We’re holding our breath with this one. We hope most of you answer no to this question, but know some of you will answer yes. In April 2019, we asked if anything had ever been stolen from your campsite. Sadly, almost a quarter of you answered that something had been stolen. We hope the results from this poll don’t mirror that one.
So, have you ever had anything stolen from you that was worth $100 or more? If you’re willing to share, please tell us the story (and what was stolen) in the comments below the poll. If you’re not comfortable sharing the details, that’s okay too.
yes but from home and not a campsite or our MH.
My house was broken into while I was snowboarding last winter. Everyone on the block knows who did it just can’t prove it. The drug house opened up less than a block away
Time to install a camera security system!
Been hit 3 times in last 50 years. First as house burglary, jewelry, saxophone and food, second was air compressor from back porch, third was 18 month old diesel pu from driveway
Starter & Battery from 1970 1/2 Ford Falcon
On a trip to attend a nephew’s Eagle Scout ceremony we stopped overnight at a motel. This was the only time we did not travel with the RV. My truck was broken into and a camera, laptop and CB radio was stolen
Total value close to $1000.00. I reported it to management and was told”that happens often here”. Of course I filed a police report but had no luck recovering any of the items.
We’d gotten a solar panel in the ‘extras’ package when we bought our 5th wheel. The very first time we had it hooked up to try it out, we left the rig for a while on a lovely sunny day and came back to find the panel gone.
I voted no since I assumed this was referring to my TT. The poll should have specified the location.
In the late 1980’s or early 1990’s we had a Chevy Suburban stolen from a dead-end side street that was beside our house. The vehicle was recovered several days later, but it had been used and abused by the thief(ves) to “chop” other stolen vehicles. We had the vehicle fixed and drove it for a while, but ultimately traded it in on a newer Ford pickup, which coincidentally we later used to tow our first RV (a used Airstream) in April of 1994.
We encountered home and shop break-ins where some anus-retentives stole several items from the house in addition to an air compressor, a small utility trailer and bicycles. Welcome to central New Mexico.
Yes, but kind of a dumb move on our part – accidentally left a camera in the basket of our stroller at Disney World, returned from riding a ride and it was gone. Pretty minor in the big scheme of things, though. This was about 12-13 years ago. I’m thankful that this is the only stolen item that I can think of!
I answered but after I remembered abour my car. My husband and I were delivering a horse trailer to Mocksville SC from our home in northern Michigan. We’d left my 17 year old daughter home to go to school with my car. Cell service wasn’t the greatest in 1996 in the mountains and we were surprised when the phone rang as we topped a mountain to find her calling crying that the car was stolen from the high school parking lot by 2 classmates. They’d asked her to skip with them but when she said no they took the keys from her locker and left on a joyride to Myrtle Beach, SC !!! The car was recovered on top of a grave and the teen thieves caught. The instigator had a fight with her mother and had left with her friend to go see her dad in SC. The car was fine, the girls went to juvenile court and paid fines. The insurance company flew my husband to SC to drive the car home. Stressful at the time, it’s now one of those family stories that cause a lot of laughter.
In my case it was in graduate school. My car was not especially secure even when I locked it. One night someone took a shine to my cassette player and stole it, the speakers (all after-market, so very easy to remove) and all the cassettes.
Thankfully, no one has ever broken into our home or RV and stolen anything. Happy Thanksgiving to RV Travel! 🙂
Thanks, Neal! Happy Thanksgiving to you also … and stay healthy. 🙂 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I really can’t think of anything of value that has been stolen from us except a bicycle 30 years ago but it was not camping related. I was amazed that in my neighborhood you couldn’t fart without everyone knowing about it but someone could steal a bicycle in broad daylight and no one saw it.
I had my IPhone pick pocketed while in Barcelona Spain. I caught the person but he had already passed the phone. Even though I had insurance with Sprint, my deductible was $200.
Our home was burglarized and I walked in on him, chased him out of a second floor window ( him, not me) called 911 and he was caught. Even though everything he put in a bag was recovered, he caused over $5,000 in damage to windows, doors, new carpeting and a wall not to mention my car hood when he jumped out the window and left his sneaker print. I got stuck with the $1,000 deductible but he paid it back with court ordered restitution. Took seven years to pay back fully.
Wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t witness it.
Unfortunately, yes. When we were full-time RVing several years ago I left an expensive bicycle in our minivan at a trailhead along the Pacific Crest Trail near Ridgecrest, CA while I was hiking and someone smashed the window in one of the sliding doors to steal the bike and a few less expensive items. Although insurance covered most of the loss we still had to pay the deductible and our rate went up. 🙁 Bike was never recovered nor culprit(s) apprehended.
In the early 1990s, someone smashed a window in my Ford Ranger pickup truck and stole a toolbox full of tools in it.
camping never had anything taken rv parked in storage yes
A longer list than I would have thought..
Antique ‘railroad watch’ from apartment break-in
Revolver from my truck as I was unloading from a camping trip and was in my house
35mm camera from my car parked in front of my apartment
VW pickup truck from my driveway..recovered but damaged [keys left in it]
Robbed at gunpoint outside a strip club in Denver. I only had $00.37 as all my $ bills had been “spent”
yep, left my garage door open and my brand new mountain bike was stolen. Although insurance took care of the cost , less $100. deductible , it’s the psychological effect it has that someone invaded your home.
Same sort of thing here. Went for my normal early bike ride in the middle of summer a few years ago. Was home by 6am. Left bike on side of home for two minutes while I ran in to get my puppy to take out. Came back and bike was gone. Never seen it since. Specialized S-Works. $5000 new. Insurance covered some, but by no means all. Appeared to be pre-meditated.
Our house was broken into while we were away. Stolen was my duty sidearm (357 mag) and a backup piece as well as everything on and the duty belt itself. I was a Reserve Officer (patrolman) with the local police department.
Many years ago, we transferred with the Navy to Great Lakes Naval Training Center where I was to be an instructor. There was a 6 month waiting list for base housing. We ended up renting a duplex in Zion with no garage or storage facilities.
I carried my tool box in my car, and a bag of baby supplies since our son was 2 years old. My car was broken into and the majority of my mechanic tools were stolen along with the baby supplies. The thief didn’t break into our Scamp trailer that we had just bought in ’79 though. It was only 6 months old.
We had someone(s) break-Into our shed and steal both my son’s and my Trek mountain bikes, over $500 each. The funny thing was they didn’t take my wife’s bike. Friends had someone steal their bikes off the bike rack on their RV when they pulled off in an rest area. Popped the lock right off it.
On a trip to our Arizona winter home someone stole our seats from the bikes on the back of our toad.
Later, our bikes were among several stolen from a supposedly secure bike storage cage. . . But they didn’t get our new bike seats!
Yes, had my laptop, registrations and some plums stolen from my pickup truck. The most annoying was they ate some plums and toss the pits in the back seat. Very frustrating.
We have a lakeside cabin in the Maine woods, at the end of a 5-mile dead-end gravel road. A couple guys from town got drunk, drove out to the end of the road, broke into our cabin and a half dozen others, stole a bunch of stuff, and got away clean. Dumb guys – they decided the pickings were so easy that they would do it again the next night. By then, the first break-ins had been reported, and there was a state trooper waiting at the road’s exit when they came out with their new haul. And they still had most of the previous night’s items in their car. They went to jail, were required to write letters of apology to all the victims, and make monthly restitution payments that lasted years. Maine camps don’t usually contain anything of great value, but the psychological effect in this previously crime-free area was uncomfortable.
The day after I returned from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, our van was stolen from a Wal-Mart parking lot. They trashed the van, and stole the tools in it.
Our converted passenger van was stolen from right in front of our house years ago. This was a high end model. Month later it was abandoned with the entire interior having been removed. The only thing left was the dash and a folding chair to sit on while they towed it to they drove it to the abandoned site.
My wife’s van was stolen twice over 3 years from a mall parking lot. My Jeep was stolen as well around the same time (1990’s just before Christmas). Winnipeg, Manitoba was known as having one of the highest rates in Canada for vehicle theft.
Before the wife and I went out the first time I bought a used tow dolly for $650. I had it chained to my fence post in front of my house. We went to Walmart to get paint and a new wiring harness, got it, and were gone 1 1/2 hours when we got back it was gone, chain lock and all…
Been blessed to never have anything stolen. Maybe it had something to do with having a black and white car parked at home for 35 years.
Yep, that might have helped a bit. 😆 Have a Happy Thanksgiving, George, and stay healthy. 🙂 —Diane at RVtravel.com
What a hoot. It’s hard to believe that 1/3 of respondents have not had anything over $100 stolen. My best story is one where nothing was stolen. With the truck door lock punched out from a previous burglary, I found a token left on my center console after returning from work. It read, “No cash value”. I had to smile.
While shopping in a Walmart supermarket I had my tablet open in the top of my shopping cart. I turned away briefly to pay for my prescriptions and when I turned back the tablet was gone. And nobody saw a thing.
In 1991 someone stole all 4 tires and wheels from my car while it was parked at a park and ride. The insurance adjuster had the company waive my deductible. It took 4 days to find replacement wheels, get them delivered and tires installed. They even paid for the rental car!
Don’t get me started. Within 8 hours of me arriving at a hotel in London, Ontario, a thief stole my truck with $50,000 worth of audio gear in the trailer, drove it nearly 100 miles until it ran out of gas, then busted off the locks in full view of the neighborhood. The good people of the neighborhood then stripped it bare without reporting anything to the police. The worst part is that Canadian customs said I had imported the gear into Canada from the US and demanded that I pay the import duty on $50,000 of the gear that was stolen. They hounded me for 2 years before giving up.
Wow, Mike. That’s terrible! What a nightmare! 😯 —Diane at RVtravel.com
While waiting on an air strip in Vietnam in 1968 my fairly expensive camera was stolen from the Jeep I just parked. I saw no one around when I stopped or when I got back in. I was standing on passenger side for maybe 3 minutes waiting to pick up an officer, no one saw anything.
I was unclear whether or not you meant EVER or from a campsite. I thought you meant from a campsite so I said “NO” – but my husband and I had our City Bikes stolen from our locked roof car rack in Lowell Massachusetts 20+ years ago.
About 4 times
Had a $200 (in 1980 dollars) bicycle stolen out of my open garage while I was home on a Sunday afternoon.
Had a ’91 honda civic stolen at the company Christmas party and taken on a high speed chase eluding the Washington State Patrol. It showed up dumped in a parking lot with a broken window a week or so later. Had a ’92 Honda Accord wagon stolen from in front of my in-laws house Thanksgiving morning; it was stripped and dumped a couple weeks later. Had to fight the insurance to get what I paid for it 2 months earlier when they totalled it out. Had stereos stolen out of several vehicles, had a battery stolen off my travel trailer in my yard, had motorcycle helmet and boots stolen from college classroom, had an expensive cell phone stolen from my shared apartment in college. Even had a thief cut the catalytic converter out of my truck one time. Thieves are everywhere.
Thieves must be really smart or really good. My pickup was broken into in a crowded parking lot. No one seen anything and the cameras didn’t cover my area. Go figure.
Back in 82 someone kicked in the door of our apartment and stole several firearms, tools, jewelry, and cash. Actually around $2,000. at the time. Never caught them or got anything back.
Unfortunately, more than once. The people who said no are lucky.
My wife’s car was stolen from in front of my house at night. A parent was mad because her child did not want to do his homework and my wife made him do it in class. She told my wife she stole her car it because she was mad at her for making him do homework. Talk about angry parents.