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Eno Deb
Active Member
It wouldn't have many any difference. And even if something valuable had been in the trunk, nobody pays attention to car alarms anyway. I doubt these scumbags would be deterred by an alarm.
that place is pretty busy and lit up at night. Surprised. I'm in the bay area as well and worry about this. wonder what can be done to avoid this. I've heard to proactively push down the seats if you dont have anything but we can't because we have a child seat in the back. May fold the other seat down. Sort of like an open cash register at night to show thieves there's no money!
This has been happening to many cars of various manufacturers but our Model S was hit as well a while back. We don't keep our parcel shelf up any longer as a result. When our car was hit it was a pretty expensive repair, $1300 I think and told the whole chrome frame had to be removed and then replaced, which added to the cost. Others reporting the same breakin reported similar costs for repair. I think from posts I've seen more recently the cost has come down...Sadly probably due to volume. And let's face it the little window glass isn't that pricy. I was afraid that the Model 3 we were buying would be a target as well since it has the same triangular window basically and fold down seats. But worse in some ways -- due to the trunk design you don't even have a parcel shelf to remove. I guess folding down the back seats is the only other option.
We spoke to Tesla during an event when the Model 3 was just coming out and brought up this crime and the expense to owners and asked them if there wasn't something they could do. They did change the chrome molding on the car, adding a seam in the upper portion around the triangular window so that only that small part would need to get replaced. If they can't get in through the triangular window, and they think or see something of value is in your car, they will then smash other windows (side or liftgate) or pop your trunk in the case of Model 3.
One Model S owner last year captured on his dashcam his and fellow cars parked near him being broken into at night in a Costco parking lot and with shoppers walking right near by. Very brazen and so quick that people don't even notice or hear it happening. Another Model S owner who apparently didn't have people walking around had his perp break the side window, flip the seat down, see something, then break a side window...couldn't quite get to what he wanted, tried to smash the liftgate, and I think ended up going back to the rear seat passenger window to fish what he wanted out. Our car was a 2 guy operation with one sitting in the getaway car. The Costco one I think was a group of 4 working the lot. There is an epidemic of property crimes like this in the SF Bay area.
With so many crossovers out there also with no separate trunk compartment and with the popularity of fold down seats, there's a ready supply of cars that are easier targets. Even if you don't keep anything in your cargo or trunk area, you are still subject to being a target of this crime and paying the price of repair if they want in your car. Many on here had their windows smashed, seats flipped and had nothing to take but a repair bill all the same.
We spoke to Tesla during an event when the Model 3 was just coming out and brought up this crime and the expense to owners and asked them if there wasn't something they could do. They did change the chrome molding on the car, adding a seam in the upper portion around the triangular window so that only that small part would need to get replaced. If they can't get in through the triangular window, and they think or see something of value is in your car, they will then smash other windows (side or liftgate) or pop your trunk in the case of Model 3.
One Model S owner last year captured on his dashcam his and fellow cars parked near him being broken into at night in a Costco parking lot and with shoppers walking right near by. Very brazen and so quick that people don't even notice or hear it happening. Another Model S owner who apparently didn't have people walking around had his perp break the side window, flip the seat down, see something, then break a side window...couldn't quite get to what he wanted, tried to smash the liftgate, and I think ended up going back to the rear seat passenger window to fish what he wanted out. Our car was a 2 guy operation with one sitting in the getaway car. The Costco one I think was a group of 4 working the lot. There is an epidemic of property crimes like this in the SF Bay area.
With so many crossovers out there also with no separate trunk compartment and with the popularity of fold down seats, there's a ready supply of cars that are easier targets. Even if you don't keep anything in your cargo or trunk area, you are still subject to being a target of this crime and paying the price of repair if they want in your car. Many on here had their windows smashed, seats flipped and had nothing to take but a repair bill all the same.
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If your child seat is on one side of the car and not middle, you could flip down the other seat section I guess. This whole thing angers me from many perspectives every time I read another post about it happening.
I hope new owners to Model 3 and Model S are reading these threads and getting educated at least. Worse than having your window smashed is then losing something of value like a laptop etc. so really don't leave this kind of stuff in your car. Not even in good neighborhoods.
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NeverFollow
Active Member
You should make a police report, I think your car insurance might require it, and helps police for localizing dangerous neighborhood.
Fremont Police Online Reporting System
I am thinking that next time I park in parking lot that this may happen, I could just roll down one of the back window half way if there is really nothing in the car. Let them open the flip and take a look and move on.
NeverFollow
Active Member
Installing a dashcam running when parked outside could also a good idea.
Sorry, but many of us with dashcams running in parking mode got a video of the perp doing the act and moving on to the next car; and it really doesn't matter, at least not in this area. My husband even drove a USB drive with our video to the police in the city where it happened--actually gave it to two different city PDs, neither had any real interest in it--when he called to report it he was basically told to call his insurance company and well you can bring it in if you want but honestly nothing will come of it. I know another owner around the same time as us had a similar experience with his footage. Really shocking to hear.
Despite what he was told by phone he felt it was his civic duty to take the video to them so took time off of work to deliver it, thinking it would make a difference or help in some way...instead got like are you aware how many daily car-related incidents the city has and how we are staffed?
My advice, buy a dashcam for accident coverage, creating videos of your road trips, etc. Maybe some areas of the country they actually do follow up on these property crimes and try to catch the guys, so maybe there is some value for that purpose elsewhere. I think the real value in a dashcam is catching live video of an accident whether you are involved in it or not, and of value if you are rear ended.
Eno Deb
Active Member
If you file an insurance claim or police report, it may show up on the car's Carfax report, which could have a negative effect when you sell it. In theory Carfax should only include structural damages, but there are many reports of minor damages showing up as well.
If that's below your deductible, the insurance won't pay anyway. In this case I'd just pay it out of my own pocket and not involve either the insurance or the police.
Yeah that's what I'm thinking of doing. The car seat is on the passenger's side in the rear, so I could put down the rear seat behind the driver's side and hope that deters them from being curious
So a window broken or a crowbar to your trunk to pop....not sure about the metal there but could be more expensive damage.
the whole point of them breaking the window is how easy it is to get in and out...they're not going to waste the time and make the noise to start taking a crowbar to the trunk just to see what's in there.
Well all I can tell you is we drove into a HD located down the street from a Supercharger to buy something and as we pulled into the parking lot (which was kind of dimly lit) we saw a guy over by a car with the trunk open. He had something in his hand. Turned out it was a short crow bar and when he saw us pulling up near him to park, he left the car with the trunk open and walked across the aisle to another car. We had parked and were walking into the store and I told my husband I was pretty sure the guy was breaking into that car. We tried not to look too obvious trying to watch him and saw him drive off. We went in and told Customer Service about what we thought we had seen. We described the car and as it turned out it was one of the CS reps at the desk. She ran out and said yes someone had broken into her car. Didn't find her purse but had rummaged through stuff in her trunk. Called in the report to the police. She said there had been other car breakins recently there. It's not like they were bashing the car with the crow bar but instead were prying it open. Not sure why you think this makes a lot of noise.
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