Welllll, I guess I have to start locking my car more often.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

Was about to head out and hit the tollway so I went to confirm the little stack of ones I usually keep in in the center console. Gone. As was the coin holder. And my Trac Fone.
Total replacement value so far (haven't checked much else-- car is a shambles as usual) probably $70.

What sucks the most is not knowing for sure where and when it happened or whether it even was one of those most likely times/places I'd not lock up. I'd bet in the last 4-5 days but that's as close as I can narrow it.

Should I bother calling Trac Fone?

[trof]

1. Most car burglaries are from UNLOCKED cars.

jeez

There has been a rash of them in our locale.
How hard is it to lock the damned car?
And not leave anything valuable in it?

Don't mean to pile on, but come on?
Sorry you got ripped off.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. I tend not to lock up in my own driveway. Other places I'm much, much more cautious.

I might leave it unlocked if I run into the 7-11 and can see it, for instance. On the other hand I lock up at work because there's lots of students coming and going.
The thing is I live in a very low crime neighborhood and I guess I get complacent. But I don't even know for certain that it was in my driveway where it happened, either.

Anyway, I'm not all that put out or even getting that "violated" feeling by losing $70. It might be the cheapest life lesson I've had since I touched a hot stove as a little kid-- even in safe neighborhoods there are people looking for opportunities like this. And their probably looking for a quick 'grab' of something out in the open.

[Grammy23]

2. It might not hurt to call them and report the phone as stolen.

When you replace the phone, if you get another Trac phone, you should be able to transfer the minutes you had on the stolen one to the new one. This is what would happen if you were just buying a new phone and had an old one with minutes still on it. Not sure how they would handle the situation for a stolen phone. My Trac phone that I'm using right now has about 3800 minutes on it...I got a Triple Minutes for Life of the phone deal when I bought it, so I would HATE to think of losing all those minutes. That's worth a lot of $$$ So I'd contact them, especially if you have a bunch of minutes on it.

They have some pretty good deals that give you Double or Triple Minutes for life. QVC sells the trac phones, too, and they have some pretty nifty deals, including Smart Phones and double/triple minutes.

OH and for goodness sake, take that one second and lock your doors. I NEVER, EVER leave my car unlocked and seldom leave valuables inside. If I have to leave something in it, you can bet the doors are locked. Why make it easy for someone to rip you off? If they are going to steal from you, at least make them work for it.

[datasuspect]

4. not only lock

but NEVER leave anything of value in plain sight.

it doesn't take much to smash a window, grab, and run.