Stolen Cars

[millerman]

This link will be of interest and a reminder to take anti-theft precautions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35716456

[amgrave]

After reading that article I don't think much of it applies to our moggys. Most of the parts are fairly easy to get and compared to other classics are reasonably priced. The work involved in stealing and then stripping them down and selling the parts to me would not be worth it compared to the rarer and more expensive to buy classics. The only thing against them in this respect is the fact there are more of them and are easy to steal. I will have to look into better security for leaving it in public for a day and over night in a garage (reinforced roof springs to mind).

[dudload]

the whole back of the lorry thing is worrying. if they do do that then my engine cutout switch and disklok aren't going to do much good. i did buy a window stencil kit, but haven't got round to using it yet, maybe i should.

beyond that, i imagine it's all about good or back luck

[charlie_morris_minor]

if you have a disk lock park the car with the wheels on full lock before fitting the disc lock. no it will not stop them dragging the car onto the trailer but hopefully it will make a bit of noise and attract some attention.

[amgrave]

If a professional thief wants our car there is not that much we can do to stop them. If you know what you are doing kill switches are easy to overcome and steering locks wont stop the car being tailored away. Without going into to much detail and giving the game away I wondered if fitting an alarm with door, bonnet and boot switches and with a trembler as well could work. So the bonnet could not be opened and the alarm disabled move the bonnet catch operating lever somewhere less obvious or even change it for a cable operated one in a different place. Maybe even find a way to key lock the bonnet in some way. Any thoughts on this.

[bmcecosse]

There is no real way to prevent it - although chaining to a lampost may slow them down a bit. In any case - no one bothers now when an obviously 'ringed' car appears for sale ! So good 'agreed value' insurance is probably the best you can do.

[SteveClem]

These kinds of thefts are still rare fortunately and there's little to be done. A tracker device helped us many years ago but it was devilishly expensive.

[dudload]

sorry for link again, but anyone ever looked at these before?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracker-Vehicle ... B003XDN58K

[amgrave]

I have thought about a tracker system but the problem with them is they need to have an aerial box in sight of the sky (the last picture in that link). If I were a thief the first thing I would look for is the aerial box and if I found it I would cut it off rendering the system useless.

[MarkyB]

The aerial box could sit on the rear parcel shelf of a saloon, it would be out of sight but still see enough sky to work.

[SteveClem]

They've come down in price a lot over the years. I seem to remember that we used to pay an annual fee to maintain the service. We used to get alerts from Tracker every time that Landrover Assistance recovered our Freelander. Which was very frequently..