Driver's side, side mirror housing stolen :(

[sau_mathur]

Some annoying pr**k has stolen the casing of the driver side side mirror!! It is just so.. just NOT DONE.. seriously.. I am so annoyed and inconvenienced more than anything. Just pisses me off.

Happened near Victoria Market in Melbourne.

Anyway, will call the dealer soon, but was wondering whether you guys knew how much just the housing was? And whether insurance will be able to cover it?

Thanks a ton guys.

[shauno]

Was it just the mirror cover, or is all the plastic gone?

If it's just the cover, you can generally get them unpainted from the dealer, or painted from a wreckers (Camden GTI?) - or even check for aftermarket covers (Dubaddiction?)

I had a similar issue with my MkV passenger mirror... wish I'd caught the f*&ker who did it

[Tim]

I dont think it would be worth claiming on insurance. Your excess will be more than the cost of repair if its just the cover

[Corey_R]

I only have a general idea of how much they are from the "textured black" and "pearl black" ones that ECS Tuning sell in the USA. Obviously they're a pair (left and right). Hopefully they're available individually from a dealer, but it's likely you'll then need it painted. Or you might be able to take one off a wrecked car as shauno suggested.

However, I believe it would be wrong to do it via insurance. I don't think the cost would come anywhere near most people's excess, and even if you had a very low one, the risk of increasing your premium the following year just wouldn't be worth it.

[immigant]

This happened to me back in the UK - though he was pulling the heated glass out of the wing mirror housing. Happily I caught him in the act (the car was just outside my window). Obviously I politely enquired as to what he thought he was doing, at which point he scarpered - to his car. Number plate and a quick phone call later, he was caught, but denied everything. This denial was slightly undermined by the fact that 1. I'd given a clear description of him, 2. I had his number plate 3. He had the same model car as me, with missing glass in his driver's side mirror. He got done for criminal damage and attempted theft, and fined £150. Unhappily, none of this came back to me, the police took the glass as evidence and I had to bodge the broken housing back together and pay £100 to a scrappy for a bloody piece of glass.

But at least the police got to add a solved crime to their stats.

[cktsi]

Including painting I paid $400. I unfortunately damaged it myself. This was last year. I think the part itself was around $180 unpainted, but phone around. Prices do vary between dealers.

[Frankenstrat]

You know what's really sad about this? It's that someone would even contemplate stealing the casing. WTF is going on? What is WRONG with these people?

[Tony_Mitchell_1983]

To replace my entire side mirror including painting and fitting (at a smash repair place in Brisbane) was around 600 bucks. VW wanted that much in parts alone. Maybe a bodyshop could fix it for you quite cheap.

[sau_mathur]

It is just so damn annoying.. was just the casing.. its a white golf, so just the white part is gone, i.e. the housing.. the mirror is there and everything.. just that. i am taking it to the dealer tomorrow morning.. see what they reckon!!

[Bizi]

The scumbag theif literally ripped off your mirror cover.

Maybe report the theft to your local police, so they have this in case a thief is stealing a lot of VW stuff for some criminal steal-to-order gang.

[MariusGT]

kind of on topic -- i recently had both front and back number plates stolen.

as they were b&w slim line cost of replacement was $80. plus phone calls to police and insurance etc - pain in the ass!

cost of special screws which screw in but not out? $5 from bunnings. highly recommend the investment and 5mins to change over.

[Frankenstrat]

Marius, don't be surprised if you get a few speeding infringements through the post, hopefully you'll be able to prove that the plates belong to your Golf and not the car that was involved.

[Corey_R]

MariusGT is in NSW. This means that since BOTH plates were stolen, the RTA won't reissue the same plates. So he won't have any issues with that...

[Frankenstrat]

So the plates are immediately flagged on Police recognition software as cancelled and/or stolen? Not much point in stealing them then if that's the case.

[Idle]

It's what you'd do if you wanted to use your own car to rob a bank — once clear away you'd destroy them.

The whole thing would be over before the police even posted them as stolen.