This story is kind of long so if you want to read it, bear with me.
Being my girlfriend's last night before going away to college, I decided on taking her to a movie and dinner later on. It's about 8 pm by the time I get to Olive Garden, and there is parking around the back of the restaurant with abundent lighting. I park just past the rest of the cars, so as to not "set my car apart from the rest", while still keeping my distance from neglecting motorists.
I get out of my car, lock the doors as we begin to walk away, as I hear an Acura Integra start to accelerate (not hard, but noticable), and watch over my shoulder as he decides on parking his car in the open space on the side of my car (while the rest of the lot past the point where we were parked was empty...). This raised my suspicions a little, as this guy looked real shady. One thing about his suspicious activity: he was looking right at me as he passed me in his car while I was walking in, which provoked me to turn around. This was just before I saw him park.
So we get inside, which entails walking around the building and into the front lobby, and get our names on the seating list. I tell my girlfriend to wait there, and said I was going to check on my car.
I turn the corner to go around back, and now do I not only see the original Integra parked next to me, I now see a Trailblazer parked IN FRONT of my car, with his front door open. Having nothing to protect myself with, and knowing there are at least two people around that area, I kept my distance to check to see if they were actually in my car, seeing if I should call the cops.
A few minutes pass, and from my view my car was blocking my vision a little - his car was farther away and blocked by my car, and two guys were standing in between my car and his, pacing back and forth. Not wanting to wait anymore, and knowing that if something were to happen I had a couple of metal pipes (homemade breaker bar and lug wrench to be exact) in my trunk, I decided to walk out to the car, ask the Trailblazer to move so that I can move my car.
I walk up, and as I was uproaching my car, I unlock the doors, giving that distinct "clunk" sound and a flash of the interior lights. By now, both shady fuggers jump back a little, noticably startled that I had returned to my car. I ask the two: "can I get out?" and the apparent owner of the blazer agrees, however he doesn't just move it out of the way. They both say their goodbyes, shake hands, jump in their cars and drive out of the parking lot - without any indication of already eating, or planning on eating.
A few words about my car: I'm rocking Red/Clears, Max.org stickers, and a radar detector. Being so close to my car, they also noticed my kenwood H.U., and power/rca/remote turn on wires coming from my dash and going to my trunk.
Scary to think of what could have happened...thanks for reading

 

Wow, that was longer than I thought...here's a summary
Park the car, notice a shady Integra park next to me in a parking lot-full of open spaces as I head into Olive Garden. Go into the restaurant, tell them my name for a table, and go back outside to find another car parked right in front of my car, with it's door open, and two guys in between my car and the Teggy. Wait awhile, decide on going and flat out moving my car. Two guys get REAL scared seeing me return and opening up the doors, and when asked to move, both leave the lot without eating or showing that they were planning on eating.

 

Whoa that could have been bad. I would get an alarm A.S.A.P. Prefer it be a Viper one aswell.
Next time I would be careful where you park.
BTW which OG did you go to?

 

dam bro that sucks, but remember he has an integra and when you have an integra, especially up here in NYC ppl know its not IF there going to steal it its WHEN there going to steal it.

your lucky, the last time my dad had a suspicion about someone, he broke into our house. always trust your instincts bro. i know your thinking about it now that you wouldve love to slam his head in with the breaker bar but in the situation you did the right thing and saved yourself the trouble.

just careful where you park,

 

hmm, sounds freaky. even in a public place like that at only 8PM, people are trying **** like that. at first I thought the only thing to worry about was door dings, and now this? good catch though. at least your wits were about you.

 

Great Advice

 

in addition to what everyone has said....u need to have your car redone..there should be no reason anyone should see power/RCA wires being run into the trunk....much less your radio...just my .05 cents

 

Believe me, I would have done it right the first time had I had the time to pull the trim work up.

And another thing: I had NO intention of going in gun's (or breaker bars in this case) blazing. I couldn't believe that the guy didn't even wait for me to go into the restaurant to make his move. The only thing worse than criminals, is stupid criminals I guess.

About the parking too: I thought to myself to not park SO out of the way of everybody else, I literally took the first spot past the last occupied island of cars.

 

The Olive Garden near Danbury Fair Mall, Park Lane. Over here on the Westside of the state.

 

Seriously that wiring is absurd. Need to get it done asap, glad the ride didnt get stolen though!

 

Get a paging alarm. I've tested the one I got before I installed it, even if you cut battery power to the alarm, the pager/remote remembers the last signal and continually sounds it's alarm. Good thing you went back to check, they were probably up to no good. Even when it's daylight don't neglect to turn on the alarm when distant from your car.

 

ok thats it, im installing a kill switch this weekend. ive been getting more and more antsy about my car being stolen.

 

I try to go to a restaurant that I can observe my car as I eat. Nothing worth stealing but there have been too many hit and runs around here.

 

yes i do the same, nothing better than a salad and watching my car stare at me lol

 

HAAAAAAAA that was the first thing i thought of - WHY ON EARTH can you see power/rca wires!!!!!

Also to add to the suggestion about an alarm, get a remote start as well, and when u notice people ****ing around near your car, just remote start it and watch them jump. (plus remote start = very very convient)

 

i would also suggest to remove your faceplate from your headunit before exiting your vehicle. take all objects that can be scene (such as bags, ps2's, etc) and put them away where they cannot be visible.

Paging alarm would be cool as well. I would also suggest a kill switch.

 

+1 on that. do u have tinted windows? just curious, how big where the guys?

 

Because I needed to make sure that the amp I purchased was in working order. Plus, it was my first stereo install: I was feeling out everything. With everything that has been going on for me lately (work, detailing, brakework, vacation, you get the idea) it is hard to find the time to go back and hide the wires, and with the system sounding good already, it's hard to justify redoing it when already hurting for time.
Don't worry, it will get done before I start to drive my car daily again (I'm heading off to college and won't be driving my car consistantly for a couple months.) That and/or a tint will be in store for me.
The reason I didn't park my car in a spot where I could see it, and in a space where I thought it would be safe from door dings, scratches, and hit and runs is because I honestly didn't think that this kind of sht would ever touch me...Parking my car in the most visible spot from the rest. window would subject the paint to a terrible 1.5 hour long torture.

 

yeah that sucks man. something like that happend to me once but when they tried to do it to my car, they stuck something in the passengers side keyhole to try to open the door. i guess they saw my deck which at that time was the one that didnt have a detachble face. my next mods were tinted windows and windshield and shaved key holes. and yeah the worst criminals are the dumb ones.

 

tinted windows are good, but not too dark. anything less than 20-35% raises curiosity.

 

They wanted the sticker

 

Thats the main reason I got an alarm with paging capabilities, no I dont trust alarms and Im shure they can get around the alarm if they really wanted to but at least I know if the car is messed with if im within proximity (restaurant)

 

wow, they would have definately had a field day with ur car, glad u were able to catch them, u should have gotten the liscense plate of the trailblazer, who knows, they might have been well known chop shop owners...

 

No, I don't have tinted windows
The guys were a little taller than me, but looked like a bunch of punks. The problem with that is you have no idea what they're concealing. Even a lug wrench has it's shortcomings if your enemy has a knife, or worse, a gun.

 

first of all congrats on stopping it. i actually work @ olive garden and some ***hole tried to break into my car. i guess at first he slim jim it cuz i have scratches all around the window lip. then with either a chizel or screw driver he tried to break the door handle. he probably got a ew good hits because the door lock cylinders retaining screw got loosen and my factory alarm finally went off. wow is it crap. but it sucks when some does this. i don't even have any exterior mods!

 

It's actually pretty easy to break into our cars and steal them. I bought my car as a salvage stolen recovery.

First step is to disable the factory alarm. This can be done by taking a dent puller to the trunk lock or climbing in through one of the windows or sunroof.

Then you take a dent puller and pull out the ignition lock. One or two good pulls and its out.

from there you just take a vice grip and start the car.

I've heard there are maxima master keys. I dont know of this for sure and have never seen one.

The guys who waste time with a slim jim and stuff like that are either amateurs or they want to get caught. Sometimes crackheads will steal a car and sell it to a chop shop just to get some drugs.

 

sh*t, i wouldn't want my car to be stolen. love the car more than my gf (at least, car doesn't yap at me all day long)

i installed a viper alarm, limo tinted, and always put up things that looked attractive.
i also try to park where i can see the car from a window if possible. looking at my sleeper when eating is really enjoyable too.

 

PAREDLINE:
Can you maybe edit your post meng? Maybe someone's reading this and the next max owner won't be so lucky since he learned the tricks of the trade!!!

 

Its not like you cant learn this in jail or on the streets. My point was that alarms buy time. The factory alarm isn't very effective unless you're dealing with an idiot.

If someone really wants your car they will get it. One of the best things you can do to prevent your car from getting stolen is put in a starter kill switch and hide the wiring very deep in the dash.

An alarm with a siren inside the car is good too. Again, deep in the dash so they dont just break the siren. Put a little piezo siren inside the top air vents or right behind and above the ECM. or a set of marine air horns.

the best protection for auto theft is a good insurance policy with theft coverage.

 

damnnn...thats crazy...something like that happened to me too in college..i was walking toward the parking lot to my car because i forgot something.this guy with a red civic pulled in front of my car..i was just walking slowly after that to see what he was doing...he went toward and reached the driver side door handle. i quickly ran up there and yelled out wtf are you doing?...he quickly got in his civic and took off...then i never saw his car ever again