I just batman'd my way into a drug dealera car...

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: GPS, to get a bit more of your perspective, if the same thing happened, would you help someone a little overwhelmed open your door to look inside just for their piece of mind/comfort?

Well, no, I wouldn't let you in my car because you could just be some crazy crackhead - but I wouldn't be looking all suspicious either. I wasn't faulting you for doing it - I think it's awesome. He looked like a sneaky bag stealer, you jacked him and you were right. I'd say good show.

Haha, its all good, I just loved your initial post, it was good for stirring the pot

HiTempguy wrote: In it was my passport, brand new laptop, some cheques, and various other keys to my life (literal and figurative keys).

Go ahead and take this wrong if you want, but people who do that deserve exactly what they get. Don't be dim.

I have no fun stories to add to this.

A couple of years ago my credit card info was hacked and the thief used it to buy gas in NC while I was buying gas in PA on a road trip. The CC company called me within 5 minutes to ask if I had authorized the transaction and when I said no they removed the charge from my account and froze any further activity. For the rest of my trip I was forced to use my back-up card!!!

Otherwise I never lock the Miata or the ranger. Always lock the suburban and the passat.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: In it was my passport, brand new laptop, some cheques, and various other keys to my life (literal and figurative keys).

Go ahead and take this wrong if you want, but people who do that deserve exactly what they get. Don't be dim.

In hindsight, I completely agree. I am usually pretty good about this, it was a nice, sunny day and my rare optimistic side got the best of me. Normally I wouldn't even have that backpack (its my traveling companion), but like I said, I was getting ready to travel.

I completely accept responsibility as a grown adult for getting into the situation! Still makes me a little bit more bitter about the world though haha

between this and the paternity thread there is better writing on here than on network TV primetime

Streetwiseguy wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: In it was my passport, brand new laptop, some cheques, and various other keys to my life (literal and figurative keys).

Go ahead and take this wrong if you want, but people who do that deserve exactly what they get. Don't be dim.

It goes both ways. Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands.

Zomby Woof wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: In it was my passport, brand new laptop, some cheques, and various other keys to my life (literal and figurative keys).

Go ahead and take this wrong if you want, but people who do that deserve exactly what they get. Don't be dim.

It goes both ways. Sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands.

Talking about leaving valuables in a car, locked or not.

If you leave stuff in your car you deserve to have it stolen?

I have to disagree with that.

HiTempguy wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: I left my car unlocked once and some kid with a backpack stole all my drugs. Man, was I bummed.

This wouldn't surprise me about you ya dope smoking Ontario hippy

All my dope smoking cannuck friends are in BC & Saskatchewan.....

Flight Service wrote: between this and the paternity thread there is better writing on here than on network TV primetime

While I agree, we need to start a whole nother category for it.

I have a funny story.

I learned early in life that if you have nice stuff in your car (like a good radio) odds were good that your windows were going to get broken if you locked your doors. Also, if you installed the radio using shrink connectors, your wires were going to get cut on the car side of the equation.

So, I started not locking my car and keeping absolutely of nothing of value in it. This led to a bit of good natured discussion between my wife and I. She is firmly in the "lock the car no matter what" camp. We both understand the others' point of view and, like all married couples, we work together. I lock her car if I drive it, and she locks my car whenever she is near it anyway.

Anyhow, one time I was sent out for a late night errand on her behalf. Upon returning home, I failed to lock her car and as sure as you might think, somebody opened it up and stole the little plastic tray she used to hold her change. They got about two bucks worth of change and the plastic tray, which we have yet to replace. My neighbor advised me that he caught somebody trying to open the door to his work van, so it looks like one or more people might have decided to just run up the street and try all the cars and take whatever they could grab.

Another funny story: We once owned a Cavalier and found somebody standing next to it in a parking lot on the phone. Apparently they had the same car and they thought their lock had jammed. They had parked a bit further down the row and thought our car was theirs.

I didn't realize people didn't lock their cars when they got out of them.

I lock my door if I run into QT to grab a Red Bull, or if I run back up to the house because I forgot something.

I've never locked my car doors until recently, and that's only because I now keep stuff in there, like my wallet or phone. For quick stops like the store or something, I almost never roll up the windows or lock it. My last house didn't have locks on the windows and I don't have a key for my current one

z31maniac wrote: I didn't realize people didn't lock their cars when they got out of them. I lock my door if I run into QT to grab a Red Bull, or if I run back up to the house because I forgot something.

That's becausbeyou choose to live in metropolis hell.

I don't lock the Miata. To be honest, I'm not even sure if the locks work or not. I do, however, put the steering wheel in the trunk. Mostly because it would be extremely inconvenient to try and drive home without it, and pretty expensive to replace.

Here's a good one

When I first bought my motorcycle, I made a stop on my way home from work one day to pick up a few groceries. I went to the trouble of unlocking the seat, getting out the helmet lock cable and hooking it in, and put the seat back on. This took probably 5 minutes - it took some getting used to how the seat goes back on to get it to slide in just right.

When I came out from the store, there was the bike, and my helmet, with the key in the lock for the seat.

Well, at least I tried I guess. I regularly forget the key in the ignition at work, despite my constant mental reminders to take it out. But that's a secure private garage, so it's less of an issue. It's also a lot less visible than the key sticking out of the lock on the side of the bike in plain view.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I started not locking my car and keeping absolutely of nothing of value in it.

I've had my car's window busted and my crappy radio stolen even while the car was unlocked

Zomby Woof wrote: If you leave stuff in your car you deserve to have it stolen? I have to disagree with that.

hear hear!

My story:

I had an old pickup in Flint, Mi. One day I noticed (it sat for a week at a time in the apartment lot where I lived) that the sliding rear window was open.

Some thief had gotten in and tore the dash and the IP all to pieces trying to get at my $75 Kmart CD player, in 2001. They took the face but left the player hanging (because I actually attached that little strap to the back). The plastic for the gauge panel was all busted forever, but they sure got that CD player face for a crappy Kmart CD player that neither of us could then use.

Also, he climbed over about $500 worth of hand tools I kept unlocked in the toolbox in the bed to get in the truck. Literally every tool I owned at that time. Smart guy.

For all of the guys efforts, risks, and rewards, he would be better off with an actual job, and it would pay better!

cmcgregor wrote: When I came out from the store, there was the bike, and my helmet, with the key in the lock for the seat.

In one of my cars I have a peculiar habit of not taking the key out of the ignition when I get out of it. But only one car, which is weird since I have basically its twin also in the driveway, but I've never left the key with that one.

My standard rule is to lock anything that has a solid roof, and don't lock anything where the top can be cut and/or has no top. The wife will use the remote to lock and arm her MSM even with the top down, haven't figured out why.

I don't always lock either of my Hondas, mostly because there's nothing of value in either, and if they're stolen the thief would probably be doing me a favor.

I have left my key in my bike many times, but it's pretty damn hard to start when not cold, so I am not too worried.

I have never locked up my helmet. It would really suck if someone took it, but who wants a sweaty old (extra large!) helmet?!

Not as crazy, but I had a '97 GMC Jimmy I was putting an engine in, and I had the dash apart for some reason to repair something, 4x4 switch, I think... anyways, I had taken the factory Delco radio screws out to remove it, but then set it back in the hole.

I wrapped up for the night and left the truck in the driveway unlocked. It didn't strike me until a week or so later when I went to reassemble everything and button the dash up that the radio was gone.

Who the berkeley steals a 15 year old factory Delco radio?

I wasn't even mad. Slightly irritated, but more intrigued and befuddled than mad.

I live in a nice suburban neighborhood. Recently we had a rash of somebody going through the cars parked in the driveways. They'd try the doors and if they were unlocked they'd steal anything they could find. If the car was locked, they'd move on because there were plenty of unlocked vehicles to choose from.

So, you folks that leave your cars unlocked, please keep it up!

As for stealing cheap radios-- these crackheads aren't out busting windows to steal stuff because they are rocket surgeons down on their luck.

We woke up one Christmas morning with a guy sleeping in one of our cars. Guy who had gotten in a fight with family somehow got drunk and passed out in my brothers unlocked buick while trying to walk home. When my brother woke him up (he was carrying but not visible) by knocking on the door, it reminded me of that scene from "out cold". Guy jumps up, grabs the wheel, and just starts like he was driving away, then was very confused. Had the local police drive him home from that one.

I've got weird off street parking in a busy part of the city. Park the miata with the top down all the time if its nice. Came out once to girl sitting in it just talking on the phone like no big deal.

Dude, you are that close to Millhoods, lock the bloody doors. My wifes friend chased a guy from the Keg through the Ikea parking lot there as he broke a window to take her Ipad....in the middle of the day. The cops caught him in the Walmart parking lot about an hour later and luckily she got her Ipad back.

I caught a guy last year in the act of stealing the valve caps off my Mazda2 in a hospital parking lot. I yelled for him to stop, he took off running and I almost started to chase him before thinking better of it. After a brief inspection, the only thing I could find missing were the two caps.

I can assure you that the crappy stock Mazda caps aren't worth stealing, the generic black ones they sell at any auto parts store appear to be much better made.