Securing my vehicle

[tucansam]

I believe this has been covered before, but I am looking for creative ideas (no joking please).

I am going to be rooming with a couple of classmates in an apartment near my new duty station. Apartment parking lots, particularly in the city where I will be, are notorious for break-ins. This particular city has one of the highest (if not the highest) vehicle break-in rates in the state.

I have tinted windows (pros and cons I know) and a small amount of stereo equipment (no I don't go around booming to let people know what I have, and I remove the face of my radio whenever I am not in the car).

I also have two scanners mounted (basically permanently) on the center console. External antennas, while low profile, definetely give away what's in the car.

I plan on emptying my center console and leaving it open (visibly empty) when I leave the car, and throwing a black towel over the scanners to obscure what is actually there. Park under light when possible, lock the doors, etc. I have a factory alarm. Whatever that means.

I am wondering how susceptable (sp?) I am making myself. I don't have any stickers on the car to show off brands or manufacturers like some folks do. My car isn't souped up in any way but its not a 1960s beater either (it may or may not draw attention). Its not on the top ten list of stolen vehicles; probably isn't even in the top 50.

I am mostly concerned about waking up one morning and finding a broken window, my stuff gone, and a thrashed interior.

What are my options? What can I do to further safeguard myself against break-ins and theft?

Many thanks.

[jcrich33]

This may sound too simple.

Get an alarm with a nice bright blinking L.E.D. (also, get one that enables you to have keyless entry if you don't have that already. It helps to make sure that your vehicle is locked).

Try and park in a well lighted place.

Try not to leave things out in the open of your car (seats, console, etc...)

Take every thing out of your vehicle that you can.

If your worried about your whole car being stolen, many good alarms have an engine disable, but the cheap way is to pull out the fuel pump or starter fuse (usually pretty easy. On many vehicles they are located in a inside fuse box). If it's older, like my '78 Bronco, I just pull the starter wire from the distributer.

Hope this helps.

[one-eyed-fatman]

I'd say stay away from well lighted area's. Thief's love it when you supply all the light they need to do their evil deeds.

I'll give you an example.

A large business with a well lit parking area was a popular place for people to hang out and party at night. Along with the party's came the broken bottles and the trash left behind. The people who owned the business had no idea what to do about it. Someone outside the company told them what to do. Simple solution. Turn out the parking lot lights. Once the lights were turned out nobody went there to party anymore. End of problem.

[JimLongley]

If you can find a way to do so, remount your scanners so that you can remove them, that towel is an invitation to see what's underneath.

[retired]

Get an engine disabler as suggested or do it the cheap way and remove a part as said. Forget the alarm, it won't do any good, just get the led light that makes it seem like you have one. Go to Radio Shack and get some alarm stickers and put them on your window.

Remove the valuable property and don 't use the towel as suggested.

Hope all this works, but don't hold your breath doing so.

Try to find an apt. that offers garages and move there.

Good luck.

[oldmantod]

I would go with the alarm, I recommend a compustar (they are the manufacturer that alot of people rebrand) and dont go cheap.

The one I have has a couple mile (claimed) range where if your alarm sounds, your remote sounds, so if you cant hear your car alarm you will at least hear the remote.

I agree with turning out the lights, I have heard that when you turn off your outside lights in the house you reduce the amount of riff-raff....

T

[jpxj94]

go buy an alarm and a cheap stun gun. Put the stun gun under the drivers seat, bypass the swich on stun gun with the power output on alarm, connect wires to prongs on stun gun, leave about 2" of bare wire on ends, then thread bare wire through cloth on the part you sit on. If they do get in past your alarm the first thing they are going to do is plop down in the seat and get a nice little jolt. After that they won't know what else you have rigged up and just leave. If it was me I would put a hidden switch to cut the power to stun gun while you are driving just in case.