Are Fits targeted?

[hogwylde]

I love my Fit and believe it to be one of the sexiest little cars I've owned but as Murphy's Law would have it, it got vandalized (front passenger window smashed) before I even made my first payment and after perusing this forum, it seems as though many of ya'll have had your cars stolen or vandalized as well.

The Accord was always on top the list of most stolen vehicles but from what I am reading, the Fit is giving it some competition.

So with that I ask, "Have you had your Fit stolen or vandalized?" I would like all who read this thread to answer even if it's just clicking on yes or no in the poll. I think it would be interesting to see the ratio.

[setter11]

some ass clown hater at school or the gym KEYED my car...

those were the only two places i went that day...

so sad... dont have money to fix the 2 foot long scratch...

[cunnfufighter]

yea same thing happen to me, but i was at work and went out for lunch and notice that some punks keyed my car on both sides and silly string my car also..i was pissed!!!

[TaffetaWhite]

I was just reading about vandalism and theft. One thing suggested, that I thought was a good idea, is to report the incident, no matter how small, to the police. Even if you're not making an insurance claim.

Why?

The police or school or mall security don't read minds. They won't know there are problems with vandalism or car break-ins, UNLESS YOU TELL THEM.

That might make the difference between them patrolling various areas or not. Instead of laying off workers, or keeping the staff/force the same, they might hire MORE people to patrol/observe specific areas.

And THAT helps everyone. Right?

There's something else I was thinking about.

Motion detector lights (picks up movement outside the car). If it's night, thieves or vandals do NOT want to be seen. Right? What if there was some kind of dome light, sort of where our current centered dome light is, that could also be set to arm with the alarm, that would turn on if someone approached the car?

Think that would help?

Of course it would turn on if someone was getting into their car, next to yours. Or if anyone walked by your car.

Another way would be to have a motion sensor light (picks up movement OF the car). Like if someone was trying to jack up the car. Or banged into it. So even if they crawl towards the car, as soon as they start to jimmy something, the light lights up.

[Koi]

I doubt the Fit gets any more vandalized or stolen than say, the Civic. I'm sure it's at a much lower % than the Civic because there are so many more Civics out there, and it's a more popular car in general.

As long as your car is a Honda and looks "modified" (even stock Fit has that modified look to it - it's not a very boring car styling wise) - you're at risk of haters and losers vandalizing the car. I doubt people target the Fit specifically to steal just because it's a Fit - if a car is popular enough and easy enough to steal (ex. old civics), they're going to get stolen. It just sucks to be on the receiving end of either douchebag actions.

I personally keep my sub-$20k Fit in the garage at all times, just because I live in a neighborhood full of monster truck driving white trash. Having an asian car, especially a modified one, is just asking for my car to get vandalized and stolen from. I think alot of it depends on where you live and where you tend to go - alot of people these days have nothing better to do than harass other people's properties.

[Texas Coyote]

I have noticed that a lot of cars I see in the own I live near have been keyed, had windows broken and have vicious damage to the sides from trips to Wal-Mart..... I have 3 dents in the drivers side door and damage that seems to have disappeared from the rear bumper from one trip to Wal-Mart where the parking lot steeply slopes from the front doors.... I always park either in Handicapped parking or the rear of the store and enter from the auto department but my wife didn't and some red necks used my car for target practice one day when I was working on her truck.... There isn't a new car in this county that looks new long though after 3 1/2 months my wife's Forester has gone unscathed now that she is making payments and is careful about where she parks..... I carry a small shovel in case I need to ever dig my car out if I get stuck in the sand or fill in a wash out on the easement to my house that I have sharpened and back up to use to even the score on anyone that I see doing harm to my car .

[kenchan]

never vandalized by a human...by a dog yes. got my wheels peed on. he also left his feces behind so i wraped it up and placed it on the owner's driveway as a present.

[eldaino]

ah i thought the thread title was referring to being picked on by other drivers. in that instance i will say yes.

my wife has an 08 beetle with a pretty stout (esp compared to the fit's) motor with 170lb-ft of torque so it pulls with authority.....the last time she borrowed my car she was like 'wow babe, people really pick on you. i cant tell you how many times i got cut off in compared to by bug."

i never notice it though, i wonder if its cause i'm used to it.

[Texas Coyote]

I went from years behind he wheel of a few VWs to driving a 1972 Cadillac combination hearse/ambulance complete with limo tint aluminum full coverage Moon disk hubcaps, red pin stripes and throaty sounding dual pipes.... I could inch forward a little tiny bit into an intersection and cars going both ways would slam on the brakes..... As biig (6700 lbs) and thirsty as it was I could afford to drive it by renting it out decorated it for "Over The Hill" birthday parties and parking it in front of the birthday boy's or girl's house or sometimes we would just drive around and have the party in the thing.... It wasn't built to carry much weight though and was always kind of cold in the back of it.,,,, Just thinking, wouldn't a black Fit make a pretty decent hearse.

[CombatBaby]

my car just gets dinged in parking lots....

for reasons i'll never understand as the parking spots are 8-9ft wide and the fit takes up next to nothing of that compared to other cars. i blame people carelessly flinging open their doors and letting it bump mine. i have a pretty bad one in my front passenger fender, i meant they hit it with the the door hard to leave this big of a ding...no note...no nothing.

it's BS as I consider this just as much of a hit and run as anything else....you damaged my vehicle...you should pay...it will be scrutinized if i ever tried to trade it in or sell it...oh well.

[polaski]

My neighbor leaves screws in the tire path of my car at least once a week. He has so far caused 2 flat tires so I always look and sweep before I drive.

I don't think he cares it's a fit, he just resents that it's 25 years newer than his gas guzzling 302 4bbl pickup that keeps trying to rust away on him.

[Previc93]

my stereo got jacked. had a double din panasonic dvd player and they took it and messed up my dash also. i had to get a whole new dash. it was last black friday.

[huisj]

Originally Posted by TaffetaWhite

I was just reading about vandalism and theft. One thing suggested, that I thought was a good idea, is to report the incident, no matter how small, to the police. Even if you're not making an insurance claim.

When my car got egged back in May, I tried to file a report. I ended up not filing an insurance claim because I caught it early and got it washed really good shortly after I realized it had happened, and I didn't really want to pay the deductible to get the scratches from the shell fixed. The East Lansing PD told me they couldn't file a official report unless I was filing an insurance claim too. This seemed odd to me. Instead, they filed some scaled back report that basically said something happened, but it didn't really go into their main database or something. It was confusing.

[TaffetaWhite]

Originally Posted by CombatBaby

my car just gets dinged in parking lots....

for reasons i'll never understand as the parking spots are 8-9ft wide and the fit takes up next to nothing of that compared to other cars. i blame people carelessly flinging open their doors and letting it bump mine. i have a pretty bad one in my front passenger fender, i meant they hit it with the the door hard to leave this big of a ding...no note...no nothing.

it's BS as I consider this just as much of a hit and run as anything else....you damaged my vehicle...you should pay...it will be scrutinized if i ever tried to trade it in or sell it...oh well.

Couple of things to be aware of, regarding parking spaces. Wind and slope.

Wind, if it's coming from behind wherever you park, not only can your own doors be flung wider when you open the door and let go of the door to get in/out, but so can every other door with the wind behind them.

You can mess up the edge of your own door AND mess up someone's car. The wind can grab those doors like a sail.

Wind rules: Do not let go of your own car door, and always park facing the wind.

------

Sloping parking lots are a challenge. Runaway carts will go downhill. It doesn't matter which way the hill slopes, the carts will head that down direction.

Parking a distance for no door dings from other cars isn't going to help with a runaway cart.

If your front end is pointing down the slope, that door thing comes into play again, with doors possibly continuing to open wider after letting go of the door.

That's your door bashing into someone else, or their door bashing into you.

Slope rules: Park at the top, park with your nose up. If you have to park perpendicular to the slope, park next to a divider, planter, cart/carriage return corral.

I know that people tend to stay away from the carriage corral. I don't know why. Because those corrals don't have doors, and there's a place right there for the carts.

------

I went to an unfamiliar store (years back, pre-Fit), paid no attention to the slope, got groceries, and while struggling to get the stuff in the car, I didn't notice or hear my cart roll off.

I turned around to reach for another bag, only to be staring at an empty space. I didn't even know what happened, and I was all confused.

THEN I see it barreling down the slope, heading directly at a Land Rover. I tried going after it, but it was too far ahead of me to reach the cart before the vehicle was hit.

I put all the groceries away, and waited for the driver to come out from wherever they were. I went to get my insurance stuff, until I realized (DUH) that I have Car insurance, not Cart insurance.

I showed the driver the damage. It was a good-sized dent. I was really upset, and it was all my fault, I wasn't careful enough.

Surprisingly, the lady driver and her child were far less upset. The child couldn't see the dent at first. Neither could the mom. But in my eyes it was HUGE.

I had all my info written down, name, address, phone, my car license plate, etc. She didn't want it. She wasn't that upset. Said not to worry about it. Said that her car was expensive to fix and work on anyway.

There IS a face behind every ding that happens to our cars. And a story.

Some stories may involve those wind and slope problems. That didn't make me any less responsible for what happened with the cart that got away. I was not careful enough. And a world-class sprinter couldn't have caught that thing.

Even if YOU are the most careful person on the planet, that doesn't mean there aren't other people that are careless, or not paying enough attention, or pre-occupied with something else.

Yes, you not only have to DRIVE defensively, but you have to PARK defensively.

[TaffetaWhite]

Originally Posted by huisj

When my car got egged back in May, I tried to file a report. I ended up not filing an insurance claim because I caught it early and got it washed really good shortly after I realized it had happened, and I didn't really want to pay the deductible to get the scratches from the shell fixed. The East Lansing PD told me they couldn't file a official report unless I was filing an insurance claim too. This seemed odd to me. Instead, they filed some scaled back report that basically said something happened, but it didn't really go into their main database or something. It was confusing.

I don't know the protocol on each department, or what they do with what they get. Still, it's probably worth trying to do anyway.

In my area, there have been car break-ins. If people aren't reporting them, the police aren't going to know. But since people ARE reporting them, and talking to the management of the apartment complex, two things have occurred.

We have additional courtesy patrol, which might help a bit. And we have contact person at the police department.