Well it happend to me! Had my truck broken into today VIA the magical spot all theives like to use. To make matters even better they buggered up my Igniton keyhole trying to get the truck. They also stole my stereo and tools! Next time they will be looking down at a 40cal.
ARGH.
Anyone who has had this happen what all did it cost to fix? Im thinking about just trading the truck in with all of these nice incentives.

 

Sorry to hear of your trouble. I don't know how old your truck is, but the idea of trading just because of some breakin damage is insane. If it was an old truck then it might make sense. I go more by the mechanics. If it is running good and solid I keep them a LONG time.

Good luck.

Frank

 

I had mine broken into last week too. They stole my CD's, Alpine stereo, and my Oakley's. They did mine the old fashioned way, the broke the passenger window. I was parked at Circuit City, front row at 2 pm!!! Insurance man came out and wrote me a check for all of the minor damages (stereo, glass, scratches to interior and dash, etc.) It was a total of $1100. He said i had to claim the missing items on homeowners ins.

 

Had mine broken into a while back in a busy Walmart parking lot with a security camera pointing at the truck at 2:30 in the afternoon, pretty ballsy. I figure the as*holes had to already be in the parking lot someplace watching my wife and I get out and walk to the store. We were only in there about a 1/2 hour, they moved pretty quick. They used a screwdriver to pry to lock open on the drivers side. In the process, they bent the door in at the handle from prying down on the lock, I was soooooo pissed. All they managed to get away with was my owners manual and a pair of sunglasses, pretty desparate. I'm guessing they got preempted because it looked like they were trying to get a whole lot more. The face plate to my radio was off and lying on the seat plus they had both of my amps pulled out from under the back seat. My insurance covered the costs plus the replacement of my owners manual. I ended up having to have both drivers-side doors repainted. When I got in the truck after the cop had left I was seeing red. I wish I had these jerks in front of me so I could run over their asses. Get this, when I got to the truck and realized that someone had broke in, I found a pager lying right next to the drivers door that wasn't there when I got out of the truck. I would have stepped on it if it was there. I park way out so nobody was around me so I figured to pager belonged to one of the jack***es who broke into my truck. I showed the cop when he got there and all he did was pick it up, look at it and that was it. I mentioned to him the fact that it was not there when I arrived and that it was lying on the ground on the side that was broken into. I asked him if they could trace the number of the pager to who it belongs to and he told me, that because of privacy laws, pager companies will not release that kind of info. What kind of BS is that, my truck gets broken into and the privacy of the jack*ss that did it is more important. My truck was the third vehicle broken into in that area on that day, one was actually stolen. What's this world coming to? We all work hard to have something nice and some worthless piece of ***** comes along and decides he wants what you have and takes it. I think I could actually shoot the son-of-a-bi**h that broke into mine. Sorry for venting, I'll shut up now.

 

That is what subpoenas are for, complain to the PD or the DA that they did not follow a potentially obvious lead. What he probably meant was your crime was too trivial for the department to spend time on. It is sad but probably true..I would complain still, the squeaky wheel gets the oil sometimes.

 

especially if the other damages combined are enough. there was a spree one night around my way where they damaged about 15 cars on a new car lot, and walked through a movie theater lot smashing up cars (my buddies brand new mits. evo lancer being one of them) .... bet if they had a pager, they would have traced it.

 

All it takes is a court order. That is relatively easy for the DA to get. bcjim is probably correct, they just don't want to mess with it. Hang onto that pager and go the DA. He can get action.

Good Luck.

Frank

 

Well Now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The damage done to my truck was minimal I guess compared to other Superduty break-ins. I cant decide if I want to get my truck repaired and bring it home and risk the butt heads trying again. Or trading it in on a Lightning that is available locally. I do know that If I get it repaired I am going to have them install the Door handles that are identical to the rear handles and get me an alarm system that will wake the relatives in TX!. I am very leary about bringing the truck back to my apartment complex because they didnt get everything this time and now they know what else was in there. Advise ANYONE!

 

A few things you can do that I do. Keep in mind that no matter how extreme your alarm system is the professionals will get it.

1. I have an alarm with a pager telling me exactly what is going on... shock, glass break, door opening, etc.

2. Put an additional shock sensor on of your rear tail lights.

3. Put an extra one or two lcd lights

4. Belive it or not a Club for the visual view (The lock on mine does not even work and it is real easy to put it on and take it off.

5. Tint your windows

6. install an extra loud alarm siren w/an additional battery operated siren

 

Window tint seems to draw thieves, looks like something to hide. Don't leave anything like a laptop case, purse, backpack etc. sitting in the truck. Get a toolbox for those things. How many times do you pay attention to a car alarm in a busy parking lot? The bad guys aren't scared off by them except in a quiet neighborhood. Keep your truck clean. When you park it in a big, busy lot and come back, half the time you'll notice hand prints on the glass from the side of their palm where they look in to see what you have (sometimes there's a nose print too). You can usually have the bent part off the door fixed by places that fix hail damage, no need to repaint. Put rear door handles on the front, no place to pry (got to have keyless entry). The way the bad guys get in is so fast it looks like they are using a key. Of couse if they really want to get in they'll just bust the glass or do some more serious damge. But why not make it harder? Other common sense stuff...don't jam your high buck system when looking for a parking space (just says "come steal me!"), have your wife/girlfriend hide her purse before you stop the truck and dont leave your wallet behind. There's always someone watching when you park. I always make a slow lap or two. If I see something I dont like, I leave (drives my wife crazy sometimes). Thieves are generaly lazy people who dont want to work for a living so if you take a few precautions to make things harder, they'll go to easier pickings (like that truck a row over with the rockford fosgate decal and the LCD screen hanging down with a laptop on the front seat). Hope this helps.

 

hmmm i would have called the pager number.

 

That would do nothing except page the pager he's holding in his hand. Finding the pager next to the truck does not mean the owner of the pager was the thief, although I'm sure it probably was, either way it would not be proof enough to prosecute.

Thieves SUCK!

 

Flyboy,
Sorry to hear about that. Wouldn't have been wise of the police to at least dust for fingerprints on the pager? May have turned up someone with a "history".

 

Well I gave up on the Superduties. I got me a 2003 Ford Lightning today. I hope they are not as prone to thievery as the 250's and up. Getting an alarm w/ a pager tomorrow

 

I really don't think there's any less risk of getting broken into with a Lightning vs a Superduty.

Sounds like you needed an excuse for the wife