Additional Security Advice

irishpartyboy

Hi,
I've just bought myself a very quick hot hatch. It has a factory alarm and immobilizer. I'm told however it is the type of car that may be targeted by thieves for either using in robberies or for resale outside the country i.e. get followed, break into house for keys etc.

Therefore I'm just wondering what kind of additional security do people use? Or is there any point if the twocers break in and take your keys? My Garda mate has been telling me that the scummers are breaking in, going upstairs, threatening the owners with boiling water outta their own kettle.. not pleasant.

I did have a Civic VTi previously but didn't use any additional security. I live in a quiet housing estate away from the main road so we don't usually get randomers passing that often. But I would be concerned about leaving it in public car parks and on-street parking....

One suggestion I've had is to remove the badges, so perhaps it won't be as noticeable, but I'd be reluctant..

Also suggested to keep in in the drive and block it in with another car but the old man doesn't want his bus rammed if people are determined to pinch mine.

Any comments / suggestions welcome.

cheers,
Brian

Fanboy

Removing the badges would make sense.

You could get a Clifford alarm with anti-hijack. Basically, any time the door is opened, and then closed, you must enter in a code on a little keypad with two buttons. Would be worth looking into.

That way, if they did get the keys, they'd make it to the end of the driveway and the car would conk out. At which point, you will have your baseball bat on hand.

fletch

First and fore most, what hot hatch is it?

MrPudding

fletch wrote:

First and fore most, what hot hatch is it?

And what is your address.

MrP

Anan1

Fanboy wrote:

Removing the badges would make sense.

+1. Depending on the car, they could be replaced with diesel ones or something. These days even standard models can look quite pumped-up, so it might be convincing enough. If the OP is particularly fond of the car, i'd maybe suggest changing the wheels too - they can often be a dead giveaway.

Seth Brundle

get a tracker with remote management.

irishpartyboy

Cheers lads, it's 02 Civic Type R, comes standard with body kit & 17's, UK spec. There's probably 3 Type R badges on the outside, could be removed I guess. The interior is totally different to standard, bucket Type-R seats , white dials, few badges inside too.. obviously very noticeable if someone has a butchers up close.

It's the engine that I really paid for, but the cosmetics are nice. One argument would be, why should I have to do anything? The reality of course may be different.

I'm currently living in Dublin 14, but soon to be moving to Dublin 16 with underground secure parking, I hope.

Brian

louie

Few years back I installed a tracking system (don't do installs any-longer so don't ask) for a customer driving a Bentley.
The only reason was that if anybody gets into your house and ask for the keys, you are going to give them to him as your life is more important and having a tracking system can help catch them later when things cool down.

So the point is that if your car is worth that much get a tracker installed, one that doesn't have any visual LED light or stickers saying - tracking system insatlled..

5500

Your car has a thatcham cat1 alarm on it as standard so you have 2 immobilizors to begin with,(notice the way if you sit in the car with the keys not in the ignition you need to press the alarm fob before it can start)

Its a fairly good system and hidden fairly well as standard tbh.Theres basically no taking your car without the keys.

No point removing badges ect on the car,it'l still stand out a mile over a "standard civic" especially to any little knackbag.Other than any other visual deterrent like a chain ect you can get blakjax as a stand alone system for your car.

It will piggyback with your current alarm so basically every time the car is started a pin needs to be entered,once the car has been started if either doors are opened again the pin needs to be reentered,the alarm starts beeping reminding you to enter the pin,if its not entered within 20seconds the car cuts out and is immobilized and cant be driven untill the pin is entered again.

If the wrong pin is entered 3 times it automatically locks you from entering the pin for 5 minutes.

Masada

irishpartyboy wrote:

It's the engine that I really paid for, but the cosmetics are nice. One argument would be, why should I have to do anything? The reality of course may be different.

no ones gonna take that kinda car for a robbery, its too flashy, the most popular ones at the moment are the Golf GTIs and the audi S4s as their quick and dont stand out too much, It would be a good idea to fit a tracking system on the car but as a cheap option you could fit a trip switch on it so that when you turn off the engine and flick this switch it cuts the power to fuel pump/injectors/starter etc, this switch can be hidden pretty much anywhere and is a very effective immobiliser.,
another thing is, dont leave your keys on "that" shelf behind the hall door, or one of them key rack thingys, thats just asking for trouble. always take the keys to bed with you.
as youve said your moving to an underground car park, this can be a good thing and a bad thing, firstly they wont know where you live in the apartment block so cant break into your home, but there also the whole thing about you not being able to hear the alarm. although with an EP TYPE R civic theres VERY little chance of them getting it to start, your main worry is people stealing sh*t from it,;)

Cheers lads, it's 02 Civic Type R, comes standard with body kit & 17's, UK spec. There's probably 3 Type R badges on the outside, could be removed I guess. The interior is totally different to standard, bucket Type-R seats , white dials, few badges inside too.. obviously very noticeable if someone has a butchers up close.

Also the 1.6 sports have the same bodykit on it, theres actually 4 badges on it, one on each sideskirt, one on the grill and one on the tailgate, all civics after 2004 have the whate dials(not with TYPE R logo though) and then theres the the type R serial number on the centre console where the drinks holder is..,:D

irishpartyboy

eireal:-

cheers for the info, im thinking blakjax might be a good extra option for peace of mind

vtec:-

your probably right about type R being too flashy to be stolen for use in robbery. its the green eyed jealous toe rags who would would love to break the car up that i maybe should be more worried about.

i'm taking the keys to bed with me but i think if someone wanted to keys badly enough, and push came to shove, id obviously hand em over. However, i will be keeping my 9 iron handy..

Masada

i'm taking the keys to bed with me but i think if someone wanted to keys badly enough, and push came to shove, id obviously hand em over. However, i will be keeping my 9 iron handy..

first thing is to tell them that it has a tracker if they do try it on but in the majority of cases they dont actually confront the owner, they just search the house usually,.
What you do want to look out for is people following you when your driving it, Ive had that a few times but if your not home yet just pull in and follow them and then they realise that your onto them and they pis* off usually,.
I noticed one a few weeks ago that followed me all the way home and then just U turned when i pulled in, a few days later i saw the car on a roundabout and I followed him home, he saw me and I think that gave him the message that if anything happened to my car then it was comming back on his house.,

bazz26

At the end of the day if they really want your car they will come in to your house and take the keys. And my advice if in that situation give them the keys. No point in putting you or your family in harm's way for a bit of metal. Yes your average scumbag who is an opertunist will most probably not break into an occupied house for the keys, they will try a softer target.

Taking off the badges will not work in most cases either as professionals and anyone half interested in cars will not need to see the badges to spot a hot hatch like a Type R.

Maybe the best advice would be to have a tracker system installed in the car and a top notch security system installed in your home with a panic button installed in the bedroom.

JHMEG

To add to the advice given here already, if it was me, I wouldn't do anything.. the car's security is already top notch. Unless there is a serious car crime problem in your area, in which case I'd give up the car, or move.

I think you probably have more of a chance of some jealous knack kicking your wing mirrors off, or keying it, rather than trying to steal it.

unkel

I wouldn't worry too much. It's a 5 year old car. It will not be stolen (to order) by a professional gang. It can't be taken by little knacker joy riders because of the immobiliser

And apart from that, the thing might be your pride and joy, but it is still just a thing. Not a person. You're probably insured so your insurance company will pay you if it gets stolen

what_car

bazz26 wrote:

At the end of the day if they really want your car they will come in to your house and take the keys. And my advice if in that situation give them the keys. No point in putting you or your family in harm's way for a bit of metal. Yes your average scumbag who is an opertunist will most probably not break into an occupied house for the keys, they will try a softer target.

Taking off the badges will not work in most cases either as professionals and anyone half interested in cars will not need to see the badges to spot a hot hatch like a Type R.

Maybe the best advice would be to have a tracker system installed in the car and a top notch security system installed in your home with a panic button installed in the bedroom.

well if the feckers tried to take my car they would first have to encounter my cctv, front and rear, PIR floodlights front and rear ( with sensor alarm), german shepherd, house alarm, solid bedroom door ..
i think my car is quite safe as are the keys..,,,:D im not paranoid about security..:rolleyes: another useful item in the bedroom, is a fire extinguisher ( dry powder one) a blast of that in the face, would definately disable an intruder.;) self defence of course

green123

sounds like an awful lot of bother and worry
not worth it for a machine that just gets you from a to b
buy a normal car

Masada

is a fire extinguisher ( dry powder one) a blast of that in the face, would definately disable an intruder. self defence of course

Id rather give him a blast of a torque wrench personally.,lol., at least ya know hes not gonna look at ya and laugh as your running around the room shouting "go away bad man" in your underwear with your fire extinguisher wackin him out of it with white powder.,lol.,:D

*Tripper*

My auld fella re-badged his car with 2.7 Diesel badges when he got it. Now we think that there has been a few attempted break-in's but the alarm ALWAYS goes off so that seds them running! But I think the badges have made a massive difference!

deman

I'd be much more about vandalism than theft with this. As someone said earlier, it stands out too much to be stolen, but on the other hand, mindless yobs could be tempted to leave a nice deep stratch along the side with a knife/key.

what_car

vtec wrote:

Id rather give him a blast of a torque wrench personally.,lol., at least ya know hes not gonna look at ya and laugh as your running around the room shouting "go away bad man" in your underwear with your fire extinguisher wackin him out of it with white powder.,lol.,:D

a blast of a dry powder fire extinguisher in the eyes, i reckon would be sore,
he could end up taking your torque wrench off you and giving you a severe beating with it! theres a good range with the dry powder extinguisher, and once you crack it, it keeps going until its empty!, so the intruder would look like frosty the snowman, and if you got him in the eyes, well that would disable him!. for a while anyways... i wouldnt use a weapon that could be taken off me and used against me.....

the best one is one that you can use at a distance, the extinguisher, or pepper spray, ( is pepper spray legal in Ireland).

irishpartyboy

I think the factory alarm is probably good enough. I think the real issue is that my folks are concerned the house will get broken into to look for the keys. So do I leave them downstairs or bring them upstairs...

Anyway I wont let the fear of some twocers trying to vandalize or pinch the car, dictate whether I should buy that kind of car or not.

cheers folks.

Del2005

irishpartyboy wrote: »

I think the factory alarm is probably good enough. I think the real issue is that my folks are concerned the house will get broken into to look for the keys. So do I leave them downstairs or bring them upstairs...

Anyway I wont let the fear of some twocers trying to vandalize or pinch the car, dictate whether I should buy that kind of car or not.

cheers folks.

AFAIK you have to take resonable precautions to keep your keys safe for the insurance. Leave them in a cabinet downstairs. If they break in and steal the keys, just say they where in your room and you heard nothing. A car is not worth a little bollox getting at the family.

As for the secure underground parking. If it's an apartment complex they are as secure as the laziest person there, that means totally insecure. People leave gates open etc. They can't steal the car without the keys and if you take the gate fob with you also they won't be able to exit, but all they have to do is wait for someone else to use the gates and they are out.

jimmycrackcorm

I'm thinking of locking all the downstairs doors from the hall. That would make it impossible to get upstairs or to the keys. The only thing is convincing the other half that there is crime in Dublin and don't be so lacadasical about home security.

Del2005

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I'm thinking of locking all the downstairs doors from the hall. That would make it impossible to get upstairs or to the keys. The only thing is convincing the other half that there is crime in Dublin and don't be so lacadasical about home security.

It would also make it difficult to get out of your house quickly if in goes on fire. Don't forget most people die in fires from suffocation not burns. Is your car worth more then your life?