Cars and Crime

At 1:30am Monday morning, firefighters put out a car fire in Waimanalo as I slept, 2500 miles away. Less than 24 hours later, I found myself at the end of a long country road staring at the charred remains of my car.

While I can think of worse ways to return from a vacation, coming home to find your car missing is definitely in the top 5. The morbidly curious and the bored can see the results here.

For most of my California vacation, I watched the evening news and read the papers with a kind of wonder, thinking to myself how glad I was I'd left all the murders, kidnappings, and random violence behind. I think I've gotten snobbish and a bit careless in the last two years.

It's strange that I feel so much safer here in Kailua than I ever did in California, yet I've been the victim of more (and worse) crimes here in 2 years than I was there in 23 years. For the six years I owned a car in California, I had one break-in- the passenger door was left unlocked one night, and someone stole my CD faceplate and a pair of prescription sunglasses, and disconnected the battery. In the last two years, my car had one break-in (within the first month), a theft just over a year later (recovered with $7,000 of damage, mostly to the steering column, plus 4 tires and rims that vanished, although nothing inside the car save the manual was disturbed), and now, nine months later, total destruction.

I know that property crime here is a huge problem, while the rate of muder, rape, and kidnapping is low. I also know that my car, a 1999 Acura Integra, was rated the #1 stolen vehicle in the country (probably locally, too). Still, I have a hard time believing it happened to me not once, but twice, in the span of nine months. In Kailua no less, supposedly one of the safest neighborhoods on the island.

One of the reasons I moved from Kailua Town to Maunawili was the theft last December. About half a dozen cars were stolen from the private condo parking lot over a two month period- all Hondas. After the first couple of thefts, a security guard was hired to patrol the lots at night. Then my car vanished sometime in the afternoon, as children were returning from school.

Even though my parking space at my new home is visible from the street, I thought that the long driveway, loud dogs (both the neighbors' and my landlords'), and activity around the country cottage I call home were good deterrents to theft. When we moved in, the landlords had a hard time finding the key for the cottage- no previous tenants bothered locking the door.

Now, I'm wondering what I did wrong. I should have gotten a car alarm like I'd planned after the first theft. I didn't even bother getting a new Club, since it was neatly sliced the first time (almost amusing since I never locked it anyway). I find myself apologizing to my insurance company, who have been wonderful thus far, even though it's not my fault.

And I'm faced with a difficult and unwanted chore- finding a new car. As much as I loved my car, I won't buy another Integra- they've been discontinued, and I'm afraid I'd have the same problems. What's the point in having the world's most reliable small car if it keeps getting stolen?

Have you had your car stolen? What kind of car was it, and what happened? What security did you have before, and did you do anything differently afterwards? Was it stolen for parts, a joyride, or something else?

I'm also curious to know what happens to the parts. Are they sold locally or smuggled out of state?

Where do you live, and do you feel safe there? Do you think that there is an effort to keep crime out of the news here for fear that it will impact tourism? Will we have to worry more about crime if the economy continues to sour? What can we do to reduce the crime rate here?

I'm just trying to puzzle through all this. I'm pretty shaken by the audacity of these thieves, and I'm wondering how I can minimize this sort of thing in the future.

Comments

Geezly crow, Lisa. Absolutely unbelievable. This after your car already took an unscheduled leave of absense earlier this year.

You've hit a lot of the key points, of course. Hawaii is an incredibly safe place to live... as long as you're not a car, CD player, or jewelry. Violent crimes are rare (we have the seventh lowest violent crime rate in the U.S.). But when it comes to property crimes, Hawaii leads the nation.

So, yes, I feel safe about my life and health. Just not so much about my things.

Owning a Honda or Acura here is pretty much like driving a bullseye. Unless you've got a secured garage, your car can disappear from the curb outside HPD headquarters. I wouldn't second-guess the alarm, either — they're useless, as far as I'm concerned, and at least as far as our neighborhood goes, merely additional motive to do damage to a vehicle.

(Clipped a club, though, huh? You won't see that in those TV ads!)

As to your questions, most of the friends I know who've had cars stolen drove well-maintained, if not new, imports. (Though one friend's '85 Chevy Blazer got stolen, which was just bizarre.) In my small circle of friends, there are a few Honda drivers, and even if their cars weren't stolen, I'm confident most of them were broken into, and none of them have their hood badges.

I don't think we keep crime out of the news out of fear of scaring away tourists. Car theft waves do make the front page at least once a year, and of course all rental cars have neon orange signs warning against the probability of theft. Hell, the theft of national secrets from a FBI car while agents went swimming at the beach here made national news just a few weeks ago.

Tourist destination = heavy theft. I think that's a given. We don't normally kill our tourists, though, which is a good thing. (Though tourists do a pretty good job of killing themselves.)

Hunting for a car is no fun. You're wise to rule out Hondas, Acuras, and... well, frankly, any of the cars on Hawaii's Most Stolen Cars list (which differs only slightly from the national list). But read this column for some important disclaimers.

So, what next? How about a Saturn? That seems like the most common alternative for someone who initially wanted a basic Honda sedan. Subaru? And though a few years ago I would've rather driven a Pinto, the newer Kia models present a decent value...

I'm sorry for your loss, Lisa. Those pictures are gruesome. I'm glad you are okay, though.

God, Lisa. I am so sorry. That sucks.

I think you'd look swell in a Volkswagen, if you're thinking of getting a replacement for Kitty. For what it's worth.

I feel for you Lisa. It gives me a sick feeling just thinking of it. I am sure you had a great vacation but to come back to this is an absolute bummer.

I have a car similar to yours and it was broken into last year while parked at Ala Moana. Luckily they didn't take much besides some coins and CDs. Nevertheless I felt quite violated and helpless to do anything.

It's not worth much but I feel for your situation.

I'm sorry all this happened to, Lisa. It's so sad why people do those sorts of things. It seems like nothing is sacred these days. My friend had his van stolen at the cemetery and my dad had his truck broken into in the parking lot of a church, no less. I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around and I know these people will get what's coming to them eventually. But hey, I don't want to give the image to people visiting Hawaii that it's rampant with crime, no. It's just that there's a few bad apples out there.

So how to minimize things like this? Well, if thieves really really want your car, I don't think there's much anyone could do short of spending the bucks on deterrents and/or alarms or taking your tires with you, like those bicycles riders do :) The best I can suggest is to be aware of when/where you park and to minimize the temptation, i.e. close windows, lock doors, hide bags, put anything of value out of sight, etc.

Lis, I'm so sorry for your loss. As much as I like to rag on the Integra, those post-immolation pictures of Kitty broke my heart nonetheless.

The car theft rate was part of the reason why I chose to become a commuter. In the five or six years that I've lived here, within my own family (actually, my sister's, in Kapolei), there have been at least three car thefts (two of which involving my brother-in-law's '85 Ford Thunderbird, which ultimately ended up being "cannibalized" for parts by thieves; the last one was my sister's Civic, which was found completely intact two Christmases ago on the parking lot at Ala Moana Center right by Macy's) and three major break-ins. I myself have been particularly paranoid lately about bag snatchings, ever since my purse got stolen from a supermarket cart at Foodland at Ala Moana.

My apartment on the Date/Kapiolani section of Kaimuki isn't exactly safe, either; while the inhabitants of the "dingbat" I live in have been `akamai with safety, the surrounding streets - and in particular Mahiai Street, which bisects between Date and Kapiolani - are a hotbed of potential violence. Last time I checked, in fact, Pizza Hut refuses to deliver to any address in my neighborhood due to the fact that one of their drivers got mugged.

Anyway, as for a new car... While my brother-in-law (he of the Thunderbird) once advised to buy used if all you want from a car is basic transportation, that might not be the case if the car is a well-maintained import. (I've said it before: every single time I read about the "most stolen cars" for any single time or place, I always think that some car thieves are wannabe "rice boys" who are a little too obsessed with The Fast and the Furious - which, incidentally, also involves car theft.) Something like, say, the Volkswagen Passat? (My mom drove a Passat wagon and not only did it last our family more than 20 years, but it was the best car she'd ever driven - just ask our neighbors, who have witnessed her doing Vin Diesel-esque hairpin turns on it.)

Hondas and Acuras may be the most popular targets, but they're certainly not the only cars that get broken into. Last summer someone punched the door lock out of my Nissan Quest while it was parked at Ward Centre. Nothing was taken though; maybe the thief got scared away by a passerby before he had enough time. Or maybe I just didn't have anything worth stealing.

Hi Glen! I agree, thieves will go for anything. Three out of the four cars I've owned were broken into (oddly enough, the most valuable one - a 1979 Hurst/Olds, never was), and none of them were "hot models": A 1977 Chevy Nova, a 1984 Nissan Maxima, and my current 1995 Dodge Caravan.

So, for a guy who knows he will never own a new car, and loves the practicality and price of used automobiles, my luck hasn't been all that good. And I doubt I'm alone.

The irony is, after the lock on my Maxima was punched, I stopped locking my doors (and just never left anything valuable in the car). So even though the would-be thief who came into my building's parking lot could've just opened the van door, he went at the lock like gangbusters. He ended up munging up the lock (and the surrounding handle) so bad, he then couldn't get in the van. (He must've ran off before trying the driver's side door.)

Oh, and the one day I left something valuable in the car? The one day I was too lazy to bring my CD player upstairs and hid it under the seat? Whoosh! Gone.

By the by, Lisa, Jen admonished me for not making the obvious suggestion for a future car (and one Stella mentioned): a Volkswagen! I'm not sure if you'll take this as a compliment or not, but we think you're definitely a sporty Jetta sort of gal.

Having never met you, Lisa, this comment may be completely out of line, in which case I apologize, but you know the theory about beautiful women and cars? It says that a guy, no matter how good-looking, looks like a loser when he's driving a piece of junk, but an attractive woman looks hot no matter what she's driving.

With that in mind, I say go for some piece of junk. One of the best cars I've owned was a rusty, busted-mufflered Toyota Corolla hatchback whose passenger-side door wouldn't open and whose hatch wouldn't stay open without being propped-up with a broomstick. I paid two hundred bucks for that thing and drove it a year and a half, with the only expense being some new tires.

I never worried about it getting broken into or stolen or banged into in a parking lot, and I figured that if it ever broke down, I'd have a tow-truck take it to one of those donate-a-vehicle places.

After four months, I figured I'd gotten my money's worth. That was a great car!

Note to self: smile nicely and resist urge to snicker while introducing Scrivener to Vince. ;)

Ahem, back on topic:

Comparing the Jetta and the Passat. (Note that I'm using the 2002 models here, although further research has turned up that the best years for used Volkswagen models start at around 1997 or so.)

As much as I love the Passat, I think that the Jetta's also a pretty nifty choice, as well. (Just try to resist the urge to get a Beetle, though; while the new ones are cute, they don't seem to have the charm -or the endurance abilities, for that matter - of the old-school Bugs, which survive surprisingly well under tropical climes.)

Late with the sympathy, but here nonetheless. What a horrible thing to come home to find.

Cars as magnets? I dunno. We used to have a '62 Mercedes which looked good but obviously had nothing of great use or value inside, yet it was broken into parked across from Aloha Stadium during a 4th of July ballgame and fireworks show (or some such event) in 1970 or so.

I'm with the others who suggest you look at the most stolen list and bypass 'em. Don't know what else to try.

As the proud owner of a 2002 VW Passat, I say go for the Passat! It has a memory chip that will shut down the car completely if it is not opened or started with the proper key. Yes, it has an alarm too, but those have never stopped anyone. In fact when one does go off, we can't wait for someone to shut it off...legally or not.

Beyond the fact that your car could STILL be broken into, it cannot be driven away.

Although the Jetta is quite sporty and cute, I would do my research on them. They're made in Mexico (Passat in Germany) and actually have had some recent lemon years.

Ok, a non-biased suggestion? The Mini Cooper!!!

I just wanted to thank all you guys (and my coworkers, who, thanks to Burt's article, seem to be visiting this site now) for all the advice and sympathy.

Since my dream car is out of the question, both price-wise and Vince wise (he calls it the "haole mistress car"), I'm pretty ambivalent about what to get.

After test driving the Honda CRV and a couple of Jettas, it looks like the Jetta is a definite maybe, although I am nervous about the Mexico thing. I'm such a carcist- all I've ever owned have been Honda Civic based cars (86 CRX, 95 Civic, 99 Integra), mostly manufactured in Japan.

I'm beginning to regret all the snide comments I used to make about ditzy blond Palo Alto dot-commers and their Jettas, though.. thank goodness there's not that kind of image here :)

Popular Science just published an article trying to explain why the desirability of the Integra.

From the Popular Science article linked above:

To a street drag racer, a customized Civic body with an Integra's high-torque guts is a veritable Dream Machine.

This definitely explains what I've been saying all along about car thieves as wannabe racers on a "rice" binge.

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