# Why would these car-robbers have taken such unusual things? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220 "2010-09-01T02:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/41 "2010-09-07T17:01:20Z")
Oh, and for a hilarious anecdote, when my car got stolen, joyrided, and then recovered, all my music CDs were stolen, but my toolbox in the backseat was just rifled through, none of the tools taken. For no reason they used a screwdriver to stab a huge gash in my windshield from the inside. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/42 "2010-09-07T22:00:02Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > What was stolen: > [ul] > [li]Mom’s gym bag[/li][li]Mom’s gym shoes[/li][li]windshield mount for our GPS[/li][/ul] > > … > > Mom says that a woman she knows had the same thing happen to her–where only her gym stuff was stolen–a while back. Any suggestions about what could have motivated these thieves? Sounds like the thief has a fetish ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/43 "2010-09-08T01:24:36Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > > > A friend of mine had thieves get into her car on the way to the clinic, and steal a large, secure bag on the front seat. It contained carefully labeled individual fecal samples from each member of her large family! > > So, ironically it was a bad thing for your family to have their shit together. 😃 😃 Win. – I had a hand held garmin Etrex Yellow GPS\*, a shake magnet powered flashlight taken from my car. Apparently, they were working on my 6 disc changer when something spooked them. To this day, I can’t play any of the CDs nor can I eject the old school magazine that holds the 6 discs. - No maps, no turn by turn directions. A simple hand held GPS I used for geocaching, monochrome, LCD display. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/44 "2010-09-08T15:29:40Z")
Can you report a GPS unit to the manufacturer as being stolen and have it deactivated, as with a satellite radio? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/45 "2010-09-08T20:56:21Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > I have never understood this. I’m from an awful neighborhood, we would just assume you want to give your things to people by not taking the 2 seconds to lock the doors. The random crap in my car is cheap. Automotive glass is expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/46 "2010-09-12T00:22:00Z")
Update: neighbour found my mom’s gym bag in the alley behind our houses. Still no sign of her shoes or the windshield mount. However, they had removed her weight-loss progress sheets from the gym bag. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/47 "2010-09-12T00:49:04Z")
An ingenious way to win a weight loss competition. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/48 "2010-09-12T02:03:26Z")
Interesting timing. I just had a gym bag with my and my boy’s wet swim trunks in it taken from my truck. I hope you enjoy your ratty wet swimwear mister thief. I was going to replace them all in a few months anyway. Thanks for giving me the excuse. And if I can find them on sale somewhere as an end of season clearance it will be all the better. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/49 "2010-09-12T03:25:46Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > The random crap in my car is cheap. How inconsiderate to keep _random_ crap lying around. You should be like **t-bonham** and keep all the crap in a nice secure bag. ---
**Author:** ![US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c2a13f/32.png) [@US\_Bureau\_of\_Labor\_Statistics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/US_Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/50 "2010-09-13T07:03:23Z")
This one is a real long shot, but it’s possible that the thieves didn’t want to steal anything which had serial numbers recorded anywhere. I can imagine a GPS and even a Bluetooth headset with serial numbers which a prudent owner meticulously copied down somewhere. Shoes? Not so much. Keep in mind that this is just a logical explanation. Breaking into cars usually signifies problems with the criminals’ logical thought processes. There are countless less risky targets with better returns. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220/51 "2010-09-13T14:44:39Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > > [@rogerbox](#): > > > > I have never understood this. I’m from an awful neighborhood, we would just assume you want to give your things to people by not taking the 2 seconds to lock the doors. > > The random crap in my car is cheap. Automotive glass is expensive. I had some friends who didn’t lock their car for this reason. They knew stuff was going to get stolen from their car, the question was whether the thief would break a window to get in or not. Fortunately, they moved to a better neighborhood, and presumably stopped doing this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-these-car-robbers-have-taken-such-unusual-things/552220.md?page=2)