How many times has one of your vehicles been broken into?

[emu!]

Yeah, I know...pretty depressing thread. Three times for me. Anybody beat that?

[Tdub]

I can't stand a thief. I've had my house broken into 4 times, stuff stolen out of my car 3 times, 2 bikes stolen.

Guitars taken: Les Paul Custom, Hendrix Strat, MIM Tele, AM Tele., Yeah, I can't stand a thief.

[otterhound]

I feel the need to qualify my one time entry .
My Mustang was illegally entered and vandalized many years ago as it sat unlocked . I left it unlocked because the locking handle for the one vent window was broken . This meant that even if locked one could simply open the vent window and open the door from inside with the door handle . The trunk was pried open and my spare tire was taken . It had numerous holes in it .
This was done by the local police and was confirmed many years later by a former police officer that had retired in the meanwhile .
The windshield was busted up and the drivers side door glass had been broken from the inside .
The irony of it was that I needed to report it to an on duty officer at the time that it had been done and he was in on it . You should have seen the look on his face and heard him stutter when I told him that I knew of no one with issues concerning me except for the local police department .
This is the same punk that rushed into the police station once while I was an unwilling guest , grabbed me by the throat and threatened to beat me while off duty . I laughed at him .
This last issue is what really turned the tide because one of the officers involved in this situation saw what was going on , this wasn't the only thing , and had decided to testify to the truth of what went on . He was driven off of the police force for taking an honest stand . I have a hand written account of this and a few other things that he had written and was seen by a friend amongst things when his wife's estate was being settled . He had died a few years before her . My friend grabbed this up and gave it to me . He was rather astonished at what he had read and thought that I should have it . I did not know of this journal of events before this .

[telleutelleme]

Since the 1970's too many. Last time was last year when my truck was stolen in front of my office. I recall the first time was a 1971 Mustang and they stole the battery in consecutive weeks. I had a MGB and they slashed the top and only took the cigarette lighter. Broken windows in parking lots to take CD's and anything in the glove box. Big City grief for sure.

[uriah1]

Cant believe now they are stealing 'catalytic converters' from parking lots..
There must be people seeing that happen?

[pondcaster]

Wasn't really 'broken in" but I did inadvertently leave my window down about 20 years ago with a bag full of clothes, CDs, unmentionables, etc and some jerk reached in and snagged it.

Was the day Sgt Peppers came out on CD. I bought it, listened thru it, threw it in the bag and headed to work... ended up replacing it the next day.

[rghill]

I had my truck broken into while parked outside my then girlfriend's (now wife) apartment.

The thieves broke the sliding glass window, stole my cell phone, and rifled through the glove box.

I have never felt more violated. Immediately afterwards I had a car alarm installed and shortly after that we moved to a much safer place.

It has never happened like that again, but we have had both cars where someone got in and looked for change or incidentals to take, though that was our fault because the doors were unlocked.

[BigDaddyLH]

Never.

[Stratburst]

About nine years ago, my Honda Accord was broken into while it was parked in the underground garage of my Parkdale apartment. The thieves smashed my passenger side window and stole a heavy pair of winter gloves from my glove box . . . in August!

The really funny part was that I had my Les Paul, my pedalboard and my Fender Blues Junior amp in the trunk and the thieves could have easily popped the trunk from the inside and made off with a real haul.

The annoying part was (a) the cops didn't show up until 5:45 am (14 hours later) and were mad that I had taped up the window with a garbage bag. The building's super also told me that he knew who did it but had no proof since the cheap-ass landlords refused to install security cameras in the underground garage.

I got my revenge on those landlords when I moved out, but that's another story.

[creading]

My daughter left her car (1991 Toyota) locked and unattended for less than 3 minutes in San Francisco as she helped a photographer carry some equipment into his studio. When she came out the rear side window had been shattered, the car entered, they took everything loose in the car and attempted to pry out the stereo unsuccessfully. The only thing of real value taken was a small pair of diamond earings she had in her ash tray (non-smoker)
The rest was business related items...photo albums, makeup etc.
The S.F.P.D. were too busy to come out on calls like that and told her she would have to come into the nearest station house to make the report.

[jazztele]

Once.

They took an umbrella, an empty laptop bag, a cup full of change, and a suit I had in a drycleaning bag.

They also searched thru all of the CD's I keep in my car, but didn't take any. That says something, I suppose.

[bradpdx]

Both times the car was stolen. First was a '67 VW bug on Thanksgiving day in 1982 in Santa Cruz, the second was a Honda Civic out of my driveway in Portland in 1994.

The bug was ridiculously easy to hot wire, and it was found on a beach north of town with 2nd gear no longer working. Lost some tools, that's all. Sold it to a friend who lovingly restored it and drove it for years.

The Honda was found parked about a mile away with an ashtray full of butts and the radio tuned to the local hard rock crapola station. My wife had left it unlocked. Nothing was in it, so nothing was taken.

My favorite exchange about this:

Me: "Honey, your purse is sitting on the front seat. Don't you think you should take it while we're parked?"
Wife: "Nobody would want it, there's nothing in it."
Me: "Solid logic, darling!"

[Toto'sDad]

A long time ago, I bought a new chevy pickup a club cab and it had power locks etc. The trouble was, I found out later there's a Little square hole in the door that anyone can take something like a small screwdriver an pop the door opening mechanism. Kids found out how to do this and there were a rash phone theft (cell phones were not common then), mine was one of them.

A few years later, I bought another new Chevy club cab, parked it in the drive way, and someone got into it and got a bunch of small stuff out of my pickup. When I was surveying the loss, I looked up and down the street, it was a nice neighborhood, folks were gathered around a number of cars doing the same as I. I later learned at least 5 vehicles were broken into during their night before. That was the only incident I had, though I lived there for ten years. I guess everyone gets a turn.

[losergeek]

My old apartment was broken into more times then my cars ever have - 2 break ins for the apt. For cars, I once had a discman and a bunch of CDs taken out of an unlocked car and also a break in attempt where the person jammed up the lock cylinder but must have gotten surprised and gave up before getting in, so I wouldn't really count either proper break ins.

[Brother Rob]

I drive a Jeep.

That statement by itself puts me in the "> 5" category. Add in the fact that I live in Detroit and then add that I used to travel for work, leaving my car at the Airport all week...

...I've returned to my vehicle literally more times than I can remember to find that someone has been rummaging through it. More than a dozen.

[Brother Rob]

Originally Posted by otterhound

I feel the need to qualify my one time entry .
My Mustang was illegally entered and vandalized many years ago as it sat unlocked . I left it unlocked because the locking handle for the one vent window was broken . This meant that even if locked one could simply open the vent window and open the door from inside with the door handle . The trunk was pried open and my spare tire was taken . It had numerous holes in it .
This was done by the local police and was confirmed many years later by a former police officer that had retired in the meanwhile .
The windshield was busted up and the drivers side door glass had been broken from the inside .
The irony of it was that I needed to report it to an on duty officer at the time that it had been done and he was in on it . You should have seen the look on his face and heard him stutter when I told him that I knew of no one with issues concerning me except for the local police department .
This is the same punk that rushed into the police station once while I was an unwilling guest , grabbed me by the throat and threatened to beat me while off duty . I laughed at him .
This last issue is what really turned the tide because one of the officers involved in this situation saw what was going on , this wasn't the only thing , and had decided to testify to the truth of what went on . He was driven off of the police force for taking an honest stand . I have a hand written account of this and a few other things that he had written and was seen by a friend amongst things when his wife's estate was being settled . He had died a few years before her . My friend grabbed this up and gave it to me . He was rather astonished at what he had read and thought that I should have it . I did not know of this journal of events before this .

Wait... what?

Slow down a little, are you implying that the Police stole your spare tire?

[Tele Fan]

I've been very lucky. I've never had a car broken into and I had one apartment broken into. They got a junk acoustic and a PS2. I had somebody try to kick my door in once but Mr. Remington being chambered convinced them to go elsewhere.

[rcole_sooner]

I've had one truck stolen, but I don't know if counts as broken into.

[HappyTelecaster]

My car has been broken into two times. One time they stole the front grille, another time they smashed the left door window but didn`t take anything. Seemingly they were only interested in the car`s stereo but they didn`t bother taking it bevause it`s a cassette type radio. I had a hard time replacing the broken window because the smashed original window was glued into the door. No I don`t like thieves.

[akukulich]

Just once. A couple of neighborhood kids got into my car and my wife's car. It wasn't hard because they were both sitting unlocked in the driveway. They didn't get much of any real value, but they were both caught a few weeks later doing the same thing to another neighbor. My wife was so angry that she pressed charges while most others let it drop and saw it all the way through the trial. She ended up getting restitution from the kids' parents. It wasn't a lot of money, but she wasn't going to let it go. She was intent on teaching them a lesson and I think she did. We've never even seen them on our street since then.