Ideas to prevent break-ins and theft

that won't stop a tweaker. I lived in Salt Lake back in 06-07, meth is coming across the border and stops in West Valley.

As an insurance agent, I've learned that people will steal anything. lower you Comprehensive deductible. Alarms do nothing to mitigate damage and losses.

 

I think that might work if you're in the truck, but if it's parked somewhere and you're not around, doesn't that just say "hey there's an expensive shotgun in this truck up for grabs?"

Not trying to sound jaded but gun theft is huge where I live.

 

Nicer vehicles tend to get hit more often. Stereo, aftermarket product stickers attract attention. it says "hey, this person has money to spare, let's look". I've had claims where beaters have been broken into too though. Druggies are pretty random.

 

Nah ... you're over thinking it ....

..... just kidding

 

I can attest to this. I had my bag packed with all my dirty underwear on top and I was subject to a "random" search but I basically opened my bag and as soon as he saw what was on top he said "ok you're good" lol.

OP, if they are smashing windows arbitrarily then seems like luck of the draw. The best you can do is try to slow them down. Maybe some security film on the windows (it's like a clear tint that prevents the windows from shattering - it holds them together).

 

Maybe an aftermarket alarm with the annoying proximity sensor that will beep or talk when someone gets close to the vehicle.

 

That is epic! The fence part reminds me of a time some friends and I were having a big party back in college. This one random kids goes into the bathroom and we think nothing of it, except my one friend that had a feeling. When the kid exits the bathroom my friend goes in to check and found that the kid took all the shaving cream and covered EVERYTHING in it, the whole bathroom. He was making his way to the front door when my friend yelled at him. He bolted, and two friends took off after him. They chased him across the whole apartment complex. He was trying to scale the perimeter fence to get away and his shirt got caught up enough for my friend to jump up and catch him by the leg. They both dragged him down and marched him back to the party where the made him clean the entire bathroom before letting him leave.

 

A stuffed pitbull in the backseat growling, this would only work if you have no tint. That with some sort of system that turns on a pa system that growls when people walk by.

The PA system could also say things like "No i'm pregnant!" or "RAPE!!!" or have it tell jokes so that it can befriend the thieves and convince them that your truck/car is cool enough to be left alone.

 

I don't think you're far off in this thought.

A Beretta sticker could draw the attention of a prowling thief in the same way as a JL Audio sticker.

 

Install Porcupine seat covers.

 

In summary, get a big dog w/long leash an alarm that makes noise if something comes within 18" a huge sticker that says protected by xxx alarm, keep anything of value bolted down or out of the truck and add full glass while lowering your comprehensive deductible on your insurance!

 

are you guys putting crusty ass skid mark'd underwear on your steering wheels and on top of you luggage? something isnt right here

 

Alarm sticker, alarm red light

 

Move!

 

lol this is when I was traveling. I just happened to pack the bag that way but it ended out working well going through airport security.

 

back 'in the day' i was into building audio competition cars. so with $20,000+ of equipment inside security was an issue.

to this day i always put at least 10% tint on mine (usually 5%) , that keeps people from seeing inside pretty much, BUT the draw back to ANY tint is this...

ya know how they say to catch a thief or protect against a thief you have to think like a thief? well back then i knew of a guy that used to break into cars with high end equipment. (everyone knew he did, but he was good, real GOOD, never got caught, even bragged about it) so one day i flat out asked him about breaking into cars, what he looks for, etc. like everyone says, he looked for stuff in sight, looked for brand name stickers, like a sticker for high end piece of equipment, he looked at other accessories on the outside to kinda guess whats on the inside, and most important he would target cars/trucks. if he saw someone drive by and his teeth were rattlin from the bass, good bet that system would be gone soon!

1 issue about the tint though, he said yes its harder to see and you have to really look BUT if there is something in a car that has tint on the windows a thief wants they are the best to get into. you take a screw driver, put it at the top of the window and pry down, the glass shatters, but the tint dampin's the sound and the tint keeps the shattered glass in 1 sheet, so he said you literally just take the shattered window in 1 sheet and lay it on the ground!

so tint can be a good thing or bad thing. the advice he gave me back then is also another reason i DEBADGE EVERY car/truck i have owned and do not advertise what i have with stickers.

as far as protection a REALLY good thing to use, i used one on my jeep when i had a stereo in it, get a car alarm proximity sensor and hook to the cars alarm system. i had mine set to where if the top was off if you came within 2' of the jeep the alarm would trigger, set as sensitive as you like. for example, with an oem alarm, if some breaks your window and doesn't open the door, just climes in, it WONT go off! but proximity alarm is like a motion sensor on your houses outdoor lights, if it detects motion it activates. just put one inside and any motion will trigger it. also, we used to use little 'beeper' looking things, they would tell you if the alarm would go off if we were like in the mall or something, but they are wireless devices and have pretty short range.

simplest and best bet, keep stuff out of site, debadge/remove any advertising stickers, tint the windows if you can, and put a a proximity sensor, set it to where the sensor doesnt detect through the tint so if a neighbor walks by it wont go off and hook to the alarm.

o, another thing that guy mentioned was that people have learned to ignore car alarms, another idea is to add a second siren that makes a sound different from the normal horn honking or normal alarm sound, maybe a lil electric air-raid siren would get peeps attention

1 more thing he mentioned, this most likely wont apply to anyone here, but on REALLY high end jobs, he would use a good cordless drill and slowly drill holes in the battery from underneath the car and let the water drain out so the car had not power. the backup battery in the alarm only lasts so long. so even a top of the line system can be breached

LOL, another option, if you live in like a REALLY bad neighborhood, is do what my roomate did when were 18 and broke and living like 2 streets over from the projects...

someone broke into his little ford ranger splash he just bought, he walked out on the porch with an SKS and fired a few shots and yelled 'if any of you 'blank' touch my truck again thats your 'blank'

our car alarms used to go off all the time at night. NEVER DID AGAIN for the rest of the year we lived there, LOL! (true story, but j/j about doing that, i was pissed after he did it thinking the cops were coming, but in that neighborhood nobody called the cops for any reason! LOL!)


hope that helps

 

most peeps wont read a long post even if its good info so here is the 'cliff notes'

- keep stuff out of sight
- do not put any stickers on the truck advertising what brand stuff you have
- if you can tint windows
- get a proximity sensor and put in the center of the trucks interior maybe by the roof light
- add second siren with a different sound than a car horn or normal alarm
- last resort get wireless module that tells you when alarm is triggered

details in previous post

for the proximity sensor and siren you maybe spending $100 if you install yourself. tint, well that depends on your local guys.

 

Shoot I'm glad I live in the willy wags I even leave the keys in the truck and don't even know where the keys for the house are! We have two Great Danes maybe that helps.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc