[natahoa]

Thanks to all! Makes me feel much better.

[BeachM5nster]

Originally Posted by s0211

In my area, any car that has access to the trunk from the back seats will very likely be broken in to, even when you don't leave anything in plain sight. Doesn't matter what make or how new or old your car is.
Some tips from someone who only recently moved out of one of the most dangerous cities in the States.

- Place any backpacks/valuables in your trunk BEFORE getting to your destination. Do not take anything out from the trunk at your destination, if you know you need something from the trunk, get it before you start driving.
- Contradictory but, do not leave your car TOO clean, they will assume there are things in the trunk, but also do not leave anything valuable in plain sight. I usually have a t-shirt laying in the back seat for this very reason
- Most SUVs have that cover piece to block valuables from being seen in the trunk, do not use it. The more you try to "hide" the more likely they will try to break in
- From friend's experiences and police records from my brother, tints neither prevent or enforce break ins

My friend had a milk tea stamp card stolen from his car in broad daylight on a busy street . Thieves have zero regard for people's belongings, doesn't matter what car it is.
But if you want BMW statistics,
My m3, no / my brother's 335i, no / cousin's x3 m40i, no / cousin's 328i, no / multiple friend's m3s, no / friend's x5m, no / friend's i8 and m235i, no
Be smart and stay safe out there people!

Damn dude, what city was this that you lived in?
I’m starting to think i live in a sweet spot.
Nobody thieves like that around here bc every serious responsible adult with any possessions at all collects guns and is always carrying. , and i mean every adult.

And they cant wait to teach a baddie a lesson.
So yea, these are not any concerns i ever have.

however, there are bums that go pulling on car door handles at early morning hours,
i get reports on my ring app

but its always morons that leave their doors unlocked, and then they cry “break in last night” on the app

and i always grill them about being an airhead, ESPECIALLY when they say “thief got my gun out my glovebox!” then i really give them an education.
but that’s where i live: ppl leave their cars unlocked 24/7 even when a gun is in there (low crime, but also low iQ scores)

but thered be car break in report on the ring app like almost every morning. everybody always coddled the “victims” until i got on there and was like “ hey its your fault, stop posting non-crimes, and good job letting your gun be stolen to be used in a murder that wont be traceable. then tell them to read about tort law.
and i havent had an annoying 7am ring! crime report alarm go off in weeks.

[s0211]

Originally Posted by BeachM5nster

Damn dude, what city was this that you lived in?
I’m starting to think i live in a sweet spot.
Nobody thieves like that around here bc every serious responsible adult with any possessions at all collects guns and is always carrying. , and i mean every adult.

And they cant wait to teach a baddie a lesson.
So yea, these are not any concerns i ever have.

however, there are bums that go pulling on car door handles at early morning hours,
i get reports on my ring app

but its always morons that leave their doors unlocked, and then they cry “break in last night” on the app

and i always grill them about being an airhead, ESPECIALLY when they say “thief got my gun out my glovebox!” then i really give them an education.
but that’s where i live: ppl leave their cars unlocked 24/7 even when a gun is in there (low crime, but also low iQ scores)

but thered be car break in report on the ring app like almost every morning. everybody always coddled the “victims” until i got on there and was like “ hey its your fault, stop posting non-crimes, and good job letting your gun be stolen to be used in a murder that wont be traceable. then tell them to read about tort law.
and i havent had an annoying 7am ring! crime report alarm go off in weeks.

Sounds like some of your neighbors have an overconfident sense of security in your area. That'll never slide here lol
I lived in Oakland my entire life and very recently moved south to LA and people have a hard time believing me when I say "it's not THAT bad." lol
If what I mentioned isn't bad enough, there has been a string of rear license plates getting stolen/swapped from my neighborhood since california banned dealership plates. My guess is they're stealing plates to get on express lanes and to pass toll without having to pay the fee because cameras are linked with the DMV and whoever the plate is registered to, gets the bill.

[kiwi29]

Originally Posted by natahoa

Ugh, nasty story. Was it a personal thing? Seems odd that they didn’t take the car. How long ago?

I'm not all too sure if it was personal but I know that my car was somewhat known in the city because I went to a lot of car meets back in my younger years. It may have been someone who was just a jealous soul or something of that sort.

The incident happen about 4 years ago and since I repaired the damages, I sold the car and more or less avoid the area all together.

I don't think the people that broke into the car had the intention of stealing the car. I personally like to imagine that it was out of randomness but it seemed pretty intentional.

On a side note, I don't think BMWs are easily stolen without the proper tools. A small part of me wish that they just did steal the car. It really hurt to see the damages done. I know it's just a car but hey, a lot of my blood, sweat, and tears went into it.

[P1]

Waiting for all the Europeans to chime in...

[CP911]

Nope. I have the best anti-theft device ever created. 6-speed manual.

[leif20]

Those of you with tint- does it have any affect on the break in possibility?

[MmmmmM2]

Originally Posted by CP911

Nope. I have the best anti-theft device ever created. 6-speed manual.

So true!

[TemjinX2]

i live in the city with the highest auto buglary per 100k capita. Best thing you can do is get the car tinted as dark as your comfortable with and use a windshield sun shade to prevent people from looking into the car.

its hard to steal a newer BMW...mainly because of the telematics and the gps tracking.

There was a story of someone stealing a newer 5 series, the owner called the cops...the cops called BMW and when the cops were ready. BMW found the 5 series and turned off the car and locked the doors remotely until the cops arrived. With electronic locks, electronic throttle body and electronic ignitions, its easy for BMW to send a message to the DME to lock the doors and kill the engine.

also parts for a BMW are hard to fence compared to a camry or f150. If they do steal it, it'll be more then likely for a joy ride.

[ByeFelicia]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Tint the windows.

Not a good enough deterrent.

Parked a bone stock 328i (besides tint) outside my condo and it got broken into when I never leave anything in sight. And I used a windshield cover.

Mind you location matters. Im in Oakland/Bay Area where seeing broken glass is the norm.

Probably got targeted because, "Oh its a BMW, bound to be something worth value in there"

[MmmmmM2]

I'm just happy I have a garage.

[b92]

I've never had an issue but my old boss who lives near me had someone try and break into the trunk of her F01 740 with a crowbar. Trunk didn't budge but they left some gnarly dents.

[King Rudi]

I have only had one car broken into. It was a Ford Probe in 1998. The day the wife and I moved into our new apartment, it was well after 1:00 a.m. before we were finished. I left a CD tower, full of empty CD jewel cases in the back seat of my car overnight. They left my Ray-Bans, Alpine head unit, and my CD case that actually had all my CD's in it.

The frustrating part, not only did they break my door locks, the one thing most valuable to me was in the CD tower. The Nirvana - Nevermind jewel case that the booklet inside had Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, David Grohl and Courtney Love's autograph's.

[esoj37]

I havent had my F30 broken into, but 10 years ago I had an Srt4 (yeah, i know) that got stolen.

[natahoa]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

I have only had one car broken into. It was a Ford Probe in 1998. The day the wife and I moved into our new apartment, it was well after 1:00 a.m. before we were finished. I left a CD tower, full of empty CD jewel cases in the back seat of my car overnight. They left my Ray-Bans, Alpine head unit, and my CD case that actually had all my CD's in it.

The frustrating part, not only did they break my door locks, the one thing most valuable to me was in the CD tower. The Nirvana - Nevermind jewel case that the booklet inside had Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, David Grohl and Courtney Love's autograph's.

oh that is awful. So sorry that happened to you!

[..Rush..]

This article says the 3 series is least likely to get stolen...

https://www.bmwblog.com/2019/08/02/t...car-in-the-us/

[EstorilM240]

Originally Posted by s0211

In my area, any car that has access to the trunk from the back seats will very likely be broken in to, even when you don't leave anything in plain sight. Doesn't matter what make or how new or old your car is.

...

- Place any backpacks/valuables in your trunk BEFORE getting to your destination. Do not take anything out from the trunk at your destination, if you know you need something from the trunk, get it before you start driving.

...

My friend had a milk tea stamp card stolen from his car in broad daylight on a busy street . Thieves have zero regard for people's belongings, doesn't matter what car it is.
But if you want BMW statistics,
My m3, no / my brother's 335i, no / cousin's x3 m40i, no / cousin's 328i, no / multiple friend's m3s, no / friend's x5m, no / friend's i8 and m235i, no
Be smart and stay safe out there people!

Bay Area? I've heard some rumors that thieves now roam the streets with certain metal detectors to find if you have electronics in the trunk, and then smash windows as needed.

One thing I never noticed before in any city was the surprising number of suburban Bay Area plaza restaurants that warn you not to leave valuables in your car (!) I know parking garages in general have warnings, and some in LA are so sketchy or already have plenty of warnings, but to see it in a plaza was jarring.

https://dispatcheseurope.com/diy-exp...-steal-laptop/
https://www.quora.com/Theft-Can-Thie...aptops-in-Cars
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/...kely-roadshow/

During the past two years, we’ve found out CrimeTech signal-detection equipment to steal laptops is becoming a bigger problem. For example, Jim, an American expat in Amsterdam, sent us an email recently telling us he was at dinner when “some low-life criminal decided to break into the car and steal (my) computer.”

In any case, for actual theft (not break-ins), the BMW 3 series has the absolute lowest number (with 1/25 the insurance claims of the average). The BMW X5 is also very low. They don't list the great mass of cars in the middle either. This is purely by insurance claims, and has many confounding factors. I'm sure 90s Civics and Integras are still being stolen like crazy, but no one has comprehensive insurance on them.

Also, this is one possibly the ONLY study to do a "total per # of cars" stolen list, and it's in 2019. Every other study and list in the 90s, 2000s, etc. did not seem to weight it by total # of cars, producing Civics and Accord at the top of every list. At least here we see that the pony/muscle cars seem to be stolen very many times more.

https://jalopnik.com/here-are-the-mo...ica-1836894418

[cordieb]

Originally Posted by DanG

Almost all of the break-ins in my area are from people that forgot to lock their car. With the blinking light on the mirror, I never have had a problem and we don’t have a garage. Our cars are in front of the house.

So, does the blinking light on the mirror come on if you leave your vehicle unlocked?

[DanG]

Originally Posted by cordieb

So, does the blinking light on the mirror come on if you leave your vehicle unlocked?

No, only when the car is locked and the windows are up and the trunk closed. Just an easy reminder from the blinking light that all is secured.

[andino]

I've had my car broken into twice this year which is unfortunate. My previous car was the same with the main commonality between the two being wagon/hatchbacks where someone could flip the seat down through the window.

Smashed windows are unfortunately a common thing in SF and it sucks. Luckily, I got the person this time on video with a plate and everything. Hopefully it leads to one less car smasher in the bay but its doubtful. Many of these guys use stolen plates/cars which is why they're so brazen. SF also doesn't have a firm stance on these types of crimes so there's even less deterrent from the law for individuals who do this sort of thing.

[ted99]

Some info on Faraday pouches. On eBay, there are a lot of the silver mylar bags being advertised as protection from an electromagnetic pulse. They don't work as Faraday pouches for our car keys (and probably not for an electromagnetic pulse, either--they are for static electricity). I put my key in one of these silver pouches and it still unlocked the door. The ones that work, for me, are the gold-colored "fabric", usually encased in some sort of durable covering with a velcro flap to close off the opening. The fabric may wear with repeated use at some time in the future, but not yet. I also carry my passport in one of these to shield the embedded RFID chip that all passports now contain.

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

in my areas; theres enough unlocked cars with the keys left inside of them...to deter break ins