WTF?!? That's crazy. As someone asked earlier, is it an apartment garage or a house? Are you the one who was going to buy those 18x9 Lexus wheels?

 

yeah i was aplanning on buying those rims...it was in a garage, i meant a car alarm, not house. now i am definitely looking uinto getting a garage alarm. to add insult to this whole thing, since iwas talking to some buddies about getting the new rims, when i first told them what happened, they thought i set it up...ahh well. tomorrow an insurance appraiser is going to come out to look at the damage. anytyhing in particular i should do or say? i already got all the receipts today for all the stuff that was STOLEN, so he will be assessing the damage i believe.

what i am worried about is, without driving it, there's no way to tell if any damage was done to the engine, driveshaft, suspension, etc. and since it can't be driven, how will the insurance person know? any suggestions in regards to the entire situation would be great.

 

also, how much will the insurance appraiser be trying to screw me?

 

thats nuts! so sorry to hear about your car. i would be heart broken if any thing like that happened to me. people need to get a job and buy some of their own stuff because when they take other peoples belongings their not just taking merchandice but taking all their hard work....MAN!...THAT IS MORALY WRONG! ...MAY THEY BURN IN HELL!

 

"no sign of forced entry"??

Does your garage have an automatic door opener?

The thieves are getting pretty high tech - the gendarmes busted a burglar in my urban neigborhood recently, and they found 50 garage door openers in his trunk. Most cheap openers are really easy for a savvy crook to fool - an opener that uses a digital transmitter/receiver that changes codes every time the door is opened is the best way to go.

Had your car worked on recently? If your opener was in the car, it's easy for a crook to note the model # of the opener, open the back and note the dipswitch setting, then set another opener of the same type to the same settings, and boom they're in. Plus, your address was on the workorder, so they know where it is. If you did have it worked on recently, be sure the cops know...

 

you're telling me...

 

i actually had it worked on 2 days prior...it was a local place that my entire family has been going to for years. the only employees are the owner, and two mechanics. however, tehre was 1 new mechanic last time who was just a kid that i had never seen before. something to think about.

 

strongsail,

Good tip. In Sacramento, there was a car stereo shop busted for always programming an extra alarm remote for 'mischievious" uses. They had the name, address, etc of the owner and a good idea of which cars had the stereos and wheels they wanted. I would think that this is a pretty good conclusion because of the clean and smooth job they pulled. Nobody know better how to take apart your car than the same guy who put it together.

I think a good tip to anyone is to pull your registration from the glove box and put it in your wallet (has your address), put a work address on your service order, take your house key and garage remote off your keyring/visor. Periodically change your garage remote dipswitches (easy to do). Lastly, get a dog.

MW

 

strongsail, you are on to something! i went ahead and thought about some things. the break in happened 36 hours after this new employee (kid my age) did the oil change on my car. when i got back into my car, i DID notice that my center console, where my lock nut and alan wrench for rims, were kept, had been messed around with, but everythign was there. i thought nothing of it. next: the crooks did not bring their tools. they used my own jack, wrench, and spare tire to hold the car up. they used my lock nut, which they took from my center console. they came prepared to use MY TOOLS. second, they must have programmed my garage door opener, since all the windows and doors were locked, with no sign of forced entry.
third: the alarm in my car was disabled. udner the hood, i can see a purple wire has been cut. this wire was NOT visibile from the top of the engine beforehand. he knew where it was.

it all fits. now i have the police coming to my house tomorrow so i can tell them the story. sadly, i am afraid nothing will come if it. i assuem the kid has gotten rid of everything. the only thing i know about him is where he works, and i overheard him say he drives an explorer.

any suggestions or ideas?

 

Thats good that you are able to trace that. I would have never thought about all of that... smart guys you are. I just hope that kid gets what is coming to him. Thing with crimes are that if a person does it once they usually do it a lot. Hopefully this guy can be found guilty, if you can't sue him... I am not expert at law, but perhaps you could sue his work place? I'm not sure, GL with everything, sorry about your car.

 

any other ideas or suggestions from anyone about what i can or could do?

 

what is a lift sensor? does it really work? is it an optional addition?

 

A lift sensor is an additional option on some car alarms. It gives you an extra level of protection so that if a car is "lifted" or jacked (ie: someone wanting your wheels), the alarm will sound.

 

The newest garage door clickers don't even require dipswitches to program. Mine is a universal that works with 16 major garage door manufacturers. You hold two buttons down for five seconds and it goes into program mode. Then all you have to do is beam the signal from clicker to clicker and it's stored. I have two of my buddies' gates programmed on my clicker for convinience. A burgular can probably ****** your clicker and program it into his in under five seconds without you knowing about it. Also, cheap car alarms can be hijacked very easily with the right tools because the remotes use the same code to unlock the car every time. The scenario strongsail outlined is not uncommon. I knew of a few shady car audio installers that built in backdoor access to other people's rides so that they could jack them a few months later.

 

no question, i am 99.9% sure that this was the person who did it after thinking everything out. the question is, there is no proof. a police officer is coming to my house tomorrow to hear my story and explanation. what can i tell him to get the police to hopefully DO something?