Car was Broken into

[BakersChoice]

Hi all,

So last night my car was broken into. I leave the door unlocked so no one slashes the top and good news is, it worked. However, some a**hole decided they wanted my ignition switch more than I do(mine wasn't mounted in all the way) and made a mess of the glovebox, probably looking for a trunk release to reconnect the battery and hot-wire the thing.

So I guess what I'm looking for are security measures everyone here as installed for their car that gives them some piece of mind. Besides the kill switches for ignition, fuel pump, and starter, are there any good security systems for our cars or for convertibles in general?

They didn't take anything of value but it's frustrated that now I have to fork up money for a new ignition switch, but I'm worried they may make a revisit to my car as they now have the ignition switch, cause I have no idea why they would want to keep it other than to attempt a try at my car again.

[DieselSpider]

I use a club type steering wheel lock and by nature the diesel with no automatic glow plug system is difficult to start unless you know exactly what you are doing.

A friend of mine tried one of those ultrasonic alarms that makes a sound that causes nausea and vomiting. The thief got dizzy cutting himself in his haste to get away leaving blood and vomit behind aside from the damage he caused trying to steal the car.

I had an alarm with a pager on one car which worked out well enough but would false cycle when kids with the multi-gigawatt sub woofers in their cars drove by. In another car I tried one of those integrated hood lock/ignition kill devices and mostly it would freeze up in the winter leaving me stranded in foul weather. On motorcycles friends have tried the full Immobilizer System which has a matching ECU, Fuel Pump and Ignition Switch with an encoded key and once one part of the system was violated you had to replace it all with another matched set so most often one would loose the master key and have to go through a major ordeal to get their vehicle running again or the insurance company would total the vehicle after a failed theft attempt since it cost too much to repair the Immobilizer.

Some have had good results from installing a motion activated web camera streaming video online to alert them and let them catch thieves in the act. Many put out two real cameras, one as a dummy to attract attention so a determined thief will waste effort trying to defeat it while another hidden one that actually does the recording alerts you to their actions.

Nothings perfect and sometimes a just making the car look less appealing to thieves is the best option.

[argonaut]

Park it in a safer place???

All joking aside I also leave my car unlocked at all times. But this is my first convertible and I didn't give much thought to someone trying to steal it. Now I'm scared.

Did this happen at your home or parked out somewhere else?

[BakersChoice]

This happened at my house and the car has been sitting for about a week. In my haste I thought someone might try to steal my car, but I think someone was just walking by checking cars to see if they were accessible and if so, what was inside. I doubt they even care what they picked up out of my car.

I love that idea of a nauseating/dizzying car alarm, I will have to look into that. I've been looking into a viper car alarm and there's a place locally that will install it.

As for people stealing your car, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Our cars are fairly unique which make it awful for car thieves, as they stick out like a sore thumb and you can't chop them up for profits like you can with a honda/Acura.

[RRoller123]

It's possible that some Bozo was just looking for a ride home, and rummaged through the glovebox looking for a spare key. It happened to me in Hopkinton MA after a large neighborhood Halloween party, my old nearly worthless 230,000 mile Volvo disappeared out of the driveway, only to turn up in the next town, at an apartment complex parking lot, undamaged, in the Spring.

[spiderdan]

Sounds like a crack head looking for anything not bolted down.
I'm sure his dealer will be willing to trade a nice chunk of meth for that ignition switch.

You could get a "Terri" alarm.
https://youtu.be/8mO3buujTXs

[KevAndAndi]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but... Our car cannot be locked as the PO changed out the door latches and there's no key for the new ones. I have the old latches. Can the old cores be moved to the new latches? Alternatively, is there a key code somewhere that would enable me to have a key made for the new latches?

[lglade]

Tried and true, Trunk Monkey Theft Retrieval System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFqr3_frh3Q

But seriously, sorry to hear of your break-in. I generally leave my car unlocked too, for the reasons already cited. With a convertible top, the door locks are more likely to keep me out of the car than anyone else with bad intentions.

[124JOE]

hey BC i feel for you but you had it covered with the batt cut off "you still have your car "
i hope you called the cops,then you can report it to the insurance co and ask them about a gps tracker

[TX82FIAT]

A loud alarm is about all you can really do. I leave my car unlocked with valuables locked either in the trunk or the glove box. I have a kill switch above the battery box in the trunk. Outside of a loud alarm, you really can not prevent a break in. I would avoid parking it on the street overnight if at all possible. Its an attractive car that beggs/invites ingnorant people to assume it is worth a lot more than it is and the temptation of something of value being inside. A locked car only adds to the temptation that there is something of value laocked inside. If unlocked they may rumage around but hopefully will not damage anything.

Is there a cheap alrm system that anyone would recommend?

[124JOE]

most all car alarms are for cars with power locks and windows
as our cars don't have them an alarm dose not do much good but make noise
if you want to keep them out then get a doberman to live in the car
that would keep me out

[DieselSpider]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but... Our car cannot be locked as the PO changed out the door latches and there's no key for the new ones. I have the old latches. Can the old cores be moved to the new latches? Alternatively, is there a key code somewhere that would enable me to have a key made for the new latches?

Yes and the old pins can be moved to the new lock cores too. Lots of options if you have both full sets.

[BakersChoice]

Thank you all for the replies and your sympathy. Sorry to hear about your cars/Volvo.

Yeah I don't think it was anyone looking to steal the car, or gave up when he couldn't find a key in the glovebox, (they didn't even close the door behind them so someone was in a rush) but just trying to find something to trade to his dealer for drugs, there's been a shady guy around my apartments and I suspect it may be him. You know the type, cruising around on his bike really slowly, backpack on when he clearly doesn't go to school, long trench coat in sunny weather, etc. etc. Anyways, not much I can do now other than check on my car periodically at night to make sure he doesn't decide to get more ambitious. Which he can't cause I removed the battery entirely if he decides to get into the trunk.

As for the alarm system, there's a local shop here that will install an alarm that I can leave on with the door unlocked, and it will sense small impacts, and give off a warning, and if someone gets into the car or creates a large impact, like braking a window, the alarm will go off, and be hooked up to the emergency flashers. Also, he said he could put in a tilt sensor in case someone wants to run away with a wheel, but we'll see about that, our wheels are so small that once again, they probably don't have much use for anything else. Plus while the alarm is going off, it will kill the starter so no one can hot wire the thing and take off with it. I really like this option cause I get to leave the doors unlocked so no worries about someone cutting my top. The guy seems real knowledgeable and he says it'll run me roughly $330. Which for me is worth it, cause now I've already lost $119 to an ignition switch.

I'm still pissed someone stole that, it's completely useless for any other application, unless someone was looking to revisit and steal the neighbors 124 Wagon or my Spider.

Edit: It'll be sometime before the alarm gets installed but I'll keep everyone up to date with it and try to get some details so if someone else is looking into an alarm system they have some good information when they're looking.

[spidernut]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but... Our car cannot be locked as the PO changed out the door latches and there's no key for the new ones. I have the old latches. Can the old cores be moved to the new latches? Alternatively, is there a key code somewhere that would enable me to have a key made for the new latches?

Yes, but it is really easy to rekey the lock once it is out. Just remove the tumbler and take it to a key shop. They can do it rather quickly.

[baltobernie]

So sorry to hear about the vandalism; its one thing if "it's just business", somehow worse if there's no monetary reason for the break-in.

As far as alarms go, there only one to get, the Original .... THE BEST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geynA-JYDHE