It’s an annoying thing to happen but do people really need to be warned that it’s a bad idea to leave valuables in a car?
Honestly, if it’s that bad, I would consider getting a car with visible trunk space and leaving the glove box and everything else open so thieves can see that there’s nothing in there.
In our many decades of renting a car and owning cars, I guess we will count our blessings this is the first and only incident.
When you’ve just arrived after a long flight, I can understand leaving stuff in the car, tho we had hoped S hadn’t.
At least they left his suitcase with clothing.
NEVER…read that again…NEVER leave your wallet in an unattended car. NEVER. Actually, if parking in ooennview, I think I would NOT have left the backpack in full view either.
But that’s water over the dam…lesson learned.
No one got hurt…credit cards can be cancelled, and ID replaced. Ditto backpack and contents.
Ugh, so sorry this happened. We had a similar incident in a garage in Buffalo, NY. We were driving back after dropping off our son at Oberlin and stopped to spend the night. There was literally nothing of value in our car, but someone broke in, went through our trash receptacle (which was very clearly for trash), dumped it on the seats and stole our Purell, probably to get high. Had to go to a Home Depot to get cardboard for the window. My daughter wrote in huge letters on the outside of the cardboard, “THANKS, BUFFALO!” The words she wrote on the inside are not appropriate for this site.
We never leave valuables in the car, but sometimes, break-ins happen anyway. And don’t get me started on the bears in Yosemite…
It’s a huge problem in San Francisco. My friend who lives in the city leaves his car unlocked with the hope that his windows won’t get smashed. They’ve been broken anyway.
So sorry to hear, @HImom. I’ve never parked in the lot you’re talking about but I certainly have when going to the in N Out or Panera next door. Really hate the uptick that we’ve all seen in these types of crimes. Do let us know how it goes with Chase and also with your S at the airport.
I get the feeling S has had to travel without ID before and he doesn’t seem very concerned, honestly. He expects it to take longer and to be searched when he has to go thru TSA.
I’m fairly confident things will go smoothly with Chase Sapphire Preferred reimbursing for charges by Budget for the window damage. S and I both have had positive prior experiences in dealing with naming claims via CC companies.
Re: #16
She has never had anything stolen? That would ba amazing, since the advice never to leave anything that looks valuable and easily stealable in view in an unattended car has existed for decades (going back to the crime wave era that peaked in the early 1990s).
The other part of the advice is that if you have to leave something hidden in the trunk, put it there before driving to where you leave it there, so that a thief will not see you put it there and then leave.
Article in LA Times today about the CA crime wave. Two main theories were that law enforcement feel that making arrests for property crime is now a waste of time since sentences have been reduced, and a nationwide reluctance of LEO to engage in confrontations for which they may be criticized; i.e. the viral video syndrome.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-police-slowdown-20170401-story.html
@HImom , can you let us know how things go with the TSA on Monday?
S says he has flown without ID before–questioned more, patted down but otherwise it was ok. He’s not anticipating it to be too awful, but I will let you know what he says.
I have flown without my DL from SEA to SJC and back to SEA… But I had my student ID with photo, my credit cards all in BB’s name, and my husband wit the same last name was on the same itinerary. Hope that a copy of the police report does the trick for your S!
We were in that area yesterday. Two different parking situations. The one in San Bruno had big warning signs about car thieves. The one in downtown San Mateo did not. But then again, the SM spot was about 50 feet from the police station.
We’ve had our vehicle broken into in SF. Broad daylight on a busy street while dining right across the road. They grabbed a visible bag (long story, this is a big NO NO in our family but it happened that day). The bag contained the clothing I’d worn during the day while we were working on a project. After getting over the shock and anger I asked H to circle around the area. Sure enough, the bag - with all it’s contents strewn on the ground - was in a cluster of trees only a few yards from the car.
This type of crime is not taken seriously in our area. It’s almost like - meh…it happens, sorry but don’t call law enforcement, there’s nothing they can or will do.
My area prides itself on tolerance. I guess this is just the newest activity that must be tolerated. 8-|
No, theft is a very old activity. And theft cases historically have a low rate of being solved (defined by arrest of a suspect).
Yes, theft is an old activity. And one would know where to be a bit cautious and where to be paranoid. Now, it’s the paranoid approach just about everywhere in ‘The Greater Bay Area’. And it is tolerated as a way of life. Selective enforcement of laws and specific non-enforcement of laws has lead us to a place where we are willing to accept criminal behavior as normal.
Paranoid behavior with regard to small valuables visible in unattended cars has always been advised, regardless of where one is. There is nothing new.
S said he was fine getting thru TSA with NO ID and apparently has had to do this previously as well. He’s a “no drama” kid and just takes things in stride and just expects they will take a bit longer and involve more intrusive pat downs when he doesn’t have all IDs he’s supposed to have.
I guess I’m glad the hotel we are staying at has VERY bright lights on all night as well as surveillance if the entire parking lot. We will be switching our future SUV rental to a sedan with a trunk. It seems a bit more hassle for thieves to break into S trunk over smashing glass.
Has it always been this bad in SF? It used to be very bad in NYC in the 70s but that changed.
We have never had problems in SF before and have been visiting regularly since we married over 30 years ago. The sheriff blames it on rising costs and reducing penalties on drugs and theft.