Carcycle

After two years at my apartment complex with no problems... the last week of our lease... the day I start packing and moving... some jack-monkey decides to steal two wheels off my car. Yep.

Saturday evening / Sunday morning at a little after midnight I decided to go get some “food” at Taco Bell. When I walked outside a neighbor asked “Is this your car?” I figured they were going to ask me to move it for some reason, so I said “Yeah, but I'm about to move it.” “No you aren't,” she said, “two of your tires are gone.”

My two passenger-side tires were gone, and the jack still under the car, minus the handle. The jack was basically down all the way, so the rotors were practically on the ground. These neighbors had seen something suspicious going on from their 2nd story window; a couple guys in a whilte Honda Accord (very much like mine, hmm) were parked on that side of my car and appeared to be on lying on the ground or something (this was 11:30pm and the spot wasn't terribly well-lit). When the neighbors came outside they realized what had happened, and that was just a few minutes before I walked out our door. It happened right under my nose and I missed it by like 15 minutes – wish I had gotten hungry earlier!

The story gets better! These jack-monkeys weren't too bright. For one, they were drinking and most likely drunk; several bottles were thrown in said neighbor's yard. Apparently they didn't have anything to hold the car up so they could remove the jack, so they thought “I wonder if these plastic flower pots will do the trick” and they tried it. This was evidenced by the dirt around the rear rotor and the cracked flower pots which they threw in the neighbor's yard.

Did I mention they had a 5 year old kid with them in the car? They did. >:|

My roommates Andy and Chris had actually been moving things out shortly before this happened, so they were in and out of the apartment. Andy saw these guys and thought they looked suspicious... first they circled the block about 4 times, then they parked right next to my car and were checking it out, even leaning on it. He almost said something to the guys, or to me, but didn't. He got a decent look at the guys, though, thankfully. Apparently these twerps waited until my roommates left and the coast was clear, then took the wheels pretty quickly.

So we filed the police report; we didn't have much other than Andy's description of them and their car, though he did remember the first 2 numbers of the license plate (which in Indiana identifies the county). We were concerned that since the jack was left, they would return later that night for the other 2 tires. Our neighbor who normally works 3rd shift was gracious enough to keep an eye on it during the night; nothing happened. It was probably a good thing they didn't come back, because my neighbor is a former marine and was rather pissed about the whole situation himself. You would be too if some idiots messed with your flower pots. ;)

The best part though, is that apparently another neighbor (who had his very nice truck broken into 2 times in a month) had also seen these guys acting suspiciously and wrote down their plate number. I'm calling the detective tomorrow to give him the information, and hopefully they catch these idiots so I can press charges. :-D

Today I'm back on four wheels, no more carcycle. It's in the shop to find out how much damage was done to the rotors. Here's to hoping it's not an arm-and-a-leg and that they catch these guys, because I don't have comprehensive insurance and it's not covered.