Car Karma = -4 (yup, it's gone)

My car was stolen. *sigh*

Rob V. (Cruzths) and i went to the buggy blast this past week (www.sbbb.net) and we got a call from his wife night before last that my car was no longer in their driveway. Luckily i decided to leave my empeg in their house instead of in the trunk... so at least there's that. AND the fact that i had all my gear out of the car for the trip is good, so i didn't really loose much but the car, my skateboard, a few miscellaneous kites and other items, and an empeg sled... i even had the tuner out, thank jeebus. So much for that.

Now i'm hoping they don't find it anytime soon so i can sink the insurance check into the WRX i was about to get anyhow. In a weird way it's a blessing in disguise... saves me the hassle of selling the car.

I still wanna nail the little bastards though.

Here's to hoping the new WRX will be better luck for me.

Rob... when are those black sleds gonna be ready??

Rob... when are those black sleds gonna be ready??

Sorry about your car!

But, your guess is as good as mine.
Hopefully very soon. All that has to be done is have the metal punched and bent. I will keep you in mind.

Day-yam, man. You have the WORST luck. So sorry!!!!

Hmmm... maybe you were a car thief in a previous life, and this is your punishment?

OMG!

Damn Loren is that car a high theft model or do you just keep briefcases full of cash on the passanger seat? Sorry, I shouldn't joke - at least you were about to sell the car anyway and your player wasn't in it...

And from someone's driveway! That's nuts!

My sympathies...

EDIT, you lost a tuner too huh? damn..

Dude! Lojack. You need it with your luck. Sorry to hear about it. Nothing compares to that sinking "My car(empeg) was RIGHT HERE!" feeling. That sucks.
I hope they get 'em.

-Zeke

Sorry to hear it. I've had a car pinched as well, and even if it's worth practically nothing, you still have the desire to find someone and hit them repeatedly with something. In my case they really did do me a favour; I got way more from the insurance than the car was worth, but it took months. The only time insurance has ever been worth the payments in my experience.

I'm glad you had your tuner safely out of the car. I have a limited supply of kits

pca

Dude! Lojack.

That's not nearly as effective as they make it out to be.
Sorry to hear that Loren. Have you considered giving up owning a car yet?


Now for the advice from the car salesperson:

Given your current run of luck, if it is not included in the finance contract with whatever bank the loan goes through (if you do finance the car) BUY THE GAP INSURANCE. I can not stress this enough. You may wind up quite screwed without it if the car is total loss.

If they sell (and most do) the policy usually attached to VIN etching or something of the sort, that'll give you a $5000 or so down payment on a replacement if stolen, (usually $200 to $600, depending on the car/area) take that too.

Order a triple merge of your credit (a report from all three bureaus) before you walk in. More money gets made in bumping interest than anywhere else on most sales floors.

Also, given your luck, don't put more than $2500 down. Should the worst happen within the first year, you'll likely come out ahead of the game if you've bought the other things.

My car was stolen. *sigh*

Remind me to stay the hell out of your neighborhood.

Damn!

First your Empeg, now your car. You've really got the worst luck!
I hope the insurance comes through for you, and I hope they do it fast.
It pisses me off immensely every time I see how little respect some people have for other people's property.

Remind me to stay the hell out of your neighborhood.

That's the funny thing... all the stuff that's happened to my car has been outside my neighborhood... actually they happened in really NICE residential neighborhoods. The empeg was stolen while i was in Berkeley. My car was stolen from San Jose, a really really nice part of San Jose, while parked in Rob's driveway.

Thanks for the advice Heather. Luckily the car was paid off. I'll only be getting a Loan for around 5k for the new car if mine isn't recovered, and i won't be doing it through the dealership.

First your Empeg, now your car.

Don't forget his last car!

tanstaafl.

I should just stick to my skateboard eh? Too bad it was in the trunk of my car! =\

I've about had it with cars too mine breaks down all the time instead of theft. I wouldn't be able to get by without one though.

I've been biking to work for the last couple months. Of course, that has more to do with the gas prices than anything else (yeah, yeah, shaddup you Euros. )

Hrmmm... It'd take an awfully large hike in prices to get me to bike to work. As we stand right now I spend on average $10 a week on gas. 'Course, I live 4 miles from work, and get there in less than 7 minutes.

Oh by the way, just got back from my honeymoon, and I must say, Jamaica is beautiful this time of year. My wife made me bring my empeg and the speakers from my computer on the trip. We were the only people at the resort that didn't have to listen to reggae the whole time. Oh, and btw, a subwoofer in the suitcase makes your bags get checked by customs both directions.

Biking to work would take a large chunk out of my day. Busing to work is ok, but busing home sucks (I never get a seat, and 50-60 minutes on a single bus is a long time to waste). Plus the buses don't run very frequently now, and are probably about to be cut further, or perhaps to where I live, entirely.

I bought here since it was a one bus ride to CMU (and at the time I expected to get a job elsewhere to the east of me, CMU being to the west of me) and of course that advantage is evaporating. Lately I've been working from home 2-3 days a week. It's almost not worth the time to go there at all.

$10 a week! I dream of $10 a week. On a typical week (ie when I'm not zapping round the country to random clients) I spend around £60 ($94 US) and that is for a reasonably small run (I live about an hour from work) in a car which does about 30-35mpg on that run.

I think $10 would get me just under 10 litres of Super Unleaded.

Akkk! There are some things about the UK that I'm not so happy about.

Get this, in Jamaica, gas was around $26 Jamaican for 1 liter. That's ~48¢ per liter (in US$).

Somebody should organise a group-buy!

Tell me. I thought about it, except for the fact that I was about to beard a plane. All told, we drove for ~4 hours for less than $7 US. From one end of the island to the other. By the way, driving on the left while on the right side of the car was just about to make me nauseous. My wife in fact did get car-sick for the first time ever. If it weren't for driving games where I typically DO drive on the left, I'd have had a much more difficult time. Then again, the strangeness of it to me was exacerbated by the fact that as I was clicking along at 80 kph, and being passed by a car doing 80 kph in the other direction, while a motorcycle passed between us doing at LEAST 120 kph. Wow.

I was about to beard a plane.

Now *that* I'd like to see!

Hrmmm... It'd take an awfully large hike in prices to get me to bike to work. As we stand right now I spend on average $10 a week on gas.

$2/gallon was my limit. I might have gone higher if I didn't own a gas-sucking truck. Gas-sucking truck now sits in my driveway until I need it on weekends.

'Course, I live 4 miles from work, and get there in less than 7 minutes.

6.3 miles for me, and it only takes me three minutes longer to bike there (lazily enough to not break a sweat) than it does for me to drive (there are 11 stop lights on my way to work).

I was about to beard a plane.

Now *that* I'd like to see!

About this time, someone is telling you to get on the plane. "Get on the plane, get on the plane." I say, "fuck you, I'm getting in the plane! In the plane! Let Evil Knievel get on the plane! I'll be in here with you folks in uniform. There seems to be less wind in here."

they found my car. i'm on the phone with the sheriff. could my luck get any worse. *bang*

the receptionist/whatever they are at the police and sheriff's offices are the most rude women i've had the pleasure of dealing with in my life. *anger.... rising....*

the sheriff says call the SJPD, the SJPD says call the Sheriff..... *blood boiling*

But surely the stress of dealing with red tape at the police station isn't anywhere close to the stress of having your car ganked, is it?

actually it's WAY more stressful. Since if the car was never found, i'd get a nice little check, not have to deal with selling the car, pay my $500 deductible, and head to the Subaru dealer for a new WRX. Easy, relatively painless.

Now, I have to take a day off of work... which i cannot do right now since i have no vacation and no personal days and tomorrow i'm to start on a new project... i have to figure out a way to get to San Jose, and somehow by myself pick up my car (which no one knows the condition of... if it's driveable, etc...the nice rude lady said the report only said "stripped"), figure out who the hell i have to get to sign some release form that no one seems to be privy to, pay for the impound fees/tickets/etc, get the car back to SF, pay for towing or whatever, have it repaired (probably a week or two of no car on top of it all), and then try to sell it. Very painful. I just broke down at the amount of new stress this has added.

Its probably a total loss to be honest. I would at least try and ask if the engine is in the car, since thats the most valuable part in it. A USDM B16A can fetch a decent price.

I was about to beard a plane

does no-one remember Airplane where the Israeli airliner came in with a beard?

That driving in Jamaica is quite something, I'm not sure whether it's worse for those of us who normally drive on the left or the right. Having taken a taxi from Montego Bay to Negril, we opted for an air taxi back: The only thing was that the pilot was called Junior, looked it, and was practising his skills on a PC simulator when we entered the garden shed that served as his airline's HQ, but he got us back in a six seater.

Wow... how did I typo that one. Couldn't have benn a fat-finger mistake. It's clear across the keyboard!

In Jamaica's defense, we drove from Mo Bay to Ocho Rios along the Queen's Highway. While beautiful, the road were total schitt.

You can't call the insurance company and see if they can get an adjuster to go look at it before you pick it up? If it's just a frame.....

Get this, in Jamaica, gas was around $26 Jamaican for 1 liter. That's ~48¢ per liter (in US$).

If I calculate correctly, that's $1.82 USD / gallon. Here in South Carolina we only pay around $1.40 USD / gallon or ~37¢ per liter (~ 24p / liter). And it's really high right now.

i just got the call from USAA... they are making everything WAY easier than it could be. The only problem might be from the SJPD and the towing company if they require me to physically be present to release the vehicle... which Mark the claims guy said is a tossup... some do some don't. So i'm calling them at 8am to figure that shit out... but then the claims guy will go there, inspect it, have it towed to a salvage yard for a full inspection, then fax me the report and let me know what needs to be repaired and have it towed to a repair shop. So far all i know about it's condition is that the Sheriff's report said "stripped", but i think i heard that biatch say it was driveable... i dunno, i was barely listening at that point.

It's going to take forever... that's the shitty part. There's still the chance that they will write it off as a total loss, but that's looking less and less likely. So, i'll have to wait like 3 weeks with no car, then get it back and still try and sell it.

I'm feeling a lot better than last night, but the shityness of the whole thing is looming over my brain like a fog. The fact that i've consistently had to pay in cash and extreme inconvenience for other assholes mistakes or outright immoral acts of theft or destruction is killing me. The whole retarded "why me" question keeps swimming around... futile and aimless as it may be.

So, now it's a waiting game. I've gotta get out this weekend in a major way... i guess i'll rent a car, fuck it.

Have they said whether or not they are investigating this further? It seems that at this point the only good that can come of all this is that the car will be written off as a loss, or the bastard who stole it will get caught. Both would be great, but neither would be a cosmic "screw you" of the highest caliber. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen. Good luck.

I just broke down at the amount of new stress this has added.

Sorry to hear that, Loren. I understand how stressful something like this can be.

Funny, though, I was just commenting to someone that you were quite the optimist, being able to make a post like this in the face of personal tragedy like the car theft.

Still, I understand the stress of the situation, and it can make anyone really messed up. Hope things get sorted out for you soon.

Thanks Tony,

Yeah... i was optimistic and actually not too pissed it was stolen since it would have helped me out in the long run from having to sell the car and deal with everything... but that all came crashing down real quick. I'm now close to back to where i was before since the insurance agency is handling everything for me quite nicely.

I think i just didn't wanna get over the high i had from the buggy blast ... I wasn't ready to come back.

thinking about those moments racing across the playa now.... ahhhh... =]

Oh, and I love the new avatar: "Mad Loren, the Playa Warrior"

i guess i'll rent a car, [censored] it.

Your insurance probably has some kind of rental coverage even my crappy insurance did.

i just got the call from USAA... they are making everything WAY easier than it could be.

I was going to say this earlier, but I have USAA and they really do work with you. Anytime I've had any problems at all they've made the process as painless as possible, something I've not found with other insurance companies. I generally hate the insurance process, as these companies usually take an already bad situation and make it worse, but not USAA

I'll second the pro-USAA sentiment. The one time I needed them, it worked out pretty well. I even managed to talk them up $600 on a 'totaled' settlement check by doing some cherry picking of regional ads for cars similar to my (wrecked) one.
-Zeke

You guys need to cut it out. I'm getting ants in my pants for my new car, I can't even order it yet (well, I could, but then I wouldn't have the money to pay for it when it came in), and you guys are making it worse.

I could get USAA because my Grandfather was in the military. They tell me that he also has to be a USAA member for me to be able to get a polity with them. He doesn't want to switch.

Does anyone know if there is a way to get around that requirement? I called them only a couple months ago and that was their stance.

Join the Army?

Seriously, I don't know.

-Zeke

As I understand, the requirements are to be in the Armed forces or immediatly related to a USAA member. Thus a person could marry someone who's father is in the military, get USAA, get divorced, and then marry again so that the new spouse could get USAA even though he or she never had anything to do with the military. In fact, this couple could get divorced again and the new spouse could still retain the policy and add a new wife or husband and so on. It's kind of strange, but I'm glad, as I'm nowhere near being in the military (I got it through my grandfather, my wife has it because of me).

!yvan eht nioJ

LOL... niiiice reference.

In reply to:

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but i think i heard that biatch say it was driveable...

---

My g/f's mum had her car stolen, it turned up a week later, when she asked wether it was drivable or not the guy said yes. So she went to pick it up, only to find there was no steering wheel. Police eh?

LOL... Driveable, sure. Oh, you want STEERABLE too?

okay, quick update.

They took the rims and tires and slapped on some crap ones, gutted the stereo and speakers and i'm assuming the amps under the seats, punched the passenger lock and ignition lock, removed all the paneling to access the speakers... and left most of it in the trunk, damaged the mounts to the front bumper so it is sorta hanging off (which they did backing it off the driveway curb i'd assume), and that's about it. Only other damage was a large "dent" in the drivers door. He said the headers and exhaust were still there, so i'd imagine the intake and pulleys are still there too. Not sure about the suspension, but it'd be a hell of a lot of work to get that off and put others on, so that's probably still there.

Blech. This is going to take forever to get taken care of and sell. I'll see if they can just put everything that was taken back to stock and give me the difference in cash. If they don't i'm going to have to UNinstall everything they do and sell it seperately... which would suck.

I can't believe they took those rims... those things were beyond repair they were curbed so many times. They did me a favor on that one. The stock rims are worth more than those suckers. hah.

I should get to see the damage up close in a couple of days. happy happy joy joy.

i just want this to be over with and have my new Rex!

Duuuude, you should hear about what happened to me the other day... I was at work, walking from one building to another. I was about 4 steps from crossing the street between 2 buildings when I heard a car gun the engine and race towards me. It ran over a raised sidewalk, taking out a parking sign, crossed the street and hit a white car, bounced off that car and hit a dog-catcher truck, bounced off that and crossed the street again, acclelerating all the way, hit the curb, bounced up into a crepe myrtle, flew about 10 feet at an altitude of 4 feet, and landed on two cars parked next to the building. After about 2 seconds, I collected my wits, ran over, and tried to see if the driver was OK. Turns out it was an 89 year old woman, she was OK, but she had missed the brake pedal and hit the gas instead. When she jumped the sidewalk, she got scared and tried to stomp on the brake. This, of course, meant that she instead stomped on the gas. She was doing at least 45 mph when she hit the curb. It was really wild, there are skid marks in the street, but they're from her accelerating, rather than trying to stop. I'll try to locate a picture and upload it in a few. I have to vpn to work to grab the pictures. In the end, I was standing about 15 feet or so from where she landed. Poor thing. They're going to take her license for sure, but at 89 I guess that's probably a good thing.

holy crap! that's insane. glad you were out of the line of fire!!

Me too... here come the pics. I'll only send up 2. The guy in the first one that's NOT a fireman is me.

and number 2:



The guy on the cell in the red tie is the proud owner of the black car.

I remember a big stink about this, I think it was 10 years back. Certain cars were being accused of "sudden unintended acceleration" and it turned out to be just people accidentally mashing the gas pedal instead of the brake. Car and Driver did a big series of articles on it. Certain cars got a bad reputation, I think Audi was among them, and they had a photo of a sign at a valet station saying they wouldn't park Audis with automatic transmissions.

And to think people say that sort of thing only ever happens in movies!

And Audi got shafted in the states for a while - there were some successful lawsuits against them. VAG then started pushing VW as their top marque in the states. Took ages to get Audi reputation back up.

That would be this incident, then?

Sicard [the old woman] was not cited in the accident.

WTF!?!

She damages four other vehicles, probably totalling two of them, drives over a sidewalk, we'll assume, definitely endangering pedestrians, according to the report above, and she doesn't even get a moving violation? If I did that, you can bet I'd get my license revoked, at least for a while. But since she's old....

Yep.... That's it.... I was the only witness. I gotta ask. How the hell did you find that?! Oh, and as to her not getting a ticket, here's a good tip for you. If you're going to get into an accident, do it on private property. As such, the police cannot issue traffic violations. So next time you go to City Hall, park where you damn well please (except handicapped). They can't tow you or ticket you. At least, not in this state. What they CAN do is park directly behind you so you can't leave until close of business. And before you ask, yes, the parking lot at City Hall is considered private. (the state does not pay for the paving).

I gotta ask. How the hell did you find that?!

Jim Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room. Particularly, he seems to have a knack of finding "old woman crashes car into diner" -type stories.

So next time you go to City Hall, park where you damn well please (except handicapped). They can't tow you or ticket you

Normally then can tow you at the request of the owner of the property. You *will* end up paying the bill for the towing costs, which can end up being quite steep. (at least that's how it is over here)

Ahh... but there lies the rub... The city will not tow your car. It just isn't worth the bad publicity. At least, our city won't.

Jim Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room.

That explaines it.

Then I guess you're in luck! In our city, they don't care about bad publicity!

Something like this happened last year (I think it was) here in Phoenix. A family (mom, dad, little kid) were walking out of a Best Buy. An old lady (we have a lot of them here) hit the gas instead of the brakes. She ended up killing the mother, and didn't get cited for anything.

http://www.skivvies.com/photos/2003-04-22_car_theft

went by the body shop this morning for my first look at the damage. They stripped the interior of everything stereo related, and took the rims and cold air intake. I hope they have fun with that empeg sled and remote! I've got the key cylinder sitting here on my desk. They drilled the hell out of it... there's broken metal all over the place. Too stupid to do it the easy way i guess.

So, now i wait and dwell on what the F i can do to prevent this from happening to my new car. Shock seats sound like fun. I'm definitely gonna install a secret starter switch so you can't even short the engine to start without flipping it.

Greetings!

Um, that white glove? Was it yours? Were there any fingerprints found in the car? In the glove???

Yeah, that's what I've been wondering. Have the authorities been doing anything to aprehend the person(s) who took your car?

So, now i wait and dwell on what the F i can do to prevent this from happening to my new car.

Flamethrowers. Definitely flamethrowers.

You may have said this before, but did your car have any form of theft deterrent?

You may have said this before, but did your car have any form of theft deterrent?

Although you replied to my post, I assume the above statement was directed at Loren.

I just would like to respond by saying I know people who have had their car alarms stolen.

Yes... I meant that for Loren, sorry... I realize that current car theft deterrents are not fool proof, however I have to think that they would provide some security.

So, out of curiosity, where did they find the car? Was it in a parking lot somewhere or in some abandoned warehouse or what?

Any of you ever see an old SNL commercial for a car called the “Chameleon”? They showed you this big junk heap of a car and called it a high-end luxury vehicle. It was completely rusted on the outside with mismatched paneling. They did the “rolling the ball down the edge” example, in which the ball fell through a hole in the roof. When the alarm was clicked on the whole vehicle fell to the ground around the wheels. Then they showed you the inside, which was totally posh, completely different from the outside. Of course the idea was no one would think the car was worth stealing.

Perhaps this is something you need, Loren?

Um, that white glove? Was it yours? Were there any fingerprints found in the car? In the glove???

hah. i don't know what town your from but around here... they don't even offer to print in a situation like this. They could give a flying flip. Unless it's some high profile murder case or something... forget having them investigate the theft any further than "where did you leave it". The funny thing is they left all kinds of weird crap in my car that wasn't there. That white glove, that white sheet (which is from some hospital), a cell phone power adaptor (not mine), random paper... and i think a few other things i didn't have time to notice closely. I'm sure there's plenty of evidence laying around if they cared to look. The San Jose PD didn't offer a damn thing. In fact, talking to them and the Sherriff, you'd think they'd never dealt with a stolen car before... they didn't know who had to get what paperwork or anything, it was insanely aggravating.

Have the authorities been doing anything to aprehend the person(s) who took your car?

nope.

Flamethrowers. Definitely flamethrowers.

ah, you saw that video to eh? I just wouldn't want that to go off on accident!

You may have said this before, but did your car have any form of theft deterrent?

yeah... but the alarm wasn't on. Remember, i left it in the driveway of Rob's house, while his wife was there, and they live in a NICE San Jose neighborhood. I left it off because i didn't want her to have to deal with it going off if it did so accidentaly. Stupid of me eh?! The little blinking LED's weren't even working at the time so they would have broken in anyway and set off the alarm. I'm sure they would have gotten away anyhow. But yeah, i won't be leaving the alarm off ever again. I've been learning a lot of these lessons the hard way lately. Oh, and i think they did steal the alarm. heh.

So, out of curiosity, where did they find the car? Was it in a parking lot somewhere or in some abandoned warehouse or what?

no idea. like i said, you'd think the SJPD and Sherriff had never done this before. NO ONE could tell me where they found it, just that it was at a Tow company, and even they had no idea. I called them twice and got the same result. I gave up on the Sherriff's office because the lady they kept connecting me to had someone else in the background feeding her what she was supposed to say!! I would ask a question, and she'd not know the answer, and she'd say hold on, at which point i could hear her ask someone else the question. And she wouldn't let me talk to them! It was infuriating to say the least.

I don't even care anymore, i just want the goddamn thing fixed and i wanna sell it.

Perhaps this is something you need, Loren?

LOL. yeah. i've been thinking about just getting a stealth junker after all this crap.

I'm partial to the Army's SmarTruck. The high voltage door handles are something that everybody needs!

I've been to their booth's and talked to them about it (just the SmarTruck I, not the II), but have yet to see a live one...

but have yet to see a live one...

As opposed to one that's not turned on?

Yeah right all they are for is making money giving out tickets.

Um, that white glove?

Does Michael Jackson have an alibi for the night the car was stolen?

tanstaafl.

Um, that white glove?

Does Michael Jackson have an alibi for the night the car was stolen?

/me wipes the Dr Pepper off the monitor

Does Michael Jackson have an alibi for the night the car was stolen?

i dunno, but whoever it was must've been wiping their ass with it because it was diiiirtay.

GET THIS!!!

Rob just let me know that HIS Range Rover was broken into last night in the same driveway! Smash and grab for a GPS apparently. Unfreakinbelievable.

Time to get a sign for said driveway that reads:

BEWARE OF DOG

(AND BY DOG, I MEAN "BIG FREAKIN' SHOTGUN POINTED AT YOUR HEAD RIGHT NOW")

It may have inconvenienced the neighbourhood if the alarm had gone off, but they would have forgotten it. It is nothing compared to the inconvnience you're having now.
I think they need BIG security lights and cameras in their driveway

Another funny thing... Rob's has security lights... motion detector ones. They happened to be recently burned out.

In reply to:

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Does Michael Jackson have an alibi for the night the car was stolen?

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Well if you believe the documentary he's probably got a whole load of underage kids prepared to give him an alibi on that night!

Greetings!

For those interested, a listing of the most stolen cars on a state by state basis.

New Hampshire #1: 1995 AMG Hummer Wagon

Yeah. Sure.

-Zeke (NH Resident)

Nebraska #2: 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale

???

Probably the only car stolen...

I've been trying to sell the most stolen car in the US for the past month.
Maybe I should just leave it at the mall over night and collect the insurance...

Maybe I should just leave it at the mall over night and collect the insurance...

Naahhh... just lend it to Loren for the weekend.

tanstaafl.

Yeah, i should offer a service. If i can't get your car stolen in under 1 week, you'll get your money back PLUS a free toaster!

you'll get your money back PLUS a free toaster!

Let me guess... they left a toaster underneath all those white sheets?

nope.... i wish. I could use one.

Nebraska #2: 1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale

The last time I read some stats, the UK's most stolen car was the Austin/Rover Montego - which hasn't been manufactured for years and, let's be honest, is a cruddy Grandad's car (sorry to any Montego owners here!).

I think it was basically because had locks which a kid could open with a carrot (or spork, Tony?) and a steering column wrapped with paper thin plastic.

The more recent favourite is the Vauxhall Astra - in the local paper every other car reported stolen and dumped is an Astra - I bet the insurance on one is a heck of a lot more than a similar style car of a different make.

My security is to drive a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side!

edit: I've just found the latest stats:

TOP 10 MOST-STOLEN CARS IN BRITAIN
1. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 SX 1990-92
2. Ford Orion 1987-89
3. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 Sr & Sri 1987-89
4. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 L 1987-89
5. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 L pre-1987
6. Vauxhall Belmont Pre-1987
7. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 L 1990-92
8. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 (other) 1987-89
9. Vauxhall Astra Mk. 2 Sr & Sri pre-1987
10. Vauxhall Belmont 1987-89

A note to readers: the Belmont was a saloon/sedan version of the Astra, which is a hatchback.

Gareth