Preventing stolen car

I from personal experience has learned that you cannot prevent your car from being stolen. I've been a member of the Transport Business almost my whole life and learned that the people who steal cars are the same people who are involved in building them. A friend of mine once locked his keys in a late model Audi A4 (B8) and called Audi assist, they arrived at the scene and broke into the car in less than 5 minutes. There is no way of preventing humans from manipulating what they built in the first place. My brothers Tazz once got stolen in Durban and the cops called him and extorted him R5000 for his car to come back and we paid up to the crooked cops as to get the car back asap and carry on with our lives coz a car is worth way more than R5000. My friend once bought a re built Toyota Quantum which got confiscated by the cops coz they figured it was stolen due to discepencies with the VIN Number and a month later the cops extorted R30 000 from him so he could have his vehicle back. My advise is to just buy a German car like the Polo you initially proposed and hope for the best. Lastly get yourself good insurance with short fall, deposit protector and a tracker, so when it gets stolen you can at least restore your life despite the losses. Good Luck.
 
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chickenbeef said:
My mum's 1996 Corolla was stolen two weeks ago, it had a fuel pump cutoff switch, alarm, immobiliser, gear lock and anti hijack. As others have said, if they want it, they'll take it all they need is a tow truck.
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Eish.
 
josh_lister said:
Any idea of the costs of a similar system?

I want to protect the car as much as I can. I know I can't against a flatbed or the like, but I want to protect the car against being hotwired and that kind of thing
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No, this is something you build yourself and wire into the system.

When I go surfing I unplug the spark plug leads but leave then in place for example so nothing looks out of place. Besides this you can also install a few toggle switches over the place to disable the car. Adding a phone with gps running of the battery in a weird place would be another great idea so you can track it online, if you can add disabling the car to it even better.
 
josh_lister said:
I'm about to buy myself a VW Polo 2012 (1.6 comfortline)
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You are going to get ripped off, for starters that 1.6 only kicks out 2 more KW than a 1.4 Corsa, plus everything standard on other cars like the Corsa is optional in the Polo, so even when buying second hand you are still getting ripped off.
 
SA car theft: Here's how to prevent your car from being stolen

Car theft is still one of the three biggest vehicle crimes in South Africa, and according to South African Police Services and various car tracking companies, the numbers increase each year.

'Prevention is better than cure', is a saying that holds much truth in every day life and is no different when applying it to vehicle safety.

How thieves operate

Earlier in July, Wheels24 reported on some methods thieves use to steal cars - -from stealing keys from your home, hot-wiring and even duplicating VIN numbers.

Australia's Car Trackers Club looked at ways on how you can avoid being a victim of car theft with a few pointers that would no doubt be of a benefit to car owners in South Africa.

Here are some tips to avoid being a statistic of vehicle crime in SA:

1 Be vigilant when parking

Park in a well lit and secure area when in public. At home, park your car in a garage if possible, as it would be out the eye of inquisitive thieves as well as being protected from anything that can damage your vehicle.

Lock your garage at night and an alarm system can only be beneficial. When parking in public, always make sure you park in the full view of the public.

2 Steering wheel locks

Having steering wheel locks is one step away from warding off thieves as it is seen as precaution that is hard to break through. It is also easily seen, thus having a good visual deterrent and could scare thieves away at first glance.

It would usually take a bolt cutter or hacksaw to disable a steering wheel lock and with that, thieves would therefore not want to waste unnecessary time.

3 Protect your belongings

Ensure that your items are not visible to prying eyes when stopping at traffic lights or in a parking lot. Don't give away clues that you might have valuables in your car such as satnav holders or auxiliary cables.

Items such as handbags or sports/gym bags, and electronics should be covered or taken out of the vehicle completely.

4 Know where your keys are

Signal jamming is becoming more and more prevalent, so when using the immobiliser to lock your car, manually check if the car is locked via the door handle before walking off.

Here are some more tips:

Never leave your keys in easily accessible areas. (Close to windows etc)
Don't leave your keys in the ignition while running short errands.
Never leave your jacket in public places with your keys in it.
Lock your keys away along with your possessions when going to gym.
When driving, lock your doors.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/Guid...o-prevent-your-car-from-being-stolen-20170705
 
FiestaST said:
SA car theft: Here's how to prevent your car from being stolen

Car theft is still one of the three biggest vehicle crimes in South Africa, and according to South African Police Services and various car tracking companies, the numbers increase each year.

'Prevention is better than cure', is a saying that holds much truth in every day life and is no different when applying it to vehicle safety.

How thieves operate

Earlier in July, Wheels24 reported on some methods thieves use to steal cars - -from stealing keys from your home, hot-wiring and even duplicating VIN numbers.

Australia's Car Trackers Club looked at ways on how you can avoid being a victim of car theft with a few pointers that would no doubt be of a benefit to car owners in South Africa.

Here are some tips to avoid being a statistic of vehicle crime in SA:

1 Be vigilant when parking

Park in a well lit and secure area when in public. At home, park your car in a garage if possible, as it would be out the eye of inquisitive thieves as well as being protected from anything that can damage your vehicle.

Lock your garage at night and an alarm system can only be beneficial. When parking in public, always make sure you park in the full view of the public.

2 Steering wheel locks

Having steering wheel locks is one step away from warding off thieves as it is seen as precaution that is hard to break through. It is also easily seen, thus having a good visual deterrent and could scare thieves away at first glance.

It would usually take a bolt cutter or hacksaw to disable a steering wheel lock and with that, thieves would therefore not want to waste unnecessary time.

3 Protect your belongings

Ensure that your items are not visible to prying eyes when stopping at traffic lights or in a parking lot. Don't give away clues that you might have valuables in your car such as satnav holders or auxiliary cables.

Items such as handbags or sports/gym bags, and electronics should be covered or taken out of the vehicle completely.

4 Know where your keys are

Signal jamming is becoming more and more prevalent, so when using the immobiliser to lock your car, manually check if the car is locked via the door handle before walking off.

Here are some more tips:

Never leave your keys in easily accessible areas. (Close to windows etc)
Don't leave your keys in the ignition while running short errands.
Never leave your jacket in public places with your keys in it.
Lock your keys away along with your possessions when going to gym.
When driving, lock your doors.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/Guid...o-prevent-your-car-from-being-stolen-20170705
Click to expand...

Half these points are common sense and you dont need to spent any money
 
It took them 2 weeks to almost steal it?

2 weeks in a row they almost stole it?

2 weeks ago they almost stole it?

You clubbed your friends car 2 weeks ago, then they almost stole it?
 
ubercal said:
Half these points are common sense and you dont need to spent any money
Click to expand...

You'd think, but amount of remote jamming stories I've heard from people I know at work and also from incidents in garsfontein (2 instances caught on CCTV, have footage on my phone) stands at 9 in 1 month.
 
josh_lister said:
Hi, I recently had my 2006 Toyota Yaris stolen in Hatfield Pretoria, which sucked. Now I'm about to buy myself a VW Polo 2012 (1.6 comfortline). I'd like to know how to minimise the risks of getting this one stolen, I just can't afford that happening again. Would the aftermarket immobilisers/alarms do the job? Or are they merely a deterrent? I don't mind paying a bit of money to keep the car as safe as possible, so any suggestions?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Buy a different car.
 
[1] Buy the cheapest sms cell-phone on the market
[2] RICA it in your name
[3] Activate a third-party phone-locator service such as "look4me", etc
[4] Find a secret place to hide the phone (eg inside body-panel)
[5] Using a 12V phone-charger, connect into car wiring
Now, when you report your stolen car to police / insurance, your home-built "tracker" can narrow down search area.
 
SauRoNZA said:
You can't do **** to prevent an attempted theft.

Get insurance.
Click to expand...

Huh? While you cannot do anything to prevent an "attempted" theft, you sure as hell can do so to prevent an actual theft.
 
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