Do you keep cash in your car?

[Muse]

Why on earth would I leave cash in my car?

I generally carry money on me but I really don't leave anything in my car that I would mind getting stolen.

Can you say the same thing about your house/apartment? What if your abode burns down. Then if you have nothing in your car, you have not much to fall back on if anything, unless you can depend on other parties to extend their hospitality.

I have a little cash in my car. I also keep a bill hidden in my day packs, just in case. I have a larger amount of cash hidden at my house. It's a reserve if I'm running low in my wallet and in case of an environmental catastrophe I figure having some emergency cash could come in handy. Better safe than sorry, I know it's a terrible cliche but how often does it prove true?

 

[IGemini]

These days? Outside of loose change for meters/tolls, no.

Once upon a time I would leave $20 in my car for gas. When I hit 1/4 and went to the station it would get me to full or pretty close to it.

 

[Kaido]

I keep $60 in each of my cars in case of emergencies. I figure that's enough to buy a tank a gas or meals.

Same, $60 in the glovebox. I've had a couple times where the card system was down & I needed gas and don't usually carry bills anymore. Gas kitty ftw.

 

[MongGrel]

no.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I try to keep about $20 in the glove box, just for emergencies or if I really want to grab fast food and did not bring any. i try to keep the change contrainer empty and any change out of sight though, but it's nice to have a bit of change for coffee.

It's crossed my mind to leave some change and a couple high voltage capacitors and leave the doors unlocked though. So many thieves here now, would be a shame one gets their hand blown off by a couple hundred thousand volts at 1,000 farad. Ok, might need more than a few capacitors for that.

 

[werepossum]

The details of the thousands of dollars in cash that I keep in my car, can be read on pleaserobmycar.com/thegardener

lol +1

Funny story - we had a lottery winner in Chattanooga, older dude. He frequently went to strip clubs, like five or more nights a week. Periodically every night he'd go out to to his truck to get more cash. Surprising absolutely no one, his truck was soon broken into. The idiot then goes on local news and details this whole story, revealing that the thief took somewhere between $10,000 and $17,000 IIRC. Couple of weeks later he was on the news again, complaining that his truck had been broken into something like eight times in two weeks. Well, DUH!

I don't think we have any strip clubs in Chattanooga anymore. My theory is that this one dude so inflated the market that when he died, he took it with him. (Although the local government also passed a law requiring strippers and patrons to remain at least six feet apart, so . . .)

 

[Red Squirrel]

Here cops don't even do anything about car theft anymore. They basically tell you "you should have locked it" even if it was locked, and it was a break in.

Recently some guy left his keys in his jeep, it got stolen, then crashed into my boss's truck, pushed the truck several feet into the car. Oh, and before that, it ripped out a fence post straight out of the ground. You'd think the person would be responsible to pay for the damage... nope. They were arrested, brought to the station, and released. It's ridiculous.

Meanwhile someone with a gram of weed ends up in jail for like 5 years.

 

[Mixolydian]

Who the hell still uses cash?

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Yes. Everyplace i've ever lived had either earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards etc. and i've always been one to be prepared.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Yes. Everyplace i've ever lived had either earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards etc. and i've always been one to be prepared.

So you leave money in the vehicle that will be washed away or buried by most of those natural disasters?

 

[rh71]

I've traveled extensively and have found myself on toll ways unknowingly until I see the inevitable sign of "stop ahead for toll". Do you know how much it would suck if you happen to have forgotten cash to pay it?

I always have change in my car, but I was in a rental car in Florida at night when the un-manned toll booth required exact change (less than $1) and we didn't have the coins to fill it. I reluctantly ran through it after talking to the guy waiting behind me and he said to just send it in the mail. I looked it up and sure enough, all you have to do is pay them via mailed check by a certain amount of days. I was never penalized (other than the stamp I suppose). So, assuming most work like that, it doesn't suck that bad.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I always have change in my car, but I was in a rental car in Florida at night when the un-manned toll booth required exact change (less than $1) and we didn't have the coins to fill it.

Are you saying that if the toll was 85 cents and you put four quarters into the basket, you were afraid you'd be hunted down by the state police?

And you actually got out of your car and went back to ask the poor guy waiting behind you for advice?

 

[who?]

You talk to a lawyer about suing for damages and you call the cops or prosecutors to ask if they have any victims services people.

 

[rh71]

Are you saying that if the toll was 85 cents and you put four quarters into the basket, you were afraid you'd be hunted down by the state police?

And you actually got out of your car and went back to ask the poor guy waiting behind you for advice?

Read it again - I was not in MY car so had no spare change. We didn't have enough in coins. But had $1 bills which clearly don't work, which is why I got out to ask the guy behind me to exchange for coins. It was late at night and traffic was few and far between... he just happened to come behind us as I was debating whether to run through. He said he didn't have change (probably a lie) but took a minute to explain that I can pay it through the mail. Got it? Good.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I don't even know whether if I overpaid in coins, would it have still taken my picture? Why state "exact change" then?

 

[rh71]

Figures that's all you got out of that, right after I decided to take it out. What I'm asking is - would the basket calculate that I had the correct amount deposited if I went over since it isn't exact.

 

[MichaelD]

Silly City People and your horrible little worlds. The answer is so simple, but you don't see it. Move out of the cesspool, and you won't have to keep money in the car to:

Pay for windshield cleanings effected with urine, spit and captured armpit sweat. You live in the center of the cesspool and nobody can help you.
Pay for parking meters. Really? Pay to park? If you're doing this, you're living in the wrong place!
Pay for drive up drug buys. Really? You do drugs? You've already lost. Just sell your vehicle for fair market value in drugs and smoke/sniff/inject it on a bender. You're headed there anyway.
Pay for drive thru food...well OK ....got me there.

 

[MongGrel]

Silly City People and your horrible little worlds. The answer is so simple, but you don't see it. Move out of the cesspool, and you won't have to keep money in the car to:

Pay for windshield cleanings effected with urine, spit and captured armpit sweat. You live in the center of the cesspool and nobody can help you.
Pay for parking meters. Really? Pay to park? If you're doing this, you're living in the wrong place!
Pay for drive up drug buys. Really? You do drugs? You've already lost. Just sell your vehicle for fair market value in drugs and smoke/sniff/inject it on a bender. You're headed there anyway.
Pay for drive thru food...well OK ....got me there.

 

[Muse]

So you leave money in the vehicle that will be washed away or buried by most of those natural disasters?

I'm putting $100 at risk of loss in exchange for the advantage it may afford me in the event of a catastrophe of some kind that makes access to that money advantageous. It's a gamble I'm willing to take. A natural or generally personal disaster has the potential of making you very unhappy and uncomfortable for a while. The loss of $100, everything else being equal would not affect me all that much. You should see everything else I have in my car to mitigate the impact of something happening. There's enough to keep me alive and relatively comfortable for a few days.

 

[holden j caufield]

Have to keep like 20 or 40 in the cars. I've been to gas stations that say their CC broke down or use that as an excuse to make people pay cash. Always so loose change for parking too. Also I suggest keeping some water, granola bars, blanket and some tools.

 

[Muse]

Have to keep like 20 or 40 in the cars. I've been to gas stations that say their CC broke down or use that as an excuse to make people pay cash. Always so loose change for parking too. Also I suggest keeping some water, granola bars, blanket and some tools.

Throw in a flashlight, extra batteries, a first aid kit, flares, spare tire, a sweat shirt.

 

[Ruptga]

No, and not sure why anyone would do that.

 

[pcgeek11]

I always have 60 to 100 dollars in my wallet. Why leave money in a car?

 

[Childs]

I keep $20 in the sunglasses holder. Every so often it comes in handy when I forget my wallet or something. Plus, at any give time theres like $5-$10 in coins in the ashtray. I mainly use it reduce change at drive thrus, but for some reason I always have more.

 

[Drako]

It seems to me that the discombobulated need to store money in cars and other hidey holes. It's an attention deficit issue. Just an amatuer psychiatrists expert analysis.