My camera was stolen from my car?

My digital SLR camera was stolen from my car while it was being fixed at the dealership. Can they be held liable for the cost? My car broke down Friday and I locked the car and got a ride to work. My husband then went and unlocked the car and the tow truck came and took it to the service department at the dealership. I didn't think anything about leaving my camera as my husband used to work there and knows the tow truck driver. When he picked the car up Saturday he noticed something was different and called me to ask if I had the camera. I said no so he cleaned the entire car (we have kids and its been cold and wet so it was messy). He didn't find the camera so I called the dealership (after he did) and told them about it (again, after my husband already had) - they assured me they had locked the vehicle it was probably the tow truck driver. I called the police department Sunday and they said they would call me if someone came in with it. I am going to the dealership tonight!!

Dealerships, repair facilities, tow companies, storage compounds, parking lots, etc, are never legally responsible for contents of a vehicle unless they specifically accept responsibility. I have never seen a sign at any business accepting such responsibility. If the camera doesn't show up, talk to your home insurance agent about putting in a claim, if it has a value greater than 150% of whatever your deductible is. It sounds like the camera was regularly left in the vehicle, which is not the proper thing to do with valuable property.

Pretty careless. You are probably SOL, unless someone put it aside for you.

no they are not liable for it they have a sign at the service counter saying to clean your item out of the car because they are not liable

you are probably out of luck but when you go to the dealership ask for names of everyone that was in your car and also call the tow company and get the same and file a police report for stolen property. Then if it is not found and you itemize your taxes next year you may be able to take it as a loss if you have enough deductions. If you have full coverage on your car and a low deductible call and see if they will cover property stolen from you car.

Just file a claim with your home owners / renters insurance if the value of the camera does not exceed your deductible amount.

What about the tow company? They have lock out tools and just because you locked it doesn't mean that they didn't see the camera and decide to take it.

I can feel for you. My Konica Minolta Z3 was stolen a few weeks ago. I was helping to paint backdrops for the kindergarten/first grade program and another mom that was there to supposedly HELP, stole it. Only later did I learn she is a drug addict scum that drives drunk with her kids in the car (and has accidents too)! I would be happy to get my memory card back from her. It had pictures of my kid and family members on it. One thing I do know is if you have not already, file the police report and provide the serial number. It is one of the only ways for recovering if it ends up in a pawn shop. From what I have learned pawn shops turn in their pawn tickets each day and serial numbers are run through a national data base. I am not sure how much liability would be placed on the dealership since most of them have signs and fine print on their forms notifying customers that they are not responsible for lost or stolen items. I would make sure and list their name as well as the names of the people you know had contact with your car on the police report.
If you don't have the serial number, the best you can do is start doing some investigating of your own if you have a suspect, place ads in area newspapers and place posters anyplace that will let you hang one. In my case, my camera was a few years old and even though I mailed in my warranty card, Konica Minolta has stopped doing cameras so I have not been able to come up with my serial number. I have been doing my own research on my subject and tracing down everyone she parties with. My advice for anyone with things like this is to scan or take a picture of the plate that has the serial number on it so you have a record of all that important info and if something happens you have the photo you can print out and give to the police. I wish they would implant GPS devices into them!