Some jerk broke into my car

[fredr123]

So I'm walking home from work this afternoon. I get off the Ctrain, walk over to McMahon Stadium as usual. Keys in my hand, I look down curiously at the lock on the driver's side door. Strange. I don't remember it hanging out of the door. Uh oh. That sick feeling begins to set in as I realize something bad just happened. Doors unlocked. Papers strewn about the backseat. My change holder is lying out of its holder and the glove box is open. Everything inside is rummaged around. Crap. I've been freakin' robbed!

I call the CPS non-emergency number and get their advice. Returning to the scene, I photographed the crap out of the car and checked carefully for any and all missing items. No tools in the vicinity that could have been used to pry out the look and definitely no witnesses. Nothing else to do, off to District 7 to report the incident.

Long story short, the nice officer made me fill out a report as per usual. All I can tell that is missing was a couple of burned CDs and about $3 in miscellaneous change. There's about $200 in tools (socket set) and some other car fixin' stuff in the trunk that wasn't touched. The officer mentioned in passing that I was the second person today to make such a complaint from the Banff Trail LRT park n ride and she was certain more would follow.

Couple questions for anyone who would care to share some experience:
1. Did anyone else get burned today at the McMahon Stadium parking lot (August 31)? I was there between 06:50 and 14:10.
2. What should I do about the lock on my door? The cylinder is hanging out of the door and doesn't lock shinguard any more. My car isn't worth more than $1500 (anyone wanna buy it? ) so I don't want to spend a lot to fix it. Any ideas how much it would cost?
3. Does your insurance policy cover such repairs due to a break and enter? I'll find out in the morning if mine does...

[kipperiggy]

Can't tell you much about car break-ins (had a house break-in and a cabin break-in though, bas**rds), but I can't see why insurance would not cover it??

[Buff]

Originally posted by fredr123@Aug 31 2005, 09:26 PM
So I'm walking home from work this afternoon. I get off the Ctrain, walk over to McMahon Stadium as usual. Keys in my hand, I look down curiously at the lock on the driver's side door. Strange. I don't remember it hanging out of the door. Uh oh. That sick feeling begins to set in as I realize something bad just happened. Doors unlocked. Papers strewn about the backseat. My change holder is lying out of its holder and the glove box is open. Everything inside is rummaged around. Crap. I've been freakin' robbed!

I call the CPS non-emergency number and get their advice. Returning to the scene, I photographed the crap out of the car and checked carefully for any and all missing items. No tools in the vicinity that could have been used to pry out the look and definitely no witnesses. Nothing else to do, off to District 7 to report the incident.

Long story short, the nice officer made me fill out a report as per usual. All I can tell that is missing was a couple of burned CDs and about $3 in miscellaneous change. There's about $200 in tools (socket set) and some other car fixin' stuff in the trunk that wasn't touched. The officer mentioned in passing that I was the second person today to make such a complaint from the Banff Trail LRT park n ride and she was certain more would follow.

Couple questions for anyone who would care to share some experience:
1. Did anyone else get burned today at the McMahon Stadium parking lot (August 31)? I was there between 06:50 and 14:10.
2. What should I do about the lock on my door? The cylinder is hanging out of the door and doesn't lock shinguard any more. My car isn't worth more than $1500 (anyone wanna buy it? ) so I don't want to spend a lot to fix it. Any ideas how much it would cost?
3. Does your insurance policy cover such repairs due to a break and enter? I'll find out in the morning if mine does...

This happened to me... the lock hanging out of the door thing. I wasn't broken into but the seal/washer that helps hold the lock tightly in place had grown old and cracked into bits. I can't remember how much it cost to do, but I think it was around or under $50. Of course I live in Lethbridge.

It doesn't take long to fix either. The same thing happened to my passenger side door earlier this year and my company trades work with another company so I've been able to get autobody stuff on my car for free. They put the lock back in place in under an hour.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally posted by fredr123@Aug 31 2005, 09:26 PM
...she was certain more would follow.

She actually said that to you? Did you ask her from what she was drawing that conclusion? How would you know something like that in advance and if so, why was nothing done about it to begin with? WTF? :/

[browna]

Originally posted by Eddie Bronze+Aug 31 2005, 10:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Eddie Bronze @ Aug 31 2005, 10:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-fredr123@Aug 31 2005, 09:26 PM
...she was certain more would follow.

She actually said that to you? Did you ask her from what she was drawing that conclusion? How would you know something like that in advance and if so, why was nothing done about it to begin with? WTF? :/ [/b][/quote]
She likely meant that there would be more complaints as people returned to thier cars as the day went on, not that this was continuing as she spoke.

If punks are so desperate that they're looking for CD's and change, they're likely not going to get the motherload in one car, so the ******* they are, they have to break into a bunch.

If its just a lock fix and no real lost valuables, spend the $100 cash and don't be bothered with insurance. The red tape and time it will take won't be worth it, and you'll see that $100 as a blended increase on your next premium statement anyways.

[Neeper]

Originally posted by kipperiggy@Aug 31 2005, 09:38 PM
Can't tell you much about car break-ins (had a house break-in and a cabin break-in though, bas**rds), but I can't see why insurance would not cover it??

i doubt his $1500 car has theft or vandalism on it. I would get the car fixed, or buy a new one.

[Bill Bumface]

If I were you I'd just leave the doors unlocked now and not keep anything in the car worth stealing. If there is a trunk release, disable it.

[@theCBE]

My car got broken into in Edmonton kinda of the same thing.. except mine was in the parkade on my apartment building.. the people that broke into my car were however nice enough to but the door handle back together.. I didn't even notice till about 2 minutes into my car ride when I hit the brakes and my back seat fell down and I was staring into an empty trunk where my subs and amps should have been.. I was fataing passed.

Went to the cops, took a couple of pictures ... they are the ones that showed me where my door handle was scratched and had been taken off... but they were surprised too that it had been put back together.. even the lock still works

I called my insurance guy.. I didn't have the receipts for my sound equipment (bought it second hand) .. he told me not to even bother reporting it as I would end up wasting time and probably not get anything out of it

Don't know if this really helps.. but you are not the only one.. I feel your pain

I wish I could have caught the guy taking my shinguard

[Maritime Q-Scout]

ahhh I remember this well, it was 8:00am on October 11, 2001. My little brother runs into my room in a panic and wakes me up. He woke me up without fear (even mom and dad are scared to wake me in the morning, I've been known to throw things, no matter who you are, the dog won't even get on my bed unless he has permission from mom, not me mom) so it's odd that my bro just woke me in a panic without reluctance.

He said the car was broken into. I was like "what"? I walked upstairs and looked out the window. Sure enough there's dad standing there a wee bit upset looking out the window at the car with a smashed glass on the driveway.

I was the most calm. I was like "well this sucks" and walked out to inspect the situation. After about 45 minutes a police officer came. I hope your experiance was better than mine.

He took some info and explained to me why they basically aren't even going to bother to look for the guy. It was damp out so you couldn't get fingerprints off the car, and the way the handle of the screwdriver they used was, you can't get prints off of that, nor the steering wheel or dash board.

Then I said "well what about my school books, they're smooth, and have a sturdy cover. He hummed and hawwed, "well techincially yes but you'd have to know what one was on top, I'm not taking all your books in for fingerprinting." (talk about dedication to your job and helping a victim of crime!) I told him which book it was, then he started arguing with me it wouldn't be that book.

- It was my communication book here

- Couldn't be

- Yeah it was

- How do you know, the books are all mixed up

- Because that was my last class last night, I put the book on the top of the pile (I left my school books in a pile on the passanger seat, who's gonna steal those?)

he got passy and went to his car to get a bag, and glove to take the book in for fingerprinting. A few months later (not the week or so like he said) I ended up getting the book back. With a "partial" print (I thought those were good, but it might be a just made up for good TV). But nothing. Fortunately my prof lent me a second copy of one of her books so I could still, you know, pass the course and not pay another $80 for a temp solution.

I was suprised that in a middle class neighbourhood in Nova Scotia my car was broken into, in my driveway no less, but even more suprised the police fought with me to even do anything.

I hope you have better luck.

[fredr123]

Thanks for the advice. Nothing of any value is in there now. It's "locked" but not really since it won't take much to get into the driver's side. I have those fold down back seats that allow access to the trunk so disabling the trunk release is pointless.

Haven't got a hold of the insurance company yet. Can anyone recommend a good place to go to get an estimate for how much the repairs would cost? Kinda hard to sell a cheap car with damage like that on it...

Eddie: I think the officer meant that more reports would follow as people returned from work. I was her report alone and I assumed other officers in there had done a few too. My wife, who was relaxing in the chairs the whole time, overheard the couple in line behind us and figure they were in the same boat.

When the officer examined the damage, she said she was suprised they went through all that trouble and didn't just take the whole thing. I'll tell you why they didn't: the car is a piece of shinguard!

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Aargh - sorry to hear of the breakin. It's brutal when they do so much damage to only get <$5 in change. I had a similar incident earlier this year:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/index.php?sho...1847&hl=parkade

We've since installed a 7 camera digital surveillance system so at least we'll know how they got in (ie prying front doors, etc). One poor girl has had her BMW broken into 3 times, for about $10,000 in damage.

[fredr123]

IHH: Guess I'll have to do what your friend with the 85 Cavalier does (keeps everything unlocked).

This is the second time my car has been hit. The first was during the Cup run. Some bas**rd broke off one of my car flags. Strange as it may be, I was more passed off about the flag incident than the busted lock this time...

[Bill Bumface]

Originally posted by fredr123@Sep 1 2005, 06:03 AM
Kinda hard to sell a cheap car with damage like that on it...

You'd be suprised, I had zero problems selling my car with the messed up lock. It still locked, its just you could pull the cylinder out with your hands.

[Mccree]

I am not sure you want to go thru insurance. The increase in your premiums may not be woth it, plus I assume your deductable is more than the repair.

I had a friend, just ask about making a claim and his premiums went up. How stupid is that.

[Zoidberg]

Some fataer just broke into my car, too! Two days ago, I parked my Pathfinder in the lot in Anderson station, and someone took a drill to the lock and took my insurance and registration that I keep in the dash, as well as my garage door opener. I came back home after realizing it and my neighbor told me the bas**rds came by the house (getting the information from my insurance papers) and opened the garage door. Thankfully it's a seperate entity from my house and I don't keep anything special in the garage so it wasn't worth a big heist by the thieves, but the total damage that they did was 650$! I'm very, very upset. My insurance is paying for it because I have theft on the Pathfinder but the premiums are going to go up, it's not cool. Not cool at all.

[fredr123]

Originally posted by Zoidberg@Sep 1 2005, 11:47 AM
Some fataer just broke into my car, too! Two days ago, I parked my Pathfinder in the lot in Anderson station, and someone took a drill to the lock and took my insurance and registration that I keep in the dash, as well as my garage door opener.

The officer at District 7 asked if they took my insurance/registration and any garage door openers. Common theme among spineless crooks or a serial car breaker intoer?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Usually a breakin doesn't affect your insurance premiums. I had my car broken into about a year and a half ago and went through insurance and my premiums never changed, I even asked if they would, and they said not for this kind of thing.

Anyway, if it's just the lock, Mccree is right, your deductable is probably too high to make it worth your while.

[I_H8_Crawford]

BRUTAL!
Just had my CD Faceplate ripped off last week... :angry:
fataers won't be able to do much with it, as they only took the faceplate and not the unit itself... $400 later and I have music in my car again...
I'm just lucky they didn't go into my trunk where I had my golfclubs, sub, and amp.

It would be fun to beat down the little punks who do this shinguard...

[Dynamic]

It was the winter of 2002, me and my dad went to an Oilers game. Instead of paying for parking we just parked a couple blocks further and walked in. Being from the country we don't even lock our doors and never had a problem with it. We come back after the game, the Oilers played like total poop, I was already passed off cause of that, I open the door, first thing I see the glove box is open. I close it thinking nothing of it. My brother gets in the back and asks where his backback is. It clicked in my head what happened, look in the glove box for the $125 graphing calculator I left there. GONE!!! Im a very shy person, usually level headed and such, but between the Oilers that night and my graphing calculator I guess I just lost it. Got out of the car and started screaming, I remember throwing something on the ground and people around me wondering what happened. It sucked.