Montana Bear Breaks Into Car in Wild Video

A Montana bear is apparently graduating from picnic basket theft to grand theft auto ... opening up a car door and jumping inside in a shocking new video.

We've obtained an exclusive clip of this grisly grizzly walking right up a driveway in Whitefish, MT, Friday night around 9 PM local time ... strutting up to the door and letting himself inside.

It's hard to tell exactly what this wild criminal is up to ... but he rattled around in the car for a while -- before heading on his merry beary way. In his defense, maybe he thought it was his Su-bear-u.

Sources tell TMZ ... this four-legged fiend didn't damage the car other than leaving mud and leaves around the door handle -- and the car's owners only realized what happened after they found the door ajar and checked security footage.

We're told a few bears have been wandering this neighborhood for a little while now ... and they've also entered some of the local garages -- probably looking for a snack.

Local authorities are working to relocate them to nearby Glacier National Park ... though it seems that plan is moving at a glacial pace.