REVscene Automotive Forum - PSA: thieves are out! Car was broken in to

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Quote:

Originally Posted by JHatta (Post 8709882)

what is the 'good part of richmond'?

People get their cars broken into all over richmond, steveston, west richmnd, seafair, river road area....not sure where there would be a neighbourhood that would be exempt from this.

This is for auto theft breakins for 2015 in richmond. Pretty interesting to see, for those that are interested: http://csgeo.city.richmond.bc.ca/

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Quote:

Originally Posted by und3f3at3d (Post 8709908)

This is for auto theft breakins for 2015 in richmond. Pretty interesting to see, for those that are interested: Richmond BC Criminal Activity Map

Attachment 26420

It's not accurate as lots of people don't report it too (I did not)

My area looks clean with no b&e residential. But my neighbors house got jacked hard. He quickly put up gates, cameras and bought a guard dog

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoyan (Post 8709805)

They want it for your address. I'd be really careful, especially after Christmas. I keep a copy of my insurance in the car with the address blacked out. Cops I've asked say that's not really legal, but they understand the reasoning. Regardless, they say to keep the insurance papers out of your glovebox, and keep it somewhere else in the car, under the floormats, etc.

Make sure your house is locked up tight. No unlocked windows on any floor, wooden dowels in the tracks to prevent them from opening, etc. They might be looking at a home B&E. Or just wait a few weeks for you to get your truck fixed and break in again.

My aunt got carjacked in Surrey one year on Christmas Day, in the lot @ Surrey Memorial Hospital. When the cops at the hospital attended, they immediately drove her home to Burnaby. Good thing my uncle was home, he heard them trying her keys in the door, and they took off when he answered the door. Five minutes later the RCMP rolls up with my aunt. They ended up recovering the van in Surrey a couple weeks later.

Years ago, one of my co-workers came into work pissed off, as his house was broken into and his sister's car was broken into the same day. He didn't realize that they took the insurance papers for the home address. Funny thing (to us) was he was at home and asleep during the entire time the thieves ransacked the house. He didn't wake up until his parents came home freaking out about the break in and woke him up. Were they ever pissed with him. We joked with him for years that there's cell phone video of the thieves teabagging him during the robbery.

i wrote about this awhile back as well. someone i used to know had his car broken into, and they took his insurance papers among other things. what they did do was trash the ignition in the steering column so he couldn't drive the car. while he was spending most of the day dealing with the police and getting the car towed, the thieves paid a visit to his house. by the time he came home, his garage was cleaned out of all his tools and parts :(

i tried once to keep a copy of the insurance papers with my address blacked out. when i got pulled over, the cop wouldn't accept it and wrote me up for no paperwork, on top of the ticket i was getting... i don't know what else to do.

Yo 320icar, i patrol finlayson dr.. do a loop around the school every night with my dog, two nights ago i saw a car with a female driver and two males hovering around the block. I usually have my rcmp buddies hanging around tims, and easy enough to make a call. I lived in that neighbourhood for quite some time now and i know who belongs and who does not. Its rare to have break ins there but i guess things change. I watch my hood and i do report anything out of the usual in the non emergency line.

Addresses are pretty easy to get though especially if the car is on the driveway. Just look at the house number and street name. Then you can even get postal code from that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thumper (Post 8709937)

i tried once to keep a copy of the insurance papers with my address blacked out. when i got pulled over, the cop wouldn't accept it and wrote me up for no paperwork, on top of the ticket i was getting... i don't know what else to do.

Yeah, that's what I was warned about too by the VPD officer I was talking to. He said he likely wouldn't do that if he ran into that situation, but he couldn't speak for other officers.

I know a few Autoplan brokers that advise the same thing.

EDIT: Just looked up ICBC's site, and they advise: "I've always wondered about carrying the original paperwork of my insurance in the car, because it shows my address and my garage door opener is in the car. Do you see why I'm concerned?"
"It's understandable that you're worried that if your car is stolen, your security could be compromised. But the Motor Vehicle Act requires that you keep the original insurance and registration documents in the vehicle.
However, no one said that you have to make it easy for a potential thief to find the papers. Take a photocopy of the documents, black out your address with a felt pen and put the papers in a place like the glove compartment. Then, hide the unaltered originals somewhere in your car where, hopefully, only you can find them if you have to show them to the police.

Makes sense. The thief might be lazy and give up on looking for your real papers after finding the first copy in the glove box/centre console. Give him what he expects and he might not look further for your papers.

Hmm. $81 ticket for failing to produce proof of insurance. I think I'll do that.

^I like this idea. Going to do this for my car and the wife's

Junkies broke into my Focus as well last month, stole my work bag...

And then a few weeks later my sunroof blew out on the highway.

I'm also in the Capstan and Garden City area of Richmond now. I've lived in this area for 6 years now and every year my trucks and cars get broken into.

I've never had any of my vehicles broken into before in the past when I was living in the McNair area of Richmond.

It doesn't really matter where you live, people can and will steal things. Both times that my vehicles have been broke into it's been while in higher end neighbourhoods, in cul-de-sacs that hardly anyone even know exist.

Good idea on the insurance papers, I'm going to make copies of mine, black out the info and put it in a spare bag from an insurance place so it looks legit to thieves, then put the originals either under the rear seat or with the spare tire. I like the floor mat idea for convenience but I don't like the idea of them being so low and likely to get wet.

Another idea is to have your garage door opener stashed somewhere unconventional, like in the drivers door pocket, and have a dummy one with the wrong code and a dead battery sitting on the visor.