I am your average 5 days a week min wage typical Joe that enjoys Japan for it’s harmony.
Lived here for 5 years and I never had anything significant stolen from me.
Aaand.. my wheels that I use everyday only to go work is gone without a trace or even a chance to access any surveillances. The parking lot management is not giving any access and told me to go directly to the police.
I already did all the report to the police (with my 車体番号noted as well)
I am just curious on what to do next?
Waiting?.. while being depressed of something that is not even have that much of value… but attached more because of it’s use… is hard. Now I have to walk 40 minutes to work until I get an alternative.
Is there any way to claim insurance? Will my Jibaeseki cover this? Willing to listen to any suggestions since I am completely clueless of what to do with stolen items as big as a motor vehicle.
Thank you in advance.
12 comments
*The parking lot management is not giving any access*
I dont understand this? Surely you brought this up with the police? Isnt this the raison d’etre of cameras?
Sorry this happened to you.
I feel you. I had my Little Cub stolen from my apartment parking area in Asagaya. Police took a full report, but while not explicitly saying it, basically told me to forget it.
I hope you have better luck!
I think like most countries, vehicle theft is way low on law enforcement’s priority list. Back in Canada my car was stolen three times over as many years. Twice they just found it abandoned nearby and once I just happened upon it in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I think for them it’s a passive assignment. They make a report and keep an eye out and that’s pretty much it.
They’ll never actually actively look for it.
Hopefully you had theft insurance as that’s probably your best bet to get any kind of remuneration for the loss. And hopefully sometime in the near future the police will find an abandoned bike and it fits yours, or you just happen to walk by it like I did my car.
If its any consolation, my bike was stolen from the front of my building a few years back. Police came, apartment *did* actually provide the grainy video footage, etc.
They basically sucked their teeth and said “yea its probably gone”
About a week and half later they called me and had found it *while the thief was actually riding it in the middle of the day* about 20km away.
Amazingly, when I asked them “how did you know it was stolen??” they basically said “We aggressively profiled the shit out of this guy and he did not look right”.
So, hey, theres always a chance, right?
Sorry this happened to you dude.
My bike has been stolen (while locked) three times now and it has always come back. I hope yours will too!
Bad news: Your insurance won’t cover this, and jibaiseki absolutely does not.
Good news: Your parking lot will almost certainly give the footage to the cops on request.
Bad news: Most thefts of scooters are to strip them down for parts and sell the parts on Mercari or Yahoo Auctions. In these cases, recovery is very unlikely.
Good news: If it was stolen and is being ridden around, the recovery rate is quite high. A lot of people aren’t aware, but there are automated plate readers all over the place here, and if a stolen vehicle (or a vehicle that’s been involved in any other crime) is driven past one, the system will ping the traffic patrols in the area.
As to what you need to do:
1) Report to the police ASAP. (Which you already did)
2) Temporarily deregister the bike at the Land Transport Office. This ensures that if the thief tries to sell it, the sale will be blocked. It also means that if the bike is left somewhere you won’t get hit for parking offenses. And you won’t want to see a tax bill come to you next year if you don’t get it back…
If the bike is recovered, you can cancel the deregistration, and away you go.
If you find it yourself (happens more often than you think!) be sure to withdraw the theft report – keep in mind the plate readers mentioned above. Getting arrested for stealing your own bike is a great way to ruin your whole week.
In future, keep a solid U-lock under the seat or in the dash, and lock it through the rear wheel when you park the bike. Thieves will almost certainly just move on to another scooter – there’s thousands of them around, they go for the easy targets.
Doesn’t help you now but a guy I know put an Apple air tag on his bike, the bike got stolen and he (the police) were able to track it down. Supposedly, the thief had a whole bunch of other stolen stuff (including other bikes) at his apartment. Might be a cheap security option for the future.
Had mine stolen. Reported to police and gave up…and they found it and returned it to me a few weeks later. Miracle.
> Is there any way to claim insurance?
Yes, your insurance might cover the theft, depending on your insurance plan. And you *do* have insurance, right? Because…
> Will my Jibaeseki cover this?
…jibaeseki is not insurance. If you get into an accident jibaeseki will pay the other person’s claims, but will then **aggressively** come after you to repay them. It can be a huge amount of money. You must carry proper insurance.
Good chance to buy a bicycle for the healthier alternative I guess
Feel for you. I accidentally left the keys in the lock of my bicycle last year in the parking space of my spot and it was taken within the hour. It reappeared the next day so I assumed someone borrowed it.
I made the same mistake a few months later and the same thing happened. I staked out my spot for a whole day but the thief didn’t come back. Decided to buy a decent bike a month later and my old bike magically reappeared again.
I’ve left the key in my old bike on the chance I see the person taking it and I’ll unleash (reasonable) hell. It disappears every now and then but I never catch him in the act. Hope I do soon. We’re moving into our house a few months later