<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by kenny.c:
<B>What gearlock fits the scooby ? I have tried
2 different ones but the handbrake and the
gearstick seems to be too close together.[/quote]
some are better than others best advice is to contact your nearest cop shop see what stuff is being used on cars that are stolen and recovered. I know that some gearlocks can be removed fairly easily from the handbrake and the car still be driven.
Be interesting if they did a comparison test for the magazine

 

Ok, On a lighter note, it sounds stupid, but the only time my cars have been broken into or vandalised (happened 4/5 times) has been when they are clean and shiny! Now I know this won't stop anyone who wants the car but it having a dirty car puts off an opportunist thief. I have no scientific proof but since I stopped cleaning my cars weekly I haven't had anyone try and break in!

 

I have a mate who lives in the Birmingham area, two masked men tried to batter thier way into his house, buggering a few windows and doors at in the process. They kept attacking the house even though my mate had called the law and was managing to keep them out by blocking the front door. A third person in a Skyline eventually called them away, bet he was listening to the police. He is now selling the scooby rather than risk his family .

Someone needs to catch these *******s before they injure someone.

 

Just add my comments to this for what it is worth.

There have unfortunately been a couple of threads like this recently, which just to go show what a sh!te state of affairs we have got ourselves into with our politically correct society (you know the kind of thing - thieves and other scum are victims too )

Two thoughts have come to mind. Firstly no matter how much you like your car - it is only a piece of metal and this is why we pay large insurance premiums. It is not worth risking the safety of you and your family just to protect the car. Secondly, if you still want to stop the scum nicking your car, I believe it is possible to enable the alarms on the UK cars to use the keypad in addition the remote control.

Chris (depressed and fed up to be reading these sort of threads again)



[This message has been edited by Chris L (edited 03 March 2001).]

 

I'm Sh*@ing myself now.. Whats next car jacking at traffic lights, Bump and Hijack.

This ain't fun anymore!

 

Don't knock it - didnt Gary Mabbut have a couple of guys jump in his car a couple of weeks ago? Mind you if you will own a watch worth more than the average wage....

Meanwhile - I'll be putting my steering lock on my car the next time I have to drive it into Birmingham - specially when i get my new one next weekend!

 

I have to leave my car on the drive at night as our garage is way too small.
As well as the obvious alarm and immobiliser I ALWAYS fit a Halfords disclock and wheelclamp - and I'm considering a much more hefty wheelclamp. Also the car is right beneath our bedroom window (not double glazed) so we hear almost everything outside. Dog too.

A few months ago we heard some movement outside at around 3am and I saw a figure by the car. I presumed this was just my next door neighbour but had to make sure. I ventured outside with our biggest kitchen knife in my back pocket - don't care what anyone says, if some f**ker trys to steal my car I'm gonna do them some serious damage given the chance. Luckily for me the coast was clear.

Vigilance.

 

Beware anyone who "befriends you" via the internet and then starts to enquire about the particulars of your car security!

The internet is perfect for conmen and other nefarious types!

A throw away comment, e.g. I am off on holiday for 2 weeks.....I wish I could take the car etc....would be an open invitation for a villain who has befriended you to pay your car a visit etc!

 

Yeah, this dodgy bloke called Simon de Banke was asking all about my security the other day. The police should track these people down!

(Anders' warning is very valid - everyone on here isn't necessarily nice...)

 

Vmax

I afraid it is already happening - if you happen to be driving through parts of Slough, I would strongly suggest keeping your doors locked, your windows up and leave enough space infront of you to manouver if you are caught in traffic. I work in Slough and we have already been advised about this.

Targets are typically 'flash' cars such as Scooby and 'company cars' as there is a good chance that these will have mobile phones / laptops etc in them (that's another point - never keep a laptop in your car - even if you are in the car with it - put it in the boot).

Nortel have also reported problems at their Maidenhead office where employees have been targeted at local pubs and restaurants.

It is getting pretty bad...

Chris

 

hi

for my two pennies worth our company is developing a digital camera system that would monitor your car at home and if it even moved a "mm" would sound every alarm you wanted to have attached to it, ring your mobile, call the police all at the same time.

I have one fitted monitoring my garage all the time, although its a Beta test, you can even dial in over the Net to look at your pride and joy ..

We are also developing something that will sit hidden within the car so that should it go walkies by itself at least you might get a piccie of the sod thats stealin it.

Greg

 

From the post so far, the majority opinion is that the house/occupant is the weak point in the cars security provided the car itself is in a garage and has good security.

Few people would argue with several large gentlemen with weapons if all you have on is your trolleys. I have two additional security features that would help in this situation:

1: the car will not go far even if it is stolen - for obvious reasons I'm not prepared to discuss how this works - talk to your car security dealers.

2: the second and more interesting feature is something I have set up myself. At present it is a project and not very good but there is much room for improvement.... Judging from Greg's comments above it seems like there is some ongoing development in this area....

I have a digital camera called a web cam Go. Its a toy really, but comes with some interesting software. It can take stills and video. The really nice touch is that it has movement detection software free with the package. It can even e-mail anything it spots to you. Can you see the possibilities???

The video quality is poor but I will get a better camera as prices come down and will have them pointed at the front and back doors too in time. This would make it impossible for anyone to break in without being seen recorded and the pictures of them out of the house and onto the internet before they have the chance to break in and switch the computer off. They could cut the phone line but I might have Wireless DSL or the computer could be connected to a mobile.

You might not be able to stop someone who is determined from stealing your car but I'm sure the cops would be a little more enthusiastic about catching some criminals if you actually supplied them with pictures (but don't bank on it). When the crooks get arrested it will become relatively easy to find out their address and then the boots on the other foot.

Some of you guys are into IT. I am not. Perhaps you can think of even better ideas.

 

P1, What camera r u using for this??? I know of a german small cctv camera with inbuilt processing, ram and modem x capabilites along with rs232!

Paul M

 

that sounds cool, you got any more details?

 

This is my first post on this board, having had a look around for the last couple of days.

Noel Edmunds (spelling?) was developing a system where there was a camera pointing at the driver. If the car was nicked then a photo was sent from the car (one of his many Range Rovers) to either him or the police.
I saw this about 2 years ago so the system must be further developed by now!
The only problem I can see about the camera being out side the car (i.e. the garage), is that the thieving scum might be wearing clothing to disguise them which would prevent you from being able to get a clear view.
It's a very good idea though!

 

I always thought the Anti-Hijack feature of the Clifford Concept alarms was over-kill for the UK. Perhaps it's time I added it to mine.

Stef.

 

I can recommend the Anti-Hijack from Clifford. It gives piece of mind.

Interesting idea from Greg. What price will that kind of system cost and when do you think it will be available. Certainly worth further research.

Neil.

 

I get the impression that the more serious THIEVING SCUM wear balaclavas, so cameras probably won't help (other than let you see the crims approach from afar). I think that TOAD produced a dash-mounted camera for taking in-car shots though!

I am sure that there was a topic recently that suggested some form of "time lock" that *completely* disabled the engine for a fixed period of time. This could either be for, say, eight hours when you went to bed, or maybe triggered by a panic button.

If the LOW-LIVES thought that most Scoobies were time-locked, then maybe they would give up trying to pinch them at night. With a panic button, even car-jacking would fail!

Passive defences seem much more appropriate than trying to negotiate with a trio of THUGS and a twelve bore (and with you in your Jim Jams!).

mb

 

I really found it reassuring to see the Police trying to catch speeding motorists on the M6 on Saturday (Knutsford services southbound)

1 Speed van
5 Pursuit cars at 1/4 mile intervals
1 Camera car parked on bridge

How much is this costing and could the money be better spent? People get injured and killed by other things as well as cars.


KHB

 

my two pennies worth on car secuirty. Though i own an old bucket mk 4 escort rsturbo and am in no way in the same boat as u guys with cars worth genuine money.

A secret imobiliser. **** the cat 1 stuff, its great, yes, but if the chap stealing the car fits them for a living yer screwed. Fit some other hidden switch. there are great ideas like in actual seat cloths so as no one has any idea about it. Tell no-one about it ever.

ALWAYS lock your doors in a 30 zone... simple fact... forget the paranoia thing its not that its juts sensible. My routine for getting in my car is real simple. Unlock doors, bounce in immediatly pull door shut behind me and lock the door The door is perhaps unlocked for 3 seconds altogether.

At traffic lights etc, or the first time u slow down in a journey, ALWAYS check your door locks.

On top of that a motion sensor in your garge or an alarm as u said is a good idea.

i have other ones but they are secret... live with a complete physical nutter... that helps

rw

 

You know the clifford anti-jack thing - how does it work. If your stuck at a traffic light and someone opens the door,pulls you out and drives off, how does it know to stop the car - do you have to activate something first?

Jza

 

hmmmm...

...reading this post has opened my eyes to a lot of things and was certainly worthwhile. Anyone who know me on this board will know that mainly Im here in the RS cause to wind you guys up and have a friendly sarcastic banter going on, but when it comes down to security and theiving, we are all in the same boat and need to help each other, so this will probably be one of my few serious posts on scoobynet Cant remember who posted these, but cheers for the advice.

I DO have all my keys on one keyring, but as someone mentioned, at least if I was forced to give up my keys, if my keys were seperated, they may only have the alarm fob and starter key and not other security keys. good idea

House alarms dont have to be expensive, even cheap ones will do. I picked up a couple of heat sensor alarms that mount on the ceiling and are battery operated and pick up any heat movement in a 14ft 360 degree area (excluding heaters/radiators). It comes with 2 remote controls and batteries last ages. Cant easily be removed by a theif, and it lets out 130db high pitch squealing tone, all for £18!!!!!! worthwhile me thinks! If not, at least take your keys to bed with you and hide them in the sock draw or summat!

Cameras in cars arent really gonna be worthwhile unfortunately (unless a pro one like Toads 5p size camera that records to an indestructable black box in the bonnet) the connection to a house via wire/radiowaves etc would be too slow, and the camera would have more of a blurred image due to refresh rate. Look at cameras over the internet, far too slow and blurry, but VOICE works fine and has done for years, and is very clear over the airways ie mobile. Instead of a camera, invest in cheap voice technology ie a set of baby monitors!!!, one battery powered with rechargeables, the other plug in. Plug in at night and either leave the battery monitor in the car or under the bonnet, and anyone creeping around should be enough to alert you! Why Clifford etc havent thought of a microphone in the car already i dunno, as they have thought of movement sensors, shock sensors, glass sensors and pager systems, but a microphone is so easy, workable and alertive!!!!!! imagine hearing the wonkers then creeping up on them with a huge baseball bat to the back of their legs!!!!!!!

Invest in a private plate, rumour has it that its harder to track a private plate address/get details for than it is a normal registered plate (again, this is a rumour)

At night, dont do like me and missus and leave flip front stereo in glovebox, and locking wheel nut key in door pocket, YES you need them to listen to stereo and change a wheel if flat, but take them out at night, else like me, they will be away with your stereo and your wheels, and would have got in cos that alarm that you knew was playing up but couldnt be @rsed to look at in time... you know the rest!!!!

This one may sound very stupid, but there is a logic to it also. A friend of mine used to have a TVR Griffith and when out, used to leave the doors UNLOCKED!!!!! and why??? cos he knew there was nothing in the car worth anything (ie stereo, mobile phone etc) and knew that they couldnt pinch the car, so would rather a thief open the door (which set the alarm off) and then quickly look round and leg it, than a thief smash the windows or rip the roof, get in, then leg it!!!! At the end of the day, if your car constantly gets vandalised/broken into, if you have the *****, putting on a disklok, handbrake/gearlever lock and then setting the alarm, they are only going to have the same chance of pinching the car with you leaving the doors open as they would if they smashed the window and then opened the door, but if the opening of the door sets the alarm off and they do a runner, one less window/door to replace. worth thinking about.

Lastly, its a shame we all couldnt unite in some way. I remember the police brought out that sticker that meant the car didnt get used at night, and so if seen at night with this sticker, could be that its been nicked. shame the rs/scooby/evo etc board couldnt come up with something between us all that was always on show to either each other (like a sticker again or summat) or to theives when featured in magazines. Just _something_ that would unite thousands of people and may lead us to be more of a 'voice' against the police/tony blair etc. if only... anyone????

cheeRS

Andy



[This message has been edited by ANDY330 (edited 06 March 2001).]

 

I'm not sure if this has already been suggested, but in my opinion, the best security device for both your car and more importantly your family, is a bloody BIG dog.

I doubt they'd break into a house where there is a proper dog (as opposed to a dope on a rope), and if they did I'm sure the dog would be willing to 'play'!

If you see anybody messing with your car just let the dog outside whilst you're inside phoning the police etc.

I know dogs are expensive and need exercise, but at the end of the day having one may allow you to get a good nights sleep knowing that your car is going to be where you left it in the morning.

From what I know, you are not liable to prosecution if your dog attacks somebody whilst on your land!

Andy.

 

Millband - Maybe the UK should adopt the way they do things in Germany.

1) Buy Car
2) Get insurance
3) Give insurance card to dealer
4) Dealer registers car
5) Landratsamt (area DVLA) issues plates, only after the car has passed it's emissions test and TUV (mot) and got Insurance card.
6)dealer screws on plates and hands over keys

You are not allowed to drive a vehicle on plates other than the ones issued to you. So if you don't have insurance, NO PLATES!

If you sell the car you take the plates off and take them back to the Landratsamt(DVLA) and give em back. There is also two little stickers on the plates that at a glance the police can tell if the vehicle has a valid mot and insurance.

I know this would be a pain in the 4rse for the british government to implement and a pain in the 4rse for th british public to accept but IMHO it would cut down on car thefts, unisured drivers and untaxed vehicles.