As you’d probably guess (if it was in the least bit important), I’ve set up a a fair few email alerts to keep my finger on the pulse of the autoblogosphere. “Nissan” usually renders unto me four or five stories on some electric vehicle they’ll never make and a review or two of a Z car. This is the first time I’ve seen a link called “more news from your region.” While Levittown isn’t exactly my region (off by 252 miles), I was happy to see that no item is too small for Google’s news spiders. And that, for once during these dark days for the auto biz, I linked to a story with a happy ending. Of course, one wonders who in their right mind would bother reporting that they were almost the victim of a crime. And whether or not the police asked the citizen involved whether or not they take Ambien CR.
Attempted theft from vehicle
500 block Old Street Rd., Trevose, 10:30 p.m. Mon-9 a.m. Tue, entered unlocked Nissan Altima in driveway, items thrown on floor, nothing of value removed.
items thrown on floor, nothing of value removed
Many years ago, when I lived in San Mateo, CA, after I detailed my Celica GT inside (it looked like new), I had the car broken into and interior completely stripped. I mean even the shifter grip was gone, seats, mats, everything. Stripped bare. My camera and a telephoto lens were placed on the floor and left. Police said they were pros acting on order from a shop. They did not take anything that could be traced.
I have to say their professionalism didn’t make me feel any better. I got one seat put in, and then I adapted a billiard 8 ball as the shifter grip. I don’t think I had any car detailed again after that.
Early last year, I discovered a wonderful selection of glass fragments resting on the driver’s seat and floor. Secure parking garage my butt. When I went through the car, I discovered the .50-60 cents that I keep in the console for meters was missing…and that was it.
I guess the thief was craving White Castle! That’ll get you a regular hamburger.
If they popped the trunk, they would have noticed several thousand dollars of networking and computer equipment so I got lucky!
I didn’t appreciate having to fork over $200 for a new window and since I have frameless doors, the plastic was put on the now open window and I had to get in and out via the other side. That was no fun…
Oh yeah, theflyersfan, that reminds me of another brilliant burglar that struck my car about 20 years ago. I worked back then in San Francisco, on San Bruno Avenue, not too far from Silver, close to the Sunnydale projects. I parked my car in the back. After work I found out that some moron not only broke my window but bent my window frame with a big stone. Then he stole a large lawn bag from the rear seat. Here come the rub: 1. The doors were open, and 2. I helped to move someone the day before, and I had rugs and other dirty trash from cleaning the apartment in the lawn bag. I can imagine his face when he unpacked his “loot”. Still, doesn’t change the fact he damaged my car.
Bay Area is grand theft central. I don’t like it one bit.
Bay Area is grand theft central. I don’t like it one bit.
That’s a bit of an overgeneralization. Bay Area has 7 milion people and is nearly the size of the State of New Jersey. Depending on where you go, the crime may be up or down. There are areas where nothing ever happens (I have lived in such an area for the past 15 years). In fact, San Jose had the lowest crime of any US city over 250K population for a few years in a row. Now, if you’re looking for excitement and a lot of cultural events, Silicon Valley is not the place to go, but that’s a different story.
I have to say it…
Stealing a trash bag full of trash and ancient apartment stuff wins! The fact the doors were unlocked seals the deal.
I can imagine that you were just slightly angry about that!!!
I live in downtown Cincinnati, and I’m always answering questions from a ton of people about crime there. I always have the list of numbers saying that many of Cincinnati’s upscale ‘burbs have higher car theft and damage rates than good ol’ “dangerous” downtown.
That being said, I’ve been here for a little over four years now and I’ve had two break-ins.
The first was my fault – I was in a rush and left my EXPENSIVE Escort radar detector on the windshield and also expensive sunglasses on the seat. When I returned several hours later…gone and gone. A dozen other cars were hit in that same garage…and I think six downtown garages were hit, so they were pros. They were also busted.
I learned my lesson which is why I was stunned when basically pennies were stolen and a window broken.
I’ve had one car stolen, but that was in the DC-metro area.
I’ve also heard the Bay Area is pretty tame with break-ins and thefts…I just thought the rule was (and I heard this when I lived in LA also) is that the closer you live/park to an international port, the better chance that your new BMW or Audi will be in a crate and headed to a buyer in South America or Africa.
Back in the early 90’s, my friend had his Ford EconoLineVan broken into in Lancaster, PA. It was an old family van, sort of beat up, and he had just returned to campus after going home for the weekend. He had stocked up on some food, but there wasn’t anything truly valuable inside…
Some one broke in, and must of gotten mad that there wasn’t anything worth stealing, so he opened up a can of creamed corn from the back, and scattered the corn all over the interior. Kernels ALL OVER the place, just out of spite… Yeah, my friend had a can opener in there, along with a case of creamed corn from Sam’s Club.
Cops called him 2 hours later to report they had apprehended the perpetrator; found him walking along the street 4 blocks away, eating cold creamed corn from a can!
hwyhobo wrote:
Many years ago, when I lived in San Mateo, CA….I had the car broken into and interior completely stripped
Really? Me, too! (I used to live in the apartment complex kitty-corner from the Crystal Springs shopping center).
One night, somebody broke into my Honda CRX. I *think* they were after the stereo components, but I’m not sure. They were probably spooked by something because none of them were taken.
They took all of the change from the coin drawer (probably about $5 including a couple of $1 bills I kept in there) and a couple of miscellaneous item (cassette tapes, etc.), but that was it.
But they left behind a three-D-cell Maglite flashlight (probably cost about $25). So they lost $20 in the transaction.
Another set of thieves had similar bad luck a couple of years earlier. They broke in and took my stereo components, but missed the very valuable amplifier. They also cut the Alpine-specific 5-conductor DIN-terminated cables that interconnected everything, thereby rendering the stuff they took useless without extensive repairs to the cables.
Car break-in thieves are not always the brightest bulbs in the string…
I guarantee that if RF was to put this topic as the Question of the Day, we’d get some wild stories and some good reading!
It’s no fun to discover your car has been broken into but after some time has passed and you read other stories and experiences, I just want to shake my head and say, “Wow…some dim bulb thieves out there!”
Kind of like when my sister’s car was stolen, the thieves were found fiddling with the CD player. Hilarious.
My most annoying non-theft was in the parking lot of a strip joint (yes, I am a sordid character). Someone tried to break into my friends car by smashing the window with a cinder block. They missed and hit the roof.
A few years ago while living in Atlanta the driver’s door lock of my MX-6 was (I think) drilled or punched out so the thief could get to…half a pack of Marlboros sitting on the passenger seat.
Audi often finds itself in the shadows of Mercedes and BMW, but it emerges from the shadows when it comes to getting tickets. The Audi A4 is the ninth most ticketed car in America which isn’t surprising given the stats of its 1.8 liter turbo and its power V-6 engine.
Back in the days of cassettes, I used to keep one of those huge cases with 60 tapes in it. My friends would often ask “why do you carry all of those tapes?” Because I NEED all of my music at my disposal at all times! Well, that was until I emerged from the local multiplex one night to find my GTIs window smashed and all of my tapes…gone.
It was the perfect time to convert to CDs anyway.
I’ve been lucky I guess. I’ve left my inoperable 99 Legacy in the driveway of my in-laws’ house for just over 2 years now. Unlocked. One day someone hit their neighborhood rummaging through vehicles. They got about $2 in change from my father-in-law’s F150 but I guess they were pissed there was nothing but a Chilton’s, a radiator, and misc. front accessory guards/brackets/pulleys/head gaskets and a timing belt inside the car so they left all four doors open. Good thing they didn’t open the trunk and see the two loose stereo units. Nothing was missing that I could determine.
buzzliteyear wrote:
Really? Me, too! (I used to live in the apartment complex kitty-corner from the Crystal Springs shopping center)
No, South B Street, but I loved the Crystal Springs area and know it well (I went to CSM).