Car security - tracker or another brand??

srichards

srichards

Suspended / Banned
Messages
10,968
Name
Suz
Edit My Images
Yes
I need to properly secure a new to me car. From what I can see the manufacturer security is laughable and the keys are easily cloned so you can just make a new one and drive off in a couple of minutes! I have no idea what brand to go for or who to install it. Only that Clifford are often awful.

It needs to preferably have a tracker, alarm, tip alert etc, geo fencing type and possibly some kind of extra fob or link to mobile phone so that if someone disappears with the actual keys then without the other device it will alert me or whoever. I'm not sure whether to go for an all in one or a tracker and then another alarm/immobiliser etc?

I'm leaning toward the smart phone solution as a fob thingy is rather obvious thing to have on your person with your keys. My phone is invariably with me so it would be less able to be pinched along with the keys.

Has anyone used 'securemycar' based in Bristol?

I'm currently using a disklok and they're a pig to get off even having the key so I'm hoping any thieves would take one look and leave it ;)

Any recommendations?
 
I have had a tracker on 2 cars and they seem ok never had to use it in anger though
 
srichards said:
new to me car.
Click to expand...
So what did you buy? :D

I have a tracker (monitor, I think the model is / was) fitted to my Porsche. Never had to use it in anger, and the only time it's been triggered is when the garage has lifted the car on the four post during servicing without having the key in the ignition, and once when I was messing around in the garage working on the racing car and sort of fell on it as I turned around:oops: :$. edit : the alarm wasn't triggered, just the tracker, so I got the phone call but no siren

I paid the one-off lifetime sub rather than the annual one, and since I've owned the car for 11 years now I think I've had my money's worth.

My car has an alarm / imobiliser built in at the factory and the siren has it's own lead acid battery so that will fire at full volume even if the main battery is disconnected (which is actually really annoying, as when the main battery is almost flat and all the car electronics stop working properly, it triggers the siren which you can't then turn off. Usually at 3am.)
 
Last edited:
Might look into the lifetime option as I'm cheap...
 
You may have done already, I noticed that with our cars it made zero % difference to the insurance. So unless there is sentimental value involved there was no logical point to it.
 
When I first bought my car, all the insurers asked if I had a tracker and which one, and in a couple of cases required me to submit evidence of same. Some required one from their list to be fitted before they would quote. Nowadays they don't, but it's 15 years old and not worth much any more!
 
My boss had to have two independently fitted trackers added to his car before anyone would even consider insuring it :lol:
 
Don't know whether there is any truth in it, but I have read somewhere recently that car thieves use devices to jam signals rendering them Trackers useless.
 
nilagin said:
Don't know whether there is any truth in it, but I have read somewhere recently that car thieves use devices to jam signals rendering them Trackers useless.
Click to expand...
When I worked for a firm that had them fitted, I was "advised" by the fitter, not to put a strong magnet anywhere near the tracker as it disrupted the signal.
I don't know if that's true or not TBH as I never tried it, why would anyone keep a strong magnet in the glove box anyway? :D
 
Last edited:
I heard they were defeat able too. I was looking at the secure my car smartrack system as well. They also offer a viper alarm which also secured the obd port against the key cloning.

Might be easier to stick an android phone with a long standby time and gps in the glovebox and set that to alert if it moves when it shouldn't.
 
Just get a Disklok and move the obd port. Chances are if they see the Disklok, they'll just move on anyway.
 
nilagin said:
Just get a Disklok and move the obd port. Chances are if they see the Disklok, they'll just move on anyway.
Click to expand...

Didn't realise you could move the obd port! That's a good idea.

I was also wondering about an animatronic tarantula that would sit on the dashboard...
 
OldCarlos said:
Years ago I got a little switch fitted under the dash that was connected to the petrol pump......simples!
Click to expand...
And on one car I had weber carburettors that required a precise sequence of throttle depressions before operating the starter motor else the engine would either not fire or flood. It was an effective deterrent to people driving it away, but also a right nuisance.

The old trick was to remove the rotor arm from inside the distributor cap.
 
onomatopoeia said:
And on one car I had weber carburettors that required a precise sequence of throttle depressions before operating the starter motor else the engine would either not fire or flood. It was an effective deterrent to people driving it away, but also a right nuisance.

The old trick was to remove the rotor arm from inside the distributor cap.
Click to expand...

A mate of mine had a MK1 Golf GTI. He used to lift the bonnet & take the HT lead off every time he parked. As you say, it was a PITA, but it never got nicked.
 
We use Trackers tracking system on our vans.
After initial install costs it runs at about £7 per month
 
Alarms are pointless as nobody takes any notice any longer.

A few years ago on an older model BMW I managed to lock the keys in the boot. No problem says the RAC man upon arrival. He then spent the next 45 minutes with alarm going off trying everything from jacking it to forcing the window to try and get into it with a full set of 'going equipped' tools and really struggled to get in. But the point is no one flagged it or cared and his van was parked around the corner so it wasn't obvious it was RAC.
 
OldCarlos said:
A mate of mine had a MK1 Golf GTI. He used to lift the bonnet & take the HT lead off every time he parked. As you say, it was a PITA, but it never got nicked.
Click to expand...

My dad used to do that too :-)
 
Many years ago, I had a column change (Auto) and the letters on the column never lined up.
As you know, you can't start an auto unless its in P or N
I was woken up early hours one morning by a copper banging on the door.
My car was half way down the road and at an angle across it,
As far as I could work out, some gits had pushed it off the drive and down the road a bit before trying and failing to start it :D
Had they got the gears worked out, I bet that they wouldn't have found the basic coil cut off switch either :D
 
OldCarlos said:
A mate of mine had a MK1 Golf GTI. He used to lift the bonnet & take the HT lead off every time he parked. As you say, it was a PITA, but it never got nicked.
Click to expand...
On modern petrol cars with an individual coil pack on each spark plug, you could just unplug them from the loom to prevent someone starting the car.
 
srichards said:
Didn't realise you could move the obd port! That's a good idea.


...
Click to expand...
Another trick is to move the wires around in the port, get an obd extension lead and do the same to the male part that plugs into your existing obd port. You can use the extension any time the car needs to go in for a service.
It may be worth looking to see where your obd port is and see if you can make up a sheet steel cover to blank it off securing it on the cars bulkhead in some way. If thieves are going to use the port to clone a key they are generally doing it through the car window, if they can't get at the port, the worst you will end up with is a broken window.
But if you have a highly visible strong steering wheel lock as a deterrent they will likely bypass your car and move onto something a lot more vulnerable.
 
All OBD ports have to be in reach of the driver apparently. I think mine is under an ashtray in the centre console or somewhere similar. Taking it out and putting in one of those springy jack in the box squeaky snakes might be another fun thing to do :)
 
OldCarlos said:
Years ago I got a little switch fitted under the dash that was connected to the petrol pump......simples!
Click to expand...

I have a factory fitted meta alarm, thatcham, which cuts the power to the fuel pump, disables the ecu...
 
Even the police are saying steering locks and discloks are the best deterrent!
 
stevetiler said:
Even the police are saying steering locks and discloks are the best deterrent!
Click to expand...

Yes, older-style physical security is having a renaissance I think. Round my way we've had a spate of Range Rover thefts - it takes very little to circumvent the security systems, even on brand new models. There are a couple of different technologies used by tracking devices - older radio-based systems such as the original Tracker, plus newer GPS and GSM systems. They're all ultimately radio-based, and can be jammed with a fairly simple piece of kit.

Thieves are very switched-on to tracking devices. At least one of the Range Rovers was found parked up in London - the thieves were waiting to see if it had a tracker or not, and fortunately for the owner it did. I remember a local job a couple of years ago where the thieves broke in to the house of an sports car owner whilst he was on holiday. He got a text from the tracking company whilst he was abroad and alerted a friend to go and check. The police were notified and quickly found the car (guided in by the tracking firm) - the thieves were found tearing out the interior looking for the tracker. They made off in the car and abandoned it a couple of miles away. It was recovered to the local pound, but later that night the thieves broke in to the pound with cans of petrol, threatened the staff and burnt the car whilst it was still on the back of the recovery truck in order to destroy any forensics.
 
i suppose the next trick is to disable the cigarette lighter so they have nowhere to plugin a tracker blocker...

Kenwood stereo is doing a good job of preventing theft as it's draining the battery in a couple of days so they'd need jump leads as well!
 
I bought a £40 one from amazon which I hard wired into the fuse box. Was brilliant and could send gps coords to my phone which linked straight into Google maps. Never failed so long as it had a phone signal . Obviously could be ripped out if found but a decent enough backup just in case.
 
srichards said:
Kenwood stereo is doing a good job of preventing theft as it's draining the battery in a couple of days so they'd need jump leads as well!
Click to expand...
The battery in your car is a massive great thing (I have some experience of the platform, but not your model), so to drain it in a couple of days your stereo is drawing something like 25-30W with the ignition off.... :eek:

Have you checked the door switch for the interior lights? They have about a dozen in all sorts of places, so if they don't turn off they'll drain the battery much faster than one might expect..
 
Wouldn't surprise me at all. The booklet recommended only using it with the engine running otherwise it would flatten the battery!

I did have a look at it in the dark to see if there were any rogue lights but couldn't see any. It is getting looked at tomorrow so hopefully they can find the source of the drain quickly.
 
nilagin said:
Just get a Disklok and move the obd port. Chances are if they see the Disklok, they'll just move on anyway.
Click to expand...

OldCarlos said:
Years ago I got a little switch fitted under the dash that was connected to the petrol pump......simples!
Click to expand...

onomatopoeia said:
And on one car I had weber carburettors that required a precise sequence of throttle depressions before operating the starter motor else the engine would either not fire or flood. It was an effective deterrent to people driving it away, but also a right nuisance.

The old trick was to remove the rotor arm from inside the distributor cap.
Click to expand...

OldCarlos said:
A mate of mine had a MK1 Golf GTI. He used to lift the bonnet & take the HT lead off every time he parked. As you say, it was a PITA, but it never got nicked.
Click to expand...

stevetiler said:
Even the police are saying steering locks and discloks are the best deterrent!
Click to expand...

Whilst they're good ways to try and deter a thief from TWOC'ing your pride and joy, none of them will stop a more determined TWOC'er from lifting your car onto a trailer or into a lorry and driving off with it.

If I had a more prestigious car that was more sought after than my trust Focus Estate I'd be inclined to use a physical deterrant AND some form of tracking device to cover all bases.

On the subject of alarms, my old car was broken into and I had several hundred quids worth of amplifier/sound processor stolen (along with my bowling ball :( ) There was nothing on display, no obvious reason to break in to the car while it was parked at a train station for a couple of hours.

I spoke to one of the car park security guard and he said he'd challenged the 2-3 blokes who were in my car and they told him to "F... off before they f.....g killed" him. The car didn't have an alarm and tbh it proves they're a little pointless as even when confronted the thieves just carried on.
 
julianhj said:
They made off in the car and abandoned it a couple of miles away. It was recovered to the local pound, but later that night the thieves broke in to the pound with cans of petrol, threatened the staff and burnt the car whilst it was still on the back of the recovery truck in order to destroy any forensics.
Click to expand...
Not your average opportunist thief then? ;)

srichards said:
The booklet recommended only using it with the engine running otherwise it would flatten the battery!
Click to expand...
Blimey are you running a mobile disco?
 
Cobra said:
Not your average opportunist thief then? ;)
Click to expand...

Most high value vehicles are stolen to order either for export to Eastern Europe and the Middle East or to be broken for parts. There are plenty of organised crime groups at it.
 
I was chatting to a BMW salesman while we were on holiday, specifically about the X6 and we agreed that it's possibly the ugliest waste of road space currently available! Apparently they're also very stolen and all but uninsurable in Germany (where the salesman is from) - not for export but for parts and even if the thing's welded to the garage floor, it'll get stripped for parts, presumably for other more popular models in the range.
 
Russ77 said:
Whilst they're good ways to try and deter a thief from TWOC'ing your pride and joy, none of them will stop a more determined TWOC'er from lifting your car onto a trailer or into a lorry and driving off with it.

If I had a more prestigious car that was more sought after than my trust Focus Estate I'd be inclined to use a physical deterrant AND some form of tracking device to cover all bases.

On the subject of alarms, my old car was broken into and I had several hundred quids worth of amplifier/sound processor stolen (along with my bowling ball :( ) There was nothing on display, no obvious reason to break in to the car while it was parked at a train station for a couple of hours.

I spoke to one of the car park security guard and he said he'd challenged the 2-3 blokes who were in my car and they told him to "F... off before they f.....g killed" him. The car didn't have an alarm and tbh it proves they're a little pointless as even when confronted the thieves just carried on.
Click to expand...

Chances are someone somewhere heard your cars stereo, made a note of the registration and had people keep an eye out for it.
Most thieves are quite brazen. A few years ago, the young lady who lived across the road from us came home from work at 6:30pm went in doors, got ready to go out came back out to her car at 7:00pm and found it still in the same place in the road outside her house but sitting on the brake discs and hubs. All while people were walking, driving by.
 
nilagin said:
Chances are someone somewhere heard your cars stereo, made a note of the registration and had people keep an eye out for it.
Most thieves are quite brazen. A few years ago, the young lady who lived across the road from us came home from work at 6:30pm went in doors, got ready to go out came back out to her car at 7:00pm and found it still in the same place in the road outside her house but sitting on the brake discs and hubs. All while people were walking, driving by.
Click to expand...

It's possible but unlikely...... the station was 17 miles from home and I was always careful about turning it down when I got near to my destination ;)

The only theory we could come up with was it was a non-standard stereo with a detachable face and a lot of people put the face plate in the glove box (I didn't) so they may have broken in to check the glovebox and got lucky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top