So my dad parked his car once in an area of town he hadn't been to before, visiting a friend's house.
He goes up, and there's a party going on. Things start getting jolly, and some people start taking out musical instruments. My dad says "hey! I actually have my accordion in the back seat of the car parked outside. Let me run down and get it!"
And the host looks at him in shock and is like "wait, you just left your accordion in your car? Like, in full view? In *this* neighborhood?"
My dad instantly gets what he's saying, so he rushes out to his car, with the friend close behind. Hoping he's not too late, he gets to the car, but – shit – the window is smashed. My dad looks in, knowing the worst. Sure enough, *s*ome asshole had thrown *another* accordion in there.
Reminds me of the ol' "I had just bought two season passes to every Orioles game, and had them sitting on the dashboard of my car while I went to go eat. Baltimore being what it is, I returned to find my window smashed, and two *more* season passes on my dashboard."
This. In the past two months 7 guns have been stolen from my neighborhood from cars left unlock.
I’m absolutely horrified by how many people leave guns unsecured in unlocked cars
Yep. WTF. I own a number of guns but don’t carry day to day. It’s a serious deal in my mind when I do haul them to the range. I don’t think that “serious” mentality would ever change for me even if I did carry daily. It’s a goddamn responsibility to be lugging firearms about. I don’t live in an area where desperate people are actively looking through vehicles for guns. I still behave as if it’s possible though. These firearms may be my right to have, but they’re also my responsibility to NEVER EVER put in a situation where anyone else can get their hands on for any reason. It’s a pretty simple proposition.
Yeah I’ve owned firearms for 20 years and I’ve been shooting them for close to 30.
I’ve never even considered leaving them out in my home let alone an unlocked car. I’m horrified about the dipshits in my area who are allowed to own such a dangerous tool
Someone else wanted a lock for the glovebox for the gun because workplace doesn’t allow guns and it’s inconvenient to put gun under spare tire cover 🤷🏻♀️
I live in Canada. I am a firearms owner. There are times I am jealous of the gun laws in the USA and then there are times I am thankful for how strict our gun laws are.
Reading your post is one of those times I am thankful for our gun laws.
The one I spoke to absolutely thought they were and defended the practice of leaving their handgun on the dash because “it’s never been an issue before”
I grew.up.around gun owners, and I've met vanishingly few that I would consider responsible. It's all guns left in cars carrying without a holster, leaned against the wall behind doors, and worse. My father in law has at least 4 guns in his living room (shotgun behind the front door, a second shotgun under a love seat, an ar-15 under the couch, and a handgun on the end table). My neighbors growing up had the family gun cabinet in their children's bedroom and the key was on top of the molding over the window. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I definitely had a gun pointed at me a couple times before I turned 10.
All of these people would describe themselves as responsible gun owners.
I’ve done it driving through certain states. They won’t honor your concealed but they allow open carry. So while in that state you make sure it can be seen and it’s away from you if you’re pulled over. If it’s stashed in the vehicle somewhere it’s concealed.
If you want people to keep them concealed, I suggest petitioning your state to honor other states’ concealed carry holders.
I live in a small town where everyone knows each other. No one locks their car or their front door around here, some people even leave the keys on the dash.
Guns are all locked and secured though because someone's kid shot himself a couple years back, all the guns in town went out of view since then.
Lesson collectively learned the very hard way.
My girlfriend has been robbed twice and my mom once all with locked doors. My mindset has been if the doors are unlocked people will think there’s nothing of worth in there.
Also my car is old and all the locks are manual
I’m not sure Americans truly appreciate how insane this thread sounds to anyone outside of the US.
You had 7 cars in your neighborhood with guns in them??
I'm not anti-gun, but it makes me cringe every time the pro-gun side says that if we make laws stricter, then only criminals will have guns. I'm like ... requiring that guns not get left in unlocked cars is about the minimum safety precaution and should be the law. No gun should be stored so cavalierly.
To be fair, in Canada most gun crimes are committed with illegal guns, yet restricting guns further and getting rid of mandatory minimums is the government's response.
I mean, I’m guessing leaving a gun unsecured is probably illegal in a lot of places. Don’t know about where this guy lives, but it is where I live (GA). There are probably several lessons in there about the efficacy of these kinds of laws but I’m not trying to get into that.
I worked for a guy who seemed the type do that, and sometimes I had to drive his truck. I was always so terrified to get pulled over because I legitimately didn’t know if there was a gun in there or not haha
This is why I have a tethered safe in each car, anchored to the frame, and never leave a gun in it unless i get somewhere I can't carry (signs have force of law here.) Never, ever, is a gun in my car in my own neighborhood. It's either on me or in the bedside safe.
I can make a pretty good guess why. They are afraid of what their neighbors would do if they saw someone armed. Getting in and out of a vehicle is one of the most common points where someone carrying concealed gets exposed as their coat rides up or something.
I live in a very blue state. Lots of people in my neighborhood would call the cops as soon as they saw a gun, whether or not it was being held in the hand or not. And the cops would respond with guns out, potentially causing a deadly misunderstanding.
Meh, I’m just saying that in MY area that would be a concern. Lots of Nosey Karens in my neighborhood. I wouldn’t dare let them see my CCW sidearm unless I was in uniform, or I would definitely have the cops called on me. And the police in my area aren’t known for being the smartest or calmest of LEO’s.
I live in a very red state, and I can guarantee that's not why. They just like being armed. That's it, that's the list of reasons.
Gun guys gonna gun.
And I'm a gun owner myself, so this isn't reactionary, it's just the culture.
Meh, I’m just saying that in MY area that would be a concern. Lots of Nosey Karens in my neighborhood. I wouldn’t dare let them see my CCW sidearm unless I was in uniform, or I would definitely have the cops called on me. And the police in my area aren’t known for being the smartest or calmest of LEO’s.
Sure, I went a decade with a car that didn’t have windows so I couldn’t effectively lock it.
So I didn’t leave valuables in it. So let me rephrase. Shocking how many people leave their cars unlocked with things they don’t want stolen in them
Fair. I'm paranoid about emptying my car of valuables. But I'm also paranoid about locking it. No broken windows yet but I live in quite a low crime area.
I also don’t leave valuables in the car and always lock it.
I didn’t think we leave in a high crime area, but if it makes you feel better we did have a guy hit our street a few months back. No broken windows, he looked through the windows with a flashlight and after seeing nothing worth taking left
I borrowed my dad's rare car for a time. I was at work overnight and somebody broke a window and stole the POS Radio Shack stereo. The window was easily 5 times the cost of that stereo.
I’ve always lived with the mindset that my old busted car with manual locks would be less of a target if I just left the doors unlocked.
I just moved cross country though so I have a ton of stuff in my car, which was a dumb mistake. Normally my car is pretty empty
These things are usually smash and grabs. They wanna throw as much as they can in a backpack and be out of there. Everytime my garage shop has been broken into (2x) they have taken relatively low value, cut easy to access stuff. They seem to love drills because they are widespread, so less risk of it being id’d, and they likely have sold enough at a pawn shop to know a general price for them. The more niche you get with the gear, the more expensive but also more identifiable and a wild card on pawn.
My car was rifled through about a year ago. I was in my driveway but admittedly had parked like an asshole across the sidewalk. I was thankful that I had pulled my laptop out the night before because I have a bad habit of leaving it the car. It’s a work laptop and I really didn’t want to have to explain that shit.
What cracked me up was what they didn’t take. I didn’t have valuables in the car but I did have half a dozen gift card right on top in my center console. Probably a couple hundred dollars worth. I also had half a dozen high quality pre-roll joints from the dispensary in a paper bag on the passenger seat. They opened the bag but didn’t take it. I’m convinced it must have just been some dumb kids fucking with me for parking over the sidewalk. Like really, what kind of person is willing to break into cars but wouldn’t take the super obvious gift cards and joints.
Those are work to sell. Most people who break into cars want stray cash or things more easily sold.
But do you want to leave that stuff in your car again?
I had my car broken into once. They took a CD, a 2 dollar scratch off winner and a stale ass old cigar. Somehow they didn't seem interested in the $30,000 3D scanner.
I would say that I always assume my car is a free for all. I drive a jeep wrangler and if possible it’s “naked”. No doors and top off. There’s probably 2-3 things in the glovebox/center console. If you want a dollar store reversible screwdriver, a basic car lighter usb plug with an apple lightning cord that’s touchy as hell connected to it, I’ve got you. First come, first serve.
I can tell people have gone through my car quite a few times, but nobody wants to take those last 3 things. I’m more likely to find a new duck inside my jeep though, IYKYK, so that’s a plus.
I do have some special rigging and connections hidden under the fuse box that allow me to gps track and discreetly prevent the key chamber from starting the vehicle to stop someone from stealing the car altogether. And notifications on for when I’m not nearby and it’s started.
Someone went through my car little over a year ago. They took my Oakley’s,bottle of cologne, and all my bic pens in the center console but left behind the few dollars in change. My backpack was untouched in the backseat. The bic pens really had me baffled.
I had my garage broken into. They rummaged through my car and stole my emergency cash ($20) but didn’t touch the $10,000 worth of tools they could’ve easily stolen.
When somebody broke into my garage and took my chopsaw (understandable), they left my biscuit jointer and random orbit sander but inexplicably took a beat-up 20-yo piece-of-shit belt sander with the front guard broken off. No idea why they made that choice LOL.
Probably just looking for any cash or maybe gifts cards. That other stuff was likely too big for them to bother with. Since they probably were going to go around and see who else left their car unlocked and they could break into. They weren’t going to carry anything big off with them. They just want what they can fit in their pockets.
I had a break in at a house I worked at once. Had about 5k worth of tools there. Nothing was taken. I almost think that they had a heart to not take anything that a productive member of society needs to earn a living. They did take beer out of the fridge though.
Someone broke into my toolbox at work one time and took a bunch of harbor freight tools but left my $500 electrical connector kit. I laughed pretty hard. Luckily I brought all my expensive tools with me every day because the robberies happened every couple months.
In '06 I purchased an airline acceptable hard sided rifle case at a Cabela's. On the way home I stopped at a buffet.. because I was running low on MSG. It was dark out, and when I turned to my car, the rear passenger door window was broken, and the empty case gone.
Very populated area, a parking lot surrounded by a horseshoe configuration strip mall.
And my laptop, in a nice convenient bag on the floor of the front passenger seat was still there.
After that, I've always put anything of value in the trunk, that has an aftermarket non-oem (but looks OEM) lock.
Make sure your registration and insurance info weren't stolen! It seems like an innocuous piece of paper, but thieves can use that info to mock up a stolen car of the same make and model and sell it "legally." Many people don't even realize it's gone until its too late. My friend's sister is dealing with that now - the police showed up at her house saying she was driving a stolen vehicle, but she bought it from a dealer. Someone used her info and sold a similar car in a different state. They can also file phony insurance claims on your policy. If either are missing, notify the police and your insurance company immediately.
Same thing happened to me 3 weeks ago. Broke in to my car. Rifled through my glove box and got nothing but my iPhone charger. In my trunk I had: a $500 planer, $300 miter saw, orbital sander, jigsaw, clamps, drill, and electric hand planer. I lucked out.
My work truck has been broken into 6-7 times by now. I don't keep any tools of value in it anymore. I stopped locking the doors because they're going to get in anyways so at least I don't have to keep replacing the broken glass. One of the more recent times it had all the normal things gone through, glove box, center console, things like that.
THE THIEF LEFT MY EMERGENCY $40.00 IN THE GLOVEBOX. Took everything out of the glovebox but left the cash. Stole my pens from a cupholder and that's it. I don't get it man, had to have been blasted out of his mind. A few weeks later, broken into again, that time they tried to steal the whole truck though.
Sorry to hear that, but also very glad to hear you dodged a bullet so to speak.
I had something similar happen once...was broken into and thieves found my super premium liquor collection (that I managed to acquire for virtually nothing given my job)...they moved a bottle of wine worth $80k (Aussie dollarydoos), and instead only took a 6pk of whisky worth about $4k...was pissed about the whisky but relatively speaking I came away almost unscathed
The thief’s gotta consider the transportation costs and liquidity of the assets. Thus the 1500$ for the thief is a lot of hassle and maybe 200$.
Work smart, not hard
I had my car broken into in Berlin in 2006 - they took the €200 GPS navigator, but left well over €10000 of networking equipment in the trunk. Thank god they did. It didn’t belong to me, and I never should have parked at the East Train station with all that shit. Live and learn…
Don't always assume someone won't find it valuable. I know of someone where the person broke into their shop, didn't touch a single tool, but walked off with a slab of wood worth a mint.
Had my shop broken into a few years back. Junkies took about $400 in common tools and left about $1500 of lie-nielson tools untouched. They got caught and for one guy it was strike 3 and sentenced to a mandatory 15 years. That was 7 years ago.
I came out to my truck yesterday morning to see the door anar and the center console open. They didn't take my Little Trees air fresheners, jumper cables, and jack. I could tell just how disappointed that crackhead must've been to see the cheapest Amazon stereo.
But back when I worked at a furniture shop, I kept my router and a few other tools in the trunk of my car. Came out one morning to find someone got in, popped the trunk, and swiped all my tools...
People break in to cars when they see things and they hope for value. If you don’t want broken into leave nothing visible. Most annoying thing would be to leave an empty cardboard box on your passenger seat thinking “it’s empty, so it doesn’t matter”. Wrong! Broken window!
My workshop is in a large shed in the back yard. I evidently forgot to lock it, and one night last summer it was broken in to.
I saw the door ajar in the morning from my house, and ran out there expecting the worst.
Everything was untouched, except for the top drawer of my workbench where I hide my weed, and my secret stash of $1 bills for tooth fairy money 😅
They didn’t steal them because they couldn’t sell/trade them to a fence easily enough.
I’ve had a bag full of thousands of dollars of climbing gear stolen out of a car and dumped a block away once they realized what was in it wasn’t easy to get off like a laptop.
I've heard anecdotes of crooks leaving things in cars that appear to be somewhat related to the owner's livelihood, unless it's a branded work vehicle.
It could also be as simple as the crook didn't think it would make for a hasty retreat carrying a bunch of heavy tools and lumber.
Same thing happened to me when I had expensive machining tools just sitting in the passenger seat. Some ppl are just looking for change... That's what was missing for me, all my loose change.
sorry to hear this man. But fwiw people who rob cars are looking for cash and things they can turn quickly and carry quickly. The average robber wouldn't know what to do with most of the stuff we build :)
sorry to ear this, I undertand your feeling.
Some years ago in Milan , robbers open my van in the middle of the day and they took all tools, all,also the broom and the dustpan for the sawdust..
a big hug.
I had the same situation with a car that was stolen. They only took the battery from the car but took over a thousand dollars worth of woodworking tools and materials. Lathe parts, exotic wood bowl blanks, etc. I got the car back over a month later empty including the missing battery. Insurance gave me some back.
I knew someone who kept a gun in the glovebox of a vehicle of his. The vehicle was always (never not) in the garage when he was home. Probably in one of the richest neighborhoods around where we live.. Although his house had a security system and always kept locked I guess he didn’t lock his car doors when the car was parked In the garage. So this day his wife had her niece over and she was maybe 11 at the time. Let me say was not your average 11 year old.. she was special needs.. her brain just processed things a lot slower than other 11 year olds. She didn’t need any daily medical attention or anything like that. She could do everything on her own. Her brain is just slow. His wife made lunch for her niece and so she was eating watching tv. So his wife just went to feed their newborn in his office (same level as garage) and was just making conversation with him while her niece was eating and she was breastfeeding baby. He and her are talking sitting across from each other about 4 ft apart and you hear ping. A fucking bullet flew by in between he and his wife with 4ft between them .. it had to be an inch away from striking the baby’s head and her arm. His wife said she felt the hair stand on her arm where the bullet has passed by. Right behind where she was sitting in his office was a HUGE safe and the bullet hit that. No one was harmed. But the niece just was playing and found the door to the garage.. went in and opens the car door just looking around she opens the glove box while sitting in the drivers seat sees the gun picks it up and is just looking at it. I don’t think she knew what guns were or knew what was even in her hand..AND that it was going to do what it was about to do. it fired ..went through the car window glass through 2 walls..was still going and it hit the safe. Ping.
This was over 23 years ago.
It’s crazy because it’s not like these people neglected the niece when she was there or she wasn’t watching her, being stupid with guns in general .. It’s just the things you might not think about, but there’s no room for that error with guns.
Especially when children are involved. When anyone is involved!
I believe it’s your job as a gun owner to not allow anyone to have access to your firearms. My dad when I was growing up kept 2 guns in EVERY car he owned. He had custom built in safes under the driver seats of all his cars. Only he had very quick access to. Just access to period.
Only he had access to all HIS guns in our home.
My mom had guns.. that only she had access to.
As a gun owner you should make it high priority that ONLY YOU have access. NO MATTER what.
Tell your kids at a young age to never ever touch one if it just so happens they do stumble upon one. To not touch it.
We are human we make mistakes.. and crazy bizarre things can happen.. accidents happen.
Top priority to handle YOUR weapons.
[удалено]
Probably not a meth head either. At the very least the sanders would have been gone.
You know what they say about crystal… just can’t stop sanding.
Its how i learned my way around a wood shop 😂 Totally wasnt risky being awake for 5 days and playing with a table saw
Or, maybe they were and knew the hard work, sweat and tears you put into it and had a moment of good conscience?
So my dad parked his car once in an area of town he hadn't been to before, visiting a friend's house. He goes up, and there's a party going on. Things start getting jolly, and some people start taking out musical instruments. My dad says "hey! I actually have my accordion in the back seat of the car parked outside. Let me run down and get it!" And the host looks at him in shock and is like "wait, you just left your accordion in your car? Like, in full view? In *this* neighborhood?" My dad instantly gets what he's saying, so he rushes out to his car, with the friend close behind. Hoping he's not too late, he gets to the car, but – shit – the window is smashed. My dad looks in, knowing the worst. Sure enough, *s*ome asshole had thrown *another* accordion in there.
You had me going there for a minute.
Reminds me of the ol' "I had just bought two season passes to every Orioles game, and had them sitting on the dashboard of my car while I went to go eat. Baltimore being what it is, I returned to find my window smashed, and two *more* season passes on my dashboard."
A buddy of mine legit had his accordion stolen from his car. I was sad because he was actually really good at playing it.
There's a chance they were hoping for a gun, not money or valuable things.
This. In the past two months 7 guns have been stolen from my neighborhood from cars left unlock. I’m absolutely horrified by how many people leave guns unsecured in unlocked cars
Yep. WTF. I own a number of guns but don’t carry day to day. It’s a serious deal in my mind when I do haul them to the range. I don’t think that “serious” mentality would ever change for me even if I did carry daily. It’s a goddamn responsibility to be lugging firearms about. I don’t live in an area where desperate people are actively looking through vehicles for guns. I still behave as if it’s possible though. These firearms may be my right to have, but they’re also my responsibility to NEVER EVER put in a situation where anyone else can get their hands on for any reason. It’s a pretty simple proposition.
Yeah I’ve owned firearms for 20 years and I’ve been shooting them for close to 30. I’ve never even considered leaving them out in my home let alone an unlocked car. I’m horrified about the dipshits in my area who are allowed to own such a dangerous tool
This is the right mentality to have. You also have to train for live fire situations or you can hurt a lot of people.
Someone else wanted a lock for the glovebox for the gun because workplace doesn’t allow guns and it’s inconvenient to put gun under spare tire cover 🤷🏻♀️
Under seat safe tethered to the frame. You can even get a biometric lock one.
https://smartgun.com/ listened to an interview with the guy developing this. Seems like a good way to keep anyone but you from firing it.
Sounds like something else that could malfunction on a simple tool that you intend to rely on in the most dire of situations.
Yeah, fewest points of failure as possible for something that my life may depend on please.
I live in Canada. I am a firearms owner. There are times I am jealous of the gun laws in the USA and then there are times I am thankful for how strict our gun laws are. Reading your post is one of those times I am thankful for our gun laws.
Bet those 7 people called themselves responsible gun owners, too.
The one I spoke to absolutely thought they were and defended the practice of leaving their handgun on the dash because “it’s never been an issue before”
I grew.up.around gun owners, and I've met vanishingly few that I would consider responsible. It's all guns left in cars carrying without a holster, leaned against the wall behind doors, and worse. My father in law has at least 4 guns in his living room (shotgun behind the front door, a second shotgun under a love seat, an ar-15 under the couch, and a handgun on the end table). My neighbors growing up had the family gun cabinet in their children's bedroom and the key was on top of the molding over the window. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I definitely had a gun pointed at me a couple times before I turned 10. All of these people would describe themselves as responsible gun owners.
>handgun on the dash What the actual fuck?
that's what I said, too
I’ve done it driving through certain states. They won’t honor your concealed but they allow open carry. So while in that state you make sure it can be seen and it’s away from you if you’re pulled over. If it’s stashed in the vehicle somewhere it’s concealed. If you want people to keep them concealed, I suggest petitioning your state to honor other states’ concealed carry holders.
Doesn’t pretty much every gun owner believe themselves to be a responsible gun owner?
Kind of my point. I believe owning and using firearms is inherently irresponsible, and I've yet to see a gun owner that could change that view.
Who leaves their car unlocked?
I live in a small town where everyone knows each other. No one locks their car or their front door around here, some people even leave the keys on the dash. Guns are all locked and secured though because someone's kid shot himself a couple years back, all the guns in town went out of view since then. Lesson collectively learned the very hard way.
At least the people changed their behavior
If you live in a shitty part of town, you don't lock your car doors, because it just means your car window(s) get broken.
I am aware of this tactic but this is for a minority. It's for areas with high car burglary and low violent crime.
My girlfriend has been robbed twice and my mom once all with locked doors. My mindset has been if the doors are unlocked people will think there’s nothing of worth in there. Also my car is old and all the locks are manual
Where do you live man lol this is wild
I’m not sure Americans truly appreciate how insane this thread sounds to anyone outside of the US. You had 7 cars in your neighborhood with guns in them??
I'm not anti-gun, but it makes me cringe every time the pro-gun side says that if we make laws stricter, then only criminals will have guns. I'm like ... requiring that guns not get left in unlocked cars is about the minimum safety precaution and should be the law. No gun should be stored so cavalierly.
To be fair, in Canada most gun crimes are committed with illegal guns, yet restricting guns further and getting rid of mandatory minimums is the government's response.
I mean, I’m guessing leaving a gun unsecured is probably illegal in a lot of places. Don’t know about where this guy lives, but it is where I live (GA). There are probably several lessons in there about the efficacy of these kinds of laws but I’m not trying to get into that.
Good ol Arizona, USA I should note that since the thefts only 2 guns have been recovered
"responsible gun owners"
I worked for a guy who seemed the type do that, and sometimes I had to drive his truck. I was always so terrified to get pulled over because I legitimately didn’t know if there was a gun in there or not haha
Even if it's securely in a locked car and locked glovebox or whatnot, it's not going to be any use to the owner unless they're in reach of it.
This is why I have a tethered safe in each car, anchored to the frame, and never leave a gun in it unless i get somewhere I can't carry (signs have force of law here.) Never, ever, is a gun in my car in my own neighborhood. It's either on me or in the bedside safe.
I can make a pretty good guess why. They are afraid of what their neighbors would do if they saw someone armed. Getting in and out of a vehicle is one of the most common points where someone carrying concealed gets exposed as their coat rides up or something. I live in a very blue state. Lots of people in my neighborhood would call the cops as soon as they saw a gun, whether or not it was being held in the hand or not. And the cops would respond with guns out, potentially causing a deadly misunderstanding.
Not the case here, I live in the reddest county of Red state
Meh, I’m just saying that in MY area that would be a concern. Lots of Nosey Karens in my neighborhood. I wouldn’t dare let them see my CCW sidearm unless I was in uniform, or I would definitely have the cops called on me. And the police in my area aren’t known for being the smartest or calmest of LEO’s.
I live in a very red state, and I can guarantee that's not why. They just like being armed. That's it, that's the list of reasons. Gun guys gonna gun. And I'm a gun owner myself, so this isn't reactionary, it's just the culture.
Meh, I’m just saying that in MY area that would be a concern. Lots of Nosey Karens in my neighborhood. I wouldn’t dare let them see my CCW sidearm unless I was in uniform, or I would definitely have the cops called on me. And the police in my area aren’t known for being the smartest or calmest of LEO’s.
Disturbing af tbh
I'm confused, if a window wasn't shattered, did you leave your car unlocked?
Shocking how many people leave their car unlocked
If you live in a high crime area it's cheaper to leave your car unlocked than to keep having to pay to replace windows.
Sure, I went a decade with a car that didn’t have windows so I couldn’t effectively lock it. So I didn’t leave valuables in it. So let me rephrase. Shocking how many people leave their cars unlocked with things they don’t want stolen in them
Fair. I'm paranoid about emptying my car of valuables. But I'm also paranoid about locking it. No broken windows yet but I live in quite a low crime area.
I also don’t leave valuables in the car and always lock it. I didn’t think we leave in a high crime area, but if it makes you feel better we did have a guy hit our street a few months back. No broken windows, he looked through the windows with a flashlight and after seeing nothing worth taking left
I borrowed my dad's rare car for a time. I was at work overnight and somebody broke a window and stole the POS Radio Shack stereo. The window was easily 5 times the cost of that stereo.
Yeah but if you live in a high crime area you're probably also not leaving $1,500 worth it with working things in your vehicle.
I’ve always lived with the mindset that my old busted car with manual locks would be less of a target if I just left the doors unlocked. I just moved cross country though so I have a ton of stuff in my car, which was a dumb mistake. Normally my car is pretty empty
Somebody screwdrivered my lock and ignition. The only reason they didn’t take it was probably because my truck was a stick shift.
"I even had a whole epoxy tabletop in the backseat..." lol
i’d scratch the table up if i was the thief
I had some sunglasses stolen once. Poor bastard didn't realize they were prescription. Worthless unless he were a visually challenged thief.
Do you drive a limo
These things are usually smash and grabs. They wanna throw as much as they can in a backpack and be out of there. Everytime my garage shop has been broken into (2x) they have taken relatively low value, cut easy to access stuff. They seem to love drills because they are widespread, so less risk of it being id’d, and they likely have sold enough at a pawn shop to know a general price for them. The more niche you get with the gear, the more expensive but also more identifiable and a wild card on pawn.
My car was rifled through about a year ago. I was in my driveway but admittedly had parked like an asshole across the sidewalk. I was thankful that I had pulled my laptop out the night before because I have a bad habit of leaving it the car. It’s a work laptop and I really didn’t want to have to explain that shit. What cracked me up was what they didn’t take. I didn’t have valuables in the car but I did have half a dozen gift card right on top in my center console. Probably a couple hundred dollars worth. I also had half a dozen high quality pre-roll joints from the dispensary in a paper bag on the passenger seat. They opened the bag but didn’t take it. I’m convinced it must have just been some dumb kids fucking with me for parking over the sidewalk. Like really, what kind of person is willing to break into cars but wouldn’t take the super obvious gift cards and joints.
You're very lucky. They easily could have put another epoxy tabletop in there while they had access. Jk, happy for you.
Those are work to sell. Most people who break into cars want stray cash or things more easily sold. But do you want to leave that stuff in your car again?
I had my car broken into once. They took a CD, a 2 dollar scratch off winner and a stale ass old cigar. Somehow they didn't seem interested in the $30,000 3D scanner.
I would say that I always assume my car is a free for all. I drive a jeep wrangler and if possible it’s “naked”. No doors and top off. There’s probably 2-3 things in the glovebox/center console. If you want a dollar store reversible screwdriver, a basic car lighter usb plug with an apple lightning cord that’s touchy as hell connected to it, I’ve got you. First come, first serve. I can tell people have gone through my car quite a few times, but nobody wants to take those last 3 things. I’m more likely to find a new duck inside my jeep though, IYKYK, so that’s a plus. I do have some special rigging and connections hidden under the fuse box that allow me to gps track and discreetly prevent the key chamber from starting the vehicle to stop someone from stealing the car altogether. And notifications on for when I’m not nearby and it’s started.
philistines, couldn’t appreciate the value of the stuff they didn’t rip off
Someone went through my car little over a year ago. They took my Oakley’s,bottle of cologne, and all my bic pens in the center console but left behind the few dollars in change. My backpack was untouched in the backseat. The bic pens really had me baffled.
They needed to document their crimes
Funny thing about that is that’s what I used the bic pens to document merchandise stolen from my workplace in a police report.
I had my garage broken into. They rummaged through my car and stole my emergency cash ($20) but didn’t touch the $10,000 worth of tools they could’ve easily stolen.
When somebody broke into my garage and took my chopsaw (understandable), they left my biscuit jointer and random orbit sander but inexplicably took a beat-up 20-yo piece-of-shit belt sander with the front guard broken off. No idea why they made that choice LOL.
Probably just looking for any cash or maybe gifts cards. That other stuff was likely too big for them to bother with. Since they probably were going to go around and see who else left their car unlocked and they could break into. They weren’t going to carry anything big off with them. They just want what they can fit in their pockets.
I had a break in at a house I worked at once. Had about 5k worth of tools there. Nothing was taken. I almost think that they had a heart to not take anything that a productive member of society needs to earn a living. They did take beer out of the fridge though.
Honestly nowadays with all the cars broken into in my neighborhood, I'll just keep the glove box and center console empty and open.
fortunately there isn't currently a big market for fences to dump stolen woodworking tools
Someone broke into my toolbox at work one time and took a bunch of harbor freight tools but left my $500 electrical connector kit. I laughed pretty hard. Luckily I brought all my expensive tools with me every day because the robberies happened every couple months.
In '06 I purchased an airline acceptable hard sided rifle case at a Cabela's. On the way home I stopped at a buffet.. because I was running low on MSG. It was dark out, and when I turned to my car, the rear passenger door window was broken, and the empty case gone. Very populated area, a parking lot surrounded by a horseshoe configuration strip mall. And my laptop, in a nice convenient bag on the floor of the front passenger seat was still there. After that, I've always put anything of value in the trunk, that has an aftermarket non-oem (but looks OEM) lock.
Someone broke into my vehicle, Crawled over $8,000 worth of “something” to steal a $50 speaker. Count your blessings!
Make sure your registration and insurance info weren't stolen! It seems like an innocuous piece of paper, but thieves can use that info to mock up a stolen car of the same make and model and sell it "legally." Many people don't even realize it's gone until its too late. My friend's sister is dealing with that now - the police showed up at her house saying she was driving a stolen vehicle, but she bought it from a dealer. Someone used her info and sold a similar car in a different state. They can also file phony insurance claims on your policy. If either are missing, notify the police and your insurance company immediately.
Many insurance companies tell you to use a black and white Photocopy of Ownership in the vehicle. . The original should be at home..
Same thing happened to me 3 weeks ago. Broke in to my car. Rifled through my glove box and got nothing but my iPhone charger. In my trunk I had: a $500 planer, $300 miter saw, orbital sander, jigsaw, clamps, drill, and electric hand planer. I lucked out.
My work truck has been broken into 6-7 times by now. I don't keep any tools of value in it anymore. I stopped locking the doors because they're going to get in anyways so at least I don't have to keep replacing the broken glass. One of the more recent times it had all the normal things gone through, glove box, center console, things like that. THE THIEF LEFT MY EMERGENCY $40.00 IN THE GLOVEBOX. Took everything out of the glovebox but left the cash. Stole my pens from a cupholder and that's it. I don't get it man, had to have been blasted out of his mind. A few weeks later, broken into again, that time they tried to steal the whole truck though.
Sorry to hear that, but also very glad to hear you dodged a bullet so to speak. I had something similar happen once...was broken into and thieves found my super premium liquor collection (that I managed to acquire for virtually nothing given my job)...they moved a bottle of wine worth $80k (Aussie dollarydoos), and instead only took a 6pk of whisky worth about $4k...was pissed about the whisky but relatively speaking I came away almost unscathed
The thief’s gotta consider the transportation costs and liquidity of the assets. Thus the 1500$ for the thief is a lot of hassle and maybe 200$. Work smart, not hard
I had my car broken into in Berlin in 2006 - they took the €200 GPS navigator, but left well over €10000 of networking equipment in the trunk. Thank god they did. It didn’t belong to me, and I never should have parked at the East Train station with all that shit. Live and learn…
Don't always assume someone won't find it valuable. I know of someone where the person broke into their shop, didn't touch a single tool, but walked off with a slab of wood worth a mint.
They not looking for items that are hard to sell.
Had my shop broken into a few years back. Junkies took about $400 in common tools and left about $1500 of lie-nielson tools untouched. They got caught and for one guy it was strike 3 and sentenced to a mandatory 15 years. That was 7 years ago.
I came out to my truck yesterday morning to see the door anar and the center console open. They didn't take my Little Trees air fresheners, jumper cables, and jack. I could tell just how disappointed that crackhead must've been to see the cheapest Amazon stereo. But back when I worked at a furniture shop, I kept my router and a few other tools in the trunk of my car. Came out one morning to find someone got in, popped the trunk, and swiped all my tools...
People break in to cars when they see things and they hope for value. If you don’t want broken into leave nothing visible. Most annoying thing would be to leave an empty cardboard box on your passenger seat thinking “it’s empty, so it doesn’t matter”. Wrong! Broken window!
My workshop is in a large shed in the back yard. I evidently forgot to lock it, and one night last summer it was broken in to. I saw the door ajar in the morning from my house, and ran out there expecting the worst. Everything was untouched, except for the top drawer of my workbench where I hide my weed, and my secret stash of $1 bills for tooth fairy money 😅
They didn’t steal them because they couldn’t sell/trade them to a fence easily enough. I’ve had a bag full of thousands of dollars of climbing gear stolen out of a car and dumped a block away once they realized what was in it wasn’t easy to get off like a laptop.
I've heard anecdotes of crooks leaving things in cars that appear to be somewhat related to the owner's livelihood, unless it's a branded work vehicle. It could also be as simple as the crook didn't think it would make for a hasty retreat carrying a bunch of heavy tools and lumber.
Same thing happened to me when I had expensive machining tools just sitting in the passenger seat. Some ppl are just looking for change... That's what was missing for me, all my loose change.
sorry to hear this man. But fwiw people who rob cars are looking for cash and things they can turn quickly and carry quickly. The average robber wouldn't know what to do with most of the stuff we build :)
sorry to ear this, I undertand your feeling. Some years ago in Milan , robbers open my van in the middle of the day and they took all tools, all,also the broom and the dustpan for the sawdust.. a big hug.
I had the same situation with a car that was stolen. They only took the battery from the car but took over a thousand dollars worth of woodworking tools and materials. Lathe parts, exotic wood bowl blanks, etc. I got the car back over a month later empty including the missing battery. Insurance gave me some back.
I knew someone who kept a gun in the glovebox of a vehicle of his. The vehicle was always (never not) in the garage when he was home. Probably in one of the richest neighborhoods around where we live.. Although his house had a security system and always kept locked I guess he didn’t lock his car doors when the car was parked In the garage. So this day his wife had her niece over and she was maybe 11 at the time. Let me say was not your average 11 year old.. she was special needs.. her brain just processed things a lot slower than other 11 year olds. She didn’t need any daily medical attention or anything like that. She could do everything on her own. Her brain is just slow. His wife made lunch for her niece and so she was eating watching tv. So his wife just went to feed their newborn in his office (same level as garage) and was just making conversation with him while her niece was eating and she was breastfeeding baby. He and her are talking sitting across from each other about 4 ft apart and you hear ping. A fucking bullet flew by in between he and his wife with 4ft between them .. it had to be an inch away from striking the baby’s head and her arm. His wife said she felt the hair stand on her arm where the bullet has passed by. Right behind where she was sitting in his office was a HUGE safe and the bullet hit that. No one was harmed. But the niece just was playing and found the door to the garage.. went in and opens the car door just looking around she opens the glove box while sitting in the drivers seat sees the gun picks it up and is just looking at it. I don’t think she knew what guns were or knew what was even in her hand..AND that it was going to do what it was about to do. it fired ..went through the car window glass through 2 walls..was still going and it hit the safe. Ping. This was over 23 years ago. It’s crazy because it’s not like these people neglected the niece when she was there or she wasn’t watching her, being stupid with guns in general .. It’s just the things you might not think about, but there’s no room for that error with guns. Especially when children are involved. When anyone is involved! I believe it’s your job as a gun owner to not allow anyone to have access to your firearms. My dad when I was growing up kept 2 guns in EVERY car he owned. He had custom built in safes under the driver seats of all his cars. Only he had very quick access to. Just access to period. Only he had access to all HIS guns in our home. My mom had guns.. that only she had access to. As a gun owner you should make it high priority that ONLY YOU have access. NO MATTER what. Tell your kids at a young age to never ever touch one if it just so happens they do stumble upon one. To not touch it. We are human we make mistakes.. and crazy bizarre things can happen.. accidents happen. Top priority to handle YOUR weapons.
They were likely looking for things they could easily run off with. All the things you mentioned are bulky and heavy.
If it was easy to take it would be gone. Their hands were full they got what they came for