I am so absolutely pissed right now. I was in union / springfield NJ at one of those new Home Depot EXPO centers. It was getting dark and my head lights we on, so when I got out I pressed the lock button twice to turn them off. I was in the store for around 1 hour (parking lot is pretty crowded and I am not in a dark area, but not under a light either.

I come out and walk up to the car, pressing the unluck button. Nothing happens. I try to open the trunk, again nothing happens. My wife is able to open her door... Hmm, the car is unlocked? The lights inside don't turn on (they flipped the switch to off) but crap is all over the car. My glove box was emptied out on the floor, and my jacket in the back seat had the **** in it's pockets on the floor. I pop the trunk, and the floor liner is all out of place as well as all of my stuff in the trunk. They didn't steal my spare, and as far as I can tell all they got was my CD case (24 CD's, figure $15 a pop).

Everything else looks fine, except I can't lock my doors. The FOB does nothing, and when I lock from the inside they immediately unlock. When I get home and pull it into the garage, I see they pushed in the passenger key hole. I can see it in there, but it is all dented up.

What's the deal with the Lexus alarm, does it do ANYTHING? How much is this lock going to cost me to fix? I'm sure a lot. Should I go back tomorrow and file a police report? I have no friggin clue what to do!

I guess it could have been worse, they could have stolen my car...

 

Very sorry to hear about what happened. I can relate, because it happened to me with my last car years ago. Quick story... arrived by plane back at the airport, couldn't find my car in the parking lot (!) and discouraged, I asked the place you pay and by the license plate number, they told me the car was on the roof level where I KNOW I didn't leave it, so I went up and sure enough, it was there, doors unlocked, passenger door lock missing, glove box open, CD case and CDs stolen, etc.

Apparently not only did crooks break in, but they started the car and drove it up to the roof to be out of the way! There was no evidence of how they started the car.

I called the police and filed a report but their attitude was basically indifference (it was clear they'd never do anything about it). They DID tell me though that what crooks want is your REGISTRATION so they can get new plates and put them on another car they steal. So I never leave the registration in the car!

Anyway, it cost me about $150 to fix the door I believe (this was an Acura Legend, though). I didn't file an insurance claim.

As far as the alarm... the alarm goes off if the normal door locking mechanism is used to unlock the car while the alarm is on. So what crooks do is push the lock in or pull it out, and then just unlock and open the door without a key, so the alarm doesn't go off. It sucks.

If they want in, there's really no way to stop them.

 

damn man... really sorry to hear that!

well maybe he tried to steal the car but couldn't becuase of the chipped keys!?! maybe he was searching around all your glove compartment, trunk, jacket for an extra key cause he couldn't get the engine started!?! well the good news is that if thats the case, the security system passed with flying colors!

 

file the report, assess the damage, get the repair bill, look at your insurance(you do have comps, right) deductible.

if you have extra time on hand, stake out for that bas%%$d in that area, and nail the dude on the spot.

 

Same thing happened to my GS4 a few mths ago in NYC, seems like they screwed with the door locks and got in that way. Both locks are dented up and the keys don't work....don't know what's up with the Lexus alarm system.....

 

I'm sorry to hear about all that, but why did it happen, the alarm didn't worK? My alarm better work!! I'm sorry again, I hope your baby(car) is okay.

 

Not here to start another Bimmer/Lexus war, but at least no one here got it as bad as a friend of mine who's E36 M3 was broken into 3-4 times, stripped of about $10,000 worth of aftermarket equipment (the glovebox was even ripped out - not just the lid, the whole thing). After getting it fixed and the aftermarket stuff replaced (body shop took three months - most likely taking a cross-country trip or something or the sort), the car has it's clear-corner lights stolen AND the lower valance taken from the car. All of this happened without the BMW alarm system doing so much as squeak. Like Bitkahuna said, if they really want to get at your car, they will.

At least our cars aren't targeted as often as many others.

 

Sorry to hear about that, but at least you still have the car!!!

C.

 

Sorry to hear that man. I know how it feels when this crap happens and you can't do anything about it. At this moment I am very paranoid of where I park my car, even going to the freaking movies I think about my car being safe consisently during the movie. A downside of having a GS plus 20 inch rims = paranoia.

We buy luxury cars because we CAN buy luxury and these POS haters goes around trying to scheme whatever they can get their hands on. I think the lexus alarm does JACK. We need a good aftermarket alarm system that WORKS.

 

I had a while ago a BMW 735i and the door locks can be dead bolt locked which means they would have to go through the windows to get in. Also had an alarm system that if you get to close to the car the alarm would say "Stand Back or the Alarm will Sound" It gives a few more warnings and then the alarm goes off and says "I am being tampered with!" I also put on the 3M shatter resistant window film. The alarm system only resulted in getting people angry resulting in people kicking the rear panel which is very hard to get the dents out. The Window film could be dangerious if you car went into the water and you could not break the window! I have plenty of insurance so I am just going to leave my GS430 alone for now.

 

Sorry to hear about your car....

1st thing is to go back to the scene and get a police report... Contact any security on duty, manager, promoter, sponsor, etc... go back to the parking area!!! Get the report!!!

Check out your comp. policy it may cover the cost of the repair, plus the cost of the CD's...(depending on your deductible)... Hey, also depending on the location, some plaza's have insurance to cover theft in the parking lots... I'll contact the property owner's insurance company to cover at least the cost of the deductible...

If you keep pressure on them, they will give in to keep down "Bad public relations" trust me on this... (My best friend got his car broken into at a Tinsel Town theater and he called their customer service line asking about reimbursing him on the stolen items/replacing window... They did repay him under the terms of "good PR"...) It can't hurt to try... Every property opened to the public to park should have insurance... Because everytime I have promoted an event we have to make sure the grounds insurance is covered in case of personal and property damage...

Good luck

 

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I was so angry on Saturday I really just couldn't think straight. I really do realize how lucky I was, and that it really isn't that bad. I just made an appointment for the door to get fixed tomorrow, so I will let you guys know how much it costs. I figure there is no way it is going to be more then my deductable, so there is little reason for the police report, but I may do it.

I am going to call and write to the store where this happened. Maybe I'll be able to get something out of them...

 

Damn, I feel your pain man. I had a 94 gs300 w/zenetti vega 18' on it that got stolen over nba all star weekend here in DC. I mean they took everything, rear seats, front seats, air bags, battery, headlights, carpeting, door panels. I mean they literally raped my car. All they did was pop the passenger lock out and it was history. In march I bought a 99 metallic blue gs300, and now I'm waiting until september for the LoJack"early warning version of lojack" comes out. The current lojack will only notify the cops once you realize that your car's been stolen which could be hours if your asleep at night. the new version notifies tou and police as soon as the car is in "unauthorized motion", whether your asleep or on travel or whatever. Oh yeah, lexus alarms are crap, becuase you would think that even if the pop the locks, the automatic kill switch should not have let those $%#@ drive off with my car.
P.S has anyone seen the new zenetti mystiks in 19'. They are hot to death. I plan on purchasing a set. What do ya think? I loved my old vegas but I think i'll try something different this time!!

 

I caught some punk kid trying to key up my Lex at school last week, what an idiot, he was doin it while everyone was walkin out. Good he was a weak lil ****t and I just buffed it out with a cloth and some stuff. His car wasn't as lucky though, I threw him on the hood of his escort and put a huge dent in it and he cracked the windshield when he stumbled trying to get up. Stupid, jealous people, you know?

 

after reading this thread, i am seriously considering getting an aftermarket alarm system.

Does anyone have an aftermarket alarm installed on their car? Also, would installing an aftermarket alarm void any warranties?

Thanks