A tip for visitors to big cities (San Francisco)

brianlux
brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
in All Encompassing Trip
We live about 2 1/2 hours fro San Francisco and have friends there and like to visit from time to time.  Yesterday, we went down to see my step-daughter who was in town to stay with a friend of hers for a few days.  Another friend of mine who lives in The City told me that because she has a convertible, she leaves her car empty and unlocked so that no one will break her window or knife open her rag top to get to the belongings (she learned this the hard way).  I thought about this and we decided this trip we would strip the Prius clear of everything (including the screw-on antenna) and only take what we could comfortable carry around with us.  We went to Golden Gate park and walked around for a couple or three hours with the car empty and unlocked and carried our few things with us in small day packs.  Sure enough, when we got back, everything was fine... with our car.  A few others, however, did not fair so well.  A van and a sedan both had windows busted out (in broad daylight!) and who-knows-what stolen from their vehicle.  Every single time I go to San Francisco, I see cars with busted out windows.  It's happened to two friends of ours.  It happens literally every day there.

I think that leaving the car empty and unlocked is the way to go in a big city.  If the car is going to get stolen by someone who knows how to do that (like in the movie, "Repo Man") it's going to get stolen anyway.  And of the car is empty (and I mean EMPTY), your chances of having problems are much fewer. 

That's my travel tip for the day.  :smile: 
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni

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Comments

  • Fifthelement
    Fifthelement Lotusland Posts: 6,965
    Great suggestion, however, what are the implications insurance-wise if your vehicle is boosted?  Would it be covered at all?  I guess it would depend on where you live, coverage, etc.
    "What the CANUCK happened?!? - Esquimalt Barber Shop
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    Fifthelement said:
    Great suggestion, however, what are the implications insurance-wise if your vehicle is boosted?  Would it be covered at all?  I guess it would depend on where you live, coverage, etc.
    Good question.  I probably would tell them I left my car unlocked figuring a car thief would probably know how to get into it anyway.  I probably should try to find out though before I go to the city again!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,394
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • rgambs
    rgambs Posts: 13,576
    Underrated comedy right there!  
    Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,656
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,394
    Inside Edition was doing a bit on cars getting smash and grabbed into in SF ... while filming it their equipment van was left unattended and
    was broken into and cleaned out!


    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,656
    Jason P said:
    Inside Edition was doing a bit on cars getting smash and grabbed into in SF ... while filming it their equipment van was left unattended and
    was broken into and cleaned out!


    Haha. Amazing.
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • Wobbie
    Wobbie Posts: 31,627
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.
    If I had known then what I know now...

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  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.
    To be honest, I'm not a big fan either. The one movie he did that I thought was good was a more serious roll.  Can't recall the name now but he played the part of a guy auditing a woman who had a restaurant business.  That one was pretty good.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,394
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:


    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.


    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.

    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,656
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.



    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • F Me In The Brain
    F Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,960
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.
    You dislike anyone who went to that great University!
    ;)
    The love he receives is the love that is saved
  • Wobbie
    Wobbie Posts: 31,627
    F Me In The Brain said:
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.
    You dislike anyone who went to that great University!
    ;)
    “great”? I thought he went to USC :confounded:
    If I had known then what I know now...

    Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
    VIC 07
    EV LA1 08
    Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
    Columbus 10
    EV LA 11
    Vancouver 11
    Missoula 12
    Portland 13, Spokane 13
    St. Paul 14, Denver 14
    Philly I & II, 16
    Denver 22
    Missoula 24
  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,864
    brianlux said:
    We live about 2 1/2 hours fro San Francisco and have friends there and like to visit from time to time.  Yesterday, we went down to see my step-daughter who was in town to stay with a friend of hers for a few days.  Another friend of mine who lives in The City told me that because she has a convertible, she leaves her car empty and unlocked so that no one will break her window or knife open her rag top to get to the belongings (she learned this the hard way).  I thought about this and we decided this trip we would strip the Prius clear of everything (including the screw-on antenna) and only take what we could comfortable carry around with us.  We went to Golden Gate park and walked around for a couple or three hours with the car empty and unlocked and carried our few things with us in small day packs.  Sure enough, when we got back, everything was fine... with our car.  A few others, however, did not fair so well.  A van and a sedan both had windows busted out (in broad daylight!) and who-knows-what stolen from their vehicle.  Every single time I go to San Francisco, I see cars with busted out windows.  It's happened to two friends of ours.  It happens literally every day there.

    I think that leaving the car empty and unlocked is the way to go in a big city.  If the car is going to get stolen by someone who knows how to do that (like in the movie, "Repo Man") it's going to get stolen anyway.  And of the car is empty (and I mean EMPTY), your chances of having problems are much fewer. 

    That's my travel tip for the day.  :smile: 
    This is a problem in Seattle too.  It happens all the time there.  During the Home Shows you were warned to hide everything in site when you parked.
  • F Me In The Brain
    F Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,960
    Wobbie said:
    F Me In The Brain said:
    Wobbie said:
    Spiritual_Chaos said:
    brianlux said:
    Jason P said:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j4mK6cs_A

    What movie was that?  "My Beautiful Prius"?  :lol: 
    "The Other Guys". Mark Wahlberg is miscast, but it's really funny.

    https://youtu.be/WzFMmb86FvY
    if will ferrell is in it, it can't be very funny.
    You dislike anyone who went to that great University!
    ;)
    “great”? I thought he went to USC :confounded:
    He did.
    It came down to some college in the middle of Ohio that nobody ever heard of and USC.  He chose wisely!  :rofl:   
    The love he receives is the love that is saved
  • bootlegger10
    bootlegger10 Posts: 16,296
    An interesting strategy.  Makes sense.....unfortunately.  I left my car in my parking garage and the moonroof open on accident.  Laptop was in the back seat as I forgot to bring it in for the night.  Had a minor heart attack but laptop still there.

    Will Ferrell has some classic comedies.  A few duds as well.  The trailer to that Sherlock Holmes movie was terrible.

  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    bootlegger10 said:
    An interesting strategy.  Makes sense.....unfortunately.  I left my car in my parking garage and the moonroof open on accident.  Laptop was in the back seat as I forgot to bring it in for the night.  Had a minor heart attack but laptop still there.

    Will Ferrell has some classic comedies.  A few duds as well.  The trailer to that Sherlock Holmes movie was terrible.

    My luckiest situation... and oh this was dumb!... happened a few years ago.  I have a fanny pack that I tote around that has all my stuff like ID, credit cards, cards and cash, plus things like a pocket knife, a mini first aid kit, etc.  Were at at large parking lot in Point Reyes National Sea Shore north of San Francisco and I had put my pack on the hood of the car while we got ready to take a hike.  I totally forgot about it.  When we got back, someone had taken the pack off the hood and put it on the ground under the driver's side door out of plain view.  I saw it as we walked up to the car later and not a thing had been taken.  Some kind soul saved my bacon!  Lucky, lucky, lucky!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,864
    I used to own a jeep.  It had a rag top and soft windows.  I never locked that vehicle.  It was cheaper to replace whatever it is they wanted in it than to replace the rag top.
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,778
    tempo_n_groove said:
    I used to own a jeep.  It had a rag top and soft windows.  I never locked that vehicle.  It was cheaper to replace whatever it is they wanted in it than to replace the rag top.
    That's exactly what happened to my friend who lives in the city.  She has a rag top and it got sliced open.  The only thing she had in the car was some change that got stolen but the biggest cost was replacing the rag top.  After that, she starting leaving the car empty and unlocked and has not had a problem since then.  That gave me the idea to leave my car (even as a hard top) empty and unlocked when in S.F. ( or Sacramento or any big town!)
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

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