I was having dinner on March 1st, 2006 with my landlord when the following conversation took place.
"There’s an extra space in the back if you want to park your car there."
"Thanks. Parking in the front is more convenient, but I’ll keep that in mind."
On March 3rd, 2006, an ominously rainy day, I was about to head off to work when I noticed that the hood to my car was slightly ajar. This didn’t alarm me too much since the hood was damaged in November; although this never happened before, I thought, "Oh well…" then closed the hood. I was then greeted by the following sight:
I noticed the window was broken, and the stereo was missing despite the fact that I removed the faceplate as usual. This was pretty upsetting since the radio was a gift from some of my friends. I didn’t want to mess with the crime scene, so I removed everything of value to myself from the car and asked Vince to drive me to work.
After returning from work, I did a more thorough inspection and found out that the whole ignition was absent. I didn’t notice it at first because I peered into the driver’s side in the morning and wasn’t at angle to see the damage. On the passenger’s side, the remains of my igniton lay on the floor and seat. Apparently, the bastards tried to take my car, but the car alarm had killed the starter. I thank Alex, the original owner of the car, for putting that in there; otherwise, I’d be out an entire car. I called my insurance provider if there was anything they could do, but they just said, "Well, you just have liabilty on that vehicle… other than that, I don’t know what to tell you except, I’m sorry that happened…" ;_;
It was naive of me to think that no one would try to steal my car because it’s an older car (pretty much every other car on the block is newer and nicer looking than mine). I suppose the theives thought it would be an easier car to steal, it’s in pretty good condition, and it is a popular make and model. It bothers me a lot that people are so uncaring about other people’s situations. I mean, isn’t it obvious that a person driving a car like this probably doesn’t have a lot of money in the first place?! But I digress…
Fortunately, the local auto shop was able to fix the window and ignition. Of course, I needed a car in the meantime (such is the nature of LA), so I rented a car. Total cost for repairs and the car rental – $677.88. One of these days, I’ll pop in a new stereo, but I should probably move into a nicer neighborhood; preferably one with secured parking area. I took a picture of the remains of my ignition and faceplate before placing them in storage as a reminder of "the good ol’ days"…
The worst part is that the radio was a birthday present from some of my friends – I didn’t even have it for a year.
In the meantime, I’m hoping that "The Club" will be enough to deter would-be car theives, and I should look into adding theft coverage for my insurance…