Scooter Stolen

[HappyHacker]

My family and I are vacationing at a condo in Destin this week. I planned to go up to JB to dive today. I went to the truck parked in the garage at 6am and to my dismay my scooter, a dive bag, and a dive case were gone. I wanted to cry like a little boy who had his toys taken away <g>. I come to FL about every other month and I've never had a problem anywhere. I stay in a fancy condo and get my gear stolen. They went right over the charger and left it along with all the tanks. The scooter is a UV26 with a blue nose and shroud. My name and phone # are listed inside the body.

[FW]

Damn, that is annoying! If they left the charger, they probably weren't cave divers, maybe OW divers, or druggies hoping to sell the stuff for fast cash. Did you file a police report?

[Squirrel Girl]

That majorly sucks. I'm sorry.

Don't forget to contact pawn shops and check ebay and craigslist.

It isn't gonna help that you don't live nearby, but once in a while someone gets their stuff back.

Someone recently posted up on our mountain biking forum about his brand new custom titanium bike that was stolen. I'd guess it was a $6000 item. He bought it back about 2-3 weeks later from some guy for $180. That guy said he's bought from a guy at a construction site and wanted a second bike to kick around with that didn't look so great. Guess if you're not in the know, you'd think a Ti bike w/o a paint job isn't all that great.

[cavediver256]

You know, I HATE A F**KIN THIEF !!!! This really sucks Larry !!!!!

Any leads or ideas on who might have taken it ???

[sandy]

Larry,

I wanted to cry when I read your post. I am hurting for you right now. That just sucks. I don't know where stolen gear is sold but I hope it is recovered.

[ed pavey]

Let Anna and Nancy at the dive shops there know so they can be on the lookout.

[Chunky]

WOW that really sucks!

Hopefully, if they never find it, your auto insurance will cover getting you a new one...

I Hope the bastards get caught.

I would cry like a little girl if it was me....

Martin.

[Slüdge]

your auto insurance will cover getting you a new one...

Actually, it should be covered under your homeowner's policy. It's personal property.

However, if you're a dive professional (divemaster or instructor), they may try to exclude it.

Call your agent.

[chimie007]

Larry I'm sorry buddy. There are not a lot options to unload something like that.

[kgault]

Actually, it should be covered under your homeowner's policy. It's personal property.

However, if you're a dive professional (divemaster or instructor), they may try to exclude it.

Call your agent.

You may want to check on this; I put together a rider for my dive gear, and the insurance agent came back (weeks later with a small refund) with a response that they would not cover my scooters as they are vehicles :(. When buying a house I found out that standard homeowners policies will only cover less than 5K of sporting equipment -- even if that is all you own.

Sorry for the hijack, but does anyone know a good agent who is a diver to ensure we can all get our toys covered?

Keith

[Major Restriction]

If you are a DAN member there is a dive equipment insurance company that can cover your dive equipment.

H2OInsurance.com

There are probably others but this is the company I use to insure my equipment as I'm a DAN member.

Philip

[Reddiver]

I use D.E.P.P I got over 13,000.00 covered for 175. a year. http://www.awryinc.com/depp.html

[Webmaster]

You should have had a Trunk Monkey.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8avOiTUcD4Y

Marbry

[sskasser]

You should have had a Trunk Monkey.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8avOiTUcD4Y

Marbry


ROFLMBFAO! I want a trunk monkey!

Larry,
I sure hope you get your stuff back soon, or at least a big fat check for new stuff. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[PacketSniffer]

Aw, damn, Larry. That REALLY sucks.

Give me a call if you need any help with anything from this side.


fyi...
If you don't have a replacement before our next trip, I will probably have you covered. :yawinkle:

[Slüdge]

they would not cover my scooters as they are vehicles

Sounds like you had Allstate.:twisted:

Seriously, though, a bicycle is a vehicle. Are you telling me they won't cover a stolen bicycle?

Okay, I am forced to tell my scooter story: In 1996 our shop ran a liveaboard trip on the Sea Fever in the Bahamas. We flew into Nassau. Another guy and I brought our scooters. In going through customs, the guy told us we would have to pay a refundable duty on them, 50% of their value (that would be $1,250 cash). Anticipating Ken opening his big, fat mouth, I jumped in and exclaimed, "Fifty percent? We paid almost two hundred dollars apiece for these scooters!" So the guy believed me and we had to leave $100 apiece with customs for a week.

Edit: I just thought of something - is it possible you said "scooter" and the agent thought you meant a motor scooter?

[kgault]

I believe it was as a motorized vehicle that it was rejected; they compared it to a motorcycle. Unfortunately they will not cover it for collision either ;>

I had given the agent a list of dive gear with estimated replacement values (as filled out by the shop) and listed the DPVs with Rodney's terms. They were covered for a couple of months until an underwriter rejected them. I went with this company as they were the first to be willing to do a rider for all of my dive gear.

Their rates were better than those through the DAN site; but not once I have to Insure the gear through two locations it is not a savings.

Keith


Sounds like you had Allstate.:twisted:

Seriously, though, a bicycle is a vehicle. Are you telling me they won't cover a stolen bicycle?

Okay, I am forced to tell my scooter story: In 1996 our shop ran a liveaboard trip on the Sea Fever in the Bahamas. We flew into Nassau. Another guy and I brought our scooters. In going through customs, the guy told us we would have to pay a refundable duty on them, 50% of their value (that would be $1,250 cash). Anticipating Ken opening his big, fat mouth, I jumped in and exclaimed, "Fifty percent? We paid almost two hundred dollars apiece for these scooters!" So the guy believed me and we had to leave $100 apiece with customs for a week.

Edit: I just thought of something - is it possible you said "scooter" and the agent thought you meant a motor scooter?

[runawaylobster]

You may want to check on this; I put together a rider for my dive gear, and the insurance agent came back (weeks later with a small refund) with a response that they would not cover my scooters as they are vehicles :(. When buying a house I found out that standard homeowners policies will only cover less than 5K of sporting equipment -- even if that is all you own.

Sorry for the hijack, but does anyone know a good agent who is a diver to ensure we can all get our toys covered?

Keith

Try NAUI, they are coming up with all kinds of diving insurances these days.

LL

[Line Squirrel]

Probably some crackhead (or Meth) and will sell it for a couple hundred bucks...if that.

Damn shame, sorry to hear about this.

[amphipod06]

I am sorry for your loss and hope the culprit (s) suffer much ill fortune for their trespass.

I hope that you recover your toys.

Dive safe,

Celia

[Taucher-Tom]

I´m really sorry to hear this bad news Larry.

A scooter is not easy to sell, there aren´t many people interested besides cave divers, so it would be important to know if there´s anything special about the scooter, something a potential buyer might recognize.
If so, let us know and everyone keeps his eyes open when buying a used scooter.
I don´t know if there are serial numbers on the bodies.
Rodney surely does.
Furthermore I would post about this on every scuba diving related forum and set a reward for information.

Hope you get it back

[amphipod06]

I don´t know if there are serial numbers on the bodies.
Rodney surely does.



We own three SS's and none of them have any S/N's or any way to id them other than the outside stickers we put on them (which of course are easily removed).

We have been toying with the idea of engraving something on the bodies, nose cones and motor ends but delrin is so soft that it could easily be removed as well.

I hope the scooter and the other items are recovered and the eegits that took them get caught.

Dive safe,

Celia

[FW]

Happy Hacker's has a blue nosecone. While not rare, that does cut down the search field a little. He also said his contact info was inside the hull. I may do the same soon :-)

[PacketSniffer]

If the scooter remains unmodified, you're looking for this... (Sorry about the crappy photo.) Also attached is the bag and Pelican case that Larry is referring to.

[Taucher-Tom]

Of course it´s too late for Larry, but it´s no problem to mill i.e. initials into all major parts of the internal parts.
I wouldn´t mill to deep into the body, but the way a lot of scooters look after extensive use, it shouldn´t harm them.
This way of signing makes it difficult to sell stolen objects, allthough the thief might still be able to use it him/herself.

I´d suggest that manufacturers should put serial numbers on items that expensive, it would make things easier.

Just one more story for you Larry to show you´re not the only one:

Seven years ago, on the last day of our holiday, some ... broke into our house in Italy and stole not only my scooter (which was only a small Apollo) but my MMII and a Nikon F70 too.
Of course I didn´t sign the scooter and even though the cameras had serial numbers I never got them back.


My insurance paid for that but what really drove me nuts is that they stole my logbook and a knife (Rambo style) I made by myself several years before.

Believe me I searched through dozens of trash cans all night long without success.

At that time I wished the thief would be punished in the oriental way, if you know what I mean

[HappyHacker]

Thanks for all your support everyone. It does make me feel a <little> bit better. I decided to go diving anyway since I had a buddy lined up. I replaced everything except the scooter, primary reel, and the large black case at a cost of $1800. A police woman came out to file a report and spent a lot of time with me. We poked around every car and corner in the garage looking for anything. She seemed to take a lot of interest in the case I think because she felt bad for me and because she thought it was such a unique item that it would make it easier to recover. She said they check the pawn shops almost daily. I also called all the dive shops in the area. Thanks everybody!

Larry

[bottomtime]

IF they are found... :smt013the punks should see the end of a long rope n a tall tree, n hang'm high in the street for all the people too see:roll:,,,,, reminds me me of a song
so I'll go get some whiskey n beer for my horse:smt079

best of luck

[OneBrightGator]

At least try to get the lyrics right...

"I'd take a big tall tree and a short piece of rope
I'd hang 'em up high and let 'em swing 'til the sun goes down"

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, Larry.