REMINDER: Don't leave a knapsack, a purse, a briefcase, or anything else in your car

[pnwmom]

that might tempt someone to break in.

Like happened to my son last night.



Don't even leave something valuable, like a wallet, in your glove box.

Okay, he needs to call the police, the insurance, get the window repaired, freeze whatever credit he has . . .


Am I forgetting anything?


P.S. Some nice person found him on FB and contacted him to say he had papers scattered across their yard.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

1. The cheap auto security system option, leave one on the dash...

...along with a pair of size 12 jump boots on the back seat.

[Hekate]

2. I'm so sorry. I'm sure you've gone over the usual with him for future travels....

Mom taught me to put my purse underneath the front seat to keep it out of sight, but modern cars have too much mechanical stuff under there. My iPad mini fits in the drop drawer, which locks, but it also fits in my purse, which is why I chose that size. Cell phone goes with me. The trunk locks. When shopping, I often move the car after depositing my shopping bags in the trunk, on the theory that a bunch of people saw me do that. I have a beach towel on the back seat because the dog rides there, and toss it over any items I may have stowed on the floor.

Main thing: I never, ever, ever leave valuables in sight, be they electronics, shopping bags, backpacks, purses, or suitcases. Knock wood.

A determined thief can still smash his way in, but it will be on spec and not because he sees something. There's an old saying about hiding your valuables: An open drawer makes a thief.

[pnwmom]

3. Yeah. He just forgot. I guess he's learned his lesson now

just like his Dad did a long time ago . . . .

[left-of-center2012]

4. Why would anyone leave a wallet in their car?

A guy who works in the office of my apartment complex had his car broken into one night.
They stole his checkbook and credit cards.

[pnwmom]

6. I had a friend who did it when she went into a park. I don't know why.

She learned the hard way.

[lastlib]

5. Several years ago, I had my car broken into....

while parked at work. Lock had to have been jimmied, b/c I KNOW I had locked it when I got out, and the driver's door was the only one unlocked when I returned. The only things taken were my car registration, and my owner's manual (STILL can't figure THAT out!).
Fortunately, there was nothing in the car of any value, and nothing to give away my residential address or any other personal info. But it was weird that they took those two things and nothing else! (Not that there was really much to take....)

[pnwmom]

7. Your car registration didn't have your address on it? Ours does. n/t

[lastlib]

8. just my P. O. box.

[csziggy]

9. My husband had his car broken into while at work

He worked nights at a copy shop. Across the parking lot was a McDonald's, downstairs was a bar. Sometime after the bar closed, someone went through the parking lot breaking windows and looking for cash or stuff they could sell. About 4 AM the cops came up and found my husband to get a list of what had been taken.

The only thing missing was a zippered case of CD copies of music albums. Rather than carry originals around, I burned CDRs of every album we owned. Now we just rip them and copy to a thumb drive, but this was about fifteen years ago.

The albums were easy to replace, but I did like that zippered case. The damn window cost $100 less than our deductible so we didn't file with our insurance.

[spinbaby]

10. I had a prescription stolen from my car

It was in the bag from the pharmacy and I’d left the car unlocked while I ran into the nursery to grab a quick flat of impatiens. I hope whoever it was enjoyed my cat’s thyroid medicine.

[DFW]

11. Once, during a strike by garbage collectors in Philadelphia in the 1970s....

One enterprising young mother found her trash bins overflowing with soiled diapers. She got herself some boxes and some gift wrap. She then put the diapers in plastic air-tight bags so they wouldn't smell, and packed them tightly in the boxes. She then gift-wrapped them with a Happy Birthday card taped to each one, and put them on the back seat of her car. She then drove to another part of town, left her car unlocked, went for coffee somewhere, and came back fifteen minutes later. Sure enough: free garbage removal. The boxes containing the used diapers had been removed from her car. Happy Birthday indeed!

It was in both main Philadelphia papers. She wisely chose not to have her name or picture revealed in either paper.