# Someone Broke into my car



## Ilovemoney (Jul 7, 2012)

Overnight someone broke my driver side window and without opening the door reached all the way to the glove compartment and center console. There was nothing in my car, so nothing was taken. My car was in my driveway. Do you guys think this would happen again when I get my window fixed? It's not an old car I bought it a few years ago brand new. I already reported it to the police and my insurance company. What should I do to try to prevent something like this from happening again, it's such a pain dealing with it.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

It is such a pain and often they will break a window just to take a quarter they see. To most people in Canada it would seem this is no big deal and if they get caught they get nothing for it but really it is a very big deal if it happens to you. We accept breaking and entering in Canada but to me it is unacceptable and should be punished with caning instead of jail if they would ever go to jail anyway. Anyway rant over and now to answer your post.

If nothing was there to take then chances are they will not do it again since they didn't get anything as you claim. If however it does keep happening then leave your car unlocked so they can get in and see there is nothing without breaking a window.


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## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

Given they found nothing of value I don't think they would waste time or risk.


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## Ilovemoney (Jul 7, 2012)

Lol I don't know why break the driver side window just to reach in and open the glove compartment when the passanger window is closer... Hope they got cut by the glass shards


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

You are assuming only one person breaks into cars...

Just because the first guy didn't find anything doesn't mean he'll tell the next one. If you leave the car unlocked, maybe they'll take the car next time.

Life is about risk. Fix your window and hope it doesn't happen again. You'd have better luck predicting the stock market than wether od not some idiot is going to break into your car.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Thief got into our garage through the unlocked back door. Car also unlocked. Tried to pry the radio out. Got frightened off by son returning home at 1:30 am.

Neighbour not so lucky. Lost his briefcase with cell phone, calculator and lots of papers.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

If there is truly nothing in the car to take, I would just leave the door unlocked, put a little sticky on your seat saying that the doors unlocked, and there is nothing worth taking. 

That's what my friend did when he got his window broken 3 times in less than a year. It solved it.

My other good friend works in the prison system and said that you must think like a criminal. They will look for quick opportunities, and also see if there is any thing of worth. I remember we wanted a bike to be taken so we left it unlocked in a so so neighborhood at the back. No one would take it for months, my friend suggested putting a lock on that was cheap and easy to break. The bike was stolen within the week. Apparently, if it has no worth to the owner, then there is no worth the thief.


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## Ilovemoney (Jul 7, 2012)

They checked my center console and glove compartment but there was nothing in the glove compartment and I just had a small notepad in the center console which they tossed on the seat


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

I had a truck stolen years ago, they used it for a bank job....and physically rammed the truck through the vestibule of the bank. It went from a long box to a short box in one night. And obviously became a write off. I now have no care whatsoever to have a nice vehicle. IMO it doesn't seem to be worth it if someone is going to steal it or break in for the sake of it.

Pluggin along - the post it note idea is pretty funny.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My friend had bad luck with a car ,it was a lemon and he was upside down on it.He put a sign in the window 'please steal me' well it got stolen and they found it parked downtown Toronto not a scratch on it and sign still in window lol


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## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

I think it's pretty standard(everybody has had some form of theft happen to them,your # was prob up with the laws of averages)I would'nt sweat it-The intent might not of been theft related-Could of just been a young group of teens(punks) on summer hoilday's and the guys were "showing off" or playing tough-ie kicking in windows or whatever 4 kicks.

I also had a truck stolen.I had a older gmc sierra with a jobox bolted down and a heavy(300lbs 9000 generator chained to it)Woke up one mourning and my truck was striaght gone off the driveway(that's a wierd feeling to say the least)Still don't know if i was cased by a framing crew in various sub-divisions i was working in or someone tailed me through downtown.I got the truck back(left on the roadside)obviously my equipment was gone(about 8-9k worth of hand tools and a 3k generator-uninsured-that was a tough day!!!Hasd to slowly build up my tools again.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Break-ins into vehicles happens a lot these days. I had my truck broken into when both doors were locked as I generally do.

They used a prybar (jimmy bar) on the passenger side to pry into the door handle, bending the metal and messing up the locking mechanism inside but were unsuccessful to get the door completely open. I don't know if they were after something inside the center console (like the aftermarket 12 cd player connected to an aftermarket stereo), or perhaps the air bags, which are expensive items and have a black market..
or maybe just looking for loose coins..this was at night.... and in my driveway with the yard light on! 

The damage done to the door was quite significant. Called the dealer for an estimate to replace lock cylinder and handle. It would be over $300 for parts, never mind the labour cost to install the damaged parts and repaint. :rolleyes2:

The truck was about 5-6 years old at the time, and since I had $250 deductible on comprensive, (fire theft, glass damage), decided not to report it to my insurance company,since the truck was not stolen, just damaged a bit around the passenger door handle which was sticking out.
Reported it to the cops, anyway, got a report number in case the damage turned out to be over $1000. 

The passenger door would no longer lock (or open from the key) , although I could still lock it and open from
the locking button inside the cab, but in the end, I decided to fix it myself, save the $250 deductible rather reporting it to be fixed as a claim. I'm sure, it would have been around a $1000 by the time it was done at the dealers body shop. 

Being frugal by nature, I really didn't want to spend $300 + taxes for parts from the dealer, *for some other idiot's damage to my truck eithe*r, I was on retirement income at that point. :frown:

I thought about it for a while, about the insurance deductible I would have to pay anyway to have it fixed, and decided to fix it myself. Installed a piece of metal behind the door handle at the same time to prevent any " future" jimmy bar from being pushed in.

However, it turned out to be a lot of unecessary work for me, since I had to take the inside door panel apart to get at the locking mechanism actuator rod, which they had bent in their foiled attempt. 
Straightened the bent rod out, now the key was locking/unlocking the door again. 
I guess I was lucky that the damage wasn't more than that though. 

In case they decided to return..I got a car alarm with an ignition disable installed soon afterwards. 

That ended up costing me about $300, but now I could at least set the alarm when leaving it parked overnight in my driveway. I never had any more break-ins, so it was the money (that I saved by doing it myself), well spent.:biggrin:


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

it probably would of been better not to report claim to insurance, they might jack up premiums on the next renewal


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

I've had two vehicles broken into over the last 10 years, both caused more cost in damage than stolen property. I leave nothing in my vehicles anymore and I leave them unlocked when they are in my driveway overnight. You want to steal it? Take it.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

when I'm in bad areas I leave the car unlocked.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I always lock our car with nothing visible. The insurance company will question whether the car was locked if it is stolen.


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

kcowan said:


> I always lock our car with nothing visible. The insurance company will question whether the car was locked if it is stolen.


Sure, and if I had theft on my car I'd worry about stuff like that. If they want a 1995 Chevy, well, you're welcome to it. Just don't break a window when you decide you want to rummage through it looking for a quarter under the driver seat.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

There's nothing to steal worth more than the window and even the car is hardly worth the window. I have a $1000 deductible so they can steal almost the entire car for that. My husband's car I paid $400. 

I wish the hell the tenants would stop putting nails under my tires though. This is the second nail pulled out of my tire this year.


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