The Importance Of Thief Proofing Your Car

Just by chance through a visit to a Ford dealer I found the perfect car-- a '93 5.0 Ford Mustang, driven by the old lady (proven fact) with only 50,000 kms. Other than the body stripes and gray interior this car was exactly like my brothers car. The paint was perfect, the interior immaculate and it still even smelt new. After checking the insurance and financial matters (and about 24 hrs since first seeing the car) the car was mine.
 
 

Two days after buying it, I took it to my brothers garage and we detailed the engine and its bay. Now it looked almost brand new. A couple more hours and it would've been show material.

Two days later (four days after buying it) I arrived home with my old car, just to find the Mustang not in my driveway. The weird thing is that I had all the keys.  It had been stolen !

I Still can't believe it. Stolen from my driveway, at about 10:00 am.  Nobody saw anything.

An alarm and a "club" device were arriving in a couple of days !

A few months later after receiving the insurance money, again just by chance a visit to the same Ford dealer, I found my next car. Brand new 98 ZX2.
 
 

Protecting your car is a priority in any part of the country (world) unfortunately. People can't just look, they must touch and worse some will also take.
What happened to" Thy shall not steal" ?

The other problem we encounter is people buying cars, parts, etc. that they know are stolen. This only contributes for more of a demand for "hot" cars and "hot" parts markets.

It is very profitable to steal cars and sell it's parts. Do not buy hot (stolen) parts, no matter how cheap they are ! You might not have your car for too long if you hang around people like that!

Step 1 of protection

Make your car hard or impossible to move from where it belongs:

"club device" - can't operate the steering wheel side to side
           - downside - thief's can cut steering wheel to take device off

"brake to steering wheel bar" - can't break or operate wheel
           - downside - thief's can cut steering wheel to take device off

"battery disconnect switch" - can't start the car from ignition switch
- downside - could interfere or turn off power to options or alarms

"Ignition kill switch" - Similar to above but it only disconnects ignition
            - downside -  relay might "burn" and car won't start with a key

Step 2 of protection

Make your car shock and motion sensitive

That means installing an alarm. They're not two expensive and range from around $100 to as much as you want to spend. Usually the more expensive the more protection you have.

A good basic alarm will include features as:

an ignition kill
a shock sensor (if something strikes the car)
a voltage sensor if it detects any power use out of the battery (courtesy lights on entry)
various switches that will actuate alarm if trunk or hood is opened or where ever necessary - a back up to the voltage sensor.

Other extra features include:

Motion detection detects movement around and in the car (through windows, etc.)
power door connector locks doors when alarm is on, unlocks when off (must have power doors on vehicle)
Auto on feature turns alarm automatically.

Step 3 of protection
Make your car visible from  satellite.
Technology is wonderful!
Some security systems now employ satellite technology to give you an exact location of your car. It's great for us males, no more using a map! It also can monitor your car when stolen. You can have an alarm installed that will alert the monitoring company. They will in turn inform police of the exact location and trajectory of the vehicle. They can also disable the vehicle by satellite, activate the horn alarm, etc. The only problem with this system is it's price, about $2000.00, depending on options.