Automobile Break-ins

Nice thought, but many just smash
the windows, not even trying the doors.

Leave windows open

go the whole nine yards
why not go the whole nine yards and set up a tree stand?



http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?id=cat601409&navAction=jump&navCount=1&cmCat=MainCatcat20712&parentType=category&parentId=cat20712



bring home a little meat to put on the table too

They’ll steal anything, not just valuabl
Friend told me someone he knew got broken into for the OEM cheapo radio knobs on her very old car.



So go ahead and open your windows, leave the car unlocked, with nothing inside. Someone else’s idea of “nothing” might still mean damage to your car. Maybe they’ll take a crap inside it (don’t laugh–it happened at a place I used to work).



And I don’t think anybody with a recent-model vehicle is going to leave it unlocked. I mean, is abducting someone “better” than raping?

So what are the options?
Stay home? We pay our money and take our chances :slight_smile:



Bob

Amazingly true
Thieves are humans too, so there will be individual differences and there are no absolute rules. I once had somebody steel the brakes off a junk bike, they were so worthless–you couldn’t find brakes that shoddy if you looked for them. And a friend had the face-plate stolen off their auto sound system–its of no use without the rest of the system.



But there are some professional thieves that are very specific in their methods, and it was mainly these criminals who were victimizing vehicles at the paddler-spots along the Potomac. The main thing they wanted were credit cards. They’d leave cash in a wallet and just take the cards. They didn’t want the victim to realize the cards were stolen until the credit card company figures out something is going on and calls them up to ask about the unusual activity.



Credit card crime is the greatest! There is virtually no risk of getting caught and convicted. My wife and I tried to get the cops to pursue a criminal that got one of our cards, and even got a detective to follow up on it. We had the guys name and address. Interjurisdictional problems and the credit card company’s own reluctance to provide information to the police (privacy concerns) thwarted the detective, and there is a history of not being able to successfully prosectute the cases that reduces the police interest in this type of case. Oh, there I go off topic. Just know that there is that model of crime out there.



And then you have your addict criminals, that will take anything they think they can sell because they need a fix. They look for high value, easy to snatch, easy to sell items.



I would think the radio-knob thief was a fairly rare brand of criminal, but I do agree, some of 'em will steel anyting!



~~Chip

Who said stay home?
Not me.



I lock, all the time, every time. I also set the alarm, take things with or conceal, etc.



Most importantly, I try to avoid certain places known for break-ins.



There’s no guarantee against being ripped off, just lowering the risks. Leaving an almost-new vehicle unlocked is just plain ridiculous.

Don’t leave your car unlocked
My company just had it’s 3rd truck broke into(early 90’s caravan)

one disappeared for for almost a month and was recovered with $8,500 in tools still in it-BUT the airbag, seats, computer and injection system were gone.

The insurance company told my boss that chopshops are targeting older vehicles for hard to find parts.

a few tips the adjuster gave us- park near the middle of the lot, end cars are targeted more because they’re easier to get at without being noticed. Don’t wash your car before a trip, dirty means you don’t take care of it. Leave your food wrappers and popcans thrown on the back floor or passenger side, again so it looks like a worhless beater.If you can’t take valuables with you -leave them at home or camoflage them, nobody wants to pick up a dirty-looking sock to see if there’s a credit card in it.

Keep your $ in a hitch safe.
http://www.premierhummer.com/hitch-safe.html

come to central or south Florida

– Last Updated: Jan-11-08 10:37 PM EST –

""I try to avoid certain places known for break-ins""

There is no such place here.

They randomly hit beach access points, boat ramps, roadside pull offs, gym parking lots, etc... Basically any spot where there's a chance that someone left a wallet or purse in a car. They smashed my window just to have a look inside. All of my valuable stuff was in a dry bag with me in my boat. This was next to a busy four lane road at a busy put in (with bank fishermen present). Judging by the glass on the ground, they hit every unnattended vehicle, even the shitbox rusted Izuzu Trooper that was parked next to me.

Law enforcement either can't or won't bother with this problem.

I don't think it is just here. Last spring I was in north Georgia for a kayak race. After the race I decided to go hiking. I rethought the idea when I got to the trailhead and noticed the ground looking like it had snowed for the window glass on the ground. Score one for the tweekers; I hope they overdose or blow themselve up.

It takes less time…


to smash and enter then it does to use a key. IMO locking the doors just provides a very false sense of security. However I’ve never had a car alarm and who knows, that very well may deter the thieves. I’ve avoided them over the years but thats a whole other thread.



I don’t know where you boat but if I “avoid certain places known for break-ins” it would eliminate virtually every run I do.



I guess if paddlers were well organized we would have one person volunteer every Sat and Sun to sit off a ways from the parking area with camera (and folding chair and book for comfort and boredom breaker) to catch these “upstanding individuals” red-handed.



Bob

Alarms
They’re no guarantee, either, just one more tool.



For years I avoided them like the plague…till after our home got burglarized (when we were sleeping), and the creeps obviously returned to check out what else they could steal (two neighbors’ vermin sons, not that we could prove it). I came back from a long walk on which they had seen me leaving as they were driving home. I had already installed an alarm on my Jeep by then (in addition to what we had installed on the house and garage). I came back and found chewing gum on the ground next to the Jeep, whose alarm had been triggered by a smack to the door. They were probably testing it to find out if it was a real antitheft system or just a blinking light in the dash.



Anything we can throw at criminals, I’m all for. The most useful automotive option I can think of would be a full-time 360-degree video monitoring system. Could also be useful for those cases where someone “plays chicken” with you on the road. It’s happened twice in our canyon…probably yet more rotten kids driving their parents’ cars.



Though really, I’d prefer something that does immediate physical harm to criminals. Have heard of electric shock systems used to deter animals from damaging cars…

valuables
Don’t leave ANYTHING inside your car. That includes license and registration. The big target anymore for car break-ins is information about you…for identity theft. Break into your car and steal your license/registration. Now they know where you live. They can now visit your house and find things like checkbooks, bank statements, credit card bills, and while they’re at it, they can steal your new HDTV, pc (with how many financial records on it), jewelry, art, your other rec equipment, etc.



The hitch safe is a nice idea, but considering most hitch receivers are just bolt-on, anyway, with a couple wrenches, they can just take the whole thing. So even that isn’t a failsafe…(especially if you keep tools inside your pickup). Just pack a drybag or otter box specifically for your cash, keys, cards, and your registration/insurance information.

Wow, I’m glad
I didn’t read this before I started leaving my car at launch sites, or I would never have had the nerve. It is an old car and I don’t leave anything in sight that would be tempting.



Is there anyone else out there who goes paddling a lot and has never had a problem with break-ins?

breakin frequency
Between paddling, hiking, and mountain biking, I’ve never had a problem with leaving my car in the lot. I’ve probably just been lucky, but this has included places with known break-in problems, really remote locations where it would be easy for someone to do the deed and never be seen, and really busy lots that can seriously fit hundreds of vehicles on a busy day. I’ve also parked in rough urban areas as well as affluent suburban areas. I’ve driven anything from 15yr old stripped junkers to a new fully loaded SUV.



Breakins are really the exception rather than the rule, but it only takes one time.



My car has only been broken into once. I was in high school and driving a junker at the time. I never bothered to lock the doors, and someone got into my car and rifled through my glovebox. They left all the paperwork, but took an old portable cd player. This happened in the driveway of my parents’ house.

Don’t get complacent
I parked my truck hundreds of times for many years in trailhead parking lots (to go biking or hiking) before it got broken into. The thieves had watched me as I prepped to go riding; I know this from the way the truck was broken into, and what they stole from where inside it. It was an extremely busy lot, and I remember ALMOST leaving because I didn’t like how crowded it was. I had noticed two young guys sitting in a car, just watching the people in the lot. But I brushed aside the faint uneasiness I felt about them. Too bad I didn’t heed my instincts.



When I told a coworker who had grown up near that area about it, she shook her head and told me a worse story about a hiking encounter in which some guys threatened to shoot her family if they didn’t leave. She said that break-ins there were very common.



I never went back and never will.