There’s nothing like being awoken by a police officer at your doorbell. Thursday night/Friday morning, someone felt it necessary to search the inside of my car for my Garmin Nuvi 350 Portable Navigation. Yes, ok, I did leave the mount attached to my windshield… And yes, I usually leave my navigation in the console between my seats. My argument there has been that I’m so forgetful, I end up leaving it in the house all the time and it’s never there when I get lost.
Thankfully, however, my fiancee grabbed it on the way out of my car, because her car had actually been broken into last August for the same reason.
What’s interesting is this: nothing else was stolen. One would think, if you’re going to smash a passenger-side window, you’re going to make it worth your while. When my fiance’s car was broken into in August, they stole the mount stuck to the windshield which cost about $50 to replace. But nothing was missing. They smashed each passenger-side window, opened the glove box and the console, then left. They simply moved aside the $100 radar detector, the removable faceplate of the Pioneer aftermarket stereo, and the EZ-Pass in my car and the external XM radio, Prada sunglasses (fake, but branded as such) and radar detector in her car. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful they were picky, but still, what is the point?
The XM radio and EZ Pass are easy to explain: they require subscription. Once the accounts are suspended, the units are relatively worthless. I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t take something pocket-sized as a radar detector other than ignorance.
So, I just ask myself how this can be prevented. Obviously repairing the morals of society is out of the question. Respect of other’s property and sense of security has gone the way of black-and-white television. I guess the only way would be to make navigation register with a company such as cell phones and XM radio so they can be deactivated rendering them worthless.
I guess I just don’t understand the schoolyard “mine!” mentality. But now I’m out about $200 and a half day’s time trying to make my car secure again.
As the saying goes… at least no one was hurt.
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man, that sucks. i’m sorry to hear/read that. yeah, unfortunately about the only thing you can ever do is just take your shit out of your car. end of story. i had 2K worth of music equipment stolen 4 years ago, and that was even hidden in my trunk. the reason why they broke into my car to begin with was because i left a CD case out on my passenger side seat. since then, i’ve never left anything that would indicate that i have anything of even remote value in my car. as for not stealing your other stuff, i suppose it would have to be nerves. if you’re focused on one thing and you’re hurrying, you probably just don’t notice that other things are there for taking.
suck arse, holmes. hopefully your insurance will cover you a little bit…
Well, insurance is another story… In MA, all glass on a car is covered by insurance, no questions asked. As far as I know, MA is the only state to do that.
I have Geico. I have the best insurance package I can possibly get because I drive almost 30k miles a year. Geico was great. They took my report, they offered me a car, but the glass, as per all insurance, is covered under Comprehensive Coverage, for which my deductible is $500. So, while they were keen send out an appraiser right away (seriously, it took like 10 min), to give me the rental car, set up the rental appointment, have enterprise pick me up, they couldn’t cover the glass because it was under my deductable.
So, I paid out-of-pocket to have it replaced. I paid $160 for a new pane of glass from Nissan (because I could have it right away without combing junkyards), $50 to have it installed and my car vacuumed out (it was spotless), and $40 to have the window re-tinted to match (I figured I might as well do it right). My car was spotless when i got it back. The glass was out of the door, out of the crook of the seat, off the floor, they vacuumed my entire car. My car window was reported at 9am Friday morning and I was back in my fixed car and driving it by 1pm the same day.
Candice, on the other hand, called her insurance and had a different experience. Since it’s only glass, and no one was hurt, they said they couldn’t send out a glass guy until Monday afternoon. Lucky for her, I was there to chauffeur her around. The guy shows up Monday, barely vacuums up the glass off the seat and floor. He replaced the window, lightly chastized us for leaving the GPS stand on the window, and left. There was still glass in her glove box, under her seat, in her door handle.
I guess it’s all a story of “you get what you pay for” but MA insurance is a hella-ton more expensive than Geico. I think, finally, MA is opening up the insurance to competition. Apparently they’ll get Geico and AIG in March.