It happened. What we'd been expecting from day one came to pass. Someone tried to steal my Landcuiser.
Early Friday morning last week, my wife and I were awoken to the sound of a car alarm. Didn't take long for us to realize that it was coming from our car. My wife went to the other room to look out the window which looks onto our driveway to see two individuals sauntering over to a car parked in the street and drive off.
We called the cops. The LC's aftermarket alarm was still blaring. I made my rounds as I went outside to turn off the alarm: driver's door open, lower corner of the dash trim pried open, and glass from the rear passenger window strewen across the rear seats. I also came across a curious piece of wire on the floor of the driver's seat which we later found out was from the would-be thieves' ECU hacking device.
All in all, I was impressed at the lack of damage. It was a funny feeling coming to the realization that it shouldn't come as a surprise considering the motive was to ship the LC off somewhere to be sold.
I have to say that in the heat of the moment, there was really little emotion other than the stupor of waking up at 2:30am and managing the situation with police, my wife, and two very excited young dogs. I was actually quite happy our aftermarket alarm and immobilizer had done its job of preventing the thieves from driving off with the vehicle.
No, the frustration set in much later: the LC was completely unresponsive to the key fob; I had to go tape up the window in the middle of the night in windy, -20⁰ weather; the first tow truck couldn't get the LC to the shop because we were unable to disengage the electronic parking brake; the insurances appraiser wouldn't be able to come until later the following week to complete the estimate; and finally, despite the only real damage being a side window and some dash trim, parts were unavailable to complete the repairs.
Among it all, the biggest sting is now having to drive around with a taped up window in the winter for an indeterminate amount of time. I guess I should be thankful I still have the LC - in all certainty thanks to having chosen to pay for additional peace of mind in the aftermarket security system.
I just hope the wait for a part like a window isn't a 3-6 month long nightmare I've been reading in similar threads here and elsewhere!
Early Friday morning last week, my wife and I were awoken to the sound of a car alarm. Didn't take long for us to realize that it was coming from our car. My wife went to the other room to look out the window which looks onto our driveway to see two individuals sauntering over to a car parked in the street and drive off.
We called the cops. The LC's aftermarket alarm was still blaring. I made my rounds as I went outside to turn off the alarm: driver's door open, lower corner of the dash trim pried open, and glass from the rear passenger window strewen across the rear seats. I also came across a curious piece of wire on the floor of the driver's seat which we later found out was from the would-be thieves' ECU hacking device.
All in all, I was impressed at the lack of damage. It was a funny feeling coming to the realization that it shouldn't come as a surprise considering the motive was to ship the LC off somewhere to be sold.
I have to say that in the heat of the moment, there was really little emotion other than the stupor of waking up at 2:30am and managing the situation with police, my wife, and two very excited young dogs. I was actually quite happy our aftermarket alarm and immobilizer had done its job of preventing the thieves from driving off with the vehicle.
No, the frustration set in much later: the LC was completely unresponsive to the key fob; I had to go tape up the window in the middle of the night in windy, -20⁰ weather; the first tow truck couldn't get the LC to the shop because we were unable to disengage the electronic parking brake; the insurances appraiser wouldn't be able to come until later the following week to complete the estimate; and finally, despite the only real damage being a side window and some dash trim, parts were unavailable to complete the repairs.
Among it all, the biggest sting is now having to drive around with a taped up window in the winter for an indeterminate amount of time. I guess I should be thankful I still have the LC - in all certainty thanks to having chosen to pay for additional peace of mind in the aftermarket security system.
I just hope the wait for a part like a window isn't a 3-6 month long nightmare I've been reading in similar threads here and elsewhere!
