Strange Camry Break-in incident

[Mick in Sydney]

Hey All,

I have joined this forum in the hope that somebody may know more about what happened me. My car was broken into last night and the thieves broke the driver side rear window.. Thats expected and so is their stealing my sat nav. But the weird thing is that they tore off the interior panels on the pillars between the two doors ON BOTH sides removing the seatbelts also. I have no idea why the thieves did this....do you?? what you see in the picture is the same on both sides? Does anyone know if they did this for parts? should there be airbags in there? I am very interested in any comments people may have.

mick

Edited January 17, 2008 by Mick in Sydney

[CHA54]

Airbags are usually in the seat, probably wanted the belts to replace some that have had their pre-tensioner let go in an accident. They left the steering wheel intact?

[Mick in Sydney]

Airbags are usually in the seat, probably wanted the belts to replace some that have had their pre-tensioner let go in an accident. They left the steering wheel intact?

Yeah the steering wheel is in tact. Do they steal them too??? whats the world coming to. I think this is going to be a claim...! NRMA say my Sat Nav isnt covered....

Thanks for the reply.

Mick

[JJCRU23R]

sorry 2 hear bout this man.

yea if you get GPS into your car, best to add that to your comprehensive insurance so that it is covered.

which suburb of sydney was this by the way??

the thing about toyotas (well the models ive been in anyway) is that the inside panels are held in with plastic clips that could easily be pulled out.. wouldnt take long for them to get in so these blokes that came into your car must know what they are doing and what they were looking for.

i heard and read somewhere (on tocau or was it the newspapers?) about people stealing cars such as 4wds and stripping the dash, leaving everything else. the cost to replace the parts would be worth more than buying the whole car so the stripped car goes to auction, then the blokes who stripped the car in the first place buys it at auction for a much cheaper price.

that sucks for honest car owners like yourself who gotta pay the excess for insurance and then the incident leads to higher premiums for everyone else who happens 2 live in your area.

(correct me if im wrong.. but that is partly how the price of insurance works doesnt it?)

[Mick in Sydney]

Hey thanks for the reply. The area is Chiswick, near Five Dock and Dromoyne. When I changed address from North Sydney the premium went up $30 and I wondered why... I think you are right about how it works. I dont feel so bad now having heard the 4x4 story. Rough. The more I ask around the more I am hearing about the parts being the item of desire. And worst part is you cant hide these parts out of view. I think its stolen on demand by sounds of things. Asked a cop about it and he had never seen or heard of it. I first thought they broke in for the sat nav (which was out of view) and just vandalised the car out of spite.... not feeling as angry now. By the way, they also look for the ring the suction pad leaves on windscreens and take a chance that the sat nav is in there.... Nothing is safe anymore with these "smart" criminals.

Again, cheers for the reply.

Mick

[SuperDave]

If the seat belt has pyro pre-tensioners, then that is 1 reason why they would want them.

[selyaT]

Dave is on the money. The pre-tensioner seatbelts are very expensive to buy from Toyota. Very worth stealing seeing as they would take less than 5 minutes to remove.

[wishbone]

sorry hear dude...that must suck!! i live like 15mins away from u...ur area is a wealthy area its just the nieghbouring suburbs that **** it up for you...where was ur car parked?? did ne of ur neighbours see ne1 suspicious or ne unfamiliar cars near ur car?? u shld get the cops to go thru with a fine toothed comb!...i hope u get those bastards and make em pay!! yeah i too have heard stories abt the breakins and strippings.....newyz good luck mick u shld prob invest into a good alarm system!

[Brad!]

Is this to on sell a car thats been in an accident?

Excuse the vaugness.

[xoom]

mate they were purely after the parts not the sat nav ..... just unlucky ur car was in the wrong place at the wrong time ..... the sat nav for them was just a bonus ..... and yes this parts blackmarket is a massive industry that all the honest people end up footing the bill in the end.

for example

thief steals air bags and sells to panel beater for $500 when new they are really worth $1500 so their makes $500 for a few mins work

panel beater invoices insurance company $1500 for the "new" air bags so the panel beater makes $1000 for a few mins of paper work they were gona have to do anyway

insurance company notes the incident, area it occured, car make and model and drivers age bracket to be submitted to the big insurance database.

if the driver was at fault they are double reemed becuz they would have paid excess and then if they didnt have no claim protection the premium jumps a fair bit if they arent at fault then on next renewel when they punch all the drivers data through the system and it automatically sends out a renewal the incident would affect the numbers because it has been used to average out and work out his new insurance for that make, model, suburb and age.

So in summary We all pay for everyone else to make money.

[SuperDave]

So in summary We all pay for everyone else to make money.

Isn't that how everything in life works :P

But that doesn't detract from how annoying the deal is for everyone else in this case

Edited January 17, 2008 by SuperDave

[xoom]

But that doesn't detract from how annoying the deal is for everyone else in this case

thats the thing ..... EVERYONE ..... who is in that suburb with that make and model car is now affected by this one incident ..... damn them ..... thats it time to resort to good old vigilante law ..... :lol: :lol:

[Brad!]

Time for stage 3 alarms - should be fitted on all cars standard

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Crime-obsessed South Africans have a powerful new weapon with which to stop likely criminals: the car flamethrower.

Its for car jacking, but im sure some bafoon could turn that into broken glass = burnt feet

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9812/11/flame.thrower.car/

[selyaT]

Hahaha B-rad that is some of the funniest sh!t I have ever seen...

Let's get our resident saffa Pete to organise a GB :D

[sinan]

Hahaha B-rad that is some of the funniest sh!t I have ever seen...

Let's get our resident saffa Pete to organise a GB :D

yeah id definately be in on a GB depending on price.

[Mick in Sydney]

Hey guys,

**** thanks for an amazing response. its much appreciated. I will be writing to South Africa for one of those flame throwers. Absolutely brilliant. I thought it was going to be a website for alarm systems but bust my ***** laughin when i saw it.

The cops dont even come out to a mere "car burglary" these days. they took the details over the phone and thats it. But i guess the thieves arent going to leave fingerprints if they are that pro about it. i once had a wing mirror broken, insisted the cops come and take a visible print off the miror and they put it on file. the guy got caught for something else 6 months later and they nabbed him for it....having said that he was a lowlife with no money so i got nothing.

Wishbone, it was on the street outside the apt. I was away and my girlfriend didnt wake up. What does a camry alarm sound like?/ is it just the horn yeah??

The insurance company (NRMA) said it wont affect my No Claims Bonus because its a "No blame" incident and i have protection anyway.

Thanks again for all the replies people.

Mick

[Mick in Sydney]

Hey just to keep you guys updated.... I am not allowed to drive the car without the seat belts according to the RTA so now the insurance company has to come and tow it, asses it, then wait for the parts and repair it, all while they give me a replacement car. will let you all know how much this claim will amount to.... another cost that will filter down to the normal people paying premiums.

mick