit a beater ford escort parked right next to my audi and stole it's radio but let my stock looking car untouched. Good thing I went to extreme lengths to conceal my upgrades!

It all came to a halt when the RTV manager caught them breaking into his car and chased after them. They got away but he got their plate number and a good description.

... a few times, but I'm mostly to blame. We live in a very decent neighborhood in a very decent city, but one that is getting too big these days. Most days I have no problem leaving my car parked overnight in front of my house with the doors unlocked, but twice in the last year I've had someone rifle through my stuff in the wee hours. Jerks. First time they took a $10 pair of binoculars, and the last time they nothing at all; just made a mess of things. A(*&^%*&!

A number of years back we lost a stereo from a wrecked car -- we had had a run-in with a cow on a highway on dark, moonless night (really, really bad combination; definitely not recommended. Photos of the remnants of our Honda here.). I was working & studying at a local college at the time, and the accident happened in the middle of the school's "safety week" or some durned thing. Since we were wearing seatbelts and managed to walk away from the accident, the car was put on display at the college. The very first night, some bonehead decided that he needed the piece of crap stereo that was in it worse than I did. It wasn't much of a stereo, but like you said, it was MY piece of crap, and I was a poor college student with a wife, a daughter, a baby on the way, and a desperate need for a replacement vehicle. Every dollar was precious.

One christmas a couple of years ago, when I went home to my parents I parked the car by the road as the drive up to the house wasn't plowed. (About 100meters, and VERY steep, with a turn at the top. It can defy even 4WD cars if drivers are inexperienced)

Anyway, as it is out in the countryside, I didn't worry about it. That is until a couple of days later when I wanted to move it. (My father was going to start the tractor and plow the road as we were expecting guests)

Then I fund that a moron had tried to break into my car (A citroén BX) by jamming a screwdriver or something and twisting and bending until the lock popped out, ruining the metal around it, then bending the thin metal rod he saw inside...
All of that failed, of course, and as it was the middle of winter, and even the most boneheaded junkie wouldn't use metal tools without gloves...

not that he would have gotten much, except maybe my 1996 vintage Pioneer stereo and CD-changer(the changer was in the trunk), but as I had removed the front, it would have been useless to them. (You can't buy new fronts unless you have proof of purchase of the old stereo)

All I ended up with was a door that couldn't be unlocked from the outside, so for a while I had to unlock the passengerside, open the door and stretch across to open the drivers-side door...
I mounted a cheap set of lock-actuators after that, so that I didn't have to do the stretch, but didn't bother to replace the door-panel or the lock. (I was pretty much not bothering with the look of the car anymore, only that it ran well)

Anyway, the stereo and changer was just about the only thing I moved over to my new car( a Citroén Berlingo) when a big 6WD dump-truck backed over the old one...

I still have the stereo, but I don't use the CD-changer as much as before, though, as I now have the Pioneer iPod interface.

I still get bothered by colleagues who absolutely 'must' hear the story of the old car's demise.
(I work for the Public Roads Administration here in Norway, which not only does the work of the DMV in the states, but also oversee construction of new roads, bridges, tunnels and the like. Dumptrucks are kind of an occupational hazard, then... They also know if my car fails its MOT or whatever the tests are called, or get caught on an automatic speedcamera in my county. So I drive nice and keep the car legal.)

About 10 years ago, someone broke into our 1983 Chevy Malibu Wagon parked on the street outside the house. The doors were never locked, so it wasn't hard (nothing valuable was ever in the car). What did they take? The ancient Lear-Jet Radio/Cassette deck from the dash. It wasn't a big deal, we picked it up for $5 at the auto wrecker. However, they did tear up the dash pretty good.

It gets better though. Whoever did it broke into the neighbour's car 2 doors down. As their car was locked (and much newer), it was quite difficult to get into. The neighbour's motion detector lights went off, which spooked the crooks.

My dad and the gentleman from down the street went out around the same time the next morning to go to work. My dad heard a "What the hell?!?" come from down the street, and he turned to see what was up. Our neighbour was holding our stereo! In the crooks' haste to get away, they left our stereo on the neighbour's lawn!

It was reported to the police, and after finger-printing the stereo, we got it back and put it back in the car.

It was more annoying than anything else. :-P

Cheers,

The Czar