Latest Fad in Car Theft

[Charles D. Barnette]

I pass this on having seen it in the Senior Newsletter of my local church. While driving your car (hopefully a Buick) you stop at say the local mall. You pull in, park your car, and lock it. You do your shopping and return to your car. Just as you are backing out you see a piece of paper stuck to the middle of your back glass externally. You put your car in park, open the door, leaving the door open and the motor still running all to remove from the back glass whatever is back there restricting your view from safely backing up. That is when the thief comes from nowhere and jumps into the car almost backing over you and leaves the scene in your car. If you are a lady that means your purse is still on the front seat for the thief to go through and get your address so that he can rob your home while you are still filling out a police report for the car theft. Pretty smart on the part of the thief don't you think? If only that ingenuity could be used for constructive rather than destructive purposes! Charles D. Barnette-beware!

[Bhigdog]

Urban legend started in 2004. Totally bogus................Bob

[Guest Kingoftheroad]

That one has been floating around email addresses for a while... I know I've gotten it a few times...

[Guest my3buicks]

Mostly when you pull in at the mall, you would re-enter the car from behind, so you would see the piece of paper before you ever got in your car.

[Thriller]

Urban legend or not, it is not a bad idea to circle your vehicle before getting in...that way you can do a quick check on tires, obstructions, and whether someone perhaps banged into you in the parking lot.

I don't often remember to do this myself, so it's a do as I say, not as I do sort of thing....

[buick5563]

THEY are gonna get you. No matter who your "THEY" is.

[NTX5467]

The "gotcha" of this deal is the curiousity of the driver, enough curiousity that normal safety issues are over-ridden just to find out what the piece of paper is.

I somewhat concur that when at the mall, the vehicle can be usually approached from behind the car . . . unless you pull through the parking spaces so that you can drive OUT of the slot rather than backing up first. Another presumption is that you'll park "in the crowd" rather than "away". I usually choose "away" and walk the extra distance, not choosing to be "one of the crowd" that HAS to be closest to the entrance, therefore I might enter more "from the side" and could easily see the note attached to an unusual placement on the vehicle.

When she was still driving, my mother got us in the habit of doing a quick look-see of the vehicle BEFORE we got into it, to check for damage BEFORE it would otherwise have been discovered. While the dome light was still on, she'd also look over the back of the front seat. BOTH of these things were advocated by safety groups BACK in the 1960s or so--still good to do in more modern times, too.

Regards,

NTX5467

[Guest brh]

Either way, appreciate the heads up even if it does not apply to me. There is no way on God's green green earth, my Buick will ever see a parking lot like a mall. She has graduated from the door dinging idiots among us. Just belt buckles, zippers and finger prints.