# best car stereo theft anecdotes



## BoostedNihilist (Mar 3, 2008)

It was the year 2001. The cdx-c7850 sat in my miata, providing me with reliable great sounding tunes for three years to the date. Parked in the underground the miata makes a fine target for those without scruples. 

Work, as every day starts at 8:00 and I can anticipate a good 9-10 hours of car security installations, yet my miata is new so I have not yet installed an alarm.

I wake up one morning and go to the underground to find that someone has cut my soft top and attempted an amateur reverse installation. The head unit is now sticking out of the dash (which has been busted and mangled) clinging to dear life within its iso mount braketry. The faceplate has been taken.

I loved that unit. It was second only to the c-90 and was a great all around sq unit. 

Sitting on my passenger seat was a box of my tools. Tools specifically utilized within the realm of audio/security installation. Needless to say I was stoked when I realized they had not been taken or tampered with.. but this lead me to another thought...

How come bonehead (who obviously did not have the required #2 phillips) not simply open the tool box and borrow one of my multiple #2 phillps screwdrivers. It would have been nice let me tell you, he would have easily removed the deck, all my panels would have been left alone.. on the flip side I wouldn't have the ensuing hilarity to keep me entertained for years to come.

He left the ****ing deck, in the car, left my tools, in the car and got away with my secondary faceplate... in essence.. he totally wasted his time.

Then comes the day when the insurance guy wants to take a peek at the damage. I wake up, go to my car and what? My deck is GONE. I guess the guy finally figured it out.. he brought his own phillips screwdriver and finished the hackjob of an extrication...

the icing on the cake...

he forgot his screwdriver on the passenger seat....

I still use old yeller (the fuller yellow and clear #2 phillips) quite frequently and chuckle whenever I pick that bad boy up


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

I looked under the car for that screwdriver [ doh ]


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## BoostedNihilist (Mar 3, 2008)

> I looked under the car for that screwdriver [ doh ]


Good thing you didn't try to sit in the passenger seat!!!


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Did you find a 4" pair of hemostats ?


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

what they cant see they wont steal,

stealth ftmfw.

and no 'bling' on teh outside of the vehicle,

if your car looks 'cool' thieves will look twice at it,

if it looks boring, they will walk on by.

and a good 'paging' alarm


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

60ndown said:


> *what they can see *they wont steal,


O RLY?


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## 1000aire (Jun 18, 2008)

60ndown said:


> what they can see they wont steal,
> 
> stealth ftmfw.
> 
> ...


Not around here, I've had head units stolen out of boring stock jeeps and f-150's, and when I had an RX7 (in the early 90's) and a custom Chevy truck neither were touched. I think its all just luck... or bad luck


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## GlasSman (Nov 14, 2006)

OH I _*LOVE*_ this one...this ones _*THE BEST!*_

Me and my GF go to the library to do some research.

She puts her purse under the passenger seat...nothing is visible in the car.....how they knew her purse was under the pass seat I'll never know.

Heres the good part.....I had an Alpine 7800...you know the little brother to the 7909....in the dash.

It's a pullout keep in mind.

It was hidden by a cover that fit perfectly over the faceplate I made out of cardboard and covered in black vinyl...one of my first _*custom*_ jobs.

Popped the pass door lock out with a screw driver for a ****ing pocket book with no money in it.

I _*HATE*_ crackheads.

You know it was crackheads.


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

1000aire said:


> Not around here, I've had head units stolen out of boring stock jeeps and f-150's, and when I had an RX7 (in the early 90's) and a custom Chevy truck neither were touched. I think its all just luck... or bad luck


id prolly do a head unitless system, couple cheaper amps and a sub BOLTED down.

and a cable to plug in my mp3 player (which would be with me when im not in the car) 

maybe a false floor? cant see thieves bothering/risking 20 mins work to get at amps they cant see.

or good in ear headphones/mp3 player and forget the system.

or always park somewhere very public.


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## brownmoses (Jul 23, 2008)

i always wanted to set up a huge capacitor discharge setup to blast anyone who broke in. my dad was ready to help but i was too afraid of blasting myself. i got hit with my arc welder at 170 amps running off a 220 line once. my other idea was to set up a device to torch the car to the ground. id rather burn it down than know its somewhere else. (my car isnt very expensive)


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## sandfleee (Jun 22, 2008)

I never play my systems at any "noticeable" volume in my own neighborhood. Around town, I'll crank her up, but as soon as i pull into my neighborhood, I turn it down. A stealth install only helps IMO when the thieving bastards dont hear it a mile away!

This methodology, combined with a Quality paging alarm (with big flashy red lights in the cab), and fairly dark tint have prevented me from ever experiencing a break-in.... knock on wood.


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## astronut (Dec 29, 2007)

Not sure this fits here or not, but it's my only car theft experience, so I thought I'd share.

I'd just moved into my ghetto apt after breaking up with my sons mom. No furniture in the place except my back seat from the van as a couch. The floor is more comfortable. It's around midnight Saturday night, and I'm reading my car stereo cookbook on the floor (the irony) when I here a loud noise outside, I jump up and see a guy throwing a brick through a white neons window ( it didn't break the window the first time I guess) I sit there and I'm watching this guy rummage through the car, I actually thought he was stealing the car, so I grabbed the phone and called the cops, went back to the window, 911 still on the phone, and watch them drive off. They were caught about a mile down the road. Cops come to the apartment to secure the crime scene, and ask me to ID the thieves. My 1 yr old is asleep in his room so the police decide to leave an officer in my apartment with my son, while I take a trip down the road. I ID the thieves, and they're off the jail.

Meanwhile, the cops are searching for the victim, knocking on everyones door, but no victim. They do, however, find a 3 yr old child left in an apartment by herself. They find her, because she is screaming constantly.

3 hours later, the victim shows up. She and her sister had been at the club, and had actually come back from the club when it closed at 2 am, but they went to a friends apartment, the next building over. So she knew the cops were outside, but she's walking back to her apartment when the cops stop her. They go back to her apartment to fill out all the paperwork, and wouldn't you know it, her apartment just happens to be the same apartment they found the abandoned child at! So she goes to jail for child abuse, her sister goes to jail for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest. The child gets sent to the grandparents house. The next day, we have a bad thunderstorm and the interior of the car is ruined. Later that week, she gets evicted from the apartment complex.

All because some fool tried to steal a stereo. The kicker, the thieves, while being questioned by the cops, stated they were old friends of the victim!


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## spydertune (Sep 9, 2005)

I only have one - My old boss would leave his car in his driveway. Nothing special in it, just an aftermarket headunit. One morning he gets up and finds his door window smashed & the headunit on the floor. Around the dash opening and dripped on the carpet & seat was a good amount of blood. No other details.


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## Sassmastersq (Jan 12, 2007)

I had a kenwood color shock HU stolen, along with a custom dash piece that I'd made, and painted the same colour as the car... and I didn't even notice until I went into the trunk and noticed that the case of coke that I had in there was gone... they took my HU and my coke... I guess they saw the RCA's behind the HU, and popped the trunk release, found NOTHING (thank God for works in progress LOL) but stole the half case of coke, oh, and they stole a bible out of the back seat that was in a case that looked like a CD wallet.


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## Snocones (Aug 19, 2008)

Sassmastersq said:


> I had a kenwood color shock HU stolen, along with a custom dash piece that I'd made, and painted the same colour as the car... and I didn't even notice until I went into the trunk and noticed that the case of coke that I had in there was gone... they took my HU and my coke... I guess they saw the RCA's behind the HU, and popped the trunk release, found NOTHING (thank God for works in progress LOL) but stole the half case of coke, oh, and they stole a bible out of the back seat that was in a case that looked like a CD wallet.


hahaha. Maybe they will finally read the part that says "thou shalt not steal".


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

I have a cheapo camera surveillance system with 2 camera's and a wal mart VCR to record. Both vehicles have paging alarms in them. While living in my old apt. some idiot decided to break into my car, the pager went off, and I immediately started the VCR and called 911. I informed them that I would be outside holding the guy with my gun.... The guy saw the AK and about S**t his pants. Cops drew guns on me when they got there... 

I got to him just in time, he had just got the dash trim popped off.... It would have been a waste though, I always drill out the screw heads. A PITA when I go to change stuff, but even better deterring thieves.


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

yeldak99 said:


> I always drill out the screw heads. A PITA when I go to change stuff, but even better deterring thieves.


http://www.4grabit.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1


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## sandfleee (Jun 22, 2008)

yeldak99 said:


> I have a cheapo camera surveillance system with 2 camera's and a wal mart VCR to record. Both vehicles have paging alarms in them. While living in my old apt. some idiot decided to break into my car, the pager went off, and I immediately started the VCR and called 911. I informed them that I would be outside holding the guy with my gun.... The guy saw the AK and about S**t his pants. Cops drew guns on me when they got there...
> 
> I got to him just in time, he had just got the dash trim popped off.... It would have been a waste though, I always drill out the screw heads. A PITA when I go to change stuff, but even better deterring thieves.



Thats gotta be a ***** pulling the deck for upgrades etc... I never thought about it, but hell even a torx or square head would drastically slow the process for the thief that didnt bring his entire tool box... I may try something like that with my HU.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

bout 4 years ago a kid i worked with had his $100 aiwa headunit stolen out of his s-15 while my faceless premier 550mp was untouched. they leaned on my 3-year-old silverado while they smashed the passenger side window out of his nearly 16 year old truck. there's something to be said about pulling the face off even if it's just in the console or glovebox. if i ever go doubledin with a 701 i'm tinting to 5%. or does that just attract thiefs?


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## CLE (Sep 29, 2007)

brownmoses said:


> i always wanted to set up a huge capacitor discharge setup to blast anyone who broke in. my dad was ready to help but i was too afraid of blasting myself. i got hit with my arc welder at 170 amps running off a 220 line once. my other idea was to set up a device to torch the car to the ground. id rather burn it down than know its somewhere else. (my car isnt very expensive)


Why does this remind me of the South African anti-carjacking device?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc


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## SublimeZ (Jan 28, 2008)

I prefer the trunk monkey. Works in more situations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCUBxgdKZ_Y


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## Bluto Blutarsky (Apr 1, 2007)

First one: 1988 WGE (Worst Girlfriend Ever) asks if she can use my car on her day off rather than mine. I reply no. Please leave it in the garage. Ignores my wishes. Takes car, runs errands,goes to visit friend working at Brea mall. Parks in structure by Nordstrom.
I get the hysterical phone call. Lost an entire car and she lost a boyfriend and needed a new place to live. equipment list, Sony CDXR7,4 Fosgate punch amps and Pyle sub,mid and tweeter.


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## drocpsu (May 3, 2005)

Bluto Blutarsky said:


> Pyle sub,


Sounds like she did you a favor.


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## Nathan P (Jun 9, 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSbjgXbDUzo&NR=1


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## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

drocpsu said:


> Sounds like she did you a favor.


In 1988? Pyle ruled. One of the original good names bought and gone bad.

My youngest brother is an addict, on top of being an all around POS. There had come a time in my life when I left my girlfriend, and had to live with my stepmother and this brother until I got back on my feet.

Anyways, he was sharing some stories with me and told me about an attempt to break into a friends car after a party to steal his radio. My brother said he creeped up to the drivers door and started to raise up to peek inside. As he was raising up, it woke the owner of the car up, who had passed out in the front seat of his car. The owner turned around to look my brother in the eyes and asked "what the f*ck are you doing, Matt?" My brother played it off and asked for a ride home.

I don't miss that dumbass at all.


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## yeldak99 (Mar 5, 2008)

Nathan P said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSbjgXbDUzo&NR=1


bad ass!!!!!


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## Bluto Blutarsky (Apr 1, 2007)

drocpsu said:


> Sounds like she did you a favor.


 At the time it was pretty nice stuff.  their 5 inch mid sounded real nice too.


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## Bluto Blutarsky (Apr 1, 2007)

Second one: 1994. Car parked in front of rental condo in smallish tract. Adult kids of my neighbor. Ricer Boi party goes pretty huge on a Saturday night. More Honda's then I've seen in one place at the same time. Sunday morning come out to see the lift gate on my civic ajar and I knew it was all gone. Every neighbors Honda got the window forced out of the channel and contents stolen. Heres the look on my face as the garage door opener slowly lifted the door to reveal my big surprise in the driveway.

State Farm did me right on my claimI lost a Sony disc player, 2 rockford fosgate amps punch 150*,box,speakers. Still had the door speakers.
I started over again and am currently using the same amps and electronic crossover that I bought to replace this stuff:blush:.


* I still have the box from one of the amps


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Bluto Blutarsky said:


> Second one: 1994. Car parked in front of rental condo in smallish tract. Adult kids of my neighbor. Ricer Boi party goes pretty huge on a Saturday night.


What happened to the thief and his friends ?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Bluto Blutarsky said:


> equipment list, Sony CDXR7,4 Fosgate punch amps and Pyle sub,mid and tweeter.


Are you aware it was meant to happen !

You are not running pyle anymore right 

As you get older you will spend more money than that on a woman in one day !


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## Bluto Blutarsky (Apr 1, 2007)

a$$hole said:


> What happened to the thief and his friends ?


 Scott free?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Bluto Blutarsky said:


> Scott free?


To each their own and some of everyone elses 

No crowbars handy


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## Bluto Blutarsky (Apr 1, 2007)

a$$hole said:


> Are you aware it was meant to happen !
> 
> You are not running pyle anymore right
> 
> As you get older you will spend more money than that on a woman in one day !


 You ******* it was 1988.


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## SublimeZ (Jan 28, 2008)

98 Z/28. Alternator was going bad. Pulled it after work to take the next morning for rebuild. Next morning, car is on rocks.(on the discs)Chrome factory wheelsw/z rated tires,Pio Premier 860mp, 4300x,PRO50X4, MTX mids,2-12 jbl subs,100+ cd's, bible (in case) and cordless drill gone. Made me sick to my stomach. Car was alarmed, but battery was disconnected. Then after, the car is in the garage.


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

spydertune said:


> I only have one - My old boss would leave his car in his driveway. Nothing special in it, just an aftermarket headunit. One morning he gets up and finds his door window smashed & the headunit on the floor. Around the dash opening and dripped on the carpet & seat was a good amount of blood. No other details.


I've heard from an EMT that this is not that uncommon. People who watch too many Arnold Schwarzenegger movies try to punch through sheets of safety glass...and end up much the worse for it. 

I'm actually in the process of covering up my expensive-looking bike ($200 frame, $190 shifter...and $10 crankset, cassette, chain, and pedals. I shoulda bought a Schwinn!) with foam tape to make it look like a cheap POS.


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## clbolt (Jan 9, 2008)

I had a 73 Mustang convertible, I inherited it from my dad. In 1982 I bought some craptacular cassette deck from Dyer Stereo in Corpus Christi (for any of you old-school Texas guys who remember Dyer), and a pair of Minimus-7 knockoffs. You couldn't hear the radio at highway speed with the top up or down. Somebody cut the top and stole the deck and speakers at a K-Mart in south Austin in 84. They actually did me a favor. The insurance company bought me a new top (professionally installed), and a new deck and speakers. I never locked the doors on the Mustang again. A year later I came home to the apartment at midnight in my other car during an absolute downpour to find the top of the mustang completely slashed open, the stereo again gone, and 3" of water in the floorboards of the car. I guess they didn't try the doors before they cut the top.

During the summer of 82 I let the guy who was fixing up my dad's house for me drive my 75 VW Rabbit. It had the cheapest cassette deck you could buy (about $49 at the time), the kind that not only didn't have auto-reverse, but no rewind and no presets. You had to flip the tape and fast forward it to rewind. I also had a $20 Sparkomatic power booster hidden behind the radio grill in the dash, and a pair of 4" whizzer cone speakers in the doors. The guy who was driving the car stole the stereo and accessories out of it to buy beer. I can't even imagine how little he got for it.


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## uglypedro (May 2, 2008)

After a couple of failed bidding wars on fleabay, I finally scored an AutoTaser. No longer on the market, It's a steeringwheel club with a built in Taser. Positioned correctly, you can't get at my HU! The charge will get you if your hand comes within 3-4 inches of the bar!

And you don't need to "make" a $200 bike frame look like a POS....it already is
!


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

last post was from 2 yrs ago...nice


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## audioaddict (Mar 13, 2010)

amitaF said:


> last post was from 2 yrs ago...nice


hardly makes it any less valid.  to you too!


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

audioaddict said:


> hardly makes it any less valid.  to you too!


I fail to see the relevance of owning, a now discontinued device, that can potentially get the owner of such device, into a heap of legal problems for injuring a would be thief. [unfortunately thieves have rights,too...] 
Also, passing judgement on how much a person decides how much to invest on a bike ....is releventback at you 

but to each his own...., i guess

:inout:


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## aphexacid (Oct 24, 2009)

Sweet i have one too!

I moved from a house, to a condo in like 2003. At the time, all i had in my car was a Premier PRS-X340 running Boston Pro's. The deck was a single din alpine, top model at the time, whatever it was. 

Here's my theory on what got me noticed. I pulled into my parking lot one night at about 1am jamming some tunes. im guessing thats what got me noticed. the next morning, im walking towards my car, and i see my trunk is open, and lots of shiny stuff on the ground.

I get to my car and i swear my anus and balls simultaneously got sucked into my body.

they ****ing annihilated my car. Fitting a deck in a 1997 buick riviera is a MAJOR pain. the entire front piece of the dashboard needs to be removed first. 
And removed it they did. with a hammer. they were nice enough to grind the broken glass all over my leather seats too.

Tweeters both hanging, im guessing they needed to jet. 

so heres what they got away with: 

alpine deck, premier amp, escort passport radar, some cd's, about 3 bucks in change, and a 3/4 full bottle of washer fluid. Yep. they stole my ****ing washer fluid.

It was a sunday, and i couldnt get someone to come and repair the window. So i had to plastic it, and hope for the best.

My friend and i stood at my window until 4am with bats waiting for the ****ers to come back for the tweeters/speakers. 
I figured **** it, i guess they're not coming back.

they came back. sometime between 4am and 8am when i woke up. ripped the ****ing tweeters out of the mounts. 


Getting paid by insurance was a ****ing joke. i dumped Farmers after that.

So i guess my naivete got me in trouble. I went from a house, parking in the garage, "not needing" an alarm system. To getting ****ed the 2nd week of moving into a condo.

After that, i got the Viper paging alarm system, wired to 2 sirens and 2 expedition horns go off. If you blow a fart next to my car, the alarm is activated. My neighbors hate me, and i dont give a ****.

thats my story, my blood is boiling now. everytime i think of this ****, i wish i would have caught the ****ers in the act.



EDIT: Holy **** this thread was old. oopsie.


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## finbar (Feb 1, 2009)

Chicago '96, they broke into my work van. The pager woke me up, so I called the cops as I watched the nogoodniks go to the next vehicle in line, my wife's car. That one they torched! I asked dispatch to send the fire department.
I got satisfaction fingering them down the cop shop, right to their collective face! HAH!
The one perp rolled on the other, time was served.
Insurance was fair with the compensation. Then collected from the perps.
I was scheduled to move into my first house a month later. Bye bye old neighborhood.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

The year is 1993, I am in college, and my 1981 Crown Victoria gets broken into. First the thieves try to attack the trunk lock, and fail miserably at it. Next they break my rear passenger side window, nevermind the fact that the car was unlocked, then they proceed to try to tear the back seat off the car, and again fail miserably. They NEVER get into the trunk.

They left my CD player and my diamond lensed Ray Bans in the car, but they take my two CD Cases full of Razormaid CDs.  

Till this very day, I still wonder why they did all this damage to my vehicle to get into the trunk because the only thing in the trunk was my spare tire. Yep, that is right, I hadn't installed my sound system yet because I hadn't installed my alarm.


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## Montdj (Apr 12, 2010)

Fathers day 2010. I decided to take the kids out for fathers day breakfest. I tell my 14 year old to buckle my 6 year old into the car. I am just getting in when I hear wheres my tvs. Well they took 2 headrest monitors, a alpine f4 and m6, polk 12 sub. They left the ipod and avic 110 along with my front speakers. They started to take the tweeter out but stoped for some reason. 

I was thinking since I dont bump my system around town at all and never show it off I was safe. 

It sounds like everything will be covered but before anything goes back in a viper needs to be installed.


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## Freedom First (May 17, 2010)

aphexacid said:


> Sweet i have one too!
> 
> I moved from a house, to a condo in like 2003. At the time, all i had in my car was a Premier PRS-X340 running Boston Pro's. The deck was a single din alpine, top model at the time, whatever it was.
> 
> ...



Moral of the story? _Don't **** where you eat._ (or, something to that effect!)

If you lived in my 'hood and came in bumping @ 1am, I'd steal your **** just for spite.  Have some decency and common courtesy for your neighbors!


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## BoostedNihilist (Mar 3, 2008)

> Moral of the story? Don't **** where you eat. (or, something to that effect!)


Moral of the story is dickheads will steal your **** and sell it for crack.



> If you lived in my 'hood and came in bumping @ 1am, I'd steal your **** just for spite. Have some decency and common courtesy for your neighbors!


your hood must be a very safe and secure hood.


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## shibbydevil (Jul 2, 2010)

The year, 1999, the car... a 1995 geo tracker, the place, my sisters high school parking lot. The radio... a stock am/fm no cassette. They broke the window, broke the door handle, broke the dash, broke the radio, and cut themselves up and bled all over the interior of the car. There was a hard to get to screw on the back of the headunit holding a bracket on they just couldnt manage. So they left the radio three quarters of the way pulled out of the dash with the front of it broken off. I can only imagine how desperate they must have been in the first place to try and steal an am/fm radio.


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

shibbydevil said:


> The year, 1999, the car... a 1995 geo tracker, the place, my sisters high school parking lot. The radio... a stock am/fm no cassette. They broke the window, broke the door handle, broke the dash, broke the radio, and cut themselves up and bled all over the interior of the car. There was a hard to get to screw on the back of the headunit holding a bracket on they just couldnt manage. So they left the radio three quarters of the way pulled out of the dash with the front of it broken off. I can only imagine how desperate they must have been in the first place to try and steal an am/fm radio.


from a geo. thats just ****ing epix.


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## chefhow (Apr 29, 2007)

In 1994 I was living in Miami Beach while in college. Everyday I parked my car under the same light post outside my building and set my alarm, I did the same thing for 2 years. Its 2 weeks before Spring Break Nationals I just had the finishing touches put on my car, PPI ProMos 425 with MB Quart comps up front, 2 JL 10W5's in the hatch and a custom built Lou Perroni passive xover from Speaker Warehouse, I was ready to roll ( the xovers cost almost as much as everything else iirc). Anyway I park my car after work and go inside to catch a few hours of sleep before I had class the next morning, for some reason I left my books in my car that night so I get up and go outside to find my car gone but my book bag sitting in my parking spot with a note in the top of my bag saying simply THANKS!! I called the cops immediately. 3 days later the shell of my car with NO INTERIOR was found in a field.


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## Audiophyle (Aug 8, 2009)

Thats f**ked up leaving a thank you note.

I have been fortunate enough to not have any epic theft stories. A smash & grab of my cd wallet & ashtray change in highschool parking lot (1998), and a stolen amp/box a year later before graduation.

Ever since I have taken the liberty to install multiple sirens inside the vehicle, piezos & reg sirens. If they want the gear that bad fine, I know an alarm wont stop the determined but they damn sure wont be able to hear it. lol


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## Greg S (Oct 21, 2009)

I fortunately have only had one system stolen but it hurt. I know I was followed home since I had recently moved in to a new apartment complex that just went from being 55+ to accepting all ages. All my neighbors were old and I never bumped the system near home. Most of my equipment was out of site, only thing visible was the headunit. At the time I had a 6th order bandpass box in the trunk firing up through the rear speaker grills, three Kenwood Excelon amps were sandwiched between the box and the rear seat backs, each with their own cap,_ yeah, yeah, I know_. They broke in one night and managed to get the amps and headunit, tried to get the sub as well but were not able to. Not surprising, as it took two of us kicking it to get it to wedge between the shock towers. I was slightly off on my measurements.

Back in the late 80s I had a customer who didn't want a pull-out radio because she didn't want to hassle with carrying it around. Know I can understand this but she drove a convertable VW Rabbit, one of the easist cars ever know to break in to. After the radio was stolen she came and got another one, no pull-out again. After the second one the theif left a thank you note. By the forth one she agreed with me that a pull-out would be a good idea.:laugh: Always thought it was funny that those dashes were only $20 even at full dealer retail. We used to stock them they got broken in to so often.


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## HAVOC (Nov 29, 2009)

I came home after work to check my e-mail and head back out for dinner. I was in the house for maybe ten minutes. Got back in the truck (1989 Toyota POS) and noticed the panel below the radio was on the floor  I put it back in place and then noticed they took my XM radio that was on a vent mount above the radio. They also took my lighter plug. They didn't however steal my Alpine radio. I called XM and told them it was stolen and they "red flagged" the unit so it can never be activated 

Yeah I know, I should've rolled the windows up. 

Now I never go in the house without locking my doors.
Plus now I have a much nicer car so I'm making it a habit.


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## eviling (Apr 14, 2010)

Greg S said:


> I fortunately have only had one system stolen but it hurt. I know I was followed home since I had recently moved in to a new apartment complex that just went from being 55+ to accepting all ages. All my neighbors were old and I never bumped the system near home. Most of my equipment was out of site, only thing visible was the headunit. At the time I had a 6th order bandpass box in the trunk firing up through the rear speaker grills, three Kenwood Excelon amps were sandwiched between the box and the rear seat backs, each with their own cap,_ yeah, yeah, I know_. They broke in one night and managed to get the amps and headunit, tried to get the sub as well but were not able to. Not surprising, as it took two of us kicking it to get it to wedge between the shock towers. I was slightly off on my measurements.
> 
> Back in the late 80s I had a customer who didn't want a pull-out radio because she didn't want to hassle with carrying it around. Know I can understand this but she drove a convertable VW Rabbit, one of the easist cars ever know to break in to. After the radio was stolen she came and got another one, no pull-out again. After the second one the theif left a thank you note. By the forth one she agreed with me that a pull-out would be a good idea.:laugh: Always thought it was funny that those dashes were only $20 even at full dealer retail. We used to stock them they got broken in to so often.


haha the second story is funny as hell. i laughed so hard i had to walk away for a breather :laugh:


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## emak212 (Apr 13, 2010)

Great story, and sorry about your deck. You should have have fingerprinted that mofo just for kicks!


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## Louisiana_CRX (Feb 18, 2008)

uglypedro said:


> After a couple of failed bidding wars on fleabay, I finally scored an *AutoTaser*. No longer on the market, It's a steeringwheel club with a built in Taser. Positioned correctly, you can't get at my HU! The charge will get you if your hand comes within 3-4 inches of the bar!
> 
> And you don't need to "make" a $200 bike frame look like a POS....it already is
> !


best invention ever...someone needs to re introduce these.....


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## envisionelec (Dec 14, 2005)

I've had several systems stolen. First few, I didn't have an alarm, the last one - I forgot to arm it. I had a big mixing board in the back seat with all its knobs removed (I'd taken them off to wash them) and a surfboard-sized Coustic amp in the trunks. Thieves left the headunit (flip face Kenwood), stole the sub and amp and mixing board. I was upset because the board wasn't mine. I was in for $700+ if I couldn't find it. 

I sulked for a bit then turned around and looked in the dumpster not 10 feet from my car. Hey, look - the mixing board is sitting pretty on top of a few trash bags. Whew! 

Another time, I found a latent faceplate in the grass, thought it looked familiar and then noticed my wife's car window missing. $0 later at the glass shop, the system was back intact. We moved, both got alarms after that and never had a problem again.


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## Bugs78 (May 14, 2010)

*Payback is a ******

sounds framiliar, but I came out ahead. 

Someone broke into my truck to steal my stereo Underground parking FTL. Luckilly it was within 2 weeks of me moving out 

Upside, cops didnt bother coming to see the damage, just said file report, they don't bother printing this type of thing. I mentioned they left a BRAND NEW 150piece socket/tool set on the ground beside the truck which they used to extract all my equipment. They didnt care, said keep it. Nice 200$ cherry to go along with my new empty truck.

Filed paperwork with cops. Filed with insurance. Got 'ok' payout from insurance seeing as I had a rider on the equipment.

Couple weeks later, I went to use my shiney new tool set on some items in my new house. Turns out, in the small bit compartment, the previous owner stashed his receipt for warranty purposes (i would assume). 

Upon the receipt was name/phonenumber/address and credit card info ;-)

I called his mother.. who handed the phone to his father. Sgt. Somethingorother. He was more then happy to hear of this tail of woe, and was happier that I hadnt called the cops with the receipt so he could 'deal with this himself'. 

By dealing with it, I mean, the father repo-ed the kids car which he cosigned. Sold it. Gave me fair market value for the equipment lost, and told jr. to walk to school. I told him insurance paid me already, but he wanted to prove a point to the dumb kid.. who had to hand me the cash in hand at a 3rd party location so the kid wouldnt know where I live. 

Score one for the little guy


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## BoostedNihilist (Mar 3, 2008)

awesome story!! hahaha

Funny how in the stress of the moment they forget their tools. Happened to me too on post 1.


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