ScrappyDoo

iTrader: (7)

You have to look at the police services as a business. Does it make sense to spend thousands of dollars investigating a loss of a couple of hundred dollars?

I think you know the answer. They have bigger fish to fry or revenue to create.

rx7racerca

iTrader: (1)

^^+1 what Scrappy said. My CAR got stolen from university parking back around 1990; the police did essentially nothing, other than take my report. Even when it was recovered on an indian reserve west of the city a few days later, they didn't go through it - it was actually returned to me full of stolen property - radar detectors, stereos, etc (none of it stuff that was any thing but the sort of low-end stuff typical of university students, so the thieves didn't even know to steal good stuff)., as well as cigarette butts and several pairs of scissors and other items obviously used by the thieves (kids were getting into many 80's vintage Japanese cars at the time using barber's scissors.) So the kids had been prowling cars in the lot, and when they left they traded way up from the POS old Corolla wagon they'd stolen in another part of town, and into my shiny 200SX. They probably drove straight from the U to the reserve, where they off-roaded my car and high-centred it and did about $5000 damage between the paint being scratched and dinged all over by brush, and chewing up the gearbox and clutch, doubtless why they abandoned it. I can only hope it was a long, cold walk home in February.

If the perps aren't caught in the act, or somehow identified, there's next to no chance of conviction - if they went through your car fingerprinting, for example, they'd need to take the fingerprints of you and your friends and family who've been in the car to eliminate them, and getting a good fingerprint even isn't as slick and automated a process as shows like CSI would have you believe. Time and cost, combined with the number of car break-ins and thefts, makes that pretty much a non-contender for police time. If your car is reported stolen, the description and plate are added to the police's watch list, and about the best you can hope for is a cop spots the car on the road, likely in committing another crime (about the only way these cases get resolved), or more likely, it turns up when someone reports it abandoned or parked where it shouldn't be.

A fellow autocrosser had his car stolen from University parking a couple years back - it turned up 4 months later at a mall a short distance away, where it had apparently been sitting all that time. You'd think the mall maintenance staff would have reported a car they'd been seeing and plowing snow around in the same spot for months, but they didn't, and the police can't be everywhere.

anees

iTrader: (6)

dude be happy atleast you got it back!!!
they stole my freinds dad nissan altima and he still didnt find it
ppl in toronto are bad!!!
anyways
would any1 telll me a good 2 way alarm system... which has a good range
i reallly dont care about the starter

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

so why not just get car insurance?

Fire + theft (comprehensive coverage) is like 10 bucks a month.

You can't expect the police to do anything about piddy little stuff like theft. They have stunters to catch!

anees

iTrader: (6)

to terhh
hmm so get fire and theft
so i already have that
but see it this way .. a car which u found after a long of struggling and hard research.. than u put your sweat and blood into it..
putting all the parts of your desire....
i dont even care if the insurance company gives back my money
i will be more interested in finding her back.... in the same condition she was!!!!

azx78er0

I really understand what anees is really getting at....he just doesnt want to suffer a loss.....after all the time and effort it would be demoralizing to find that ur car(or almost like a gf) is stolen and returned in bits and pieces. I mean it would be the case of my subie where they stole my gps.....but it wasnt the point...it was all the broken glass on my seat, the dented top metal bar.....we shouldve just put a contact number and say dont jack my car....ill give what u want like my gps...just dont break and dent my car,,,,....


But i guess the only way is to really becareful where u park ur car...and dont go to downtown......or dont go to gang related area.....dont go to like where gangs hang out.....and park really really close to where your going so u always have a line of sight.

rx7racerca

iTrader: (1)

That's the problem - if your car is stolen, it is unlikely you will get it back the way it was. While my 200SX came back with relatively little damage (complete, quality paint job and rebuild of the gearbox - 2nd, 3rd gears and synchros and reverse gear, various bearings and seals, and the gas tank (which got holed when they hung it up off-roading it). They only put something like 90kms on it, most of which would have been on the TransCanada getting to the reserve where it was abused and abandoned. Bad as it was ($5000+ was some serious coin on repairs back in '90), it would have been written off if the insurance co had properly assessed the mechanical damage before doing the paint/body repairs).

My car came back much more intact than any of my friends cars which have been stolen over the years, probably because the thieves got it stuck so quickly, before they could heap more abuse on it. One friend's car was recovered on an indian reserve in Saskatchwan, with over 1500kms put on it in a matter of days. The interior was full of butt burns, and it went from being a relatively tight and reliable late-model car to being a rattle-trap with persistent electrical and mechanical problems. He sold it within a year or so, it was just too annoying. Others were written off, or again, the mechanical, and/or body damage led to long term problems.

The expression "drive it like you stole it" is something racers say, but real thieves do, because not only do they not generally care how much damage they do, they will try to damage it.

So again, it comes down to, get yourself a decent alarm, either with an immobilizer, or just set up a fuel kill switch separately (and remember to use it!), take out the battery if you're storing it (but you'll need something separate to power the alarm), maybe even take a couple wheels off and stuff them in a closet. Someone might still break in, because smash and grabs don't necessarily care about alarms, but at least they won't be able to drive away in your car - because if they get it rolling, the abuse meter is probably running from moment it moves.

But ultimately, it's just a car, it can be replaced, don't live afraid of what might happen to it - just as likely, or probably more so, that someone will do something stupid and take you out on the road. In twenty-five years of driving, I've had that one car stolen and returned, 4 break-ins (3 of which got nothing, and none of which caused significant damage or theft), because they were either interrupted, or didn't find what they were looking for. I've also had 4 cars totalled by other idiot people running lights, jabbering on cells, or otherwise not paying attention or obeying traffic signals or rules. And in all but one of those cases, I never even had a chance to react before I was hit. So the other fools on the road are probably much more a hazard to your ride than thieves are.

Point about how stupid thieves really are: 2 of those break-ins were on an old, beat-up Firefly winter-beater that didn't even have a stereo. Don't expect insurance to pay full value, mind, on your older car, without an up-to-date appraisal. My dealings with insurance claims over the years have gotten progressively worse in terms of the weasling on replacement and repair values, and that seems to be everyone's experience. On your older car, they will try to tell you it's worth $4500 bucks because they can find them advertised for that, and will tell you you can too.

anees

iTrader: (6)

thanx axx783er for what i was trying say here
some losses cannot be replaced with anything!!!