Last week I posted about how our car got stolen. Well, it was recovered about 5 miles from our house near the football stadium in town! As expected, all of the baby stuff was stolen. The car seat, the car seat base, the car seat carrier/stroller thing, as well as, Aaron’s prescription sunglasses, the stereo face, a multi-tool, a wood-cutting axe (super random, I know), and a few mix CD’s that I had made. (Hey, at least the thieves have good taste in music? ;) They also took the 10 month sticker off of the license plate. Really, though, I’m just SO incredibly relieved to have the car back. All of the things that were stolen from the car ended up being less than our $500 deductible so we ended up withdrawing our insurance claims since it wouldn’t’ve paid out anyway.
We had to pick up the car from the city’s impound lot (the above pics are from our multiple visits there), and then we’ve had the car at the auto repair shop since last week to see what, and if, anything was missing internally from the car, and to make sure it was safe to drive. We didn’t want to put the baby in there until we knew, for sure, that it was totally safe.
Today, we found out that there was nothing wrong with the car (!), all the parts were still in it, and there was, shockingly, no external body damage! I’d say as far as having had a car stolen goes we pretty much lucked out!
Cost of having the car stolen:
– New car seat (we went with one that he’ll be able to use until he is 65 pounds): $160
– New prescriptions sunglasses: $250-ish
– “Club”
Total: $450 + a lot of time
I’ve learned to never leave anything of value in the car, and to always keep the auto and home owner’s insurance paid up!
Thanks for all the kind thoughts, support, and good vibes y’all threw my way on the last post! All that goodness really worked. xo, Anna
Hi Anna—
You have my sympathy. It is not just the material loss, but the feeling of being invaded and of broken trust.
Did you have to pay the impound? When my car got stolen, I had to pay to retrieve it. I was tempted to abandon it, but would have gotten arrested. Talk about adding insult to injury….
It is such an invasion. Super shitty. Luckily, we didn’t have to pay the impound lot since we were able to get it out within 48 hours. It would have been $20 (or maybe $30?) a day for every day after those 1st two days. And, yeah, wow, serious insult to injury!
Aaagghh! I am so glad you got your car back.
Thanks! Me too!!
My boyfriend’s X left her purse on her front seat after she took her wallet out. They broke the window and took the bag. Lesson learned, dont be stupid and leave an invitation to break my window out. My son left his wallet on the back seat, I thought it was no big deal, but he reminded me it doesn’t matter if it is full of money or two dollars, a thief will brek in to see what she/he can get. Repairs, deductables, and time cost more. Don’t invite a criminal to break into your car. I told my kids we will check BEFORE we walk away from the car, if they leave it out, they lost it. We will not invite a break in. They think it’s “not fair” we tell them criminals do not play fair. End of discussion. So I am a mean Mom?
I think you’re a very smart mom! I’m going to tell my son what you told your kids!
Oh my! That really stinks! I’m so sorry that you had to go through all of this. Even though the monetary value wasn’t a totally crazy amount (such as the car being completely totalled), it all still stinks and $450 is still a good amount to lose. People are just horrible.
They definitley can be at times.:/
So glad that you have the car back! I hope it brings you peace of mind. I remember after having my apartment broken into years ago, how unsettling it was to think of someone else, someone unwelcome, walking into my life and taking what wasn’t theirs.
I’m so happy for you to be taking things in stride, staying optimistic, and seeing the bigger picture.
<3 dani
http://blog.shopdisowned.com
I can’t even imagine (don’t want to imagine) how terrible and violating having a home robbery would be. Has it taken awhile for you to feel super secure in your home again?
So glad you were able to recover it! And that it still runs! But what an epic pain. I hope the Club works for you–it has for us so far (on the streets of Washington, DC and Boston, MA).
That’s super good to hear! We have a friend who said they were really easy to break, which wasn’t very reassuring, so I’m glad you’ve had a good experience with the Club!
That’s a relief that the car wasn’t damaged or parts stolen, let alone you getting the car back!
Seriously. It’s really a miracle!
I’m so sorry to hear that this happened to you! But glad that you were able to recover your car. I’ll definitely be rethinking what I keep in my car from now on too!
I’m so glad it’s making you re-think what you leave in your car. It’s such an inconvenience/bummer when/if something like that happens. I’m determined to not leave ANYTHING of value in the car ever again.
It’s cool to hear that you’re handling it so well. I’d be totally stressed about it. The fact that they stole all the baby stuff is heinous. I think it’s so icky that anyone would do that! But at least you have the car back in one piece!
It could have been SO much worse. We got off pretty easy considering what could have happened! Yeah, so not cool about stealing the baby gear!
I’m so glad that you all got your car back without any major damage! Bummer about the stuff inside, but at least they didn’t trash the engine trying to take the catalytic converter or anything. Do you have to do anything about the tag that was stolen, like report it to the DMV, or just buy a replacement?
We did REALLY luck out that the car wasn’t damaged. We had the guts and exterior of the car checked out, and they cleared it as being safe to drive so I’m not totally sure about the catalytic converter…? With the tag, Aaron went to the DMV, and they gave him the month sticker after he told them it had been stolen. If they had taken the year sticker I guess it would have been a much more involved process.
Oh man! At least you found the car though and nothing was seriously wrong with it. I don’t know what I’d do if my car got stolen. I guess living in a small town like I do, I just assumed it would never happen. This is why we need to be financially prepared for life’s surprises.
So true. We’ve never felt like it was a possibility for it to happen to us either. You just never know!
So glad your car was recovered! Had Aaron tried ordering prescription sunglasses online? I bought a couple pairs for running (too blind to run without them, too spazzy for contacts) and they were a lot cheaper than my local stores.
He hasn’t tried it yet but I’m going to suggest it to him now. Unfortunately, he’s seems to have a string of bad luck with his prescription sunglasses. The pair before the most recent pair got swept away in the ocean!
So sorry this happened to you!
I had a friend who told me to always cut my plate sticker with an x-acto knife a few times. This way it will be nearly impossible for someone to peel it off and reuse it. The things you never think about until it happens to you…
Such a freaking good idea! Yeah, I never would’ve thought to do that! Why do the theives want those month stickers? So they don’t have to go to the DMV?
Gladly that your car was recovered immediately! My friend’s car was stolen last year and they didn’t recover it anymore and the sad part was their insurance didn’t pay anything.
oh no! That sucks!
Super glad you guys found your car! But um…. I live where you found it. I’ve known its a rough area (but so close to campus), but still not cool!!
P.S. restarted my spending fast within the last few days and holy crap all I want is a pumpkin spice latte. I haven’t had one since they came back…. sigh.. first world problems.
ACK! Oh no!
And, I hear ya on the pumpkin spice latte beat. There are lots of recipes online about how to make the pumpkin syrup at home. You essentially get pumpkin puree and mix it with simple syrup. It’s a zillion times cheaper then the legit PSL’s!
Sorry to hear that! Same thing happened to me once, fortunately I was a broke college kid and had nothing of value in my car. I did have a credit card in the car and the thieves has some late night Mcdonalds on me, but didn’t lose anything of value. Glad you found your car!
Oh bummer! Thank goodness you didn’t have anything of value in your car. Did you get charged for the credit card purchases or did your bank waive them?
Glad you got the car back!
Thanks! Me too!
Glad you got your car back! Just as FYI…I used to spend TONS of money on glasses and prescription glasses…now I go to zennioptical.com and seriously, I got my last paid of prescription sunglasses for like 40 bucks, total, out the door. I wish I got paid to tell people about them because I am constantly asked where I got my glasses, but no, I don’t get paid by them. Just know you are frugal! :)
Thanks for the tip! I’ll tell him.
I second the Zenni Optical tip – we have been using them for about 5 years (3 people in my house wear glasses) and we’ve always gotten fast service and my daughters love having inexpensive options so they can switch things up. I will never buy glasses at the optical shop again!
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