I had a convertible Miata in San Francisco. When I locked it, people slashed the roof (nothing worth stealing). When I left it unlocked they smoked drugs in it (drug baggies) and had sex in it (condom wrappers - how do you have sex in a Miata?). They also slashed the roof even though it was unlocked, I guess because they assumed it was locked)
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You two confirmed my position on not owning a convertible.
I had my car stolen once. It sucked. Nice 86 Caprice. They smashed the steering column and then you can use a screw driver to start the car.
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bottom line is they slashed the roof either way. People suck and this is why we canāt have nice things.
I learned with my '68 Mercedes 250SL just to not even put the top up unless it was raining. It had a hard top but it was always hanging in the garage.
No sex or drugs in it but there was quite a bit of rock nā roll!
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I made the mistake of leaving mine unlocked once and they took one of those big cups of eclipse gum. The ONLY thing of any value - other than kids CDs.
Another time someone busted my window - I guess for shits and gigles? I heard it as I laid in bed.
And another time, with the 86 Caprice, in a different neighborhood, someone chucked an alternator at it. At least a 20-25lb hunk of metal. It was traveling fast though, it but a big gouge in the trunk, busted the back window, hit the roof and tore it up, caved in the dash board, broke the front glass, and landed on the seat.
It would be easier to sympathize if it wasnāt for the fact that the owner of this car is directly responsible for a spike in violent crime:
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I do hope that statement is in jest.
Of course itās in jest. Only jesters dare speak the truth.
Pros know about Lojack and OnStar. Think Faraday box trucks with ramps and a winch. (Not kidding.)
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I too had a Miata in San Francisco, and I too left the doors unlocked. They still slashed the top and even broke the windows to gain entry to my unlocked car. I kept literally nothing inside except the owners manual, so they stole that. Some idiot crackhead actual went to county jail for a month because the cops busted him with my stolen owners manual (in a sackful of random loot), which has the VIN printed inside. After that I got the hard top, so they stole that, and didnāt even have the common decency to raise the soft top, so the car filled up with water. After that I sold it.
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To be fair to the supposedly callous passersby, if I saw someone breaking into a car with a knife, I would pretend to ignore it, get out of sight, then call the cops, not start yelling at them and possibly get stabbed.
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My parents recently had a brand new rental minivan disappear from in front of my sisterās house while everyone was home. Iām guessing a tow truck was used, but who knows.
In college, a girl I worked with lived in a less good part of town. She had an older junky little car. People broke into it several times and stole stuff that mattered to her. So she learned to never leave anything in the car. They broke in again in case she hid the valuables. So she left the car unlocked but they didnāt realize it and broke in again. So she left a sign in the window that said essentially, you have stolen everything of value I own, the car is unlocked, look for yourself. So someone smashed the window right where the sign was just to show her. If I recall correctly the next time I asked about the car someone either stole it and it was never seen again or it was taken on a joyride and totaled. Either way I never saw someone so happy to not have a car.
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At least they had the courtesy to put the top back up when they were done.
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Londonersā ability to not look twice at anything is legendary.
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My next door neighbour lost her Toyota Echo that way. The police told her that eight identical cars were stolen that night around the city.
A.K.A bike thieves should burn in hell*, but is the best course of action to violently confront some guy in the street you know to be a shameless criminal, possibly already prone to poor judgement even before the adrenaline rush of fight-or-flight? Oh, and armed with, at the very least, big-ass bolt cutters or some other possibly heavy, probably sharp implement?
Discuss.
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So, the takeaway is:
-
Leave car unlocked
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Leave sign in car driverās side window saying āCAR UNLOCKEDā
Looks like about 2 minutes were edited out. What was edited out? Now this is getting interesting.
The conspiracist in me wants to make something of the fact that the timing of the carās blinker is nearly undisrupted. But if there WAS a conspiracy, the appearance of that sandwich board is anything but subtle.
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My first thought was that it was a motion-triggered recording. My second thought was that my first thought was stupid, unless the recording was only triggered by motion in a certain part of the frame.
Prolly just edited for time.
