B&E for Beginners

Last weekend my car was broken into.

Let me preface this story by saying none of my former cars, nor my parents’ cars, have been broken into.

Why? Because in the history of the Zengels, we’ve driven shitty cars. Turns out, criminals don’t want to break into shitty cars, they tend to break into either really common cars (Toyota Camry) or top of the line cars.

I drive a Toyota Matrix. A simple hatchback with plenty of dings and dents that let people know that my car is now a city car. When I park in sketchy areas, I’m not afraid that someone’s going to steal my car because it’s so run-of-the-mill. I WAS afraid of having my GPS or XM radio stolen because those are typical hot ticket items.

A friend of mine grew up in Center City Philly and regaled me with stories about not-so-typical hot ticket items. For example, she kept her EZ Pass tag in her glove compartment because thieves were known to break into a car and steal the pass from windshield. She also kept her registration sticker (that typically would go on her license plate) in her glove compartment because thieves had been known to use wire cutters and literally cut her neighbors’ license plates, take the stickers and glue them onto their own plates (thus not having to pay the registration fee when theirs expired).

Growing up in a small town where my parents rarely locked our cars, it was kind of a shock to the system when my Gertie the Matrix had been ravaged.

The tip-off that my car had been broken into was my GPS/cell phone charger dock laying on the ground outside of the driver’s door. Also, my CDs, papers, etc. were strewn about the floor on the passenger’s side. [For those out there who keep your car a mess, maybe you’re actually a deterrent for B&Es and they think your car has already been broken into.]

Panic set in.

I saw that my XM radio dock had been ripped from the dashboard where it had been GORILLA glued. This is the stuff you see in commercials where a guy’s construction hat is glued to a beam and holds him up. I mean, kudos to you, thief. You must work out in order to be able to rip that adhesive bond.

But it wasn’t stolen, merely dangling by the wires that are threaded through the dashboard.

Surely then, they must have stolen the faceplate of the XM radio?

But a quick inspection to its hiding spot told me it was still safe and sound.

Since my GPS is broken and on Justin’s table awaiting his unfound fixit skills, and my phone—which doubles as my GPS—was in the house, there wasn’t any GPS the thief(ves) could steal. And since we already found the cradle for the phone, that wasn’t stolen, either.

Justin and I were puzzled.

XM dock. XM faceplate. GPS dock. check, check, check.

My windows hadn’t been broken. It didn’t appear that any of my CDs were stolen. Even an errant credit card I had stashed for emergencies hadn’t been found or stolen (thankfully — now I carry it with me).

So…the only thing I could note that was missing was…a jar of change that I had recently emptied of quarters to vacuum my car. Which left…about $0.47 in nickels and dimes.

Some advice to the thief — maybe stick to the high-end cars rather than the sensible ones. Because frankly, if I had the money for a high-end car, I would probably have more than $0.47 in my change jar.

As Justin said, it really was a best-case scenario for someone breaking into my car. Nothing was really damaged or stolen, and on the upside, unlike my friend in Philly who had this happen to her, there wasn’t a homeless person sleeping in the back of my car curled up on my sleeping bag.