Q: Do you lock your car at night?

missy68

Yep. I've lived in too many apartment complexes not to. And, after seeing what someone can do to the OUTSIDE of J's car, I shudder to think what they could do to the inside.

maratea

I always lock my doors, even when the car is in the garage. H always locks his too. And leaves his windows rolled up. About 2 months ago, he left his window down, maybe an inch. The little bastard children down the street (I know it was them, they're trashy little fuckers), used a stick to hit the unlock button, through the window, inside the van, and stole H's GPS.
When H had a truck, the same kids broke into it by opening the sliding window on the rear window. He didn't have anything it in though. And they broke the tail light. My god, I want to beat them with pointy sticks.

Lenore2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:d891dae6-d48b-474c-99c7-6ad59d5644fb">Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE]I never do, because there's nothing in there worth stealing.   I also figure if someone wanted to root around and look, it's better to leave the door open to avoid having a window smashed in. Well, this morning we woke up to find my passenger door wide open and the glove compartment emptied onto the floor, the little compartment betweeen teh doors opened and emptied onto the floor, etc.  Someone rifled through and just left the door open.  I think my battery will be dead now, but I haven't checked yet.  No biggie - just get a jumpstart and we're good to go. H is all upset because he ALWAYS locks his car door and doesn't understand why anyone wouldn't.  <strong>He argues that someone could mess with your unlocked car very easily (just like last night) and that the argument against getting a smashed window doesn't hold water because most thieves are opportunistic and will go through an unlocked door but won't bother/risk smashing a window.</strong> I feel pretty much indifferent on the subject, but since he feels so strongly about it, I'll lock the door from now on (or try to - I'm just not in the habit). What do y'all think? 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

Agreeing with your H. That is really the best argument for all door locks-anyone who really wants to get in can, but crime is VERY opportunistic, ask any cop. Or criminal defense or prosecuting attorney. Eight out of ten burglary cases I have seen involved unlocked doors - home and car-and windows. They would not be criminals if they wanted to work hard-including working hard at getting into your house or car. Even home invasion rapes frequently occur when doors or windows are unlocked. Typically, a criminal will only work hard to get into something because:

1. He believes there are items of unusually high value to steal.
2. He wants to get a particular person.

Anything else, they are going for the easiest targets.

kpwedkk

I used to park on the street all the time... Some habits die hard, I'm like Star Musica, in that it's locked up in the garage too!

eastunder1

i can't imagine not locking my car.  I live in a pretty safe area, so I don't even think it would matter if I didn't.  I just don't see why anyone wouldn't, unless they lived in the middle of nowhere or something. 

LessThanZero

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:86518c73-9fe3-46d6-ac2d-932a4fff1264">Re: Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Q: Do you lock your car at night? : Agreeing with your H. That is really the best argument for all door locks-anyone who really wants to get in can, but crime is VERY opportunistic, ask any cop. Or criminal defense or prosecuting attorney. Eight out of ten burglary cases I have seen involved unlocked doors - home and car-and windows. They would not be criminals if they wanted to work hard-including working hard at getting into your house or car. Even home invasion rapes frequently occur when doors or windows are unlocked. Typically, a criminal will only work hard to get into something because: 1. He believes there are items of unusually high value to steal. 2. He wants to get a particular person. Anything else, they are going for the easiest targets.
Posted by Lenore2010[/QUOTE]

I can't wait to drag FI over to my computer later and have him read this. He gets so annoyed that I lock our door even when were both at home. He's like, <em>who's going to come in here when we're both home?"

</em>Um, crazy-deranged-home invading-rapists, that's who!!

moosebaby2011

I lock my car all the time.  My neighborhood itself is ok, but it's in between a kind of crappy neighborhood and a commercial area with a lot of bars and a college so a lot of people walk through to get from one place to other.  There have been times when I've forgotten to lock my car and nothing has happened, but over the summer I left my car open once on a Saturday afternoon and when I came out later everything had been emptied out of my glove compartment.  Nothing was taken, but it happened in broad daylight so I am extra careful about it now.

Since it's a force of habit, I even lock my doors when I visit my dad who lives in a very rural area.  He's always surprised by this.

lori0411

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:88fddbe6-aeda-4c49-9f45-b28d8ffa83ac">Re: Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE]I lock it even when its in my garage but I am pretty insane. I am the person who will get out of bed to ensure the door she locked is really locked....
Posted by Starmusica[/QUOTE]


I'm the same way! If FI leaves for work before I get out of bed I get up to check that the dead bolt is on! haha and we live in a really nice neighborhood...I thought I was the only crazy! :)

reddy123

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:21fcded6-38e5-45fb-8654-36e056d5ac02">Re: Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE]I can't imagine not locking any door.  We live in such a populated area that unlocked="please come steal my car." 
Posted by NatesGirl16[/QUOTE]

<div>This is me too, I was disturbed by this thread title and the thought that some people don't lock their cars. In my neighborhood, even if it didn't get stolen within 3 days, you would get bums sleeping, peeing, or worse in there.</div>

andij1616

My DH didn't lock my car after driving it one night.  The next morning when I got in, someone had taken the blanket that I lay across the backseat for the dogs, and used it to cover themselves while they, presumably, slept in the driver's seat, which they reclined.  There was nothing of value in there, so I don't think anything was stolen, but it really creeped me out to think that someone had slept in my car. 

DH is notoriously bad for remembering to lock anything, and he later had his GPS stolen out of his car while visiting FIL at the hospital.  I am always bugging him to make sure the car doors are locked!

flyjawn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:ae77732e-4d89-4ed8-a26c-59b80eb8804d">Re: Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE]I  live in the middle of nowhere, so I don't lock it at home. Every other place I do though. I've also learned never to park on a street in downtown Toronto at night, because it will be broken into.
Posted by Anysunrise[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>the idea of not locking my car is completely foreign to me.  then again, i'm from toronto. (see above)

</div>

vegasgroom

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_q-lock-car-night?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:18b1a844-dec0-4ad5-946a-1d2a16a14aa2Post:d891dae6-d48b-474c-99c7-6ad59d5644fb">Q: Do you lock your car at night?</a>:
[QUOTE] I feel pretty much indifferent on the subject, but since he feels so strongly about it, I'll lock the door from now on (or try to - I'm just not in the habit). What do y'all think? 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

I'd lock it for a variety of reasons, some that were mentioned by PP's:

1) Probably difficult to prove, but if you did have to file an insurance claim over something that happens and it was found that you didn't take adequate measures to prevent the occurrence, and locking the doors is considered something that would have possibly prevented the occurrence, they would be well within their rights to deny the claim.

2) Liability - lets say you're home sick and don't use the car for a day but that morning some little kid on the way to school decides to hop in, gets locked in for whatever dumb reason and dies; with the way the courts are these days, you never know what could happen but at the very least it would cost you a lot less to lock the doors and risk a broken window than defending a lawsuit or court case.

3) Theft - it's a lot easier to steal a car when you don't have to break into it to start working on stealing it.  Or worse, you get some dumb ass who thinks they want to steal it gets in and completely trashes the streering column, etc. which will cost you a hell of a lot more than a broken window to repair.

thesuninherhead

I live in a semi-rural area with low crime rates. I don't lock my car when it's in my carport, but I think it has an auto-lock feature which means it locks after it's been left off for a certain amount of time anyway. 

 

I didn't used to lock my old dodgy car when we were living in a normal residential estate, and like you, it was 'broken into' (it's still classed as breaking in if they open a door, even if it's unlocked) under our house. They didn't steal anything, though- there was nothing to steal!- but I was paranoid about everything else under our house from that point onwards and always locked. I haven't felt the need to be super-paranoid about locking our car at our current house, though, because of the rural aspect. We sometimes go out with our deck glass doors open (screened doors locked, but they're easy to break through...). I guess we take our safety here for granted, which is perhaps a little naive, but being a rural area we never come by anything even close to dodgy around here.