We awoke at 5 am yesterday to the sound of Anders screeching at us from the parking pad. I rushed to the door, expecting the worst, but the only indicators of foul play were the Swede's flashing orange lights. I stepped out into the early morning dawn, convinced that it had been a false alarm; the rooftop tent adds a lot of weight high up which makes the car prone to rocking, which could have caused the alert. Alas, when I walked around to the far side, I was greeted by the jagged remains of the front passenger's window and an open glovebox.
Further inspection showed that the intruder had obviously been in a great rush (they hadn't even opened the door), but ultimately we were missing:
- $4 in coins
- A OnePlus phone charging cable
- The charger itself was still in the cigarette lighter, and the aux cable for the stereo was saved by being coiled around the gear stick
- Our dashboard camera
- The windscreen mount containing the GPS module was still attached (3M VHB!) but had been broken in half, and the circuitry had fallen out onto the floor
I rang and filed a police report, but they just treated it as another entry in their data list. No investigation required.
Our landlords Annie and Max were horrified at the situation. They'd heard of a car occasionally being tampered with in the laneway, but they never imagined someone would come up to an occupied house and brazenly smash a window.
After looking deeper into our possible insurance recourse, I discovered that we were pretty much out of luck. ICBC (Car insurance) has a $300 excess and doesn't cover items not permanently affixed to the car. I tried to explain how permanently attached the dashcam actually was, but they wouldn't play ball. Our contents insurance, which would have otherwise covered the contents of the car, has an excess of $1000. ICBC does have a good system where you can turn up to a registered glazier (if your claim is just for glass), and the shop will take care of all interaction with ICBC, no claim required by you.
While I was waiting for the shops to open, I cleaned as much of the glass out of the car as possible. Glass isn't particularly nice stuff to work with, especially in "dispersed cubic" form. While the little bits don't easily cut you, they are sharp enough on the corners and edges that they catch on anything soft, like seats and carpet which makes it incredibly frustrating to sweep up. Annie kindly lent me their bagless vacuum cleaner, which made it much easier to get the fragments out of the corners and door pockets. I think the worst part was trying to pick the little shiny bits out from the gravel.
After finding a nearby auto glass shop, we discovered that none of the major glass suppliers in Vancouver were able to procure a window for the XC90 with less than a week lead time. The shop did me a favour though and rang around a few wreckers until he found a used pane in good condition (which they'd install for less than the insurance excess! Every victory counts!). It wouldn't be delivered until the following day, so for the meantime, they've covered the door with thick vinyl and sealed it nicely with some rubberised goopy stuff to keep the wind and moisture out.
Max brought some conciliatory beers around when Katie got home from the gym in the evening, which balanced out the unpleasant morning. I've ordered a new dashcam (same as the missing one, as I'd only just finished installing all the cabling for it), but this time I'll make use of its easy-removal feature.
I think we'll be a lot more conscious about what leave in the car in the future.