[VTEC Goes Bwaah]

As the title mentions, has anyone had the misfortune of having their car either stolen or vandalized? If you did, what happened?

I haven't had a car stolen (knock on wood) but I've been keyed more times than I'd like. I don't get how people can be so careless are jerks about that kind of stuff.

 

[RUNN1N]

We had a car stolen out of our driveway a couple years ago--our key-obsessed kid happened to leave a set of valet keys in our other vehicle on the same night where a local petty theft specialist went house to house hunting for loose change, cologne, gift cards... the usual things people leave in their cars. On this night, he just happened to luck into a set of keys that allowed him to exit the neighborhood in our car.

We had a Ring floodlight camera mounted directly above where all the action took place, and it caught the whole thing from start to finish. When we showed the police, their response was, "Oh... yeah... we're pretty sure we know who that is. We'll get back to you." The car was parked outside the thief's house, and they were able to apprehend him with the car ~2 days later. What did they do with the guy, you ask? Let him go, of course. Thanks, City of Columbus. Tough on nothin'.

Unfortunately, in a matter of 2 days, this guy was able to hit a trashcan, back into something, rip the headliner stealing a bicycle, and smoke a TON of cigarettes. We carried full coverage insurance with Allstate, and they brought the car back to pre-loss condition with a little body work and plenty of detailing inside + a new headliner. Our policy also included coverage for a replacement car seat (side note, if someone steals your car, don't reuse your car seat, just get a new one, especially if your policy covers it--our thief was apprehended with his son sitting in our son's car seat) and $100 for "apparel and luggage", which replaced our diaper bag and my wife's coat.

It was a frustrating experience, but fortunately, it all worked out. Even for the thief, I suppose.

 

[johnv]

In the 80's my then girlfriend, now wife, and I moved into a tiny apartment on the south side of St. Louis MO. I was driving a snazzy red Plymouth Horizon TC3 Turismo, and my wife a less snazzy Ford Escort. In the parking lot, between the building and the alley, the Horizon was broken into 3 times. The Excort was never touched. Breaking glass each time to gain access, one time through the aftermarket sunroof glass. The first time they ripped the Kenwood stereo out of the dash. The last time they took the cheap used Pioneer I had wired in but was laying in the passenger footwell.
No one was ever apprehended. I chalked it up to "White punks on dope," and moved to the suburbs.

 

[benzaccord]

Back when my wife and I were living in Brooklyn and I was in Toronto on a business trip (before cell phones), I get a call at the office in Toronto I was working in from my wife. “Did you take the car to the airport this morning?” I replied “No.”. She said “Well, it is not here”. 1992 Infiniti G20. Geico was our insurer. The insurance guy tells us we won’t get a penny if they recover the car and find no evidence of forced entry. A week later, we get a call from the police. The car is recovered with the entire interior ripped out. New seats alone are $6500, so I know it’s getting totaled. Luckily both the door lock and ignition were completely destroyed and so Geico paid us a very fair amount (minus our deductible) without any arguing.

 

[Slowcarfast]

My Civic was stolen when I lived in Long Beach. It was the one night I didn’t use The Club™️. I initially thought my girlfriend’s apartment complex had had it towed for being in the guest spot too long. After talking to the police, they said they had found it blocking an alley with no wheels, and it was at the impound.
It was stripped of most of the aftermarket parts (intake, exhaust, strut bars, head unit), the gauge cluster, rocker panels, and some random interior trim pieces. I later heard from a classmate that some shady suppliers steal car parts to base their molds on. My Dad had the original steel wheels and parts, so he brought those down a few days later. Thankfully the impound waved the storage fee (it’s bad enough to have your car stolen, having to pay for towing and impound just rubs salt in the wound).
We only had liability insurance and I was a poor college kid so my girlfriend’s family mechanic got it running in his spare time, only charging for the cost of some used parts. It was an awkward beater after that, with a used gauge cluster from an automatic with the wrong mileage, and some missing trim pieces I never had the money for. I drove it like that for another 5 years.
Two years after being stolen, it was also broken into and had the stereo stolen again. That’s Long Beach, I guess. 6 hr drive by yourself with no radio is very boring.

 

[netesd]

Had my Integra stolen and later found with the engine head, transmission and a bunch of other stuff missing. Was very sad it was a 1995 GSR and it was stolen in 2006. Still miss that car. I got to say my good-bye and visited it at the junk yard.