If people don't stop fucking with my car there will be blood

[Otto]

One or more people has been picking away at various things on my car for weeks now and they had better hope that I never find out who they are because they will feel my wrath. It started with someone trying to pick the parking sticker off my rear window (my landlord has them affix to the outside, god knows why). Then someone tried to peel off my registration sticker. Then someone tried to steal the entire license plate, bending it all to shit and breaking the frame. Now today I see someone's fucking with the locking cover over my gas cap. The hinged side is pulled away and out of alignment with the rest of the side panel by almost a quarter of an inch. I was able to press it back into place but now the release is messed up and it doesn't spring away from the body when I pop it; I have to pry it with a key.

The fucking car isn't even paid for yet. Fuckers. Keep your goddamn fucking hands off my car.

[mks57]

You need one of those South African cars with the built-in flame throwers. Turn the vandal into a crispy critter.

I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to have some moron screwing with your car, for no good reason. Is there any way you could setup a video camera and VCR to keep an eye on your car?

[Zsofia]

If it makes you feel better, somebody inexplicably stole my birdbath this weekend, and some person or possibly animal not-so-explicably stole the ripe tomatoes from the plant on my porch. (Actual garden tomatoes have been unharmed.) I can understand trying to take a license plate a whole lot easier than a bird bath.

[Shirley Ujest]

If it makes you feel any better, my tomatoes seem to be suffering from some kind of blight. (You could fling them randomly at other tennants just to put the word out that your not one to be farked with.)

[NoClueBoy]

At the apt complex next to the condos I jsut finished, I noticed that someone on the 3rd floor had set up one of those little webcan thingies to the balcony railing, pointing out to the parking lot. A wire trailed back in to the unit...

When I happened to see the guy who lived there out on his balcony one day I was working late, I asked him about it. He explained that he trying to catch whoever was doing the petty vandalism on residents' cars. He said that photogaphic evidence was the same as a cop catching them in the act. And since the line between felony and misdemeanor in OK is so low, he figures he'll eventually see the culprit in jail.

Don't know if he was correct in his statements or was simply assuming, but maybe you can check out something like that in regards to the Ottomobile.*







*Ottomobile! Get it!? I slay me ...

[El_Kabong]

If the OP is living at a complex, as seems the case, all this should be reported to the management company, and enventually to the police. At the very least, let some of neighbors know about it since it is likely that other residents may be having the same things done to them. Chances are little will be done if only one person complains, but if it gets around publically that several attempted break-ins have occurred in a short space of time, the management will take steps to control it rather than possibly lose occupancy as a result.

The complex I live in, normally a pretty benign area, had a few daytime break-ins. The management not only got the cops to step up patrols, the police even parked a spare patrol car near the entrance on and off for several months just to make it look like a cop actually lived on the property. While simple an obvious, it seemed to work.

[MelCthefirst]

I've been thinking about ways to stop the 'bad touching'/interfering with cars that goes on and apart from survelance videos already mentioned, I was wondering if those car covers may be a deterant. If you have to remove the cover to mess with the car, it may be more noticeable or bothersome??

[El_Kabong]

...I was wondering if those car covers may be a deterant. If you have to remove the cover to mess with the car, it may be more noticeable or bothersome??

Heh, even better if you put a rubber snake under it so when someone lifted the cover up, it would come rolling out...

[Jeep's Phoenix]

I had a neighbor who thought it would be funny to go out every morning and open the door to my gas tank (the cap itself is locked). She stopped really quick when she found out I had contacted the police -- at the time, her car was uninsured and a month overdue for an inspection, and she didn't have the money to pay for either.

I like the rubber snake idea.

[Jayrot]

Yeah if it were me, I'd definitely go all SpyTech on it if possible. Catch the fuckers.

[duffer]

Then someone tried to steal the entire license plate, bending it all to shit and breaking the frame.

I think this is what would piss me off the most. If some crackhead is going to go out and actively seek a license plate to paste on a stolen car, HAVE THE FUCKING DECENCY TO BRING A FUCKING SCREWDRIVER, ASSHOLE!!!.

I hate vandals (well, the tribe was OK. There, got that reference out of the way).

Over 3 years ago some fucker pulled a hit-and-run on my car. While it was parked in my fucking driveway! I'm literally as pissed off today as I was that day. I still hang onto a thread of hope I'll someday find out who it was. My dream is some guilt-ridden person delivering a new Porsche to make up for it, just so I can use the car to run him over.

Hoping the best for ya Otto. And forget the car cover. That will be the night the thief remembers the screwdriver and just cuts through it.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Last month, my husband got the windows of his car tinted, and then had a new CD player installed. The next morning, he went out and found that someone had smashed in the driver's side window and taken the CD player, almost completely destroying the dashboard as well. It wasn't even a very good player, it only cost about $200 or so, but the damage to the car was around $3K. He got his car back last week. Let me tell you, he is STEAMED. He hadn't even used the car to commute before it was broken into. He had carefully thought out what he wanted for his anniversary and Father's Day presents, and was looking forward to a more relaxing commute.

We don't know who did it, we don't even have any suspicions. It's likely that the thief will get away with it, which is what really burns Bill up.

[duffer]

Lynn, have Bill shoot me an email. We can be the founding partners in The National Organization of Pissed Off Victims of Vehicular VandalismTM.

See, we'd be a national orginization so we can hold tax-exempt fundraisers to set up a foundation to cover the costs of losses. Shit, every other microgroup in the US has an organization, this seems just as legit.

Plus, we'd label ourselves victims. That's gotta be good for a mention on Oprah or People magazine. :)

[Anne Neville]

Lynn, have Bill shoot me an email. We can be the founding partners in The National Organization of Pissed Off Victims of Vehicular VandalismTM.

I'll join up, too.

In 2004, my car got broken into. Some asswipe used a blowtorch to break one of the windows, and stole my CDs and my stereo (like Lynn's husband's stereo, it wasn't even an expensive stereo, and the CDs didn't have their cases with them). I ended up with $2500 in damage to my car :mad:

[velvetjones]

A couple of years ago some asshole broke my drivers side window in an attempt to remove my stereo. Must've gotten interrupted because he didn't get any farther than taking the faceplate off and removing the dashboard where the stereo mounts.

What really pissed me off is that three of the doors on that van had broken locks. They could have just opened the passenger side door rather than break the window.

They broke the faceplate to the CD player trying to get it out so after that I had to jam something in there to get it to connect and play.

I'm always worried something similar is going to happen with my new van.

[Bam Boo Gut]

Well, someone slashed my soft top to get into my jeep which wasn't locked anyway!!

[Daithi Lacha]

I have a Tracker soft-top; I had to replace one of the side panels because it looked like the previous owner was broken into by means of a mat knife & a jackhammer, judging by the state of the dashboard around where the stereo used to be. I installed a cheapee JVC CD/head unit & invested $40 for a self-installed Bulldog alarm. Works pretty good, too, for what it's worth. Sometimes it gives false reports, but a couple of times I've heard it sound & seen someone walking quickly away from the vehicle. I doubt if it would deter a determined vandal, but casual loiterers it seems to work for.

[vetbridge]

Well, someone slashed my soft top to get into my jeep which wasn't locked anyway!!
Exactly the reason I never lock the doors on my Wrangler. Want in? Open the door; just please do not slash the top.

When I lived in Philthydelphia many cars had "NO RADIO" signs posted on the dash. :(

[Troy McClure SF]

I doubt if it would deter a determined vandal, but casual loiterers it seems to work for.
Gee, how nice.

[Malthus]

Over 3 years ago some fucker pulled a hit-and-run on my car. While it was parked in my fucking driveway! I'm literally as pissed off today as I was that day. I still hang onto a thread of hope I'll someday find out who it was. My dream is some guilt-ridden person delivering a new Porsche to make up for it, just so I can use the car to run him over.



Thank Hod for nosey neighbours ... my car was partially crushed while peacefully sitting in the driveway by a schoolbus, using our drive to turn around in (at the time, in the place where I was living, we shared a double-wide drive with the neighbours). The bus driver got out, looked at the damage, then got in and was about to drive off when he spotted our neighbour writing down his licence number ... as a result of that timely action, our insurance was forced to pay up.

The insurer's appraisal was that the cost to fix the damage was more than the old crate was worth, so they basically paid its value. We bought the car back from them for its salvage value, took it to our mechanic, and fixed it - and were left with a surplus of around $800 after paying him. Car lasted a couple more years before expiring peacefully in its sleep of old age.

So we came out ahead (except for the irritation of being carless for a while). Our neighbour got a really good, expensive bottle of wine and some flowers as a token of appreciation. :)

[Quartz]

This is a FOAF story. Once upon a time there was a guy whose car was targetted. So he had the car repaired. When the car was returned, he lay in wait underneath the car, armed with a baseball bat. Sure enough, the robber returned. And got a beating.

This, of course, is illegal in the U.K. - I don't know about America.

[Zebra]

Thank Hod for nosey neighbours ... my car was partially crushed while peacefully sitting in the driveway by a schoolbus, using our drive to turn around in (at the time, in the place where I was living, we shared a double-wide drive with the neighbours). The bus driver got out, looked at the damage, then got in and was about to drive off when he spotted our neighbour writing down his licence number ... as a result of that timely action, our insurance was forced to pay up.

The insurer's appraisal was that the cost to fix the damage was more than the old crate was worth, so they basically paid its value. We bought the car back from them for its salvage value, took it to our mechanic, and fixed it - and were left with a surplus of around $800 after paying him. Car lasted a couple more years before expiring peacefully in its sleep of old age.

So we came out ahead (except for the irritation of being carless for a while). Our neighbour got a really good, expensive bottle of wine and some flowers as a token of appreciation. :)



A friend of mine was once eating in a restaurant and the police came in and asked if any owned a brown mustang. My friend replied that he did and was taken outside and shown his car. A semi, tractor trailer, went out of controll and plunged of the interstate and after flying over the service road, landed on my friends car. The car was a complete loss.



"Otto-moblie" <snerk>?

[DeadlyAccurate]

This is a FOAF story. Once upon a time there was a guy whose car was targetted. So he had the car repaired. When the car was returned, he lay in wait underneath the car, armed with a baseball bat. Sure enough, the robber returned. And got a beating.

This, of course, is illegal in the U.K. - I don't know about America.

Well, it would depend on the state, but I'm pretty sure it would be illegal in most of them. I doubt you can just lie in wait outside your house for someone to show up, even in Texas. IANAL, though.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Well, it would depend on the state, but I'm pretty sure it would be illegal in most of them. I doubt you can just lie in wait outside your house for someone to show up, even in Texas. IANAL, though. Legal or not, Bill has seriously thought about it. Which is why he's not joining any more associations for now...he's too busy Lurking.

[Hippy Hollow]

Got one for ya. Parked my car - which is about 12 years old, but is my baby and I take really good care of it - on the street at a friend's house as we played a little music. It was a little wet and cold outside, but then it really starts to come down, probably about three inches or so. Jam session is over, so I head to my car. First weird thing I notice - my door doesn't open. Then I look over and notice my driver's side mirror is smashed to shit. Then I notice a ginormous bash in my front driver's side fender. As if someone took an aluminium can and kicked it in...

No note, nothing. Nobody saw anything (it was snowing and nighttime). I can't ever remember being angrier than that day. I mean, I live in Boston, I expect to get my bumper tapped when people are trying to parallel park, etc. But what kind of low-life causes that kind of damage to someone's property without leaving a note or something? I'm not an asshole, I would have worked it out with the person instead of calling his insurance company or whatever... Shit, he/she had to really have been moving at quite a speed to cause that kind of damage.

I hate people.

Anyway, Otto, hope you catch the fucker and get a chance to knee him/her in the balls/ovaries (metaphorically or actual). Car-fucking-with is the lowest level of criminal activity, like stealing candy from babies in prams or pushing people out of wheelchairs. Spotty youths trying to show how they're "sticking it to the man."

Once I was walking with my cousin and she dumped her sticky soda all over a Mercedes. I was like, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She responds, "People who have cars like that deserve to have people throw shit at their car, they can afford it." I told her she was a fucking idiot and a jerk... Saw her at a family reunion a few years back... and she drove there in her husband's car... a FUCKING Hummer. Boy, I wish I had a sticky soda in my hand right then...

URGH!

[Amazon Floozy Goddess]

Oh, Otto, I so hear you. My store had its logo in nice, big vinyl lettering put up on the window last year. My store happens to be situated beside a dance studio. The box-toed little brats that come and go from the dance studio have gradually picked and peeled away the letters so that my art store is now simply called 'Ror'. How do I know it was them? Because I caught the little darlings in the act several times. How I'd love to know who they are so I can charge them/their parents for the cost of new signage, because those vinyl letters cost the department over $200.

[Daithi Lacha]

:confused: Gee, how nice.
OK, I'm stumped.

[Ike Witt]

If people don't stop fucking with my car there will be blood.
Does an auto-erotic entanglement always end with blood being spilled?

I'm thinking back to that song from the 1970s, but I don't remember the name, it had the chorus "She came and took me by the hand. We made love to my Chevy van and that's all right with me". Did they lose a bunch of blood?

[FatBaldGuy]

:confused:
Gee, how nice.
OK, I'm stumped. I think that Troy's sentiment (and mine, too) is that car alarms which go off for a "casual loiterer" (or when the wind blows), but which will not stop a "determined vandal" do absolutely nothing to protect your car, but are an extreme annoyance to anyone within earshot.

[Daithi Lacha]

I think that Troy's sentiment (and mine, too) is that car alarms which go off for a "casual loiterer" (or when the wind blows), but which will not stop a "determined vandal" do absolutely nothing to protect your car, but are an extreme annoyance to anyone within earshot.
Ah! OK, understood. It's an adjustable alarm; it doesn't even go off when the train goes past, unlike two neighbors' cars. Certain young (former) residents of our neighborhood were known to go around trying door handles, though, and this proved useful.

[DrDeth]

I think that Troy's sentiment (and mine, too) is that car alarms which go off for a "casual loiterer" (or when the wind blows), but which will not stop a "determined vandal" do absolutely nothing to protect your car, but are an extreme annoyance to anyone within earshot.

In fact- since no one ever goes out to check on their car alarm, they are worse than useless. There was a car that was always parked outside my window. It had one of those alarms that would go off when a truck drove past. 5th or 6th time that happened, I made a crudely printed sign that said "IF THE ALARM GOES OFF ON THIS CAR ONE MORE TIME, I WILL SMASH THE WINDSHIELD SO THAT AT LEAST ONCE IT'S NOT A FALSE ALARM". They apparently both dialed down the sensitivity (or got a new alarm) and moved the car down a half block. Since then, it's gone off only once, I think, and that was during a windstorm when tree limbs were being torn off, and dozens of alarms were going off (all being ignored by their owners, of course, but at least there was a reason).

In Santa Monica, if your car alarm goes off and there is no real cause, you'll get a ticket. :cool:

I hate car alarms almost as much as I hate my car being fucked with. Almost.

Yes, I have one, but it only goes off when my car is broken into- or when I, like a moron punch the wrong damn button, but at least I am right there and turn it off super fast. :smack:

Does it make you dudes angry when idiots put those flyers on your windshield? Does that count as "fucking with the car"?

[tashabot]

A few years back my mom had a Dodge Caravan with a really crappy tape player in it. We had very little money at that point, but my sister, my dad, and myself saved up and got her a CD player for it for Mothers Day - not a super good CD player, but she could listen to her music.

Not two months later, someone bashed in the back window and stole the thing. She was heartbroken.

Someone has been syphoning gas from my car. This is weird because my car's gas door locks and the cap locks, too. There's no damage so I can only assume that this person either somehow got the keys to my car, or is a very experienced lockpick.

It seems really stupid to syphon gas from my car - I only have a nine gallon tank. Go hit up my parents Econoline - it's got like a seventy gallon tank.

~Tasha

[kayT]

My SO had his (company) car broken into by some bangers who apparently thought they could start it by hot-wiring (they can't) and in anger they tore up the dash. The neighbor saw them in the car and called the police. Twenty minutes later the neighbor looked out and saw them still in the car. He didn't know whose car it was (company car changes often) but he did call the police again. Police never came. Next day, SO called the cops to report and they said drive the car down so they could see it. It doesn't run, he said. Oh. Then he went to the police station to take the cops the tools (his tools) that the dumbfucks used to tear up the car and told the cops they might have fingerprints. They said well, you have to bring them in on Thursday morning when the fingerprint tech is in. (chain of evidence???) I love LA. I don't even blame the cops; they're short of help and there are too many car thieves/vandals in town. I blame...who do I blame??

[Constipated Mathematician]

Given all of these stories of people losing their stereos/cd players...

Where exactly do these things go? Not that I'm in the market for a used stereo, but if I was, where would I buy one? What could they possibly be worth?

I am guessing pawn shop, but are there other markets for these products? Doesn't the pawn shop owner notice the obviously poor condition of the stereo, with the torn wires, bits of dashboard, and screwdriver scratches? "I'll give you 5 bucks." hardly seems worth the trouble. And who is buying these stereos to create such a demand?

Sorry about your car. That stinks.

[Troy McClure SF]

I think that Troy's sentiment (and mine, too) is that car alarms which go off for a "casual loiterer" (or when the wind blows), but which will not stop a "determined vandal" do absolutely nothing to protect your car, but are an extreme annoyance to anyone within earshot.
Yep. It seemed like you considered a "casual loiterer" (as opposed to a potential thief) to be someone who should be shooed away. Of course, I live in SF, where anyone casually loiting* near a car is bound to be on a public street, where they have every right to be.

*-Yes, I know that "loitering" is the proper word. I just think this one sounds funnier.

[Joey P]

Someone has been syphoning gas from my car. This is weird because my car's gas door locks and the cap locks, too. There's no damage so I can only assume that this person either somehow got the keys to my car, or is a very experienced lockpick.
~Tasha
Check the tank itself. There's another thread on the board somewhere about someone who found a hole in their tank that people had been syphoning gas out of.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Given all of these stories of people losing their stereos/cd players...

Where exactly do these things go? Not that I'm in the market for a used stereo, but if I was, where would I buy one? What could they possibly be worth?

I am guessing pawn shop, but are there other markets for these products? Doesn't the pawn shop owner notice the obviously poor condition of the stereo, with the torn wires, bits of dashboard, and screwdriver scratches? "I'll give you 5 bucks." hardly seems worth the trouble. And who is buying these stereos to create such a demand?

Sorry about your car. That stinks. Flea markets and garage sales, among others. I think that the thieves also get off on just plain vandalizing, as well. The one who got my husband's CD player certainly had to spend a lot of time and effort to get into the car, much more effort than the item was worth. If only s/he had to pay for the damage...

[Constipated Mathematician]

Flea markets and garage sales, among others. I think that the thieves also get off on just plain vandalizing, as well. The one who got my husband's CD player certainly had to spend a lot of time and effort to get into the car, much more effort than the item was worth. If only s/he had to pay for the damage...

I think you hit the nail on the head. I've changed my stereo in my own car with an aftermarket model, and it took some time. I realize that if I wanted to dig the stereo out and play "beat the clock", I could have done it more quickly, but I would have hosed things majorly.

They must like the thrill of vandalizing and the excitement of perhaps getting caught. The stereo must be a trophy. I'd never buy a used stereo at a flea market or yard sale. I wonder if they end up in the nearest dumpster.

The damage to your husband's car sounds excessive. That truly sucks to have to pay for that (insurance or not). To not have your car for a week is an annoyance. I think I'm joining the previously mentioned club.

[tashabot]

Check the tank itself. There's another thread on the board somewhere about someone who found a hole in their tank that people had been syphoning gas out of.

Tank's fine. :) It's one of the first things I checked, because I thought at first that it was a leak. My dad and I took the entire tank out to look at it.

I put a piece of scotch tape on the door and when I came out in the morning it was busted open - they didn't even bother to remove the tape! I'm still really curious as to why they'd do it to my tank and not the gigantic van across the street (my parents) that has a huge amount of gas that won't be noticed if a little is missing. As it is we're thinking of mounting a watch - we have like ten people in this house, we can mount a watch. I'm not the only car getting hit, but mine is the most perplexing case.

People who steal shit from other people are assholes. People who fuck with other people's shit should have a special level of hell reserved for them.

~Tasha

[Joey P]

Do you have someone to record the 'watch' on tape?
Have you contacted the police. If you know about what time it might be happening, they might be willing to steak out with you. Or, if it's a small town (I've done this for other things, BTW). Call the 911 dispatcher (the non-emergency number). Explain the situation to them, and that it would be very helpful if they could have a squad in the area, so that when you see the person, you'll call 911 and they can have the cop there within a minute or so.

[Harmonious Discord]

I was thinking how it sounded like the stuff my sister had happening for 6 monthes in Madison, a few years back. It cumulated with them stealing a lens cover. She had to purchase the whole assemby for like $500. I see your in the same town. I'll bet it's some teen within a short distance from your apartment.
The most likely siphone point would be to put a hole in the rubber hose running from the cap to the tank opening. It's like a radiator hose, and only has gas in it if you can see the gas is up to the cap, or durihng filling.