Just wanted to see how many people woke up and went out side to have a sick feeling to see your car gone. It is not a fun day.
Yes. My daughter was at college and lived in a house with 3 other women. They all went to a football game and when they got home, they discovered that their home had been broken into. My daughter’s car keys were on the counter; the car was in the garage. The thieves loaded her car with electronics and drove off. The car was less than a mile away. The police weren’t particularly interest in this. We found the car with OnStar and they kept after the police until they went to the car and searched the area. At least we got the car back and it was not damaged.
It happened to one of my wife’s daughters but the car was recovered just a couple of days later. It was an old beater of a Honda Civic.
The police found the car abandoned on a street somewhere. The police explanation was that a lot of the local burglars like to use stolen cars to do their deeds so they can’t be tracked by license plate numbers and that model of Honda Civic was unusually easy to steal.
I became quite at home at the Memphis impound lot when my children lived in that area. Three vehicles were stolen, one twice, and the police there were not too concerned with finding the thieves or helping us locate the vehicles or cutting through the red tape to get them out of the impound lot. It’s disgusting to spend $500+ to get a stolen vehicle out of the city owned impound lot where it had sat for several days accruing the $35 daily fee added to the tow fee while not being notified of the situation. And to add insult to injury the impound lot treats you like a thief when you arrive to get the vehicle. Because I had a car dolly and commercial tag and insurance on my pickup I could haul away anything that had my name on the title after half a day of bickering. I can’t imagine the struggle that most victims endured to get their vehicles back.
@RodKnox, I guess the cops go for the easy money huh?
Even sadder is that those cars were probably taken by the same people each time due to the revolving door court system.
I had a job downtown and found cheap parking in a parking garage owned by an apartment complex. You checked in in the morning and paid $5 up front. The attendant would leave at about lunch time. After a few days I returned from work and found my spot empty, even though I had locked the car and my 1984 Chevy Impala was hardly a tempting target.
I notified the police and my insurance firm who got me a loaner. I felt very angry rather than “sick” and hoped to get the car back since it was ordered new with special equipment for trailer towing.
Three days later the police called and said they had found the car out of town with two windows broken and the ignition shorted out. It seems to have been stolen by kids who went joyriding and smoked all manner of interesting stuff in it. The oil was down 1.5 quarts, so the car had been driven very fast.
To make a long story short, the car was thoroughly inspected by both my mechanic and the body shop and repairs made and the interior fumigated out. No mechanical damage was found. I complement the police and my insurance company to have made this as painless an experience as possible. Both were very sympathetic and I was not out of pocket a single dollar.
My hair stylist was not so lucky. She had a vintage Camaro and after being stolen it was found completely stripped of anything worth taking. She then decided to buy a more mundane car, a 4 door Toyota Camry. Eight months after she bought it, this car was stolen and used in a drive-by shooting/murder. She learned about this when the police showed up at her doorsteps on a Sunday to arrest her. The car had been parked in the apartment complex parking garage.
I now sing the praises of car alarm systems and built-in tracking devices. Both my cars have those.
@Rod Knox
Sometimes I think the police are just too lazy to do their jobs or the city wants to hide the true crime rate by not actively prosecuting thefts.
Whenever I hear some BS media story about some small town having a higher crime rate than some large city infamous for having a high crime rate, I think about the fact that a petty crime actually gets reported, prosecuted, and put on the books in that small town, while in that large city infamous for having a high crime rate, nobody even bothers to report the crime because the cops just treat you like it’s you who is the criminal, make a few notes, and then do nothing to solve the crime or prosecute the criminals.
“went out side to have a sick feeling to see your car gone.” an handful of times, but all it took was a trip to the tow lot and a few hundred dollars to recover.
I’ve never had a car stolen but a guy (allegedly a friend) stole a 4 speed Muncie from me while it was out of my Corvette which was getting a new clutch.
The worst part was that he tried to sell it back to me 2 days later. Can’t get much more crass than that.
Well I sell a item that will keep a car safe and it is less than a $100.00, now let me say I will show a image but I am not listing a link or website here. If you like we can talk about the item? Bobby
You’re starting to venture into spam territory here and likely to get whacked.
@B.L.E. I agree. If the vehicle is not involved in committing a crime, it is normally just added to the list and followed up on a priority basis. My car was found in a prominent spot by the police since the kids who stole it simply abandoned it. It had not run out of gas.
My hair stylist went through a traumatic experience since her car was used in a serious crime. The police had no choice but to arrest her first as she was the car’s owner.
Okay I was just saying to the people that had a car stolen, I am sure they wish they had my item.
Can I assume your hairstylist had to hire a lawyer and was out a lot of money in the end?
And she probably did not get reimbursed?
And she was probably not offered an apology or anything?
When/if she got the car back, can I assume it was literally covered in that stuff they use to check for fingerprints? Maybe it was even damaged by the police during their investigation?
@db4690 The police was quickly convinced that the crime had been committed when she was not even near her car or apartment. The thieves were caught shortly thereafter and she was compensated for the market value of her car and had the use of a loaner from the insurance. She missed a few days of work (she owned the salon) but others filled in. The car had subsequently crashed in a road block where the culprits had been caught. It was a write-off and ended up in the evidence pound at police headquarters.
Her insurance company provided any legal advice and she was not out of pocket for any legal services. If the criminals had not been caught quickly, I’m sure it would have been a lengthy and disruptive process.
Here current car, a gray Honda Civic has a built in alarm system and a police tracking chip. If stolen, it can be instantly located.
It’s nice to hear that the experience didn’t financially devastate her . . . as it does so many others
I’m not JUST talking about car theft, BTW
Almost…but alert friends at school saw it going down and stopped it. The guy ran and never caught. I have no idea why they’d want to steel an 5yo Vega with 140k miles on it.
How much is the monthly fee for a tracking chip?
I was actually considering signing up for a tracking service for my car, so my wife could just log on the internet and see exactly where I was when I went on an out of town road trip, but I was put off by the subscription fee. Might just as well spring for theft insurance.
This is one tough lady. She came from Austria and built the business up herself. Her only problem was maybe being a little naive as to car thefts.
We have no fault insurance here so that insurance companies can make rapid payouts to obvious claimants and then sort out the details afterwards. Lawyers only get involved if there is a criminal issue involved, such as hit and run. Insurance companies then will pay for your lawyer.
In the case of my hair stylist she would have been paid the value of the car regardless, as criminal evidence has to be kept for up to 40 years! The son of my wife’s friend administers the “evidence” complex for the city, and it’s a gruesome place. Lots of freezers and fridges, and a very large car hangar.
When my own car was stolen I was back on the road within 5 days and just had to file one police report. Since no crime had been committed with the car other than a pot party, the police did not bother trying to find who stole it; they no doubt had more serious cases to pursue. After this incident I bought a Car Club that locks the steering wheel; no problems after that. I also used it on my 1988 Caprice and my wife’s Nissan Sentra.
I hope @Boman43 got the hint that this is NOT a forum to scare people and sell stuff!!!
My main issue with “no fault” insurance is that it’s actually “your fault” insurance. One of the reasons motorcycle liability insurance is so cheap compared to cars is that in about 70% of motorcycle/car collisions, it’s the car driver’s fault.
This is why the American Motorcycle Association has always lobbied so hard against “no fault” insurance.