Fear of the Day
 

I thought we already had a thread like this, but I couldn't find it, so... meh, here's a new one.

Today's Fear Of The Day comes to us from the fine folks at MSNBC, who tell us to fear random theives in parking lots stealing our untraceable catalytic converters for miniscule amounts of precious metals.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23117250/

I didn't read your link because I've read others before.

This freakin' sucks, doesn't it? I mean, you park your car, any where it seems {except if you can put it in your garage} and they can do this. It has been going on for a while. And, if you don't notice it right away, it will mess up your car, right?

I can't believe how people spend so much time to find things to do that rip honest people off. The punishement for crimes like these {including identity theft, credit card theft, etc.} should be high because the effects to the victims is costly and can be long and painful.

Yes, but it'd be immediately obvious. The instant you start up, the car will sound very wrong and you will be very motivated to kill the engine.

I imagine the most likely targets are suvs and trucks that have a high enough ground clearance to make it easy to get underneath.

I also imagine that, seeing as they didn't even bother mentioning in the article how often this crime is being reported, it's not even remotely as wide spread as they'd like you to believe.

I thought it was thieves stealing GPS devices that stick on the windshield. The advice is to remove the device and the holder and hide them in the glove compartment. Also, keep a cloth handy to wipe the sticky residue off the windshield because thieves will look for that.

GD~ I have to remember to not blast the stereo right off then. But, I do wonder how widespread it is. I googled it a couple of weeks ago and the article I opened on was from a state out east. I have heard about it hear in San Diego {I would guess being so close to the border doesn't help me one bit}. Such a pisser. I have to clean out my garage so that we can put my SUV in it. My son has a truck and darnit, no room for that in the garage. The Hubsters car will stay out front.

But, alas, this cleaning of the garage isn't any time soon.

The gps system, I guess I should be glad I don't have one. Want one. Don't have one.

And, airbags are stolen a lot, too. Right?

My son said he was surprised about cars {his mind is wrapped around his little hand held systems}. He said it is one of the most expensive items you have and you have to just leave it here and there. Trusting that it will be there when you get back. And in tact.

Trust me, even with stereo blasting you'll notice something wrong.

Yes, airbags are stolen often. As are stereos, CDs, wheels, batteries, boxes of kleenex, loose change, and just about anything else that can be removed from a car with in 60 seconds. But fortunately, the odds of any of it happening to you are pretty low. The best thing to do is to keep your insurance payments up, lock your car, and not leave anything you'd miss in your car. Beyond that, it's out of your hands.

When my car was broken into they stole my backpack, trash bag, stereo, stuffed animals off the dash and the visor cd holder with 2 CDs in it. They didn't steal my CD book that was in the back seat.

I was lucky when my car was broken in to, they made a mess of the glove box and the arm-rest container by tossing the contents all over the car, but they took nothing, not the stereo, not the faceplate for the stereo, not even the parking meter change in the ashtray. I guess whoever it was that was looking was looking for a cell phone.

I guess my point was the obvious fear-mongering written into the article. The "oh my god this is happening everywhere and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it so naturally it's going to happen to you and you're completely powerless" impression the article gives off.

Today I fear I will be misunderstood