There’s been a spate of car thefts in the area the last few months, some awful stories of the thieves breaking into houses at night looking for the car keys. Cloning the key is another favourite. Owners with cameras seem a waste of time other than sticking the video up on Facebook and saying ‘look at these scumbags stealing my car’. Police are only interested if you can clearly see their faces. If the thieves can’t steal the car they whip the bumpers off in a few minutes, happened to my son outside his house at 7:00 pm Interested in options, suggestions please, understand you’ll never stop them if they really want the car but what’s the best deterrent - ghost alarms any good ? Driveway bollards ? Steering wheel locks ? Trackers ? Any particular fitters or brands recommended.
One thing I was told many years ago, which you already said, if they want it, they will take it, the more deterrents you put on, the more damage they will do removing them On the flip side, if some scrote stole your car, would you really want it back?
Really bright security light. They really don't like being seen. But if they want it they will take it. A friend of mine had a bike taken out of the garage in broad daylight, door was ripped open and bike thrown into a van with neighbours watching in a cul-de-sac. When she told them tne police were coming she was threatened with a crow bar.
Maybe something like this pedal lock? Combined with motion sensor flood lights? BTW why do the thieves rip the bumpers off in your area?
They can hack into the canbus system through the headlights on some vehicles. Best advice would be physical deterrent - driveway barrier, put in garage, steering locks.
Having bikes does make garaging impossible but it amazes me how many people keep a few £100 of tat in their garage but won't put the car in there.
On the flip side, if some scrote stole your car, would you really want it back?[/QUOTE] Probably not.. Security light is a good deterrent, when ours goes on we always look to see what set it off. We have a Kerry Blue Terrier who is a good guard dog and saw off some intruders last year, what they didn’t know is she would have licked them to death. BTW why do the thieves rip the bumpers off in your area ? Apparently, perhaps not so relevant now but because you couldn’t buy the parts, the headlights for example were impossible to buy new. My sons Golf was off the road for 4 months waiting for parts. I think a visible deterrent is better, a thief doesn’t know you have a ghost alarm until he gets in the car..
Having had quite a few high performance cars in the past, I usually had a mechanic install a hidden ignition cut-off switch inside the car. Never lost one that had such a switch fitted, but lost a couple that didn’t.
Yes back in the 80’s always had a secret switch hidden somewhere. Not sure it’s that easy with modern cars..
Whilst I take your point, the flip to that is do they REALLY want YOURS; or will anybody's do? If you put a couple of obvious visual deterrents in the way, will they waste time fighting past those or go elsewhere to something they don't have to try as hard for?
No personal experience of Ghost alarms but a mate who is into his performance cars recommends them. Personally I have a highly visible steering wheel lock on both our cars (lock keys on house keys, not the car keys), but have changed the house locks to Ultion locks to make it more difficult to get to the keys, https://www.ultion-lock.co.uk/ and the car keys are kept in a Faraday box as the ignition & locks are keyless (and the spares are in a Faraday pouch). If you have got a Faraday pouch, check it regularly as they do degrade. Depending on the car, a Bear-Lock might be an alternative; locks the gearbox in reverse (manual) or park (automatic) using a high security key. Again, no personal experience. https://theftstop.co.uk/bear-lock/
