Know how to Manage Rental Car Theft in San Francisco
Anyone who has read any of my blogs before can tell you, I usually find beauty and charm just about any place I visit. The truth is that everything about travel is not always rainbows and roses. Sometimes the harsh realities of the world unavoidably impose themselves, leaving a rancid memory. Sadly, this happened on my recent trip to California, when learned how to handle rental car theft in San Francisco.
Given that I am a city girl and native New Yorker, there are some rules that follow me no matter where I go. Things like never to leave things in your car if you are leaving the car unattended. Always lock your car. Do not double park. That sort of thing, but emphasis on the safety-first principle. Self-preservation, always.
I will now describe a scenario that will literally blow anyone’s mind (even if it has happened to them). This incident heartbreakingly left me shocked and angry, but most of all it tarnished the city of San Francisco in my eyes to no end – given that up until that moment I could say it was a city I loved. This is a cautionary tale.
Killing Time at Alamo Park
My boyfriend and I were on the tail end of an incredible trip to Humboldt County and had a flight to catch from SFO Airport at 10:30pm. We had arrived at San Francisco from Sonoma that morning and had been exploring the city by car the whole day. Frisco is a small city, and in a pandemic, it is easy to cover a lot of ground in a small period.
Name one 90’s kid who did not love the show Full House and I will call them blasphemous. Around 6:30 pm we grabbed a coffee and pulled up to Alamo Park to see the Painted Ladies and kill an hour before heading to the airport. Knowing that out luggage and Kevin’s backpack were in the trunk of our Red Dodge Journey with Arizona license plates; we could not venture far from the car.
We got out of the car and walked exactly 7 steps to sit on the short stone wall surrounding the park. The distance between us and the car was no more than 10 feet, and we were sitting looking directly at it. There was a free parking spot directly in front of our car.
A black Acura pulled up beside our jeep and double parked. I noticed and made a joke to Kevin that they were probably ex-New Yorkers since they could not be bothered to pull into the parking space. What happened next literally blew my mind.
Rental Car Theft in San Francisco is an Epidemic
So, as we are looking at the car, we see a shadow get out of the passenger side of the Acura through the tints of our jeep. In a split second, the shadow breaks the back window of the driver side of the jeep, pulls out Kevin’s backpack, jumps back in the Acura and speeds away. Just like that! A park full of people watching, they literally are so professionally trained in it that they just do not care.
Kevin tried to run after them as quickly he could, but they were too fast that he could not even catch the license plate number. Luckily, the contents of the backpack that they grabbed were miniscule, so we did not lose much. The incident however, angered Kevin so much that he punched the broken window, cutting his hand in multiple places and bleeding all over the trunk.
Bystanders came over to offer their sympathies and try to help. The most common reaction was, “oh, yea rental car theft in San Francisco is real. This happens here at least 20 times a day.” It was only afterwards that I noticed all the broken glass on the street around the park from all the card that had been broken into before ours.
What got me most about the incident was that we did not leave the car. We were watching the whole thing. How skilled do they have to be to know that they will get away with it even when the car is being watched.
Is There Even a Police Force in San Francisco?
Moving past the initial shock of what had happened, I quickly realized we were on a time crunch. We had to be at Alamo to return the car by 9:00pm the latest to make our flight home. I had no interest in missing the flight because there was no way I was going to pay extra to stay in a place that just robbed me. Logical step one would be to call the police to get a police report, right?
Yeah, I made the call. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. It was bordering on 8:15 pm and still no police car in sight. We are all but ready to panic, and I finally get through to Alamo Roadside Assistance and explain the situation. They take down the report and instruct me that if the car is drivable (which it was thankfully), we did not need to wait for the report. Great!
We made our way to the airport with the back window wide open and the chill of the air nearly froze me before we got there. Pulling into the Alamo rental return parking lot, we stunned to see that out of four rental cars being returned, all four had broken windows.
Luckily, the Alamo agreement had full insurance for rental car theft in San Francisco, so I was not responsible for any of the damages and that was what “exempt” me from needing to wait for the police report. I unloaded my frustrations on the attendant at Alamo, which I felt badly for afterwards.
The kicker though: as we got in our seats on our Delta flight home, I get a voicemail from the San Francisco Police Department. They were calling to tell me that an emergency elsewhere in the city was taking precedence over my call and given that my call was non-emergent they would not be sending an officer to the sight. We could file for a police report online. Goodbye.
After the Fact
After the sting of this whole ordeal subdued a bit, I investigated rental car theft in San Francisco. There are a lot of stories like this one, some are even worse. The truth is we got lucky that they stole nothing of value, we were covered for the rental car, and the physical damage to Kevin was self-inflicted due to stress. It could have been way worse.
Due to the overwhelming number of calls that the SFPD gets about rental car theft in San Francisco, they have basically all but stopped responding to it. Plus, the major opioid crisis in California and lack of proper mental health access, homelessness and crime are through the roof in the city. It is a sad and unfortunate fact about a city that has the potential to be wonderfully charming.
Dos and Don’ts with Rental Cars in San Francisco
- Do full coverage insurance on your rental so you know you are covered.
- Don’t take rental cars with out of state plates.
- Do always lock your car when it is unattended.
- Don’t leave ANYTHING in the car at any time, even if you are watching.
- Do avoid parking the car in highly tourist areas. When in the city use public transport.
- Don’t expect that the police will help you. Rental car theft in San Francisco is normal, just expect it. No use waiting around for the police report.
Moral of the Story
Clearly, if you read this far you realize this is a cautionary tale. Now I am not telling you not to rent a car if you go to San Francisco. What I am saying is, do not rent a car in San Francisco and stay in San Francisco.
Go explore north, where the crime rate is less, the nature is abundant, and you are less likely to run into the nonsense of rental car theft in San Francisco. However, if it is unavoidable for you to have the car in the city, be warned, be alert, and if you expect it might happen maybe it will sting a little less if it does.
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