My car was broken into last night!

More bad luck...

Ed got the shifter in the Laser working properly (thanks to the magic of WD-40) so we took that to dinner last night. I was so happy that I'd be able to drive it to work the next day! Turns out that wasn't gunna happen...

I got up this morning and went out to start the Laser. I unlocked the door, opened it, and noticed a black plastic piece on the seat. Grr. The gauge pod must have finally fell off. I pick the piece up, no that's the piece that goes over the door... I look at the A-pillar where the gauge pod should be. No. Can't be. Where is it? Maybe Ed took it off... I went inside and asked Ed. Nope. He didn't touch it. We both go back out to the car. The stereo's gone too!

Whoever did it was neat as hell, and I have to admit I'm thankful they didn't rip everything apart. They made off with 2 fairly cheap gauges, a gauge pod that I was hoping to replace anyway, and a stereo worth $99 new. Still, I feel violated, and I'm not sure how we can better protect the cars from future break-ins.

Obviously the person who did this knew what they were doing. They probably saw the gauges from the street and marked it as a target. Our hours are regular as hell, so timing wouldn't be a problem. Due to the fact that all the screws were left neatly on the seat, the frame or whatever you call it for the stereo was neatly left on the floor, and the other plastic piece that goes over the door was neatly left on the driver's seat, I'd say the guy (or girl) responsible was just as organized and careful in selecting the target and following through. It also shows that they have a conscience.

In the end, I'm out a couple hundred dollars -but as Ed said this morning it's a cheap wake-up call before we have both our cars in the driveway full of expensive toys. What makes me the maddest is thinking about how to protect the cars in the future. Car alarms are cheesy and easily gotten around. Ed mentioned motion sensors and possibly a video camera, which would be easy to do and cheap with the cost of webcams these days. I don't know, but we won't sit around and do nothing! We have 2 "race cars" and only 1 will fit in the garage at a time...

The funny thing is I went through some police training and I know at least a little bit about how targets are picked. One of the things I liked about our house is that it's a really bad target for thieves. Our block curves around, and we're actually on the corner of a cul-de-sac, which places our house as the farthest forward on the block. That means that you can see our whole driveway clearly from a great distance away. Not the best place to be breaking into cars! The thing that helped this person not be seen, however, was my Jeep. It was parked next to the Laser providing a perfect sheild from view. Gosh darn it...

Oh yeah, the Laser was locked, the Jeep's always unlocked (no sense locking a Jeep w/ a soft top!), the Jeep had the same stereo in it, but the face plate was locked in the center console. The Jeep's stereo was untouched. I didn't have time to look around and see if anyone went through the Jeep looking for the face plate...

The moral of the story: Car locks mean nothing. Hide your stereo's face plate, and conseal anything (like gauges) that make your car stand out. I'll be mounting my gauges elsewhere next time....