My Honda Was Stolen in Portland w/Progressive Ins.

Random item from the news

2009-08-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

See also ABC News Online for more.

Police are trying to find the owner of a motorbike who assaulted a 39-year-old man after he stole and crashed his Harley-Davidson.

Police say the man stole the bike at Greenwell Point near Nowra on the New South Wales south coast yesterday afternoon and was taking it for a ride around the township when he lost control of it.

Police say the accident caused the bike to cartwheel down the street, while the rider ended up in a garden bed with a stake embedded through his right arm and out of his back.

Police say the owner of the bike found the man a short time later and took his bike back, but not before punching him in the face and pulling the stake out of his torso.

Ambulance paramedics arrived shortly after to treat him.

He was then airlifted to Sydney's St George Hospital with a broken nose and internal injuries.

I hate to admit I have a bit of sympathy for the guy who had his bike stolen. That may have been excessive, but I can understand to a degree how he'd be that pissed off.

Damnit!

2009-05-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, lesson learned by me: call your insurance company if your car is stolen. Progressive apparently doesn't drop a stolen car (that they bought) from your policy, so you keep paying for it.

D'oh!

The operator was helpful, but not enough. I overpaid a bit for a car they bought from me?

Moving on...

2009-04-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

So, my car is done. Bio-hazard total'd et al. So, go to my site for, well, I dunno. Or my blog for more. Or Cascadia Times for something else I'm working with.

Picked up the check

2009-03-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

So, I got my check for my car, and the car is now deceased. Bloody hell.

Anyway, I learned a few useful things from this. First of all, don't ever leave the title in the car. It's a very bad idea. Second, if you have a club, use it. Third, don't leave anything in the trunk. I disabled the trunk release (Civic's have a valet-blocker thing), yet the thieves still got in.

Basically, it's a pain in the ass to have your car stolen. I didn't lose anything of real value (that insurance didn't cover), but it's still kind of crappy to be out some tools and other things.

Progressive did treat me well in the end, but I'm still really glad I asked them to check the first offer.

Settlement

2009-03-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

So, Progressive came through, and they're now offering a fair-market rate for what I lost. I really appreciate that they're being honest about the whole thing.

Trevor, my rep from Progressive, thank you. I know I asked for a bit, but you never flinched and took great care of me. Thank you very much.

I have to drop off a little more paperwork, but then I can get the check to cover my Civic. 4NPR307, or 400CSZ, depending on the state, you were a great car.

It is with a heavy heart I say goodnight sweet prince, and regret that we had to part ways so soon. 114,000 miles is too soon for any machine.

Want to go bowling?

2009-03-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

So, the car is totaled, and the valuation seemed a little low. I'm waiting for Progressive to get back to me with some dealer quotes, but it seems a good amount of their total was figured from CraigsList.

I like CraigsList, I found my car there! Even if I didn't buy it there, because I did buy a car there. Once. A pickup truck. I had to replace the brakes, and it still managed to get itself bent in half due to poor repairs I paid for.

It's unfortunate though that they're basing the value of my Civic on some anonymous CraigsList posters who may or may not have sold their cars. With or without listing mileage, just features. I really have to doubt a car selling for $3000 on CL is comparable to a very similar car (to what I had) listed for $6900 by a repuatable dealer.

Hopefully I'll have a happier post soon, but the first offer wasn't quite what I was expecting. I expect Progressive will do better once they take another look.

Bloody hell!

2009-03-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

So, my car was a little bloody. It was marked BIO. As in bio-hazard. They play some mean guitar, but I didn't want it to be this way.

Sorry they didn't show the passenger seat, or the doors, or the other bloody spots, but holy hell... I'm glad the picture doesn't show enough detail to really show the gentle smearing, small spatterings, et al. But, none on the wheel at all.

Yeah, let's leave it there.

Holy hell.

Free engine w/stolen car recovery

2009-03-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

I ended up with a bit of junk in my trunk, including what appeared to be another Honda engine. I'll have more later, but I wanted to make sure to share this ASAP.

Good thing Progressive bought the car, and engine, from me.

Title me?

2009-03-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

So I'm now waiting for my car's title. I think I left it in the car when I renewed my registration, so I'm probably screwed now. Yeah...

She's done

2009-03-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

So, with the body damage and the BIO (hazard), she's done. They apparently hit some things, and they managed to get a BIO (hazard) all over the inside.

Not like normal, oh shit, I cut myself BIO (hazard). Like, I was shot, and you have to dump me at the hospital or vet kind of BIO (hazard).

So, I don't want it, and Progressive agrees it's not worth fixing. It's not. Not even worth buying back.

I just hope a duck was shot, or maybe a Guinea Pig. Maybe it was Taco Bell.

Oh, and there was an engine in her trunk. Not her engine, but some engine.

So, there are ads

2009-03-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know there are ads. It's okay, I put them there.

I have a $500 deductible. Please, just survive some ads. I'm not an ads kind of guy, but I need to try to get my $500 back. Feel free to click them if you're interested, I certainly won't mind!

Fox 12 at CrackerJack's Pub & Restaurant

2009-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

This is me with the Fox 12 guys.

Me with Mark Ross after he'd talked to Lizzy.

Fox 12 @ 10 pm

2009-02-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

They covered this, thanks Fox 12.

The full video is available here. They edited it quite interestingly, and I think managed to leave out my blog's address and my insurance company. (I said a few things about how well they've treated me.)

Recovered

2009-02-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

So, Progressive is handling the transfer from the tow yard in Vancouver to a storage place they work with to avoid storage fees. I received a call first from the Portland Police to alert me where it's stored, and then later from Progressive to let me know what happens next.

I'll try to stop over to get some pictures before anyone touches anything. That and I'm curious if they got into the trunk. (The release was disabled, but maybe they tore out the back seats to get in.)

Anyway, Tuesday or Weds I'll have an estimate of damages. So far I know the tires and battery are gone, and the steering column was torn up badly. If it can be restored, great, but I'm not going to get too optimistic.

Besides the rental Jag rocks.

It's found!

2009-02-26T21:08:00.001-08:00

Thank you CraigsList, and thank you Jason! It's in Vancouver, a little damaged, but alive!

Where to find a crime report

2009-02-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

Auto thefts in my neighborhood on a map.

Apparently I'm lucky #19. At least I get a prime number.

Oh, and the car's still gone, but thanks to Enterprise Car Rental for the Jaguar I'm driving right now. It's a marginal upgrade, but I'm not sure the gas mileage is good enough.

More pics

2009-02-25T23:16:00.000-08:00

My car, with it's cousin.

I didn't take many pictures of my car. It was a car, why would I?

So, my car was stolen

2009-02-25T20:57:00.001-08:00

My green 2000 Honda Civic DX, license plate 400CSZ (Charlie, Sierra, Zebra) was stolen sometime between 6:25 pm on 2/23 and 8:25 am on 2/24 from just NW of NW Thurman and NW 28th in Portland, OR 97210. Uncertain neighbors have mentioned parking near it as late as 10 pm.

I really liked that car, but it's just a car. I'm not pissed off about my car being gone, but I am pissed off at the person who stole it. If it's recovered, I really hope that whoever did this is caught. I'd love to take them to small claims court over the inconvenience alone.

She doesn't like snow, but she behaves in it, at least. My insurance company is Progressive, and so far they've been awesome. I even got a Jaguar as a rental.

I'll update how things go here, as well as details regarding how it's handled. I did learn to not keep my title and registration in the car anymore. (D'oh!) I learned that I need homeowner's insurance (or similar) to make a claim on the contents (things not installed) in the car. No big worries there, just annoying.