Well here we are again. Deja-vu after I did the 2022 Sucks thread. I wanted to change the title of that to add 2024 suckage and continue from there but couldn’t, so I'll just post a new thread.
Picking up where I left off in that thread…
Last night this car was stolen...right out of my driveway. We only got to enjoy it for 18 months or so.Originally Posted by sandydandy
Feeling a combination of shitty, miserable, sick and numb. Barely got a couple of hours of sleep last night. My son is gutted, I think. This was his car and he drove it the most. He worked hard to try to personalize it by de-badging most of it, and blacking out the remaining emblems. He wanted to eventually powder coat the rims black too, along with other stuff. But unless by some miracle the car is found, those dreams are now dead.
I was actually experiencing premonitions about this for the past few weeks. Like I knew this was coming. I was noticing videos and articles online talking about Toronto’s recent car theft crime wave, and how thieves are becoming more creative by using antennas to capture the signals being emitted by key fobs in order to duplicate that signal onto their own fob to gain entry into a vehicle and start it up. We used to hang our keys/fobs on hooks right next to the front door, but then began placing them on the bar which is about 20 feet into the house, thinking it’s enough of a distance to deny range to would-be car thieves. Even the New York Times wrote an article a little while ago about Toronto’s car theft epidemic, saying it's like a “candy store” for car thieves. Look up the article.
All of this was getting in my head as I started becoming paranoid every evening. We have a home monitoring system with a few cameras around the house, none that record unfortunately because we never got around to getting a high capacity SD card. Every evening I would constantly look at the tablet which shows the driveway camera feed, to makes sure the car was still there. It’s like something was gnawing at me in the back of my mind in the last little while that this car was going to be gone soon.
Last night my son went to the movies and came home around 10:05 pm. I looked at the tablet and the car was parked. He then went to the washroom for about 15 minutes and came back and we watched the latest episode of X-Men '97, which was about 30 minutes long. I periodically checked the tablet and saw the car was there. So we’re at 10:50-55 now. I started flipping channels for a good half hour and he was still hanging out with me. Around 11:30 he got up and said he was going to bed so I bid him good night and checked the tablet. Car was still there.
Then I went on YouTube and Netflix for a while trying to find something to watch. The clock struck midnight and I was thinking of starting the daily Wordle. Checked the tablet, car was there. Then started watching some YouTube videos on the TV and became immersed in something. Probably around 12:30 I decided it was time for bed. I did not check the tablet. I became distracted by what sounded like a mouse in the walls scraping and clawing, so I went to the fridge and opened the freezer side and saw it was the ice maker causing the noise.
The tablet is right beside the fridge on top of the microwave. I glanced at it…CAR WAS NOT THERE. I had to do a double and triple take.
I was stunned. At first I thought maybe my son did not go upstairs to bed and might’ve gone out to McDonald’s or something, which he does a couple of times a week with friends in the middle of the night. Then I went to the bar and saw that both sets of key fobs were still sitting there. Suddenly I was overcome with dread. I ran upstairs to his room and asked him where exactly he parked the Acura, (because in that moment I didn’t trust my own memory of having seen the car on the tablet several times earlier in the evening), and he said in the driveway. I told him it was gone and he freaked, and we both ran outside.
Came back inside and we called the police on their non-emergency line. The operator said they would send officers when they were available. Then we decided to go outside for a drive with the Pilot to look for the missing Acura. My son drove and almost as soon as he started the car the futility of what we were doing set in, as the reality was the car could've been anywhere at that point in time. Thief had at least half an hour or so of a head start, so there was no chance of finding the fucker. We drove around anyway to a few nearby spots/plazas and my wife called wondering where we were and why we were being so loud. It was shortly after 1:00 at that point. I filled her in on the bad news and she was taken aback and told us to just come home.
We finally got home and the three of us tried to support one another, and decided it was best to just go to bed. My daughter never awoke for any of this. She was told in the morning and was shocked.
So off I went to bed...but sleep I could not. Kept going downstairs for water or milk, constantly looking at the tablet...at the Pilot this time, fearing for its safety as well. But then I thought what are the odds of both cars getting stolen in the same night? Still I didn't feel any comfort. Even in bed I kept pulling out my phone to launch the app to look through the driveway camera. 2:00 passed, 3:00, 4:00...then finally at 5:00 I went downstairs and detached the Pilot's fobs from the chain and wrapped them in aluminum foil and stuffed them deep into the oven. Then I went upstairs and finally was able to get some sleep.
At 7:00 the doorbell rang and two officers greeted us. They first spoke to my son, since he was one who made the initial call several hours earlier. But they wanted to talk to me since I was the registered owner of the vehicle. I explained what happened and gave them soft copies of the ownership/registration and insurance slips. They took their notes and gave me the police report number to give to insurance and then left.
Went back to bed and got up at the ridiculous time of 9:30, and got to work shortly after 10:00. I then wrote up an email to my insurance broker about the theft and called her later in the day. She assured me she would get on it right away. Now some 9 hours later I still haven't heard back from her. I also spent part of the day looking on Amazon for Faraday pouches and boxes.
I'm hoping we can get a good settlement amount. At least market value. I was looking around on car sites and the value has only dropped 10-15% since we bought it in late 2022.
So overall this whole situation really really sucks. I'm still partially in disbelief. All that looking at the tablet meant nothing, because when I needed to look at it, (when the thief was around), I didn't. Maybe it's for the best. What if I saw him and went out to confront him and he pulled out a gun and shot me. These fucking parasites will do anything to steal your car, including murder you. If I could find this bastard or bastards I would stone the fuck out of them.
Or maybe this is a sign from the universe that it's time for me to part ways with Acura. I'm 0/2 with Acuras. The first one was a complete lemon, (as documented extensively in the 2022 Sucks thread), and this second one, while near perfect, gets swiped. Maybe it's time to move on to something better.
In parting with this particular car I will say it was a very good car. It had a few problems in the first few months, just electrical stuff like MICU and battery fan failing and causing fuses to blow, but all of that was covered under warranty, which was still the original four year bumper-to-bumper. After the warranty expired we only had one major problem, which was the fuel filler tube had a leak which triggered warning lights. The dealer wanted $900 to fix it, but my local mechanic did it for like 1/3rd of the cost. The only other problem was the windshield cracked and had to be replaced, but insurance took care of that.
The last few months since winter ended and as we got into spring, the car drove like a dream. I drove it infrequently compared to my son, but whenever I did I always loved it. I'm really going to miss this car.
When we first bought it in late 2022 I didn't take any pictures to put in the Garage, but I'll share one here that I took late last year after the windshield was replaced, (don't know why I'm blanking out the license plate...like it even matters at this point).
It was a beauty of a car!
Farewell.
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