No, really, where IS my car?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So I dash out of the house this morning, sweater and breakfast in hand, congratulating myself for being early, when it dawns on me that my car is no longer where I parked it last night.

I look around the apartment complex for a while, thinking maybe some kids rolled it somewhere as a joke. Nope, it’s gone. It wasn’t mistakenly towed, I didn’t forget where I parked. My car has been stolen. Here’s the kicker- I just paid it off last month.

I’m upset, but not devastated. It was an old car, and needed work, but still, it was mine. I guess it was an easy target, not having the fancy security systems of my neighbors’ Porsches and BMWs. My poor defenseless car, stolen in the dead of night, unable to wail and wake anyone up for help.

The thing that ticks me off the most is that it’s freshly paid off. I thought i’d gotten that financial burden off my back, and unless it’s found (yeah, right), I’m going to be looking at a whole new series of much higher car payments. GRRRR!

I know it’s not terrible in the grand scheme of things, but it’s pretty much ruined my day.

2

Oh, snuggles. I sympathize and empathize. I think we all know that the same thing happened to me a few months ago. Nothing beats that unreal feeling of walking to your car, only to find it NOT THERE! Did you stand there for about five minutes trying to remember if you parked it somewhere differently?

Anyway, can’t type through feverish haze, but wanted you to know I understand. At least you’re not too scared to get another car. I’m still waiting to test my karmic waters before I go back down that road.

:::walks off muttering about good people and the bad things that happen to them:::

3

Shit, that sucks! {{{SeaDiver}}}

4

Well, at least your taking it well.

Reminds me of of my friend Louis. Louis was a stoner in high school and a very mellow fellow. One day he answered an ad in the “giveaway” section of the newspaper for a AMC Pacer, free to whomever wanted it.

So Louis shows up and adopts this sixteen plus year-old car, which was miserably ugly but ran okay, considering. We drove the thing around all summer long.

One day Louis goes outside and he realizes that the car is missing and, now that he thought about it, he hadn’t actually seen it for weeks (as I’d mentioned before, Louis was smoking alot of weed at the time). He was just so used to not having a car that he’d forgotten he had one and when it went missing it didn’t register. We never did find the thing.

Yes, totally off the subject I know.

I suppose I’m asking that if anybody sees a 1975 AMC Pacer, crudely spray-painted blue with stencilled fish all over it, give me an E-Mail, please.

5

{{{{{{Sea}}}}}}

I’m so sorry to hear it hon. The on consolation of wrecking my car i sthat at least I know no-one’s going to steal it atm. Though my housemate has had his stolen twice in the past three months.

Were none of the three of us insured?

6

Thanks so much everyone, I appreciate it.
Nym, that pretty much nails it, I still sort of feel like I must have parked it somewhere else. I know I didn’t, I park in one of the same four spots every day. I can’t believe it happened to you too, guess this just strengthens our bond, huh? :wink:

dpr, fortunately, it was insured. There’s a three week period before it’s considered a “total loss”, so we’ll see what happens. Man, your poor roomate must be pissed!

Thanks to Geo for the hug and Inky for the picture of the wandering stoner. :slight_smile:

7

I have a big ol’ story about mine, but I’m too tired/sick to post it now. Ask thinksnow, he got the whole, sordid tale back in the day when I felt human.

8

Inky-, dude, I thought that was my car! then again, I was smoking a lot at the time too.

Sea, that sucks. I’m glad you were insured. This may sound crummy, but you’ll be better off if they don’t find it, usually. When people steal cars, they tend to trash them, whether that be taking parts off the car, racing it around or making huge, disgusting messes in them.

In 92, my ex and I had just bought a new Ford station wagon (I was in the army, we were poor, this was a pretty nice car to us then.) We were driving it from CA to TX, where I was stationed, with all our stuff in the car. We stopped in Phoenix and stayed the night. In the morning, no car. We had stopped late and hadn’t even brought the baby’s diaper bag in. Also, like an idiot, I had left my wallet in the car. 22 hours straight on the road makes some people stupid, I guess. So, we’re in the middle of no where, no money, no diapers, no formula, nothing…

Luckily, my mom was able to wire us some plane tickets and we had friends who picked us up at the airport in Austin. Well, they found the car two weeks later, in LAS VEGAS! They arrested the guy and then let him go…fucking assholes. Lucky they did though, because I woulda smashed his fuckin’ face in if I ever saw him. Anyway, the car was trashed. He had spilt beer all over, put out cigarettes on the seats…ick, it was disgusting. Not to mention that I had to fly to LV to pick it up and then drive it back.
Well, anyway, I was just trying to cheer you up. :smiley:

9

Eh, sorry about my foul language above. I guess I’m still kinda bitter.
The point I was trying to make was, that car was never the same. The insurance company reimbursed us for a lot of stuff, but even after having the car detailed, etc, it was never the same. Better to just take the loss and get something new. Hopefully the reimbursement for your stolen vehicle will be enough to replace what you lost.

Good luck, Sea.

10

That’s gotta suck. I hope you recover it relatively unharmed.

My brother’s car was stolen, and it was recovered also but never the same, something like your scenario, Demo, except I think his had been stripped and the insurance company paid to have it repaired. But it still wasn’t the same.

11

Bad car week for us BAD’s it would seem! Hope it works out for the best for you. Hey maybe the people that stabbed my two tires stole your car, then we could go all Charlie’s Angels on them and beat them up! YEA!

12

Damn Demo! Losing your car and all your wordly possessions in one shot, down to the diaper bag! What the hell am I complaining about? Everyone I’ve talked to has echoed what you and the kind SpiderWoman have said, that I’m better off not recovering it. It’s starting to sink in.

Rasa, you just say the word! I’ll be working on my kung-fu high kicks. Haaayaaa!

Of course, this just HAD to happen right after I decided to start a no-drinking stint. Damn it!!

13

That’s a real nasty surprize!
They probably will find the car, though. Usually damaged. Whether or not it belongs to you or your insurance company at that point, though, depends on how fast they’ve done the paperwork. Either way, it’s not a fun project, especially if you’ve already shopped for a replacement.

14

Ugh, SeaDiver, that sucks. {{{SeaDiver}}}

Okay, if you go out looking for whoever stole your car, I’ll come with you and try to locate the jerks that stole some CDs from me. Fair enough?

15

Yikes, SeaDiver, that just plain sucks!

I thought my car was stolen once. Turns out it was just towed because I parked on a corner (not blocking any traffic whatsoever, but I digress). In the end I don’t really know what would have pissed me off most: someone stealing my car and possibly selling it in Poland (it’s the thing to do these days), or this beauraucrat being too stubborn to give ME a call instead of the tow service (the car has a parking permit which indicates that I live within two streets of where it was parked, and all the idiot had to do was type in my license plate to retrieve my phone number). Cost for parking wrong: 90 Guilders. Cost for towing it off to a depot less than 400 meters away: 400 Guilders. AAAAARRGHHHH!!!

Uh, I guess this thread is about you, right? OK, what can I do to make SeaDiver feel better… lemme think here…

[sub]Got it![/sub]

Sea, even without wheels, a lovely lady like yourself should have no problem whatsoever getting lifts in under thirty seconds! :wink:

I hope all works out.

16

Mine was stolen right out of my apartment garage on Oct 2 and found torn up and very damp on Oct 15.

In my case, the dopes that stole it sliced the convertible roof in two places over the driver’s seat and abandoned it when it started to rain. No arrest, no nothin. I returned the valuable stuff (other people’s stolen things, including checks) to the cops and it’s been sitting around my garage waiting to be repaired and sold.

It’ll show up. It’ll be full of cigarettes and candybar wrappers and other people’s combs. Your registration will be gone, as will anything else in the glove compartment. Look for your radio to be tuned to horrible music.

But thank your lucky stars for the insurance. My insurance company told me AFTER it was stolen that my policy didn’t cover theft. I was certain that it did, as the girl at the agency said so, but sure enough, there it was on Page 9.

17

And yes, I did stand there in my reserved underground parking spot for about five minutes experiencing the unusual sensation of walking around in the spot I knew should be occupied by a solid object.

It’s kinda like working on elevators.

18

where’s yer car, dude?

honestly, if someone stole Maranello Angelina, I’d be soooo pissed… she’s my baby…

I feel for you, gorgeous

19

Well, the good news is that between Rasa, Nocturne, myself, and anyone else who cares to join, we may have ourselves a little gang of ragtag heroes fighting for justice. Bad news is, oh yeah, my car. I just realized I still haven’t told my parents! I think I’ve been putting it off to avoid the Latin drama that is sure to ensue for as long as possible. It makes me feel bad that they’ll probably be more upset about this than I am. I’ll tell them tomorrow, maybe, or the day after for sure.

Roachman, thankfully the insurance agency is being pretty cooperative…so far.

Thanks for the kind words, Coldie and Ad! Coldie, that towed/believed stolen thing has also happened to me before, in the middle of a really bad date. My luck may actually be improving!

20

Snuggles?

Hmm…

:smiley: