Blessed by the Potato

I just had a chance to look at the car. To my untrained eye, I would say it was actually stolen by a different person. The lock had been jimmied rather than punched, and the ignition was hotwired differently (oddly enough, it’s going to be about $400 cheaper to repair this time thanks to that… only $1100. Ugh). They left all their tools behind, including a huge Mastercraft ratchet set (there were like 200 little socket wrench attachments in the backseat), and a screwdriver (it seems like they decided the best way to not forget their fingerprint-laden screwdriver was to punch it through the leather seats, then left it behind it anyway). I also now have yet another hole in my passenger seat.

They *tried* to steal the radio, apparently with the screwdriver. It’s all scratched up and the bezel has been torn off (that plastic ring-type thing that goes around it so it looks like it fits in the dash better than it does). My theory is that the dried-on coke syrup helped cement it in place and they just couldn’t move it. We couldn’t turn it on to see if they left a CD behind or not, but they did take the CD I had in there out, and smash it to bits.

Perhaps most importantly, they left behind a pair of sunglasses and a piece of what I would term “novelty photo ID”: a photo ID pass card for a skateboarding competition. Assuming it’s not a plant, my car was stolen by a 16 year old (FUGLY FUGLY) s8tergrrl named Daniella (if only they had last name & address for the competition…). This time, the cops actually were interested and came to collect the stuff (though they did send the youngest, most confused officer I’ve ever seen. I had to coach him a bit on how to do some evidence collection, and he still didn’t think anyone would do anything with it). Unfortunately, the cop was the one who discovered the pass and most of the other stuff, and I just caught glimpses over his shoulder, so no photos handy, I’m afraid.

To get the $10 emergency gas money I usually leave in my ashtray, she ripped the thing right out, and worse than the last guy that did: I don’t think that’s going back in. So to get $10 and a joy ride/break & enter escape vehicle for the night, she cost me over $1000 in damages and more than a week’s worth of worry (more, in fact, since now I’m thinking I don’t feel comfortable in the car and want to sell it). I hope they catch the little psychopath. She also put her muddy feet on the dash.

I forgot to check a few things before the mechanics took the car in: one was to see if the seat/mirror position had been changed: it might have also given us an estimate of how tall the driver was. Another was to see how much gas/mileage was on it: I know I left the car with about 1/4 of a tank after getting back from Toronto on the long weekend.