How do you prevent your car from being stolen?

[sall4real]

Which car alarm companies do you guys trust? On another messageboard, I was recommended 'Compustar.' On my previous car, I had a Prestige. I am looking for a 2-way pager system that will alert me when the alarm goes off. Also, I have heard that having multiple sensors is a good idea. What're some good sensors to have? I have also heard that many installers put the "brain" of the system in the same place and car thiefs are prone to look for it in certain areas, where should I have the "brain" put? Thanks in advance for any input.

[KAKILLERS13]

take the stearing wheel doggy http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

[maxnix]

Which car alarm companies do you guys trust?

Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.

Get an auxiliary battery for the alarm. The FPCU rotary cut off switch is very effective.

[jamied311]

Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.

[Sil40_Mayhem]

FTW!

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/afric...r.car/

[C-Kwik]

If we are talking about newer cars like our G's, they are very hard to steal without a tow truck or the keys. The immobilizer and transponder systems in almost every new car now is very difficult to bypass. Most of the thefts of cars with these systems are usually because someone leaves the key in the car or even leaving it running and unattended. I'm sure a good portion of these are actually fraudulent as well. But even then a lot of legitimate thefts occur because people leave their keys in the car. In investigating these types of cases most of them would say that they warm up the car this way and do this all the time. It's only a matter of time when someone with the will to take it happens upon the car with keys in it.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau even states this is an all too frequent occurrence. Probably cuts the chances of a theft in half.

So the main point is, don't leave your keys in the car. Don't leave it running unattended. Even being within eyesight is not enough. I handled nothing but theft claims at work for the last 6 months. This is way too common and an easily preventable type of theft.

[autotech43]

Kwik makes a valid point. But with many years working for Nissan/Infiniti service, and seeing the many changes in the auto theft deterrent systems, if a thief targets your vehicle, consider it stolen. I remember from the old school, locks are for honest people. Now some of the tracking devices may locate the vehicle after being stolen, but I wouldn't bank on it! Just my opinion...

[maxnix]

And a welcome one. A flat bed can take anything.

Do come around more, autotech43.

[szh]

Now some of the tracking devices may locate the vehicle after being stolen, but I wouldn't bank on it! Just my opinion...

On the contrary ... they work very well. Not the LoJack type, but the hidden GPS tracking type.

One of our customers of my company (we provide a network service in North America) is a large insurance company in Mexico. In a recent report that they submitted to us, the results were amazing. In one month, they had 40 cars stolen with our tracking devices in them ... all in Mexico City. They recovered 39 of them before the thieves had a chance to do anything to the cars. One was not recovered.

The prior experience was such that they believed all 40 would have left been permanently lost. So, getting insurance on any expensive car from this company now requires you to have a tracking system installed!

Clear proof!

Z

[autotech43]

Thanks, excellent information and a very wise investment indeed! With my luck, the one that wasn't recovered would have been mine...Have a good one.CW

[C-Kwik]

Tracking systems are pretty good. Few people actually have them. When I handled theft claims the ones that did have a tracking system had a pretty good recovery rate. But all of them were stolen when the keys were left in the car...very preventable. The first line of defense(protect your keys like they are the car) is the most important. And like I said, with newer cars, the chip in the key makes it damn near impossible to steal short of a tow. So much so that many people are caught in fraudulent theft claims when forensics look at the vehicle and discover the ignition was not defeated and the owner has all keys.

The following is a good guideline:

http://www.nicb.org/uploaded_d...t.pdf