Auto Break-in's

  • Thread starter jgtc_lover
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jgtc_lover

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California
DarkRedGT3
Couldn't find a thread on this so I guess I should start one.
Anyone one got any stories? Tips for recovering stolen goods? Advice on how to get over it (cause I'm ****ing pissed right now)?

Some one just broke into my car, broke a window, took a subwoofer, about $300 worth of my good tools, and for some reason a box full of oil, trans and break fluid. Insurance would probably cover it, but I would have to pay a $500 deductible, so I'm probably not going to file a claim.
 
One time my father had to park in a major road and paid the price. Next morning he found the front right window broken and his cellphone missing. He then remembered leaving the cell phone on the passenger's seat which obviously lurred the thief. Hopefully nothing else was missing, he saw the cellphone and went only after it.

When you say $500 deductible what is it about?
 
I assume deductable is excess. Anyway one time back in New Zealand I used to park my work van on my street, I went out there in the morning and it was a mess, they'd stolen a few things, the main one being my brand new battery drill (about $800 worth). Buggers.
 
why the hell would a crook steal oil and brake/tranny fluid?! it musta been the synthetic stuff(or the guys was dumb as a brick). this is why I leave nuthin in my vehicle (mine's broken right now, but unlocked. i don't see what they'd want with an ice scraper and cruddy tools)

Punknoodle: just saying "500 dollar deductable" is excess. Kid's probably paying through the roof.
and why the bloody ell didn't ya lock the van up? at the least, they company shoulda had you park at a depot, especially when it was THEIR money involved in the vehicle and equipment?
 
I had my Blazer broken into while sitting in my driveway. Check with your insurance agent to see what it covered, my policy didn't cover anything in the vehicle that wasn't in a stock location or something other then OEM. This left me without a radio which was annoying to say the least.
 
The $500 deductible is what I would have to pay for home owner's (or renter's) insurance to cover it, since it happened in the garage of the apartment complex I live in. $500 wouldn't be a lot if my apartment was broken into and all my stuff was gone. But all this stuff just totals about $500, so it's not really worth it.

I don't know what gave someone the idea that my car was worth breaking into. It's a piece of crap on the outside, inside is full of garbage, all the stuff that was stolen was in my trunk. The only thing on the inside that's worth stealing in a Pioneer head unit, which they didn't steal. I have a feeling whoever did this probably wanted to steal the car because they broke the rear quarter window.

And, no, it wasn't a box of synthetics, my piece of crap burns too much oil to justify using synthetic. They must have just been stupid, or in a rush. They took a cheap jack, but left an amplifier.

EDIT: Oh, and don't mistake my profile image. I drive a Saturn, not a BMW.
 
Sniffs
Punknoodle: just saying "500 dollar deductable" is excess. Kid's probably paying through the roof.
and why the bloody ell didn't ya lock the van up? at the least, they company shoulda had you park at a depot, especially when it was THEIR money involved in the vehicle and equipment?
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$500 excess isn't exactly paying through the roof. I'm not sure what you're trying to say. And your suggestion about the van is ridiculous. I'm a sparkie, part of the package of being a sparkie is having a work vehicle, especially when on call 24 hours. Where I lived I didn't have a garage, and even if I did the bloody thing wouldn't fit. You can't stop everything from happening, it happens. That's what insurance is for. By the way I've travelled around a bit working for different people and have parked my work vehicle on the street ever since and had no problem.
 
jgtc_lover
Couldn't find a thread on this so I guess I should start one.
Anyone one got any stories? Tips for recovering stolen goods? Advice on how to get over it (cause I'm ****ing pissed right now)?

Some one just broke into my car, broke a window, took a subwoofer, about $300 worth of my good tools, and for some reason a box full of oil, trans and break fluid. Insurance would probably cover it, but I would have to pay a $500 deductible, so I'm probably not going to file a claim.
Click to expand...

Call your auto insurance company and your homeowner's insurance company. Depending if the car was parked in a garage/driveway; your home/renter's insurance may cover it. (varies state by state)

Secondly, gather up any receipts you have for the stolen items as the police & insurance adjuster will ask for those along with the list of stolen goods. Fixing a smashed window varies car by car, an insurance adjuster will know the price. Also, if you decide to make a claim you will be reimbursed for the price of the items stolen MINUS depreciation. If they're items no longer being made or if there's a new model #, the insurance company will use comparative items to find the price.

So, $300 worth of tools + $150 subwoofer may turn out to be much less than $450 one would expect.

I've had cars and homes broken into; it sucks. The police in one instance were awesome and found the savage who broke into my car and in other cases they're clueless.

I had an apartment break-in once and the cop asked me, in all seriousness, if I used the door to enter my apartment. Think about that...

So don't expect to recover any items stolen, especially if your insurance company pays for your losses. In the latter case, you no longer own the items.
 
I keep a minimum grade insurance on my vehicles due to their age and the way American Insurance is rigged, which is pretty much set up so that until you have between 40-50 years experience behind the wheel, your rates stay extremely high.

punknoodle: up here, the corporation employing you would be more worried about their bottom line and how much money theft is costing THEM, rather than their employees. you get into that kind of thinking up here (it's part of what generated the Economic Crisis, I think), that and executives only thinking of themselves most of the time. it gets ingrained up here.

stay dry and stay cool down there.
 
When I used the Pontiac as a daily, it got broken into all the time. I lost 3-4 radios before pullout units came along, and a few batteries (no locking hood). It also got stolen once. Driving a ragtop will teach you never to leave anything in the car. After I started driving a tintop, it took me a few years to get in the habit of locking the car, because I would rather they just open the door than cut their way in through the top.
 
That's why I take anything expensive out of the car, like GPS and cell phones or ipods, and take them with me when I get to my destination.

Things like the mounts for a GPS stay hidden in the glove compartment, so as to not entice a possible douche from breaking into my ride.
 
It'd say over half of all trade vehicles here get parked on the street. I don't think it's so much an employer thing, maybe our crime rate isn't as bad as yours. Regardless I wouldn't call my company a corporation, not many trade companies are. My boss lives around the corner from me (he parks on the street too haha) and there is probably a total of 20 people working at my company, I'd say we're a mid size electrical contracting company.
 
Auto break-ins happen very rarely here. I think there was only one case in the past year and that was when some teenagers broke into a used car dealership and tried to take a Holden Statesman. It didn't happen.

I do still try to take care of my belongings though, especially the $1500 worth of stereo equipment in the Skyline. I always flip the iPod Touch away so nobody can see it when they peer into the windows. The only problem that I have is that I can tell eventually someone's going to see that head unit in there and try and nick it.
 
and yet, I can leave my wallet sitting in the car and not worry about it. ;course, I'm also rural (unlike a lot of these guys it seems), and not only is it out of the way, there's not 10 zillion lights on all night so you wouldn't notice, and there's also loads of critters that'd give you away.

besides, who'd wanna steal out of a MINIVAN?
 

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