Cachemobile Broken Into

[+Bill D (wwh)]

Last week my car was broken into whilst I was doing The Bridge to Nowhere.

 

I'd parked in a fairly isolated spot, at the start of a bridleway where it leaves a quiet lane. One of the rear passenger windows was smashed, and a rear seat was pulled down so that they could grab what they could reach from the boot. It didn't seem to have occurred to them to press the central locking switch on the door and make access easy!

 

Nothing was taken - there was nothing worth taking in the car. But of course I was left with a smashed window and a car full of broken glass.

 

I've been parking in remote places since long before discovering caching, and though I'm aware of the risks I've never been unduly worried about leaving the car in such places, but I wonder how I'll feel next time I need to park in a lonely spot.

 

I know that other cachers have had vehicles broken into. If this has happened to you, I'd be interested to hear about it, and about whether it changed your approach to parking in remote locations.

[Browser]

There are caches locally (to me) that I am reluctant to visit because of the experiences of previous visitors. Closest I came was the car next to mine was broken into while we were caching. Scum - Pure and simple.

[+G Force]

I've had my passenger side mirror window smashed while out finding a cache but was next to a fairly busy road with other cars parked next to it. I had the daughter with me a couple of her friends who had left their bags in view on the back seat which was taken. It hasn't stopped me from parking in remote areas but try to park the best I can in plain view of the road. The girls did learn an important lesson not to leave anything in sight in an unattended car.

[+Naefearjustbeer]

I broke into my own car on friday night Somehow managed to break the last working door lock. I think it got filled with sand from the beach when I was out surfing. I dont think I will make a career out of car breaking. It took about 20 minutes with 3 adults and one teenager and I used a kayak paddle 2 blocks of wood a screwdriver and the teenagers slim arm. It only takes 20 second to get into a car on the TV.

[nobby.nobbs]

getting into a car reeeally easy to do quickly....unless you don't wnat to cause damage then it takes much longer.

 

not much you can do other than never leave anything in car. leave glovebox open and don't put cover in the boot so the s***e's can see nothig worth breaking in for.

 

[+The Ollies]

Yep, we've also had our car broken into whilst out caching and we know of at least another two caching 'teams that this has happened to aswell.

[+Queeny]

Yes this happened to me when I had only had my peugeut 306 for one month! I had only just moved to county durham and this made me feel very insecure and afraid of our new area. Only thing taken was 10p from Freyas school coat! But it cost £150 for replacement window and lock. As it happens...I now leave glove box open, removed the boot cover and LEAVE THE WHOLE THING UNLOCKED!!!!!! That way there is no cost over replacing windows...most people are not out to steal the entire car

[+Kitty Hawk]

I've had my car broken into several times, though not while out caching - normlly just for the radio.

 

The biggest pain is that you never see the last of the glass.

 

I also now tend to leave everything open - glove box, book cover etc - though I do have the car locked - if it's unlocked and stolen you'll have insurance issues.

 

When Finley was about 15 months old and being fractious in the back seat I stopped at a petrol station and looked for something for him to play with. Inspiration hit me - my car keys were like a rattle. He promptly chewed on the 'lock' button and for half an hour refused to chew on the unlock button so I decided a brick through one of the back windows would do the trick.

 

Well, I ended up with embedded brick bits in the windows, but it wasn't until a lorry stopped with a hammer and chisel that I could break a window.

 

I agree, breaking in doing as little damage as possible is hard.

[The Cuthberts]

'Windmill Hill' (Avebury) was our downfall with the two passenger side tyres let down and one screwdrivered ! Fortunately, this is a cache and dash so we were very very unlucky and it could have happened anywhere.

 

However, the just desserts of flaming ammo-boxes from the sky are waiting to / or have happened to the perpetrator(s)!

 

At least we found the wheel-lock key eventually.

[+stu_and_sarah]

I know that other cachers have had vehicles broken into. If this has happened to you, I'd be interested to hear about it, and about whether it changed your approach to parking in remote locations.

Our car was broken into whilst at a cache location. Since then another has been broken into there. I think the cache owner archived it, which is understandable. I'd feel awful if someone had their car broken into whilst finding one of our caches.

 

Luckily nothing was taken, but they broke the lock and dented the door.

 

Since then I've been more alert, but not paranoid. We make sure that we don't leave anything in the car when we park.

 

Sarah

[+t.a.folk]

You say nothing was taken .

 

I think a lot will have been taken if you allow this experience to stop you parking in similar places in the future .

 

We,ve had car broken into on our own drive and also a fairly busy country car park .

Also had a botched job done of drilling out our boot lock while parked along side a not so quiet country road .

 

If we stopped leaving our car places because of the fear of a breaki n we would

be letting the thieves beat us .

 

In our experience you can get broken into anywhere .

 

Busy places are no less vunerable in our experience .

 

Once we locked ourselves out of our own car in a well known do it yourself store car park, on a busy saturday afternoon .

I broke into our own car while other shoppers passed by ,and they all ignored us !

[kiteflyer]

Never yet been broken into, but then who would like to rummage through old tissues, McD. boxes kids stuff everywhere? We would only notice a breaking if the car was tidier

[+Travers]

We've never had our car broken into whilst caching but I think the remote locations aren't so much of a worry as some of those in suburban areas.

 

Two caches in particular spring to mind that were in decidedly dodgy areas full of broken bottles, plastic bags, aerosols, burnt out cars and other debris - both are now archived and both had been vandalised when we looked for them.

 

One of them we rushed there and back very quickly, at the other, one of us stood guard over the car while I looked for the cache.

[nobby.nobbs]

childish but i always liked the james bond lotus alarm........if you breakin the car explodes! destructive but very effective at stopping thme from further miscreant activities.

[Team 'James W']

childish but i always liked the james bond lotus alarm........if you breakin the car explodes! destructive but very effective at stopping thme from further miscreant activities.

The next best thing?

[+bargee]

Urban Myth Time

 

Friend of mine when i lived down in london had a spate of break ins in his car so he took to leaving a note on the dashboard saying

 

"nothing worth stealing so please don't break in"

 

on his return he again found his window smashed and another note alongside his own saying

 

"you were right, nothing worth stealing!"

[+stu_and_sarah]

You say nothing was taken .

 

I think  a lot will have been taken  if you allow this experience to stop you parking in similar places in the future .

 

I agree, but I also like to look on the bright side of things.

 

By someone breaking into the Cavalier that looked nice and resectable, it spurred us on to getting rid of it and getting a mini again. Hooray!

 

Sarah

--

[nobby.nobbs]

i do hope we're talking a mini and not that bmw 1 series?

 

i'd love to go back to one but i need the bigger car due to dad's wheelchair.

 

i've seen the flame thrower before, but how'd you set it up to do that when you're not in it?.

 

the answer? lock the buggers up. the longer they are away the less crime they commit. who says that prison doesn't work?

[+stu_and_sarah]

i do hope we're talking a mini and not that bmw 1 series?

It's tantamount to defamation to suggest we might have even considered owning one of those BMW things

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

Edited June 8, 2005 by stu_and_sarah

[+Naefearjustbeer]

i do hope we're talking a mini and not that bmw 1 series?

 

i'd love to go back to one but i need the bigger car due to dad's wheelchair.

 

i've seen the flame thrower before, but how'd you set it up to do that when you're not in it?.

 

the answer? lock the buggers up. the longer they are away the less crime they commit. who says that prison doesn't work?

No such thing as re-offending if I had anything to do with it and who says anything about prison!!

[+t.a.folk]

Thieves been around a long time !

There is even a wood in their name at Sherwood !

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreat...restThievesWood

 

Are there any caches there?

Edited June 8, 2005 by t.a.folk

[+pieces_of_8]

I've not been broken into YET but it's probably only a matter of time. It actually interfears with my searching because i start worrying if the car/contents (car always empty but they don't know that) will be there when i get back! I look for tell tail signs.. like broken glass on the ground.... if i think it's too risky....i leave the mrs in the car....they can have her

 

Mart

 

I'll denie that last statement in court, of course!

Edited June 8, 2005 by pieces_of_8

[nobby.nobbs]

so lets choose an island somewhere cold and nasty.....sorry to offend immediately those brave individuals living there already. then take all the good poeple away..then make our own alcatraz but without the time off for good behaviour. don't want to live within society's rules? no prob....don't live in society.

 

that'll make em think twice about nicking a stereo, life imprisonment without any perks. cheerio bye tata. do not pass go do not collect 200 quid.

 

aaah if only......

[+Stuey]

that'll make em think twice about nicking a stereo, life imprisonment without any perks. cheerio bye tata. do not pass go do not collect 200 quid.

 

aaah if only......

If only you were one of the randomly picked MP's

[+PurplePenguin]

My car was broken into the Saturday before last when I was looking for the 'Lost Hare' cache at Painswick Beacon near Gloucester. Nothing was taken because there was nothing they could possibly want in the car and because I disturbed them. However the broken window took 4 days to fix and it cost me £50 insurance excess. I shan't be looking for any caches in the Gloucester area again, unless I can see the car all the time but it won't stop me caching elsewhere. I have parked in far more dodgy locations in the past and been fine but I suppose it had to happen one day that I would be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I used to just worry about my own safety when caching on my own but now it seems that I have to worry about my car as well!

[+t.a.folk]

We,ve had car broken into on our own drive and also a fairly busy country car park .

Also had a botched job done of drilling out our boot lock while parked along side a not so quiet country road .

 

Apologies to our eldest son for foregetting he had his car "hot wired" and stolen from the road side while it was parked ouside our house while we were asleep in front bedroom .

Son had left car at home because he thought where he was going was not a desirable place to leave his car unattended !

 

Two incidences for us at home and two incidences while parked elsewhere .

 

Thoughts now are , if I feel safe to get out and walk by myself in a particular area I might as well leave the car .

The car and contents are replaceable ,I'm not ,so I shouldn't be walking somewhere I don't want to leave the car .

[60North]

Different world up here. Cars are still left with the keys in. House doors left unlocked. In fact I visited a factory unit at lunchtime and there were laptops still running on the desks. The staff had gone to lunch and that was how they always did it.

 

We have the moron element who scratch cars, but if a car gets broken into and say a mobile phone gets nicked it will be on the evening news.

 

Quality of life here 100

Quality of life in Sussex 3

[+stu_and_sarah]

i do hope we're talking a mini and not that bmw 1 series?

 

i'd love to go back to one but i need the bigger car due to dad's wheelchair.

Would it look like I was too obsessive about minis if I suggested you look out for a mini van or a mini clubman estate?

 

I'll get me coat

 

Sarah

--

[+allieballie]

Never yet been broken into, but then who would like to rummage through old tissues, McD. boxes kids stuff everywhere? We would only notice a breaking if the car was tidier

I am in total agreement with this comment! Sometimes I feel like people looking into my car must think that the car belongs to a tinker, the amount of junk and mess (and little toys taken from cache boxes!) that lies on the seats and floors - all radiating out from wee mans car seat in the back! I am sure anyone peering into it would think it had either already been broken into or that it would be a health hazard to break into it.

 

This reminds me of a story a friend told me after my then new brand car had had its wing mirrors constantly pulled back every night plus the rear wiper actually torn off (live in a small rural town in Fife) before I'd even made the first payment on the car. She said that she had had the same problem in Dundee with her new car - keys being scratched along it the paintwork etc, until someone told her that if she stopped washing the car it was more likely to be left alone - apparently kids/youths are more likely to be vandalise a shiny car than a dirty one! It worked for her and I tried it here and haven't had any damage done to my car since I stopped washing it! Now I know that story is about vandalism rather than thieving but I can't think of any extra advice to offer other than what has been discussed already.

[nobby.nobbs]

Would it look like I was too obsessive about minis if I suggested you look out for a mini van or a mini clubman estate?

 

I'll get me coat

 

Sarah

--

no such thing as obsessive when it comes to minis. lovely cars.

 

problem being i'm 6'7'' amusing to see me get in and out. dad very immobile if we sat him down in mini we'd never get him back on his feet! i'd get one as a second car but don't want to watch one slowly rust on the drive......plus the extra costs of second car.....ex wife and daughter take mini money....oh well there's always the lottery.

 

i wait in hope to be selected to be in the government. what gets me is you listen to people in the street and we all seem to agree that things need to be done and roughly what but we never seem to vote in anyone who'll do what we want. or rather no party's willing to do it!

 

prison overcrowding? get them to build new ones. prisons don't work? yes they bloomin do it's a fallicy they're there to rehabilitate. they're there to remove idiots who don't respect others rights.

 

nurse nurse time for my tranquilisers!

[+derrylynne]

A james bond like gadget would do the trick nicely. Like when someone gets closer than a foot to the car, a voice beams out, 'Get away from the car now'. The next voice says, ' Get away from the car now - I am charging'. Meanwhile a voltage surger charges the outside shell to 1,000 volts and lots of amps. Crook touches the car, vapourised. No problem. Saves on prison costs, and bye bye scum.......

[nobby.nobbs]

you can get an alarm that will sound when people get close. very expensive though i think.

 

it's the shock/stun/blow up etc bit that's harder to get.....how about a large pin in the drivers seat that's removable for when you get in?? sudden shock for the light fingered git when they sit down!

[+Pharisee]

Meanwhile a voltage surger charges the outside shell to 1,000 volts and lots of amps.

Nice thought but all that power would have to come from somewhere.... a small nuclear power station in the boot, perhaps??

[+Naefearjustbeer]

Meanwhile a voltage surger charges the outside shell to 1,000 volts and lots of amps.

Nice thought but all that power would have to come from somewhere.... a small nuclear power station in the boot, perhaps??

spot the engineer LOL!!