WooHoo2You wrote:
| I just find it strange that all the cars that were broken into were
| Hondas, and the exact same way, on all there occasions.

I live in a complex, too, and had my car (Civic 88) broken into three times.
Two times, it was the cheap "smash a window, yank the radio, run" trick
(actually, once they only stole the face of the radio that was under the
seat and left the radio in?!).

When the third theft happened, I didn't even notice. As I was about to drive
off in the morning, I noticed that the glove compartment was open. I tried
remembering whether I had unlocked the car (happens automatically), and
wasn't sure I actually had.

Closer inspection showed that the car was broken into. Two (empty) packs of
cigarettes were missing, nothing else. What *was* curious, though, was that
on the driver side window, the little "nose"/tab that guides the window at
the front top of the window when it meets the frame was missing. I found it
next to the car on the ground, a little piece of metal with the
(plastic-covered) nose. I could stick it back in and it's been there since.

The same night a whole lot of other Hondas were broken into the same way. My
carport neighbor told me that they only stole some mints out of her car, but
she had the same symptom - that little nose missing. If I remember right,
it's was an older (late 80s) Accord.

So I guess there is a weak spot for those in the know with the lack of
respect for others property.

| I love my Civic, and would only trade-up for another Honda, however
| at this point I am second guessing my decision on new car purchases.
| (it just kills me when I walk to my car and all of my belongings on
| the wet ground beside my car, or a police officer coming to my door
| to inform me of the wonderful news.)

Yeah that sucks. A few things to consider:

- put in an alarm, or at least a blinking light. Even though nobody even
notices alarms these days (at least not around where I live), it's still an
added risk factor for a thief. Given two cars, side-by-side, one with a
blinking light and the other without, which one would you pick?

- *take out all valuables*. That includes empty bags that look like they
could have a laptop computer etc. You can go as far as leaving the glove
compartment open to show that there's nothing fancy inside.

- (aftermarket stereo) - take off the face and out of the car.

- (if nothing is worth stealing in the car) - consider even leaving it
unlocked. That might sound radical but at least it saves you having to
replace another window.

- use an immobilizing device such as a club. Yes, those can be cracked as
well (literally...) but it takes more time. Not worth for hobby thieves, and
pros don't mess with crappy little Civics (no insult, I have one too

A friend had his (old beat up) Camry stolen for a joyride. Ever since then,
I have a club on my wheel and leave nothing in it worth stealing. Knock on
wood, it hasn't been broken into in the last 3 or so years...

Oh - slimjimming these cars is *simple* - when I locked in my keys, the AAA
guy that came needed about all of 7 seconds to have it open.


||
|| WooHoo2You
||
|| "Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull@cybertrails.com> wrote in message
|| news:-o2dnf4d98lLwxDfRVn-3g@sedona.net...
||| "WooHoo2You" <no@email.com> wrote in message
||| news:AHcje.4748$uR4.1456@newsread2.news.atl.earthl ink.net...
|||| I do not know if they used a slim jim. I do know that the pressed
|||| the window down almost an inch, and caused damage to the rubber
|||| weathering strips that seal the top section of the glass to the
|||| door's frame.
||||
|||
||| That sounds like the way the road service guy opened my son's '89
||| Accord LXi when he locked the keys in it. No go with the slim jim -
||| there was just nothing to grab that would move the direction he
||| needed to go to unlock the door. He next tried to push the driver's
||| window down, but just couldn't get the gap he needed without
||| damaging something. Then he got a pair of padded pry bars and a
||| pair of padded wooden wedges out and worked at making a gap between
||| the door and the body at the top rear corner of the driver's door.
||| About 5 minutes of that opened a gap he could get a stiff wire in
||| and flip the lock lever. That guy earned his $35, I'll tell you!
|||
||| (Probably all cars can be opened that way, I'm guessing.)
|||
||| Mike