A driver in Fort Myers, Florida, was dismayed after his car was broken into, only to realize his dashcam recorded the alleged theft, WZVN reported.
The car's owner, Haiden Hartmann, said he routinely locked his vehicle upon returning home.
However, the break-in occurred "during the one time he forgot to lock his car," according to WZVN. The culprit made off with cash, gift cards, and Hartmann's student ID.
Dashcams have spiked in popularity in recent years, particularly after Tesla made the feature standard across its electric vehicle lineup in 2018. As this incident showed, car cameras are not just for securing objective evidence in the event of a collision.
On Reddit's r/TeslaCam, drivers frequently share footage of sights seen while driving, accidents, road rage, thefts, and Tesla vandalism. The latter has become increasingly common, potentially prompting Tesla's decision to increase recording history from 60 minutes to 24 hours.
In a June 2025 survey, 44% of Tesla owners reported that their EVs had been vandalized, resulting in an average repair cost of $1,900. The same survey found that a quarter of respondents caught vandals in the act thanks to Tesla dashcams.
On Feb. 16, a Redditor posted a brief clip of an unidentified person breaking into their 2017 Tesla, and fellow drivers shared tips for securing their EVs. (Click here to view footage if embed does not appear.)
"Do you have it set to send you a notification when the doors are left open or unlocked? My Tesla app will send me a message … if I leave it unlocked or a door is open," one replied.
Others recommended using a distinctive and humorous custom sound to make locking their cars a hard-to-forget habit.
"QUACK. Then I know it's locked," another admitted.
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$200 or more 💰 While the original poster — whose picnic blanket and tollbooth transponder were taken in the break-in — didn't report the theft to police, Hartmann did, and he shared his dashcam footage in the hopes of identifying a suspect.
He told WZVN that, despite the theft, having a dashcam recording of the break-in was a small but empowering silver lining.
"I feel like if I didn't have that video, I would be a lot more angry. I feel a lot more closure because I can actually do something to help maybe catch this guy," he explained.
Nevertheless, the feeling that someone had violated his personal space lingered.
"It was just a big invasion of my privacy," Hartmann said of the incident.
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