Sign of the times

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Ford SportTrac Forum

Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

Rodger Tellefson

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2001
Messages
8,448
Reaction score
3
Location
Roseville/Sacramento, CA
Please keep you valuables out of your vehicle as these economic times. My daughter had her iPod stolen out of her vehicle today. They used a slim Jim, so it probably was a profesional job. This is the second time it has been broken into within a year. The store security that patrol the parking lot where she works and the police are of no use what so ever; as well as the apple web site :(. Any suggestions as to how to locate the iPod, or how to disable it from being used by anyone else?

 
No idea.

Hopefully you suggest instead of spending 200 buck on a new iPod, she takes that money and invest in a security system.

Bad things usually come in threes. :(
 
If they used a Slim-Jim and they were professionals as you suspected, a security alarm would not have detered them anyway. Simply not leaving high value items visible in a vehicle is probably the biggest deturent. They will not waste their time to break into a vehicle if they don't see something worth stealing.



...Rich



 
If they used a Slim-Jim and they were professionals as you suspected, a security alarm would not have detered them anyway. Simply not leaving high value items visible in a vehicle is probably the biggest deturent. They will not waste their time to break into a vehicle if they don't see something worth stealing.
Click to expand...



In theory, yes. In reality. . . my girlfriends car was in a parking lot 4 years ago or so. Nothing in it, the car was clean and empty. They busted out a back window and ripped the back seat down to see what was in the trunk (nothing). So having nothing in your vehicle does not guarantee that they won't break into it, but if they do at least you won't have lost anything other than a window.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Olaf,

I'm not sure why you quoted me, But you missed the whole point of my answer. No alarm system will stop a thief from breaking into your vehicle. It only limits the amount of time they may have to search your vehicle for valuables. If they see an Ipod on the seat or console, the alarm will not bother them. Yes, some dumb theives will break into a vehicle even when they don't see anything of any value, but the might think there is something inside.



Your girlfriends car was broken into by amatures, probably kids.. If it was a shopping center parking lot, especially at Christmas time, they probably expected to find something valuable in the trunk. If she had an alarm they may have not taken the time to tear out the back seat to get access to the trunk. But in any case, an alarm will not stop a thief from breaking into your vehicle, but can reduce the amount of time the crook will spend in your vehicle and visible Ipod does not take very long to steal.



...Rich

 
Richard L inquired:
Olaf,

I'm not sure why you quoted me, But you missed the whole point of my answer. No alarm system will stop a thief from breaking into your vehicle. It only limits the amount of time they may have to search your vehicle for valuables.
Click to expand...



Richard L,



He probably quoted you and responded the way he did because as I read your post about 3 times the main point I got from it is that the best way to keep your car from getting broken into is not to put valuable items in plain sight.



Then, Olaf quoted your post and described a case where that conventional wisdom didn't keep a car from being broken into.



TJR
 
Actually the first rule IS not to leave valuable items in plain site. Also, stay away from high crime areas. There are some malls in my area I simply will not go to because of the high crime rates. I do agree an alarm sytem is a waste of money, especially in a parking lot. No one pays any attention to them any more.
 
The best deterrent is to have a crappy-looking car. Back when I was in high school, my brother's car was broken into and they stole the radio. My car wasn't as nice and wasn't locked (I noticed in the morning). Thing is I had a brand-new Alpine system in my crappy car and they stole some pretty worthless radio from my brother's.



Same theory with speeding tickets. If you have a flashy car, you will be pulled over much more often.
 
The best deterrent is to have a crappy-looking car. Back when I was in high school, my brother's car was broken into and they stole the radio. My car wasn't as nice and wasn't locked (I noticed in the morning). Thing is I had a brand-new Alpine system in my crappy car and they stole some pretty worthless radio from my brother's.
Click to expand...



Best theft deterrent around. Nobody wants it, so nobody steals it, or even breaks into it. I had two or three cars that I used for street racing. Old sedans, original paint, white steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps. I used to clean the grease stains off the paint with comet. All with custom built engines and trans. Sound system was removeable, left the original speaker covers over new speakers, and left the original AM or AM 8-track radio in the dash. Never broken into even once. Had one that was much like the car Burt Reynolds drove in the movie "White Lightning". 1971 Ford 4 door sedan. 428CJ under the hood.



Then I finally started figuring out that my girlfriends weren't all that thrilled with them either! Maybe that's one reason I went through so many for a while there!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Was eating at Joe's Crabshack in Duluth, GA tonight. Chevy Impala rental car was vandalized. Driver's side door handle was pried open, lock assembly broken out. The door handle pulled out, loose, without opening the door, all broken to heck.



Seems someone tried to get into the car. Was parked near the building, in day light (thanks to daylight savings).



Nothing, absolutely nothing was in the car except the GPS which was in a bag in the console. No mount left on the windshield.



Gwinnet police assumed it was an attempted car theft. If they were looking for something in the car he said they would have broken a window...smash and grab.



I guess this is another reason why I didn't move to Atlanta.



TJR
 
Where I am isn't. Duluth is odd. Half of it is great, and half is the barrio. You were in the second half.
 
My old Trac was broken into when left overnight at the dealer waiting for a part. Stole my XM and all my CD's. It kinda baffled me because when I call XM to report it stolen, the receiver is instantly a paperweight. Then someone told me that they probably thought the XM was a GPS.
 

Latest posts

Top