Came home from a trip to Whistler, BC last night and parked in my apartment complex (generic mega apartment complex w/ large parking structure and rent a cops on patrol).

Wake up for an early day at work and realize my car was broken into. They slashed the convertible top, opened the door then popped the hood to access the battery to turn off the alarm. Is there anyway to have the alarm not so easy to bypass?

They rifled through all my ****, some paper work was left all over and the compartments were all open. All they took were some USB cables and adapters, left my brand new Double din touchscreen head unit (yay!). Guess they were either trying to just steal some valuables that weren't there or possibly even jack the car but didn't for one reason or another.

I have solid auto insurance and renters insurance (not sure yet if renters covers it) and a $500 deductible for the auto. Called the stealership, they quoted $3195 for a new vynil bought and installed. ($4850 for the complete convertible parts and pieces.) Seems absolutely overkill and excessive, but if insurance picks up the tab then at least I know the top will be taken care of.

So...moral...make sure you're insured

 

Was it an aftermarket alarm?

With a car alarm, you need to make sure the module(brain box) is well hidden somewhere in the car, otherwise someone can just unplug it or cut the wires. You can also install a backup battery to keep the alarm sounding even if the main battery is cut loose under the hood. It should be well hidden as well. Of course the siren and horns can be easily located, so they could cut the wires there as well.

I would think the ideal solution is a very well hidden aftermarket alarm, with a hidden battery, with the siren mounted somewhere underneath the car in a location that would require jacking the vehicle up to access.

That's good that your insurance is taking care of you. My agent pushed me to get a $0 deductible on my comprehensive coverage, as convertibles are far more likely to suffer damage as the hands of thieves.

 

Sorry to hear about the top.
The price from the dealer is incredible!But,I'm not surprised.
When you look at the big picture,the reason insurance rates are so high is
mostly due to the gouged prices that are charged for the fixes.No different
than medical expenses.In essence,your gain in getting a new top for $500
deductable is someone elses loss in paying high premiums.
Its a vicious cycle and a scam that has been in effect forever.

 

I'm looking into some type of interior motion sensing camera that records to a USB drive or something. Ideally this camera would be hitting, positioned right at the drivers seat and would trigger on when the car alarm goes off. It would have it's own battery (possibly charged by the car battery but can run without it for an amount of time?) Even better if it sent the video clips to the cloud for me to access, say if the car was stolen.

I'll look into getting $0 deductible on the comp coverage. thanks for the tip.

Mostly a pain in the ***, and being out $500 is annoying but not going to break the bank.

 

So this sounds like it was a up and coming thief or they got scared and left in a hurry. They were smart enough to break in and turn the alarm off, but could not get the most valuable thing out of your car (double din radio), nor did they try. It takes all of a couple min to smash the plastic holding the radio. I doubt that they tried to steal the car simply because Nissan has good engine management controls to prevent thiefs and if he disabled the battery they had no intention of taking the car. Do you usually keep cash or a valuable that someone you know would have been looking for (gun). That is usually the case when a thief bypasses the easy target staring them in the face (car radio).

 

^^^ i disagree..

it sounds like Dirty Mike n the Boyz struck again..

did they by chance leave a note? lol.


SOrry for using you for comedy OP.

 

Wow that's unfortunate.
at least nothing too valuable was stolen.

 

That totally sux - good luck bro...

 

I never leave anything of value in the car, except for a company camera that's in a beer cooler in the trunk. I also have two briefcases (The Football) that have unplanned party supplies in one (Jack, grey goose, red bull, coke, shot glasses, cards, gum) and the hangover kit (gatorade, water, pain pills, red eyes, toothbrush, gum, chapstick, etc.)

They didn't take either of those, no idea if they even popped the trunk. I'll post pics if you guys want

 

how could I overlook this all the signs are there
this just about sums it up

 

They probably got scared and couldn't finish the job. Its a good thing the insurance is going to cover the damage.

 

I had all four of my tires slashed a couple of months ago and my deductible is $500 as well but they labeled the claim as a comprehensive coverage and the deductible was only $50 since it was not my fault.

 

I think it's ridiculous what the dealer ended up charging, but that's the way it goes. The total for those interested came to $4000 for the new top + labor and a couple small parts.

My deductible was $500.

Also I had no idea I can't lower the top for about a week and the car should be out in the sun as much as possible for the first week. odd.

 

I think the tell you to do that so the top gets fully stretched. I'm sure it's tight as h*ll when they first install it.

Good luck on the new top OP.

 

My stealership which I shouldnt call that since they have better prices than some of the local shops around here, sub out the convertible top installs to a local auto interior and top place gave me a good deal.

For stock top and install was like 1800.00

Once I asked him about the sonneland fabric top it went to 3400.00

So I went to convertibletopguys.com ordered the top which also came
with new wire straps for the locking down of the top over both sides of the top. The 3400 didn't even include the new wire straps.

The sonneland top cost me 900 and something and I brought it to the
sub guy for a 700.00 install price.

Paid outta pocket so it worked out great for me.

I had this all done in Clearwater Florida area.

So check with dealer and go to them and see if they sub it out
and go to the sub and get prices, maybe you could get a check and make a few bucks, or at least cancel out the deductable you'd have to pay.

 

Someone did the same thing to my car. Ended up only getting 1409 and my deductible. Ended up paying more out of the pkcket and get a hardtop by smoothline.

 

that sounds excessive, we would have charged $1230 for a new top installed