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.

[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. ;')