Another attempt to nick my Octavia vRS

PaddyFagan

Hi Folks,

You may remeber my vRS was nicked a couple of months back (and recovered) - (Can't find the orignal thread - searching is disabled?). Well I was away on holidays last week and they tried again :mad: - same routine, took a rear window apart. I was very lucky, the Gardai (cops in this part of the world) where within earshot of the bell (at least the house alarm up grade worked!) and arrived at the house in under a minute - which scared the F***kers off.

Anyway, I this stage I'm at a bit of a loss of what todo, I really can't put up with my house being broken into repeatedly - I have a wife and baby daugther.... As I see it I have a few options:
1. Modify the rear windows of the house to make them harder to remove - but will this drive them to attack another window?
2. Modify the car to make it less attactive to the scumbags - how?
3. Sell the vRS - it's only four months old, I'd lose a fortune, and I really like it and have no wish to sell it apart from the scumbags breaking in...

Point 2, really interests me - what are they planning to do with the car? I guess it's either to sell it (as a whole or as parts) or to use it as a get away car for a robbery - Interestingly, a vRS was used as a get away car for a robbery a few days after the attempt to get my one. Which lead to a quote from a co-worker, "They wouldn't have bothered with yours if it was yellow, Paddy!", anyone any thoughts? - Perhaps, a re-spray would be the right option?

Paddy

PS The car also has an alarm and GPS tracking device - installed after it was recovered the first time.

Mr Magnolia

Excuse my ignorance but what's a vRS?? I wouldn't spray it as a re-spray devalues the re-sale price.

PaddyFagan

Sparks400 wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but what's a vRS?? I wouldn't spray it as a re-spray devalues the re-sale price.

The Skoda equilivant of the Golf GTI - my point is that if I can't do anything to discourage the theives, I'm going to have to sell my four month old car and lose a fortune, in this context the respray (and any affect on the re-sale value) might just be worth it!

Paddy

alias no.9

Well, one of my suggestions in the last thread was to get a kettle of boiling water, pour it over each of the vRS badges and they should come right off. Get yourself a different set of alloys too, they could give the game away even if there's no badges. Another thing to do if you have a designated parking space would be to install some kind of security post as a visible deterrent.

Hagar

That's good advice.
Many BMW owners remove the badges to make the higher performance cars less obvious.
On a negative note the size of the exhaust pipe is a giveaway.

AlienGav

Sparks400 wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but what's a vRS??

vRS

It's a high performance Turbo'd Skoda Octavia!

@Paddy... Do you really feel a respray is the way to go about this? It will make it a nightmare trying to sell it in the future. :mad:

Could you just invest in better security? Maybe two security posts on your driveway, visable camera, gatling gun on your roof etc..

Maybe rigging the fuel tanks with TnT... 50mph... BOOM!

I do sympatise with you tho, your wife and daughter are the most important parts to this equation If I were you... I'd try swap it for something a bit more run of the mill.

PaddyFagan

AlienGav wrote:

Could you just invest in better security? Maybe two security posts on your driveway, visable camera, gatling gun on your roof etc..

That kind of thing is on the cards alright - still thinking about how far down this road I'd want to go...

AlienGav wrote:

I do sympatise with you tho, your wife and daughter are the most important parts to this equation If I were you... I'd try swap it for something a bit more run of the mill.

This is really the key issue for me - I'm just having a hard time think of all my hard earned cash going down the pan, just because of these b*stards.

Paddy

PaddyFagan

alias no.9 wrote:

Well, one of my suggestions in the last thread was to get a kettle of boiling water, pour it over each of the vRS badges and they should come right off. Get yourself a different set of alloys too, they could give the game away even if there's no badges.

I'm not sure this will work - as Hagar noted the exhaust gives the game away - if I thought they where just "kids" looking for a fast car to race their mates in, I do it - but nothing about what has happened suggests this is the case.... And so, I suspect I'd have to go a lot further down the road of making it look like a regular Octavia before this would work.

Paddy

AlienGav

PaddyFagan wrote:

This is really the key issue for me - I'm just having a hard time think of all my hard earned cash going down the pan, just because of these b*stards.

Paddy

Why not put a few ads up on certain websites and ask someone if they would be interested a direct swap for your car?, instead of selling it back to a dealer or whatever. I've seen it been done a few times, with people in the same kind of situation. Might work out better that way for you!

I don't reccommend de-badging her, as the people who want it already know what it is! :mad:

Hagar

Have you got floodlights hooked up on a relay into your alarm?
If you light up the whole place, I mean really overdo it, it could help. These guys don't want to be seen.

Seth Brundle

In the meantime, make life as difficult as you can for them - big feck off chain, security bollard, security light, etc.

ando

I would do is get a cheap network camera from Ebay like :http://cgi.ebay.com/2-4-Ghz-Mini-outdoor-IR-wireless-color-camera-CCTV_W0QQitemZ5816227505QQcategoryZ48632QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Make the camera as visible as possible.
Put a lock on the steering wheel or a good old fashioned lock and chain, plus alarm. The more visible deterrents there are the less chance they will try and take it, although one of the deterrents isn’t much all of them together will greatly help. Put the car on steering lock so they can’t wheel it out the driveway if they can’t start the engine etc etc

whimsey

Not to put the fear of god in you. But a work mate owns a Skyline and
they have attempted to rob it twice. Both times they broke into the
house first to get all the keys including the security pole ones.

Now he parks the car in the neighbours driveway and the neighbour
then parks his Hi-Ace behind it meaning you have to break into two
houses first to get to it

Whimsey

PaddyFagan

Hagar wrote:

Have you got floodlights hooked up on a relay into your alarm?
If you light up the whole place, I mean really overdo it, it could help. These guys don't want to be seen.

It's not hooked put to the alarm, but there is a light on a sensor - they ripped it off the wall when the cops showed up and it looks like they cut at the wire with a knife - the light circuit in the house tripped. I only hope they got a nasty shock - there wasn't an crispy criminals for me to dance on when I got home though :rolleyes:

Paddy

prospect

Options to improve security:

1. Get a high quality disc wheel lock. (€85 approx)
2. Get a security pole installed in your driveway (not sure of price)
3. Get a standalone 500w Sensor floodlight and install it immediately above where you park the car. If anyone walks within 1 metre radius of it, they will be washed with light. (€60 approx)
4. Get the reg plate number etched on all the glass, including lense covers. (€50 approx)

Not including the security pole the cost would be around €200.

P.s. It really sucks that someone has to go to these lenghts just to own the car they like!

PaddyFagan

prospect wrote:

1. Get a high quality disc wheel lock. (€85 approx)
2. Get a security pole installed in your driveway (not sure of price)
3. Get a standalone 500w Sensor floodlight and install it immediately above where you park the car. If anyone walks within 1 metre radius of it, they will be washed with light. (€60 approx)
4. Get the reg plate number etched on all the glass, including lense covers. (€50 approx)

1. - Have one, must take it out of retirement - just didn't think it would help
2. - will look into it - not sure, my drinkway is a bit short, the Octavia is the full lenght of it, so I'm not sure one will fit.
3. - Hadn't thought of that, will get on the case
4. - Anyone know where I can get this done?

Paddy

gobby

Get yourself a wheel clamp. Nice big yellow one. Then no one would try to rob it. Then get one of those metal bollards that peeps put in the middle of the drive so that the car cant come out of the garden. Now, if thats not enough you could start adding locks all over the place...

Oh, and you should definitly do something about the window in the house. Used to happen to my family when we lived in Clondalkin. We put bars up. The junkies were still able to get in though!!!

Seriously though, you should look into getting a few things to secure the house a bit better. High power light sensors etc...

Dont bother de-badging the car (unless it makes it look slick) cos all these lads do is have a look at the back brakes. If they are discs then they know the car is a powerful one.

HelterSkelter

How are any of these locks and security poles going to help? They are still going to come into the house and demand the keys for all of them. I'd cut my loses and get rid of it. Yoir family should be a higher priority than a piece of metal with wheeles.

AlanD

Bad luck Paddy. I'd often worry about someone breaking in to my house while we were there to take keys for the cars. So we just leave all the keys somewhere handy downstairs so they don't have to beat us senseless to get the keys off us.

Anyway, I don't think a security pole will be of much use to you unless you have a walled in driveway? If you are in a house like many of the new houses being built these days, you will have grass and open air either side of the driveway. I'm sure the crim's won't care about driving right through the lawn to avoid the pole.

Here's another option that I saw somewhere, but can't remember where. Have channel dug completely surrounding your driveway (and fill it with 'gators...haha...just joking). In this channel you can put a thing that looks like a grated drain but at night you can put it in to action and it will swivel upwards. So basically, the grated top, is hinged on the outer edge of the "drain" and the inner edge of the grate is all pointy. So if they try to drive away they will have no choice but to puncture all the tyres. It can lie down flat in the morning then when you want to go. It'd be relatively low key too. Oh and a big spotlight then to illuminate the scumbags. I know I didn't describe it too well....but you might know what I'm talking about.

Thumper Long

how do you know they were looking for the car the second time and not just a group of little shiiites that deserve to die horribly slow from ebola trying to rob your house. Maybe this second lot weren't after the car as a priotity, do you happen to live at the end of a road, where there is side access into your back garden.

gobby

Hagar wrote:

Have you got floodlights hooked up on a relay into your alarm?
If you light up the whole place, I mean really overdo it, it could help. These guys don't want to be seen.

I think this is a great idea...

(PS: Paddy - I live in the same estate as you. Never noticed your car though)

Bluehair

While there's some great ideas here about car security I reckon the fact they keep coming to the house for the keys says something about the car security anyway, as Helterskelter pointed out no matter what you install they will still come to the house looking for the keys.

Why not give some more serious thought to home security? Apart from being a good idea at the best of times anyway if you put some cash into this it will go a long way to protecting your family(priority 1) and allowing you to keep the car (major bonus! ).

CJhaughey

How about one of the sharkteeth style ramps that fold down when you drive over one way and pop up when the wheels are over?

PaddyFagan

Thumper Long wrote:

how do you know they were looking for the car the second time and not just a group of little shiiites that deserve to die horribly slow from ebola trying to rob your house. Maybe this second lot weren't after the car as a priotity, do you happen to live at the end of a road, where there is side access into your back garden.

Yeah - I am at the end of the road, no proof that it was the same guys - but they did an identical job on the window....

Paddy

Wibbs

prospect wrote:

Options to improve security:

1. Get a high quality disc wheel lock. (€85 approx)
2. Get a security pole installed in your driveway (not sure of price)
3. Get a standalone 500w Sensor floodlight and install it immediately above where you park the car. If anyone walks within 1 metre radius of it, they will be washed with light. (€60 approx)
4. Get the reg plate number etched on all the glass, including lense covers. (€50 approx)

Not including the security pole the cost would be around €200.

P.s. It really sucks that someone has to go to these lenghts just to own the car they like!

Good plans all, though the disk wheel locks are too easy to bypass. It will slow them down however. A better option is a snap off steering wheel, but you may not want to go that far.

Another great one is this device http://www.centinel.org.uk/clutch_claw.htm

If you're handy yourself or you know an electrician, wire in a fuel pump cut off with a hidden switch(not on the dash). It's separate to the alarm and it'll slow them right down even if they have the keys. An even better cut off would incorporate a time delay fuse that would blow after 30 secs if the switch isn't flicked.

Get a second siren wired into the alarm only put it inside the car(rear panel). Most alarms are way too easy to bypass, because of poor fitting(even really expensive ones). Pop the bonnet and you can disable most of them in under 20 secs. A bonnet lock with further kill switch will solve that.

If you don't have deadlocks, de lock the car. If again you're handy with DIY get lengths of plastic piping, slice them on one side lengthways, take the door trims off and pop them over the rods that actuate your locks. That'll stop attacks by coat hangers/slimjims etc.

Get a very light tint job done on the windows as this makes it harder to break the window.

Fit a tracker which will allow you to disable the car from a safe distance.

Ando's advice about puttin the car on full lock is a very good plan. It's silly how many people leave their cars in a perfect position to be silently backed out.

Gobby's wheel clamp also a good plan.

Get a dog as a pet. Burglers hate dogs. Way better than any alarm.

Put gravel on your driveway and around the house. It's noisy and not liked by the scum.

Lock the internal doors in your house at night.

Get some infra red cameras installed around the house.

All of the above will slow them down so much that they'll likely pick another target. That said, if you feel you're family is under threat then sell the car.

If you think all of the above is extreme, you're right, but if you look back here in a couple of years it'll seem normal for most. If we don't tackle this problem hard now, that's the future.

Sadly in this country, property crime isn't considered the highest priority and afforded the resources to fight it. Even if they're caught, it's usually slap on the wrist time. The scummers know this and act with a lot more freedom than they should have.

Personally I hope those thieves out there die screaming in agony. Scum the lot of them.

pbergin

Bluehair wrote:

While there's some great ideas here about car security I reckon the fact they keep coming to the house for the keys says something about the car security anyway, as Helterskelter pointed out no matter what you install they will still come to the house looking for the keys.

Why not give some more serious thought to home security? Apart from being a good idea at the best of times anyway if you put some cash into this it will go a long way to protecting your family(priority 1) and allowing you to keep the car (major bonus! ).

I think bluehair is correct, the car is already secure, they have to get the keys to start it so that means they have to get into the house and Im sure you do no want this above all. Flood lights, even a dummy camera might scare them a bit. Also, you can get security double sided sticky tape to stick all your windows into place, this makes it impossible to lift the glass out the only way they could get into the house is to break the glass and that is sure to set off the alarm.

sharkman

Hows about find the little ****es and beat the bejasus out of them !

I start work @ 04.00 every morning and find 1 or two stolen cars a week , It seemms that car crime is on the up in Dublin and that ther is a new generation of car thief about ..

Calling Charles Bronson ... Deat wish time .........

5500

As Bluehair just said i would be more worried about your home security than car security,were do you leave you keys at night?personally i sleep on my own,its unfortunate but in this day and age i wouldnt leave a set of keys downstairs in a house.

I think a respray is pointless,i think you've been watched/or followed for them to know what the car is,spending 3k on a respray isnt going to stop them knowing were you live or some scumbag copping what car it is and following you.

If you dont have already then get a cctv camera on your house,there no expensive these days and after my own car window was smashed before i went and got one,that combined with the halogen light shud give you some extra security and peace of mind.

Steeringwheel locks,chains ect are a great visual deterrant for ur average scum car thief but if these guys are so intent on getting the car they'd probably hacksaw them in seconds.

KdjaCL

Video camera , few mates, some baseball bats and a housecall.

They obviously know you and cba about you or your family.

kdjac

Wibbs

pbergin wrote:

Also, you can get security double sided sticky tape to stick all your windows into place, this makes it impossible to lift the glass out the only way they could get into the house is to break the glass and that is sure to set off the alarm.

Apologies for butting in OT, but where can you get that tape pbergin? I'd be very interested to get some as it's a thing I've been concerned about. It's a very stupid flaw in window design. Tnx in advance.

fletch

Wibbs wrote:

Apologies for butting in OT, but where can you get that tape pbergin? I'd be very interested to get some as it's a thing I've been concerned about. It's a very stupid flaw in window design. Tnx in advance.

Yeh I'd be interested too