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13 cars broken into last night, for laptops - costco sunnyvale parking lot

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phaduman

phaduman

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Sep 16, 2016
389
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San Jose
#1
Mine was one of them, :-(. Any good reliable south bay area Tesla repair shop? Glass damage, some paint damage and not sure yet, but likely some upholstery damage due to shattered glasses..

My regret: keeping the laptop bag in trunk instead of frunk. The rear glass has 95% tint, and parcel shelf was there, so couldn't have seen it! There was traffic all along, with cars parking and moving about at all times...ah!! hurts bad.

Please use frunk for valuables...
 
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#6
apacheguy said:
What? They randomly broke glass on 13 cars just on the off chance that some were carrying a laptop?

I don't think they could get much for my 5 year old laptop if they were to break into mine.
Click to expand...

Curious… does that not happen in SoCal? It's been a huge issue in the SF Bay area the last couple of years. Apparently breaking into cars is considered one of those nonviolent crimes that CA basically has reduced the punishment to nothing…. The problem is worse in SF — some of my friends report break-ins for stuff as simple as iPhone charging cords.
 
#10
phaduman said:
no - they were putting flash lights to check. I have dash cam footage - provided to cops.
Click to expand...

Please let us know what happens! I've always contemplated running a dashcam for vandalism/break-in evidence. But given how little they tend to do about enforcing/investigating such incidents in this area, I figured it would be yet another thing to attract theft, ironically….
 
#11
OMG, that's the Costco that I shop at. I never drive my Tesla there, the parking lot is always crazy busy there. The size of the parking spot is small, and there are hundreds of people pulling in and out of that lot all day long, pushing huge shopping carts with their kids. And now there's theft!
It's not worth the risk. Your Tesla will see the inside of a body shop sooner or later if shop there with your car.
 
#12
phaduman said:
Mine was one of them, :-(. Any good reliable south bay area Tesla repair shop? Glass damage, some paint damage and not sure yet, but likely some upholstery damage due to shattered glasses..

My regret: keeping the laptop bag in trunk instead of frunk. The rear glass has 95% tint, and parcel shelf was there, so couldn't have seen it! There was traffic all along, with cars parking and moving about at all times...ah!! hurts bad.

Please use frunk for valuables...
Click to expand...
why are you leaving anything of value in a car, especially when others have access to the car?
 
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#14
chillaban said:
Please let us know what happens! I've always contemplated running a dashcam for vandalism/break-in evidence. But given how little they tend to do about enforcing/investigating such incidents in this area, I figured it would be yet another thing to attract theft, ironically….
Click to expand...

Whoa there chillaban, that's only when parked, what about when you are moving? Keep in mind that proving your side in an accident is also an objective of a dashcam. Dashcam recordings can be very valuable if you are involved in an car accident.
 
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#15
Sorry to hear that and as someone who's MS just got broken into maybe 2-3 weeks ago (just to see what was under our parcel shelf--nothing), I know how you feel. What window did they break? Ours was the driver's small side rear so they could flip the seat down and I assume use a flashlight to see what was back there. We had the Sunnyvale SvC replace our glass, remove the broken glass and check the upholstry for damage. About $1200 later and at least for us just the glass to repair. We have XPel Ultimate full body wrap on our car and believe that helped save any glass damage to the paint near the smashed window. Glass was everywhere and service needed to vacuum it a few times to get it all out.

Interestingly we had our Blackvue recording the whole thing and saw the car pull up behind and across from us, guy get out, walk directly to our car's side area, then walk across our liftgate (in full side profile) to a second vehicle that was found with their whole SUV rear window on the ground. The dashcam recorded the guy running back to the car with a suitcase and iPad that was underneath it (from their vehicle), hopping in and leaving the lot. Sun was at a bad angle unfortunately for us and although we had a side profile of him and have a good idea of the car used, white 2013 Camero, the SJPD said there wasn't anything they could do about it essentially. Something like over 400 car incidents a day and no real staff since the mass exodus of police a few years ago and more priority cases to pursue. Pretty sure hubby said Sunnyvale SvC said they had 4 similar break ins to ours that same week that they were repairing damage from.

In our case car was dropped off Monday and think they didn't start to work on it until Tuesday. They had to take out the frame too. Took a day to cure after reinstalling everything. Think we got it back on Thursday. Dark tint and parcel shelves really don't do anything to discourage this kind of vandalism/theft, might even peak more interest as to what could be there. We're driving around with our parcel shelf down now so they can see we don't have anything in the back and hopefully get passed over in the future. The vast majority of the time we're not carrying anything in the car worth stealing anyway. One of the reasons I always liked trunks better although those are easy to pop too. When we were at the Monterey Car Week owners social a few weeks ago, we were talking to Jon McNeill about this happening to us. That little window on the side rear ends up costing a lot more to replace ultimately than if they broke the rear passenger window btw. In which case if they did that they'd have to reach in and then gain access to the car maybe triggering the alarm system if set. Probably worst repair case is if the liftgate got smashed in to get things out of there. Might be helpful if Teslas with seats like this had locks on them like my old Honda did to prevent easy seat release. It sucks no matter how you look at it. And it's infuriating that they get away with this. Something's gotta change.
 
Last edited:
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#16
Akikiki said:
Whoa there chillaban, that's only when parked, what about when you are moving? Keep in mind that proving your side in an accident is also an objective of a dashcam. Dashcam recordings can be very valuable if you are involved in an car accident.
Click to expand...


I should clarify: I meant running a 24/7 dashcam feed while parked. I totally understand the benefits of running a dashcam while driving.
 
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#17
phaduman said:
Mine was one of them, :-(. Any good reliable south bay area Tesla repair shop? Glass damage, some paint damage and not sure yet, but likely some upholstery damage due to shattered glasses..

My regret: keeping the laptop bag in trunk instead of frunk. The rear glass has 95% tint, and parcel shelf was there, so couldn't have seen it! There was traffic all along, with cars parking and moving about at all times...ah!! hurts bad.

Please use frunk for valuables...
Click to expand...
Sorry for your lost. Where did you parked? That Costco is packed all the time. Did you place your laptop in the trunk after you arrived? Costco should really have security patrolling the parking lot more often.
 
#19
chillaban said:
It was in the trunk with the parcel shelf up. Sounds like he would’ve gotten vandalized regardless.

Are you really blaming someone for going to Costco after work?
Click to expand...
I am blaming someone for leaving valuables inside the car.
on my car I removed the parcel shelf so someone could see there is nothing in there.
FWIW: I used to keep my 911 unlocked, I figured if they really want to get in I'll make it easy and I won't have to deal with any damage that would be caused by the thieves forcing their way in.
 
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