Have you ever had your car stolen? If you have, then you know the awful, pit of your stomach, gut wrenching, sinking feeling. My story of getting my car stolen is actually two separate stories in one week.
Do You Know What Time It Is?
*Knock Knock*
ZZZZZzzzzzz.
*Knock Knock*
ZZZZZZzzzzz.
DoodlehdoodlehDING, my cell phone rang. Huh, what? Oh no, I must be late for work. “Let me in, I’m at your door”.
My brother, Chris, and I worked at the same place, and he would arrive at my house at 6:00am and we would carpool from Lawrenceville down to Eastpoint, just outside of the Atlanta airport. It was a long drive, but it was tolerable if we could jump into the carpool lane, and if we could get to work early enough to miss Atlanta traffic. This Monday morning should have been no different than the rest.
I opened the door and let my brother in. “I’m so sorry, I must have over slept. Let me jump in the shower and get dressed. Give me 10 minutes.” My brother rolled his eyes and sat on the couch, I rushed back to the bedroom to start getting ready. I was so tired, but I know I had gotten to bed on time, no real reason to sleep in. I looked over at the clock, 3:00am. What? I check my phone, 3:00am. What on earth? I storm back into the living room.
“Do you know what time it is?” I asked Chris.
He responded, confused, “No.”
“Well, it is 3 in the morning, it’s not even close to when we have to leave,” I said.
“Oh, I guess someone must have called me in the middle of the night and I thought it was my alarm, so I woke up, got ready and drove here.”
“Here’s a blanket, you can sleep on the couch, I’m going back to bed.”
Bemused, I went back to bed, and Chris slept on the couch.
Dude, Your Wheels Are Missing
*Beep beep beep beep*
5:30am. NOW it’s time to wake up. I jump in the shower and get ready and dressed for work. I still find it strange that Chris had showed up in the middle of the night and thought it was time to go. “Alright Chris, wake up, now I’m ready to go.
We walk out to my car. I lived in an apartment complex at the time in Lawrenceville. Nothing extravagant, just a one bedroom apartment on the ground floor. As I got closer to my car, glass crunched under my shoes. It was still dark at this time, but I was then able to notice my window was busted out. What is going on?
“Dude, your wheels are missing!” Chris exclaimed. “What?” I said. Again, Chris said, “Dude……your wheels are missing.” This time I processed what he said and looked down. My wheels were missing! I opened my car door and saw that my radio was also missing, and my CD booklet with over 100 CDs was gone.
“Why don’t you go on in to work. Look like I have to figure out what is going on here.” I told Chris.
When the sun came up, I was able to better survey the damage.
Junkyard Tony
At the time, there wasn’t a whole lot of extra money. At the very least I need to get my car up and running so I could get to and from work. Wheels and tires was the first priority, then a side window, and I guess I’m without a radio, again. Buying anything new was not an option, so I started visiting junk yards with my brother, Pat, to see if anyone had wheels that would fit my car, and ones with tires would be a bonus.
Thinking back, it was really a little miracle that I was able to find wheels that had decent tires on them. One thing I didn’t think about once I bought the wheels, was that I also need lug nuts. So another trip back to the junk yard to get lug nuts. I remember the guy there looking around on the ground and picking up a few rusty nuts that happened to fit. They weren’t pretty, but all I needed was functional.
So Tuesday I was able to get all 4 wheels, tires, lug nuts, and even a window. Wednesday I was able to drive my car to Jesse’s house and he help me install the window. OK, by help me install it, what I meant to say was he installed it for me. I was so grateful, because I don’t think I could have figured it out by myself. We all have friends that are good at different things, and Jesse was good at cars. I was able to drive back home that evening with a functional car. I could now get back to work.
Back to Work
Thursday morning, I was able to drive myself into work and try to get things back to normal. At the time, I loved my job, and the people I worked with. A lot of hard working folks, with a special sense of humor. That morning, I got into work, got my regular hot chocolate, and walked back to the warehouse to my desk. Everyone was watching me, but at first I didn’t know why. “Tony, your wheels are missing!” was the cry. I looked down, and sure enough, all of the wheels from my office chair were missing. A rock had been placed carefully under each of the legs of the chair. “Very funny, guys.” It actually was quite funny, and I got a kick out of it.
The Second Time
All that week I had a hard time sleeping. When something is stolen from you, you start to worry about more things being stolen. Your mind spends countless hours trying to solve the mystery. You are more alert to the point of hearing things that aren’t there. I would constantly wake up at night thinking I heard someone outside.
Friday was no different, but I had to continue to tell myself that I’m just on high alert, and it’s nothing. I drifted in and out of sleep, waking to noises I thought I heard and staying awake, looking at the ceiling attentive to the slightest click or crack. Eventually I drifted off to sleep until I awoke the next morning.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I actually felt rested, but i thought I should just put my mind at ease and go check on my car. I know it was stupid, but I could just peek outside and then be done with it. So I walked outside to the parking lot and looked for my car. Hmmm, I thought I had parked it right over here. Maybe I was mis-remembering and I parked it farther down…..They took it. They took the whole thing.
I turned back around, walked back inside and said “Get dressed, we’re going car shopping.” My wife, now ex-wife, said “No” and a dropping tone of disbelief. I said, “Yep, get ready, because this could be all day.” I called my brother to let him know, and he couldn’t believe it either.
Money Problems
So all of the money that I didn’t really have to spend on wheels and stuff now a complete waste, but I now had to take on a car payment that I wasn’t anticipating. The car that I had was fully paid off, and it was an older car, which meant there was no need to carry comprehensive coverage insurance, only liability. This meant that my car was just gone.
One strange thing with insurance was that my renter’s insurance policy covered anything that was stolen from inside the vehicle. So my 100+ CD collection that was stolen ended up being the most valuable thing that I was able to recover funds from. I think they ended up sending me a check for about $500, which really surprised me, but I was definitely not going to complain.
They Found It
I had been in contact with the police since the first incident. I found out that these people had hit several apartments in the area at the time. I was not the only one that had a car stolen. After spending that day car shopping, I bought a car and had driven it home. That evening I received a call from the officer, they had found my car. My first reaction was, “oh crap, I bought a car too quickly”, but the officer said they had found the car, abandoned in the front of a neighborhood, blocking the entrance. It was completely stripped. No engine, no transmission, no seats. They had even taken the rubber covering of the gas and brake pedals. Chop-shopped and sold for parts.
It’s Just Stuff
It’s just stuff, became my mantra. Oh, I was furious with these unknown people who had done this to me. No justice, that I know of, ever came of all of this. However, no one had been hurt, and I had found a way to get another vehicle and persevere through the situation. It was just stuff, and stuff could be replaced. I learned that week to caution myself with putting too much value in stuff, because it can be damaged, destroyed, or stolen in a flash, yet easily replaced. This incident caused hardship, but it was only temporary. The lessons I learned that week were permanent.