Car broken in to, nothing taken. Any thoughts?

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RW1

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Last night, my wife's 4Runner was broken in to while parked in our driveway. She's positive the door was locked but there are no signs of forced entry. The contents of the center console was emptied out on to the passenger seat. A storage compartment in front of the shifter was also open. In that compartment was our garage door remote opener and cash. As far as she can tell, nothing was taken. The remote and cash is still there.

The glove box appears to be undisturbed. The vehicle registration and insurance card were in the glove box.

Pretty gutsy as our driveway is adjacent to our bedroom. I'm kind of surprised I didn't hear anything.

Anyway, any thoughts on what they might have been looking for? Am I missing something?

Thanks
 
We didn't notice it until she got in her vehicle to go shopping in the morning. But perhaps our neighbors came out. They did have a party across the street. But I was just surprised they didn't grab the cash.

I was trying to Google to see if our Genie garage door remote could be cloned but I haven't found anything definitive.
 
My brother had a 97 Chevy Silverado a few months ago. Alarm was set and doors locked. A guy at night pointed something inside the truck and it unlocked the doors and turned off the alarm. My brother was watching them out his gate and started screaming at the guy, who hopped back in his own truck and drove off.

Doors were unlocked and alarm was off after the guy left. Not sure what he used.
 
I'd question the Wife under a bright light.
smile.gif
 
In the 70's, I had my car broken into because I was stupid and left my wallet on the front seat and someone must have "coat hanger" opened the door lock. When I got back to the car the wallet, drivers license and cash were left on the front seat(I did not have any credit cards). The only thing missing inside the car was a plastic name tag from the inside of the wallet with the name of the company that made the wallet. Nothing else from the car was taken. Whats up with that? I still cant't figure that one out.
 
There are many possible reasons for your experience. Maybe the thief was interrupted, or got spooked, and left before rummaging through everything.

It's very difficult to know exactly what someone is looking for these days. Your belief that "nothing was taken" may be completely wrong. They may have used a smartphone, photographed your documents and credit cards, and left. Or read a Garage Door Opener code, and plan to return when they see the vehicle is not in the driveway.

There is much more to be gained that way than taking a few dollars of cash (although I don't know of a single thief who wouldn't take cash when in the process of burglary).

Or perhaps they wanted to steal the vehicle itself, and were looking for keys. You don't know, and probably have no way of knowing, what was going on in the thief's head at the time; all you can think of is simple conjecture. Since perhaps you are not a thief, you are at a disadvantage.

Were it me, I would consider any event such as you describe as a successful Identity Theft and as a successful operation to copy or obtain future entry to your home, and react accordingly. Watch statements, especially in the future (a seasoned Identity or Credit Card thief will wait many months before using what they learned: if it doesn't work, nothing lost, as you are certainly not the only target, if it does, Jackpot!).

Change locks, and any entry codes, including Garage Door remote codes and any means to "save the hassle" of using keys you may have enabled on a Smartphone or Bluetooth device or fob.
 
One HUGE problem with car alarms and central locking that can be activated by the keyfob is how easy they are to clone.

A permanent live to the door handles along with manual locks and a few well placed toggle switches spliced into earth wires will make any car unstealable without a Hi-Ab. Leaving anything in the vehicle or even leaving the glovebox closed is inviting any opportunists in the vicinity to break in and have a look, 'just in case'
Heavy duty chains through tow hooks and around suspension components, then around a post, then double or triple padlocked should stop anyone from lifting it away without making lots of noise.
 
There are scanners out there that will unlock many different vehicles... Look around online you will see a few you tubes of it happening taken from security cameras on peoples homes... Those things are very real.
 
My thoughts are you're lucky. Maybe it was someone who got scared off, or suddenly the feeling of guilt for doing wrong came over him/her.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
One HUGE problem with car alarms and central locking that can be activated by the keyfob is how easy they are to clone.


If car is under question (if someone wanted to take wifes 4runner away......)

....you can disconnect selenoid or something similar that will cause engine not to start.....or to make override with a hidden switch somewhere inside your car (magnetic switch will be the best)
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
There are many possible reasons for your experience. Maybe the thief was interrupted, or got spooked, and left before rummaging through everything.

It's very difficult to know exactly what someone is looking for these days. Your belief that "nothing was taken" may be completely wrong. They may have used a smartphone, photographed your documents and credit cards, and left. Or read a Garage Door Opener code, and plan to return when they see the vehicle is not in the driveway.

There is much more to be gained that way than taking a few dollars of cash (although I don't know of a single thief who wouldn't take cash when in the process of burglary).

Or perhaps they wanted to steal the vehicle itself, and were looking for keys. You don't know, and probably have no way of knowing, what was going on in the thief's head at the time; all you can think of is simple conjecture. Since perhaps you are not a thief, you are at a disadvantage.

Were it me, I would consider any event such as you describe as a successful Identity Theft and as a successful operation to copy or obtain future entry to your home, and react accordingly. Watch statements, especially in the future (a seasoned Identity or Credit Card thief will wait many months before using what they learned: if it doesn't work, nothing lost, as you are certainly not the only target, if it does, Jackpot!).

Change locks, and any entry codes, including Garage Door remote codes and any means to "save the hassle" of using keys you may have enabled on a Smartphone or Bluetooth device or fob.


Interesting angle. I'd much more suspect it was a heroin addict or some other kind of junkie trying car doors and finding ones accidentally left unlocked to scavenge for change and cash money. Operating under the cover of darkness, they may have missed the cash, but taken coins...

Since the address is public record, the license plate and vin are easily read and copied down, and assuming the OP doesn't leave credit cards, keys, etc in the vehicle, about the only things I can see that would yield unique information would be the insurance card, since that offers a policy number. Not sure why anyone would keep more unique info in their car anyway...

Looking for spare keys and to scan the garage remote is viable... Though I can't see a thief wanting the exposure to try to actuate and get the broadcast data stream on their scanner. Slow and methodical perhaps makes sense... Know the brand, then scan another day to grab codes, then break in another day. But how do you practically prevent that besides not using a remote?
 
You might want to unplug your garage door opener to cripple it for a week.

If you have the "red string" hanging there for power outages, remove that. Crooks fish something like a long rod through the door to yank that string.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad

It's very difficult to know exactly what someone is looking for these days. .


They're looking for drugs; if they dont find any then money to buy drugs.,
 
Last edited:
A few years ago my wife's car was broken into on my driveway.
CDs were scattered but none taken.
Loose change in cup holder not taken.
Only thing gone was insurance card.
 
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