Ever had a car broken into?

[Steve]

Just curious how many people here have had a vehicle they've owned get broken into?

I've had three.

1) I had a 5.0 Mustang when I was a kid that got broken into at my folks house. They took out quite a bit of stuff dealing with school and whatever, cost me some $$ and a lot of re-work. Very uncool.

2) Had a truck break-in at my last workplace, which was a construction zone with lots of condos and stuff going in. I was in the process of moving and I had a TON of clothing and stuff in the passanger seat. They broke out the window and even took off with a checkbook.

3) I had my Trailblazer broke into in late December 2006. That sucked pretty bad becuase it was just vandalism, they didn't take anything.

Anyone?

[retired2001]

When I was stationed in California, back in the '60s, my '69 Z/28 was broken into , but just lost some tapes and a window. Later, in the Houston area the same Z/28 was broken into 3 times and the last time it was stripped!

[dbledsoe]

Had a window broken out of my Burb. Lowlifes stole my battery booster. Battery booster cost 80 bucks, the window cost $160.

[canadianbacon]

a while back, a bunch of years ago while attending college, our parking lots were about 10 minutes walk from my dorm building during freshman year, somehow they slide my window on my car down its track without braking the window but broke the track, and made off with emergency kit in the back, the stereo and a pack of cd's i had in the backseat

sucked ass too 'cuz i had just bought the stereo and my ins. co. didn't cover "aftermarket stereo's " so i was out of pocket on that and had to go back to the stock tape deck with discman via with cd->tape converter...ugh

[167camaro]

Hello everyone. I had em break into both my wife's car and my truck the same night! I think it was just some teens as they only took loose change. They hit my next door neighbors car also. Makes you not sleep as well for a few nights.

[TrailLeadr]

I had my '87 C10 pickup broken into for my stereo when I lived in NH. It got broken into a couple more times after that for stupid stuff. (stole my maglight one time, floor mats the next.)

I traded the truck in after the third time. I figured they were just targeting it for fun.

[Bruce_B]

I've had 2. The first was my old car in high school. They broke the window and grabbed a radar detector. There was plenty of other stuff worth more in the car but they must have just grabbed it and ran. The second was a truck in a mall parking lot. They took the after market radio and speakers. They tried to steal the truck but probably didn't know what they were doing. They managed to mess up the dash and steering column plus the window they broke. I got an alarm system on it after that and never had another problem.

I better not ever catch a thief in the act. :mad:

[powerscott]

I've had 3 cars broken into and one car stolen and stripped. But, you want to know what pissed me off just as much? The cops (California) After doing absolutely nothing (they acted like "what would you like us to do about it?" the first 2 times) The last 2 times I didn't even bother calling the cops. My advice, buy a good alarm/tracking system.

[dwill3015]

In Hi-school, the 65 GMC pickup I was driving was broken into via the wing window and I had some speakers and a full box of cassette tapes stolen. Gotta love those wing windows! :-)

[Tachyon]

I got my sweet '83 Cutlass broken into in Colorado. They jacked my stereo and some other stuff. Come to find out through a slip by a deputy and a tip from the locals that it was the Sherrif's kid and a buddy of his. You can guess how far that investigation got.

Later someone smash and grabbed from my company Tahoe on the way back from COMDEX and they jacked our laptops! Once again, no further contact from the police.

Another time, we caught a junkie in the midst of robbing our rental car (not that I cared about the POS Dodge Van, but he had our stuff!). I disarmed him and the high little smack monkey fought with me for 20 minutes until the police arrived. Instead of being happy we had the crook in custody, they seemed annoyed at having to deal with him. Then, upon taking him into custody, the guy broke free and took off down the street. I was amazed when the cops just stood there. When I asked if they were going to catch him they muttered that he'd turn up eventually. Screw that, I ran him down and tackled him and dragged him back myself and then took their badge numbers and the case number, telling them I'd be following up on the case. That made them real happy.
I never got a call to appear in court to testify on this case either.

What I learned.

- Don't leave anything valuable in your car, ever.
- Don't leave anything in plain sight
- Don't let your friends laugh at you for being paranoid.
-- Always lock your vehicle, no matter where or when it is.
-- Park where it's well lit, and visible
-- Get an alarm, or at least a flashing light and some stickers. It deters
amateurs, you can't stop the Pro's.
- The cops are uninterested in your case, and don't intend to even try and find your stuff or probably even the thief.
- You insurance company is worthless and has only two functions. To fleece you of as much money as they can get out of you, and to pay out as little as they can get away with when you do make a claim (ask Katrina victims)

Also, here's a tip. Your auto insurance covers spit as far as contents of your vehicle.
I no longer use or carry ANY original media. I copy all my music CD's, DVD's, and Software to cheap blank media and put the originals in a safe place in my home. Not only does this make replacing stolen media easy. It keeps you from having to re-purchase it due to damages. Those of you with in car DVD systems and kids can probably relate to that.

Finally, I'm moving out of the city, into the woods where it's safer, quieter, and cleaner. ;')

[Cableguy]

1988 Blazer -broken into punched door lock, broken dash, stereo, sub-box,amp.
1992 Cutlass -smashed windows, stole change, left Cigarette burning on seat cushion, fire...firetruck...write off...nice

[4wd-burban]

1992 Mustang LX 5.0 with mucho racing parts was stolen in 1994 and never recovered. Insurance didn't consider racing parts necessary items and would not cover them.

My rule of thumb, keep older, uglier cars (except my wife's) and on her car put in cheap stereo and don't bolt it in so it pulls right out.

[84fiero123]

I got my sweet '83 Cutlass broken into in Colorado. They jacked my stereo and some other stuff. Come to find out through a slip by a deputy and a tip from the locals that it was the Sherrif's kid and a buddy of his. You can guess how far that investigation got.

Later someone smash and grabbed from my company Tahoe on the way back from COMDEX and they jacked our laptops! Once again, no further contact from the police.

Another time, we caught a junkie in the midst of robbing our rental car (not that I cared about the POS Dodge Van, but he had our stuff!). I disarmed him and the high little smack monkey fought with me for 20 minutes until the police arrived. Instead of being happy we had the crook in custody, they seemed annoyed at having to deal with him. Then, upon taking him into custody, the guy broke free and took off down the street. I was amazed when the cops just stood there. When I asked if they were going to catch him they muttered that he'd turn up eventually. Screw that, I ran him down and tackled him and dragged him back myself and then took their badge numbers and the case number, telling them I'd be following up on the case. That made them real happy.
I never got a call to appear in court to testify on this case either.

What I learned.

- Don't leave anything valuable in your car, ever.
- Don't leave anything in plain sight
- Don't let your friends laugh at you for being paranoid.
-- Always lock your vehicle, no matter where or when it is.
-- Park where it's well lit, and visible
-- Get an alarm, or at least a flashing light and some stickers. It deters
amateurs, you can't stop the Pro's.
- The cops are uninterested in your case, and don't intend to even try and find your stuff or probably even the thief.
- You insurance company is worthless and has only two functions. To fleece you of as much money as they can get out of you, and to pay out as little as they can get away with when you do make a claim (ask Katrina victims)

Also, here's a tip. Your auto insurance covers spit as far as contents of your vehicle.
I no longer use or carry ANY original media. I copy all my music CD's, DVD's, and Software to cheap blank media and put the originals in a safe place in my home. Not only does this make replacing stolen media easy. It keeps you from having to re-purchase it due to damages. Those of you with in car DVD systems and kids can probably relate to that.

Finally, I'm moving out of the city, into the woods where it's safer, quieter, and cleaner. ;')

You sound likw my neighbors.

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/042654.html

Living in the country only means a different set of problems to people who think it will solve all their problems.

[ljjcsautomotive]

Once I was broken into. I was stationed at Ft. Benning GA and my 1966 Chevy Corvair was broken into. They took the factory am radio, a few uniforms, a couple pieces of crome trim, and the push button shifter was pulled from the dash but I found it about 20ft away from the car. I never recovered any of my stuff and the MP's didn't do a damn thing. It cost me $800 to repair the damage and another $200 for my uniforms.
Also I rather live in the country anyday compared to the city. They tried to arrest me in Buffalo for taking my 30-40 Craig from my apartment to my truck. Just so a cop was passing at the same time. He didn't Care that this was for hunting or the fact that I only staey there on weekdays due to the drive from home to work. Never again will the price of fuel plant my butt anywhere near a city again!!!

[pesttech]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back had a piece of sh*t 72 Super Beetle that wasn't much to look at but was mine by god LOL. Broke out the side vent window and cut up all the ignition wires trying to figure out how to hot wire it. Sucked as I was young and poor so I ghetto wired it back to where it would work and later sold it that way.

Couple of years back had a Grand Cherokee where they stole anything that wasn't bolted down after breaking out the back glass. Insurance only paid for the stereo, dash, and the glass but all of the other audio equipment since it wasn't factory location I was assed out (and this was after a few years of paying extra for the audio/wheel package).

Would be great if a person could trick out their rides and not have to worry about opportunistic people (in lieu of a better word) taking away what we work for but this isn't a perfect world.

[terry2245]

in 88 i had a 77 3/4 ton gmc pick-up broken in to and stolen and it was never recovered

[addicted4life]

Had my Jeep Cherokee stolen in 2000, Camry stolen in 2002, and Eclipse broken into in 2003. Since the Eclipse incident I install 2-way remote paging alarms in all my vehicles.

[WilliamsZ71]

I had my 05 Silverado just broken into about a month ago. They stolen my radar detector, bluetooth headset, my multi-tool and a few other things that cost a few dollars. I had a $500 set of weights in the back, but I guess they were too heavy for them too lift.

[KD7ONE]

A way to prevent your vehicle from getting broken into is to use ShatterGuard. http://www.shatterguard.com

[chevyloverss]

Two weeks ago they broke my passenger window on my jeep wrangler. They took the CD player, $ 80 worth, and the window cost me $75. It’s a good thing I didn’t see anyone because I would be in jail right now.

[terry0341]

:eek: !987 Chevy Cavaler ss, stolen in front of my house. Recovered next day missing the $1000 sound system, radar detector, sterring wheel, tires and wheels, seats, dash board, gear shift, side window busted out,front grill facia, rear spoiler and a cat apperently jumped in out of the rain and took a dump and a wiz in the back seat area! "The insurance was in effect approx. 12 hrs prior to the theft, thank god"!

[janeofalltrades32]

Yes, only once, in my Suburban!

We parked the truck down the street from a CHURCH :rolleyes: , and some "crack heads" broke into it. Common sense would have told them that everything on the dash is factory, and they found nothing inside that they could steal. Luckily for us, we weren't around when it happened, and we found a body shop that repaired the damage for a great price! :biggrin:

[Steve]

bump this up in light of events.

[Bonzai01]

Around here, moving out of the city only increases emergency (medical) response time...The crackheads have their labs down every dirt road. We just had a thirteen year old kid get his ass stomped hard by a car owner..(before the owner realized he was a kid), but you can bet the punk thinks twice before crackin' another ride LOL.:slap: Kerry.

[Aeropagus]

This would be a good poll for all of the new members to take! Everyone I know has had a vehicle broken into at least once.

[JayMack75]

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/Purple_Truck.jpg
Was broken into one time. They took a rack of CDs, my CB radio, and attempted to steal my aftermarket deck but they only succeeded in breaking it beyond repair.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/Jays_Truck_WOW_02_9.jpg
Was broken into twice. The first time they stole a pair of 10" Pioneer wal mart subs and a 500w Jensen wal mart amp. They also took a cell phone and CDs.
The biggie in the next post...

[JayMack75]

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/Stereo3JaysTruckWOW02.jpg
This was the system.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/Jays_Truck_WOW_02_10.jpg
This is what the bed looked like.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/MiscPics011.jpg
After the break in

[JayMack75]

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/NewPics026.jpg
Some more after the break in
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/NewPics021.jpg
Speaker boxes
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f291/JayMack75/NewPics025.jpg
They couldn't get my alarm to stop going off (I had it backed up w/ hidden power supply for that reason) so they started ripping wires no matter what they were. They even stole my billet grilles...

The guy that did it was someone I had bonded out. I promptly arrested him and the police charged him with it. This break in was in 2002, he is still in jail for it.

[dwill3015]

That's a bummer Jay and quite a bit of damage. I bet that was only the half of the hurt knowing it was someone close to you that could do that.:grrrrrr:

[Crawdaddy]

Wow, that was one hell of a break-in. Why didn't anyone notice that this was happening when the alarm was going off for so long....Glad you found the bastard.

[04SilveradoMykk]

1994 Mercury Grand Marque, broken into in San Francisco: Stole a portable DVD player & my leather jacket.

I actually walked past the guy on the street, and thought to myself. "huh, that jacket looks familar" than got to my car to see a window busted.

1987 GMC 3/4ton Suburban:Broken into 3 times at my old apartment in northern california. When I was into subwoofers, they stole a 2-10" sub box & amp but left the headunit.

When insuranced replaced the subs & amp, I had them go to 4-12" subs and 2 amps. Also stolen.

the third time, I had a very rare-expensive one off electric bass guitar stolen.

But nothing since, and that was a few years ago. I'm the only one who arms my car alarm in my current residence ::knock on wood::

[Steve]

Arming your alarm works well in quiet residential areas. In the city, forget about it. Hide your valuables and park in a well-lit spot.

[JayMack75]

That's a bummer Jay and quite a bit of damage. I bet that was only the half of the hurt knowing it was someone close to you that could do that.:grrrrrr:

He wasn't close to me, I had just bonded him out. He was a client. I'm a bailbondsman :happy:

[JayMack75]

Wow, that was one hell of a break-in. Why didn't anyone notice that this was happening when the alarm was going off for so long....Glad you found the bastard.

Well what happened is that I had parked it behind my race shop (rather than in it like I should have) while I carried the car to a friend's shop to use some of his tools. We didn't finish up until the wee hours of the morning so I just decided to wait and go pick up my truck the next morning when I went by to pick up a different set of springs from the shop.

My shop's lot is completely fenced in. Its also in more of an industrial area of town so in the wee hours of the morning there is no one around to hear the alarm going crazy.

The real bad part is that I had an albino great dane as a guard dog. It would rip your leg off...if you were still on the opposite side of the fence. The dog never did anything to counteract the guy.

What makes it better is that each of those speakers weigh 68-70lbs a piece. He had to break the frames of them in order to get them out of the boxes (ruining them). The amps were really expensive and he pawned them..for like $100 bucks...he didn't even know what he had.

My insurance company covered everything to the tune of $12,500 +/- because I learned from previous break-ins that if you have your accessories, speakers, boxes, etc. attached to the vehicle it will be covered...especially if you provide receipts and photographic evidence that it was indeed in the vehicle.

[JayMack75]

Oh, and about finding him... it wasn't too hard. He did take a can of WD40 and spray my whole truck down with it (no fingerprints) so I ran an ad in the paper offering a reward for information. His sister called and told me and the rest is history. lol

[Skarch]

My Nissan 240SX was broken into three times. Its the last car that I put an aftermarket stereo in. Once I stopped replacing the stereo and took the dark tint off, it got left alone.

My wife's Neon (I know:sarcastic:) was broken into once, but they didn't take anything.

It is really nice to be personal frineds with your insurance agent, it makes the claims go much faster. When I got hit-n-runned in my GTI, I didn't have any problem getting all the aftermarket stuff fixed because I had emailed him when I put them on with serial numbers and product descriptions.

On the Nissan, I just had to show the cases for all the CD's that were stolen, and the reciepts for the speakers/stereo.

The VW's are pretty theft deterrent, and the NRA sticker on the Burban seems to be doing the trick. I put it on after they stole my hitch reciever.

[Chevy Girl]

Has never happened to me, thankfully. :neutral:

[no0b123]

Last Friday I had my 3" Chrome exhaust tip stolen at a High School Track Meet. :grrrrrr:

[GoFastPadre]

I guess I am lucky or Blessed. I have had only one car broken into. I was living in Ohio, Perysburg, just south of Toledo. It was early in the morning whe the deadbeats hit the Apt Complex Parking lot, hit about 20 cars. They broke out the back vent and stole everything they could. Turned out it was some relation to a tennant, who did turn them in, that was cool.

[GoFastPadre]

A way to prevent your vehicle from getting broken into is to use ShatterGuard. http://www.shatterguard.com
I have a better idea, I will lease you one of my 140# Rottweilers. I assure you it will not turn out like the other guys Great Dane. You mite want to invest in some scotch guard for the seats and czarpet, so the blood come out.:lol:

[chadizzle1987]

had my 96 jeep cherokee broken into. they stole around 200 cd's and tried to steal my subwoofers and amp but the box must have been to heavy so they left it. Then they keyed the whole driver side of it and carved in my hood. not cool. wish i could find out who it was. makes me mad just thinking bout it

[zach45]

my truck like 4 times

[unplugged]

Finally, I'm moving out of the city, into the woods where it's safer, quieter, and cleaner. ;')
Try to pick a location with a clear field of fire. It's easier to pick 'em off when you can see them coming!:great:
I moved out to the sticks, but civilization is closing in. Been talking to the wife about moving to a saner State. California has been going down the tubes no thanks to the Governator.

[unknown19]

Been lucky so far, Although here at christmas time, my neighbor hood has had alot of suspicious stuff going on. Just the other day, 2 hooded men stopped in our cudla sack and was checking out house. Lucky my dad stepped outside, and they did a one wheel burnout leaving.

The same day, some men where taking pictures of little kids on the other side of the neighborhood. These things have driven my family to sleep with loaded guns... a 30 aut6 and a older model gun that shoots 8mm slugs... No playing around here... :fighting0040:

[ppettit2005]

I had my 1995 chevy tahoe broken into and the radio deck was stolen out of it. This happened in broad daylight, beneath security cameras, and in a gaurded parking lot, and the guy who stole it still got away!!! UN-NOTICED!!! he went in through the door handle, which I have subsequently modified so that it is harder to break into.

[vncj96]

My work beater an 87 Z24 got the $10 kenwood yanked last month, and on the same night someone tried getting into the burban, the burban has been broken into a couple times now, one time all they took was the faceplate and the factory cigarette lighter!

[StillMatic]

My 97 K1500 Suburban had a Jensen DVD flip out stolen. They broke the window and professionally unwired everything. I mean they were neat with it. I wasn't mad that they stole my radio, I was more mad about the window. I had to get the window replaced and have it re-tinted. But my new Eclipse radio can be stolen, but it will never turn on with out the security device. Besides that if it does, when I send the police report to them, they'll send me a new radio.

[ChevyTech]

Had my 04' 3500 dually broken into, had an aftermarket stereo and speakers in it they got the subwoofer out of it but the stereo deck was anchored in so when the couldn't pull it they smashed it along with the center console and the rest of my dash. The greatest part is they didn't take my Blackberry or any CDs just a $90 sub.

[JMoney02]

This really a bummer for all of us here and anyone else not on our site:
67 Camaro(Wing Window - Dwil3015 yeah to them as well), carton of cigs......the window was loose,
held tight with a pack of Winston Matches, cheap.....
70 Torino - Craig 8-track top of the line
86 Camaro - Joy ride, 800.00 damages, juvie's, detention home for 6 weeks two of them.
79 Z/28 - This was dragged out of the drive at 4:00am and yet o have been seen since, it was
stolen in 1982 after 3 yrs and 18k of mods, insurance only paid 6750.00, price of what
I paid for the car from the dealer I worked for..... Parts Anyone! I am sure as well
as the Insurance Co. was that this is where it went....

[Steve]

Let's review this poll! Anyone else?

[Z71_guy]

My wife's car was broken into but all that was stolen was the CD book about 100 CDs but no the visor CD holder with 30 CDs in it, and the face to the CD player.
My 97 silverado was broken into nothing stolen
My old saturn was broken into again nothing stolen
My Bothers car was broken into kicker is i was in basic training and told him you could put my subs in it well they got stolen 2 12" Rockford Hx2 the box and my alpine amp