Protection from theft - how do you protect yours?

[Tomson]

Hi everyone,

watched a program on demand 5 this evening about auto theft in the UK. As much as it annoyed me, it did make me think about what are the best current methods available to protect our pride and joys...

so far I'm aware of methods like OBD relocation, OBD wire pin re-arrangement (requires custom cable to read the OBD for future use), pull OBD fuse and disklok. I've also seen these new OBD protection lock that's apparently "thatcham approved" but there aren't many about and non of them seem to be branded considering they have been approved (that I can find).

i was thinking about just getting a disklok as I've read there are no reported cases of thieves getting past them, yet on YouTube there's a UK video showcasing a new Land Rover Defender having a disklok disc removed in 3 mins 30...

 

what are you guys using here to slow down these nightmares wishing to take our toys and shipping them off overseas?

[jeebowhite]

You cannot stop a dedicated thief, you can only ever delay them enough to put them off or have them found and caught.

The more you can physically put them off, they will look elsewhere for an easier ride.

Disklok, gear and handbrake lock, obd relocation, physical obstruction of the car and the road.

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[jmurray01]

Thankfully I live in an area where car theft is practically unheard of, so all I do is lock the doors!  That said, I may be a bit naive to think this - but a thief isn't going to go for an old car with very little street value, so I suspect that I wouldn't be very high up on their target lists with a 16 year old Ford Focus and two 20 year old Peugeots, one of which doesn't even start - so good luck stealing that!!

I think the best thing is to have a tracker fitted to your car, because if a thief is dedicated enough they will steal it, but if you know where they are then you still have a chance of getting it back.

[GMX]

17 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

Thankfully I live in an area where car theft is practically unheard of, so all I do is lock the doors!  That said, I may be a bit naive to think this - but a thief isn't going to go for an old car with very little street value, so I suspect that I wouldn't be very high up on their target lists with a 16 year old Ford Focus and two 20 year old Peugeots, one of which doesn't even start - so good luck stealing that!!

You say that but, back in 1980's, in the same sort of car theft unheard of area,  I did have a 12 year old Cortina stolen.  Not by someone wanting the parts, nor by a joyrider or someone wanting to sell it on, but by someone who didn't want to fork out for a taxi to get home from a party.

It was stolen in the wee hours and I got it back in the afternoon.

Having reported it to the local police when i noticed it had disappeared, and been told it was probably gone for good,  probably joy ridden and burnt out somewhere by now

it was actually found by my brother by chance in the afternoon, on an estate 7 miles away!   He had to make a detour on his way to rugby practice, to pick up someone else he didn't usually give a lift to.  There was my missing Cortina sitting in the drive opposite to his rugby mate's house He phoned me and then the police.  We were unsure of the procedure of recovering your own car from someone else's drive .The police picked me up, and I went to recover my Cortina whilst they ascertained whether the occupant was the thief.

Not a lot happened to him as he co-operated, readily admitting he took it to get home.  I think he was cautioned

After that I fitted a hidden switch to my LT circuit, at least to hamper anyone else using it lieu of a taxi.  Which I embarrassingly forgot I'd done so about a week later and then flattened the entire battery trying to start it one night

 

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[jeebowhite]

Trackers are good but If you publicise it then you get some clever jack with a gps jammer.

I could buy one for 14 quid if I so wished

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[jmurray01]

On 05/09/2016 at 4:47 PM, GMX said:

You say that but, back in 1980's, in the same sort of car theft unheard of area,  I did have a 12 year old Cortina stolen.  Not by someone wanting the parts, nor by a joyrider or someone wanting to sell it on, but by someone who didn't want to fork out for a taxi to get home from a party.

It was stolen in the wee hours and I got it back in the afternoon.

Having reported it to the local police when i noticed it had disappeared, and been told it was probably gone for good,  probably joy ridden and burnt out somewhere by now

it was actually found by my brother by chance in the afternoon, on an estate 7 miles away!   He had to make a detour on his way to rugby practice, to pick up someone else he didn't usually give a lift to.  There was my missing Cortina sitting in the drive opposite to his rugby mate's house He phoned me and then the police.  We were unsure of the procedure of recovering your own car from someone else's drive .The police picked me up, and I went to recover my Cortina whilst they ascertained whether the occupant was the thief.

Not a lot happened to him as he co-operated, readily admitting he took it to get home.  I think he was cautioned

After that I fitted a hidden switch to my LT circuit, at least to hamper anyone else using it lieu of a taxi.  Which I embarrassingly forgot I'd done so about a week later and then flattened the entire battery trying to start it one night

 

.

 

 

 

These days he would have been arrested not for stealing the car, but solely because he'd have been drink driving!  Things were much more lenient back then.

As for flattening the battery - that's the kind of thing I'd do!!

[iantt]

ford do obd locks apparently.