Earlier today I was at St Charles mall in waldorf, MD. I parked all the way in the back of the lot all by myself. Someone still dinged the **** out of my door. Anger level for this incident: 11 on a scale of 1 to 10.

It gets worse....

So I go to the movies at 4:55pm. I take my seat and look at my alarm and I turn it off and on to make sure it can reach me. 30 seconds later it goes off. I run outside and find a Black suburban/tahoe w/paper tags behind my car. 1 dude was look out and another dude was in the car. They saw me and ran back in the truck. They stared at me for a good 10 seconds before rolling out. I thought I was going to get shot. Too bad I couldn't shoot back. But then I'd be typing this from jail.

Damage done:

1) window busted
2) ignition pulled (couldn't start the car because they damaged the immobilizer ring)
3) battery cables cut (kills factory alarm and battery backup kicks in)
4) steering column housing destroyed, woodgrain, and dash scratched up
5) alarm wires were pulled (alarm still works!!!!Damn I'm good!! But not good enough.)
6) siren cut (battery backup forced them to cut the siren but it's still paging me)
7) Under dash panels torn off (no success in reaching the alarm)


The bright side is nothing was stolen. It sucks... I tried really hard the last 4 weeks to get this car ready since I sold my burgundy 4th gen. I finally got it looking the way I want it and then it gets F'd up. The ding earlier in the day really ****ed me off the most. It was obvious they were trying to f the car up. 3" door ding w/a 2" square splotch of green paint. Haters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anger level: 7 for the attempted theft (the door ding ****es me off more)

Advice:
1)Lock out your hood. Unbolt the latch and shove it under the carpet.
2)Get a 2 way alarm (I think I'm switching to Autopage from the current DEI alarm I have. Autopage has better range. I was lucky to have parked so near the theatre I was in.
3)Get a battery backup.
4)Hide the siren under the car w/ the wires coming from the passenger side.
5)Mount the alarm brain behind the radio.
6)Secondary battery for the siren ONLY.
7)Drive your girlfriend car to the movies

 

Did you burn down a church yesterday because from your description of a day's events, a deity's gotta be mad at you. Sorry...just trying to bring a little levity to the situation. It sucks to hear some bastards did that to your ride. I'm a subscriber to the theory that if you catch someone destroying/stealing your property, you should be legally allowed to go 8th century on their ***.

~THT

 

That's just totally fsck up man!

Sorry to hear what happened.

 

and people ask me why i have a gun and a baseball bat in my car. Well dude, that blows. Next time try parking your car at the spot where most of the people pass by, and not in the way back parking lot.

p.s.: how did you get Maxima.org on your radio? Is that a pioneer one?

 

I feel your pain man...I'm from P.G. too and I know how much it sucks around here. Next time keep a 12 gauge in the trunk and shoot at their vehicle if there are no other witnesses...you can claim self-defense and the court is likely to believe you over some car theives.

 

hey I feel your pain, I had a older car (not the maxima) and unfortunaly had no alarm. it happen in front of my house at 5:00am they came once, broke the window, try to steal stuff. but my someone on the stree saw, scared them away, and woke me up to tell me what happen. I locked my car taped window and went to sleep. 20 minutes later the s**t heads came back, I couldn't belive that, I chassed them for about 200 yards when I saw a 7 feet metal Rod in the floor (very heavy) I grabed it (it took too long) and I wanted to beat them up until they couldn't walk anymore. But unfortunaly, when I stoped for the rod it took too long, that I could find them anymore. (the crack heads live around my house, and that is what makes me ****ed off)
the second time they came around the stole my CD case with about 50 CDs (+-$400 dollars) and almost stole my SUB+6CD changer.

BTW they were 3 15 years old kids (I think)

It's being 1 year now but every time a hear a loud noise out side my house, (even while sleeping) I wake up, some times I check too. I hate that it really gets into you. .

well anyway sorry to hear about your car, hope you don't get phycotic like I did.

 

Sorry to hear about the break in. That kind of stuff really ****es me off. We spend our hard earned money to have awesome cars just for someone to make a quick buck by stealing it. And the worst part of it is that they damage everything else in the process.

I remember a few years ago I saw a steel Clifford Siren that has a battery backup inside the siren. It had a circular key to shut it off right on the side of the siren. I was told that it functions as a regular car alarm siren, and goes off if the power is cut. It doesn't help to cut wires because the siren is powered internally and will still ring.

Has anyone else seen these before? Do they still make them? If they do, it would be a great addition to any alarm.

 

Speaking strictly about shooting at people that try to steal your car, whats the precident of cases where people have, and what were they charged with?
Its obvious to anyone that when you catch someone stealing your car you would have to assume that in today's age they would have a gun.
I live up in Canada, where pistols can be obtained almost as easily, considering more than half the illegal firearms in the country are brought in from the US.

Lets say if a situation like C3nthusiast's occured, but I was carrying a loaded 9mm and shot at the theives, wounding, if not killing them.....and i too lived in the US (instead of Canada). Like most anyone that loves their car, I believe a shooting would be justifyable, just as any shooting where a theif was to run in your house is justifyable. Granted you are not cornered in your house in fear of your life. You are still in fear of your life from you being able to identify them. In which case you know they might just put a bullet in you so you dont talk.

Covering the self-defense issue, what would you be charged with if you did shoot at someone that was stealing your car?

BTW C3nthusiast, sorry to hear about what happened to you, sounds like one hell of a nightmare to me, glad you got out of it ok.

 

Well, i'd shoot the bastards windows and tires if i could..make em suffer as well...grrr

 

This is a really interesting legal question, especially for me since I'm in the first year of law school and I want to be a prosecutor. The rule is that you're not allowed to use deadly force to protect property, and that firing a gun is always considered potentially deadly force. However, if you could sucessfully claim that the theives were trying to hurt you or someone else by say, assaulting you or driving their vehicle at you to run you down, then you would have a valid claim of self-defense, and you would be justified using whatever force necessary to defend yourself or another, up to and including deadly force.

If you ever need a lawyer for that situation I'd be happy to defend you pro bono since I hate car theives!

 

In the US, you have to be able to prove you were in immediate, mortal danger to claim you self-defense if you kill the person. Otherwise, you can be charged with some degree of manslaughter. That's the general rule however it varies from state to state. I've heard of people beating thieves to within an inch of their life and be imprisoned for it (the would-be victim). On the flipside, I've heard of homeowners fatally shooting unarmed thieves and not be charged with anything.

~THT

 

did u get the license plate on the truck??

 

C3nthusiast, i just noticed that you saw the SUV they were driving....Did you at least get the license plate number?

I just found out how to get the self-defense plea to work also, if you got ***** run at them, and when they pull the guns you can pull yours and shoot back, considering you were in mortal danger.

 

I saw something on Cops (yea, i know, it's TV) A thief broke into a guys house and went into the bathroom to pocket the jewelry he got. Well, the man of the house was home and waited for the guy to be off guard. This was no ordinary man, he was HUGE! I swear, his arms were the size of my waist, not really, but he was a really big guy. Well, when he approached said thief, he said to put the stuff down , get on the ground, and he was going to call the police. Well, like a dumbarse the thief who looked no bigger than 6'0 and 170 soaking wet started to scrap with him. Needless to say, when the cops showed up, the dood-thief was bleeding from both corners of his eyes, both lips, nose, and had some cuts and BIG purple bruises on his stomach and chest. I know it's not quite like someone trying to jack your car, but still. The "victim" who WHALED upon said thief was congratulated for stopping him by the police.

I know the feeling of having a car broken into. Some punks broke into my civic when I had one (thank goodness those days are over ) Stole my CD's and my Armani cologne......I could care less about the CD's...but man, that was my fav cologne.

 

I think in Texas you are allowed to protect your property with deadly force... heard it on the news a while back... correct me if I'm wrong

 

yea im pretty sure that's correct. Ive heard stories how a guy robbed a house and was trying to run away but the homeowner shot and killed him while he was on his front yard. Nothing happened to the homeowner.

 

I love common sense laws. I love texas. Shoot 'em if they steal on your property...how hard is it to respect someones property? haha...now i think about it...in contrast to lefties these days....it may seem absurd...but for me...forgettaboutit.

Oh yah... i love the taxes in this state too!

 

The rule in Texas and many states is known as the 'castle doctrine'...your home is your 'castle' and deadly force is allowed when someone breaks into your house because courts are willing to assume that you are acting in self-defense.

 

Sucks man, at least they didn't get to take it... That would of really sucked as..

 

its the most gayest thing when people gotta mess with cars rather then the driver...id rather have 5 doods try to jump me then for them to jump my car when im not around...hahah...its just low...sorry to hear...just be more cautious about where you park i guess...thiefs will always be around so cant stop that...but if it was some hatters that did that, they should step up to you not your car...straighit pu$$ies....

 

Related question...do you guys with expensive mods claim them on insurance in case they get stolen?

 

What kind of alarm is that you have that "PAGES" you. That looks like a good investment. I thought about an idea like that years ago looks like someone has already started using it.

Proph

 

First of all, the situation sucks when it happens to anyone. My friend has had his stereo taken 3 times. Alarms are the only way to go, and it sounds like the thieves knew what they were doing. It might not be the best idea to shoot at them. You could end up getting killed then, or later. People who are low enough to steal, would probably shoot back or kill you later if you shot at them.

In the end you must realize its just a car! I love my car as much as another enthusiast, however my life is always more important. Unless you have a car with a much lower profile (smaller wheels, no body kit) you risk these types of incidents. Until the laws are changed to put a much greater penalty on car theft and other related incidents, people will always steal. My whole problem with our legal system is that it fails in the deterring of crime. In this respect, life sucks. Good luck in the future.