My car was stolen. *sigh*

Rob V. (Cruzths) and i went to the buggy blast this past week (www.sbbb.net) and we got a call from his wife night before last that my car was no longer in their driveway. Luckily i decided to leave my empeg in their house instead of in the trunk... so at least there's that. AND the fact that i had all my gear out of the car for the trip is good, so i didn't really loose much but the car, my skateboard, a few miscellaneous kites and other items, and an empeg sled... i even had the tuner out, thank jeebus. So much for that.

Now i'm hoping they don't find it anytime soon so i can sink the insurance check into the WRX i was about to get anyhow. In a weird way it's a blessing in disguise... saves me the hassle of selling the car.

I still wanna nail the little bastards though.

Here's to hoping the new WRX will be better luck for me.

Rob... when are those black sleds gonna be ready??

Rob... when are those black sleds gonna be ready??

Sorry about your car!

But, your guess is as good as mine.
Hopefully very soon. All that has to be done is have the metal punched and bent. I will keep you in mind.

Day-yam, man. You have the WORST luck. So sorry!!!!

Hmmm... maybe you were a car thief in a previous life, and this is your punishment?

OMG!

Damn Loren is that car a high theft model or do you just keep briefcases full of cash on the passanger seat? Sorry, I shouldn't joke - at least you were about to sell the car anyway and your player wasn't in it...

And from someone's driveway! That's nuts!

My sympathies...

EDIT, you lost a tuner too huh? damn..

Dude! Lojack. You need it with your luck. Sorry to hear about it. Nothing compares to that sinking "My car(empeg) was RIGHT HERE!" feeling. That sucks.
I hope they get 'em.

-Zeke

Sorry to hear it. I've had a car pinched as well, and even if it's worth practically nothing, you still have the desire to find someone and hit them repeatedly with something. In my case they really did do me a favour; I got way more from the insurance than the car was worth, but it took months. The only time insurance has ever been worth the payments in my experience.

I'm glad you had your tuner safely out of the car. I have a limited supply of kits

pca

Dude! Lojack.

That's not nearly as effective as they make it out to be.
Sorry to hear that Loren. Have you considered giving up owning a car yet?


Now for the advice from the car salesperson:

Given your current run of luck, if it is not included in the finance contract with whatever bank the loan goes through (if you do finance the car) BUY THE GAP INSURANCE. I can not stress this enough. You may wind up quite screwed without it if the car is total loss.

If they sell (and most do) the policy usually attached to VIN etching or something of the sort, that'll give you a $5000 or so down payment on a replacement if stolen, (usually $200 to $600, depending on the car/area) take that too.

Order a triple merge of your credit (a report from all three bureaus) before you walk in. More money gets made in bumping interest than anywhere else on most sales floors.

Also, given your luck, don't put more than $2500 down. Should the worst happen within the first year, you'll likely come out ahead of the game if you've bought the other things.

My car was stolen. *sigh*

Remind me to stay the hell out of your neighborhood.

Damn!

First your Empeg, now your car. You've really got the worst luck!
I hope the insurance comes through for you, and I hope they do it fast.
It pisses me off immensely every time I see how little respect some people have for other people's property.

Remind me to stay the hell out of your neighborhood.

That's the funny thing... all the stuff that's happened to my car has been outside my neighborhood... actually they happened in really NICE residential neighborhoods. The empeg was stolen while i was in Berkeley. My car was stolen from San Jose, a really really nice part of San Jose, while parked in Rob's driveway.

Thanks for the advice Heather. Luckily the car was paid off. I'll only be getting a Loan for around 5k for the new car if mine isn't recovered, and i won't be doing it through the dealership.

First your Empeg, now your car.

Don't forget his last car!

tanstaafl.

I should just stick to my skateboard eh? Too bad it was in the trunk of my car! =\

I've about had it with cars too mine breaks down all the time instead of theft. I wouldn't be able to get by without one though.

I've been biking to work for the last couple months. Of course, that has more to do with the gas prices than anything else (yeah, yeah, shaddup you Euros. )

Hrmmm... It'd take an awfully large hike in prices to get me to bike to work. As we stand right now I spend on average $10 a week on gas. 'Course, I live 4 miles from work, and get there in less than 7 minutes.

Oh by the way, just got back from my honeymoon, and I must say, Jamaica is beautiful this time of year. My wife made me bring my empeg and the speakers from my computer on the trip. We were the only people at the resort that didn't have to listen to reggae the whole time. Oh, and btw, a subwoofer in the suitcase makes your bags get checked by customs both directions.

Biking to work would take a large chunk out of my day. Busing to work is ok, but busing home sucks (I never get a seat, and 50-60 minutes on a single bus is a long time to waste). Plus the buses don't run very frequently now, and are probably about to be cut further, or perhaps to where I live, entirely.

I bought here since it was a one bus ride to CMU (and at the time I expected to get a job elsewhere to the east of me, CMU being to the west of me) and of course that advantage is evaporating. Lately I've been working from home 2-3 days a week. It's almost not worth the time to go there at all.

$10 a week! I dream of $10 a week. On a typical week (ie when I'm not zapping round the country to random clients) I spend around £60 ($94 US) and that is for a reasonably small run (I live about an hour from work) in a car which does about 30-35mpg on that run.

I think $10 would get me just under 10 litres of Super Unleaded.

Akkk! There are some things about the UK that I'm not so happy about.

Get this, in Jamaica, gas was around $26 Jamaican for 1 liter. That's ~48¢ per liter (in US$).

Somebody should organise a group-buy!

Tell me. I thought about it, except for the fact that I was about to beard a plane. All told, we drove for ~4 hours for less than $7 US. From one end of the island to the other. By the way, driving on the left while on the right side of the car was just about to make me nauseous. My wife in fact did get car-sick for the first time ever. If it weren't for driving games where I typically DO drive on the left, I'd have had a much more difficult time. Then again, the strangeness of it to me was exacerbated by the fact that as I was clicking along at 80 kph, and being passed by a car doing 80 kph in the other direction, while a motorcycle passed between us doing at LEAST 120 kph. Wow.

I was about to beard a plane.

Now *that* I'd like to see!

Hrmmm... It'd take an awfully large hike in prices to get me to bike to work. As we stand right now I spend on average $10 a week on gas.

$2/gallon was my limit. I might have gone higher if I didn't own a gas-sucking truck. Gas-sucking truck now sits in my driveway until I need it on weekends.

'Course, I live 4 miles from work, and get there in less than 7 minutes.

6.3 miles for me, and it only takes me three minutes longer to bike there (lazily enough to not break a sweat) than it does for me to drive (there are 11 stop lights on my way to work).

I was about to beard a plane.

Now *that* I'd like to see!

About this time, someone is telling you to get on the plane. "Get on the plane, get on the plane." I say, "fuck you, I'm getting in the plane! In the plane! Let Evil Knievel get on the plane! I'll be in here with you folks in uniform. There seems to be less wind in here."

they found my car. i'm on the phone with the sheriff. could my luck get any worse. *bang*

the receptionist/whatever they are at the police and sheriff's offices are the most rude women i've had the pleasure of dealing with in my life. *anger.... rising....*

the sheriff says call the SJPD, the SJPD says call the Sheriff..... *blood boiling*

But surely the stress of dealing with red tape at the police station isn't anywhere close to the stress of having your car ganked, is it?

actually it's WAY more stressful. Since if the car was never found, i'd get a nice little check, not have to deal with selling the car, pay my $500 deductible, and head to the Subaru dealer for a new WRX. Easy, relatively painless.

Now, I have to take a day off of work... which i cannot do right now since i have no vacation and no personal days and tomorrow i'm to start on a new project... i have to figure out a way to get to San Jose, and somehow by myself pick up my car (which no one knows the condition of... if it's driveable, etc...the nice rude lady said the report only said "stripped"), figure out who the hell i have to get to sign some release form that no one seems to be privy to, pay for the impound fees/tickets/etc, get the car back to SF, pay for towing or whatever, have it repaired (probably a week or two of no car on top of it all), and then try to sell it. Very painful. I just broke down at the amount of new stress this has added.

Its probably a total loss to be honest. I would at least try and ask if the engine is in the car, since thats the most valuable part in it. A USDM B16A can fetch a decent price.

I was about to beard a plane

does no-one remember Airplane where the Israeli airliner came in with a beard?

That driving in Jamaica is quite something, I'm not sure whether it's worse for those of us who normally drive on the left or the right. Having taken a taxi from Montego Bay to Negril, we opted for an air taxi back: The only thing was that the pilot was called Junior, looked it, and was practising his skills on a PC simulator when we entered the garden shed that served as his airline's HQ, but he got us back in a six seater.

Wow... how did I typo that one. Couldn't have benn a fat-finger mistake. It's clear across the keyboard!

In Jamaica's defense, we drove from Mo Bay to Ocho Rios along the Queen's Highway. While beautiful, the road were total schitt.

You can't call the insurance company and see if they can get an adjuster to go look at it before you pick it up? If it's just a frame.....