Another attempt to nick my Octavia vRS

prospect

PaddyFagan wrote:

4. - Anyone know where I can get this done?

Paddy

There is a guy in prosperous that does glass etching while you wait.
My Father in law has his details, I'll get them and pm them to you over the weekend.

pbergin

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.

If you contact any window manufacturer (eg munster joinery) they should be able to recommend someone or sell you some. I had it fitted to our windows when I ordered them, and I can guarentee you, it makes the window impossible to take out without breaking the glass, we locked ourselves out of the house and we had to break the glass to get in (and the guy that made the windows was with us at the time).

Alun

prospect wrote:

There is a guy in prosperous that does glass etching while you wait.
My Father in law has his details, I'll get them and pm them to you over the weekend.

Also, check your insurance documents. Mine (Eagle Star through AA) offers it for free through one of the big car glass firms, can't remember which one.

Alun

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.

Any half-way decent double glazing firm will be able to come round and check your windows for you and tell you if you need it or not and fit it too if necessary. Some more recent window designs have a bead that won't come out unless you first remove a rubber strip from inside first making this tape unnecessary.

tapest

guys

a switch on the fuel pump or a solenoid switch on the fuel pipe.....not great, there's enough fuel to get them down the road...maybe 1/4 mile.
Better solution ( i did this on my pride and joy...felicia,basic model). Allow the engine to fire but not run. I had a key without chip cut...£3.50 then..but since they changed to "blade" keys, the cost will be €50+ minimun. Another trick is to locate the fuse that controls ignition...open it up and solder cable to both pins, extend to hidden or hidden key switch. Very easy to undo (if you know it exists) by replacing fuse with normal one if you ever suspect problem with installation. By car turning over/firing but not starting they'll think its them and not the car.
t

mike65

Paddy its a sad state of affiars. I take it you have no garage? I'd say the most useful thing you can do is get a dog as suggested previously here. That and wire the ignition so you need to activate the current via a seperate switch which can be hiden anywhere. Even if they do get in they'll not be able to start the thing without causing a lot of noise and wasting time breaking the steering column trim and cutting wires.

Mike.

ondafly

Paddy - sorry for your troubles. I live in an apartment complex, where cars are getting broken into quite regularly. My previous car was broken into, and at the time, I had a fuel cutoff, delocked doors, tinted glass, steering wheel lock, big huge heavy duty chain, cobra alarm and imobiliser, I had relocated the bonnet release hinge for the car, added sharp alumiunum at certain spots under the car etc etc. I was fairly confident my car was not going anywhere and indeed it didn't , instead they caused 2500 euro damage to it.

So to prevent it getting broken into a 2nd time. I added a Clifford G5 avantgarde alarm. It addition to all the above, the clifford gave me, anti shock, 8 hour battery backup for the alarm siren, anti high jack(thieves get keys, can drive off, and in approx 60 secs, car shutsdown completely), anti tilt, and prox alarm(anyone walks near the car, it "barks" at them).

These alarms are expensive, but in my opinion give huge piece of mind. Yes the scum will probably still try and steal a radio from the car, but the car itself will never go far and to this day I have never heard of anyone successfully stealing a car fitted with a clifford.

Mr. Presentable

Paddy, a lot of suggestions here, but most are ineffective if they come in the house for the keys. Some are good. A bright light is good. But a big dog in the back garden would stop them coming that way. Trouble is, if they want it bad enough they'll come to the front door early enough in the evening that it'll be answered, and ask for the keys, if you get my drift.

I'd get rid of the car :-(

Guy:Incognito

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.

Like a gay lover and a geeky son?

RicardoSmith

Can you get a tracker system in Ireland? Seems to be a big deterrent in the UK.

This is the problem with really nice cars, they are a thief magnet. Alteratively if its a fast 4 door they steal them for robberies.

I think the only option is to go OTT on security, especially on the house side. Hook up some cameras and get a monitored alarm? Put security poles in the drive, and some good visual deterrents like a snap off wheel etc. Of course they'll still keep going for the house, as even if the main keys aren't there the spare usually are.

stratos

can I ask a question here how did they dismantle your window without setting off the house alarm. I used to install burglar alarms and any attempt to dismantle your window would trigger it.

5500

You can get gps tracking here alright,as far as i know he has it on the car,i think its more so home security that needs to be upgraded rather than the cars security

RicardoSmith

Usually if they know its tracked, they don't bother with it.

bp_me

Consider one of these http://www.cyberoptics.ie/ prehaps. Even if the car is taken you can lock it down remotely from anywhere. Or if you lock it using the phone it can only be unlocked by phone. It's pricey, but if I had a car like the OP's it would be in it.

Our man in Havana

RicardoSmith wrote:

Usually if they know its tracked, they don't bother with it.

They may just break into it and cause damage just to piss you off.

RicardoSmith

Bond-007 wrote:

They may just break into it and cause damage just to piss you off.

Nothing you can do about that.

PaddyFagan

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the suggestions, some comments:

Dog - I'd like to get one, but my garden is rather small...

Windows - they are of the type described, I believe "Externally glazed" is the technical term - I have a couple of companies coming out to look at them and advise.

Lights - Already have a small motion detecting light in the back, I'm going to get on the case about getting a few more.

Trading the car is starting to look really expensive - I was quoted 9K less than list as a tradin against a volvo S40 on Friday :mad: - Still waiting for a quote from a Skoda garage for a 1.6 Octavia......

Paddy

ando

u can get fake cctv cameras in argos for 30 squids. They look very real

ciarsd

PaddyFagan wrote:

Windows - they are of the type described, I believe "Externally glazed" is the technical term - I have a couple of companies coming out to look at them and advise.

i really sympathise with you, this is terrible to read yet again.

there is an engineering company in lucan who do the crash-pole's for the end of your driveway. I got one from them about 2yrs ago for €150 (approx) supplied and fitted. Their number is: 01-6214258. They are based in the industrial estate over the liffey bridge adjacent the entrance to Laraghcon.

As for your windows. Internally glazed is the best option (expensive). But for piece of mind, not only for car safety but family and house safety goin forward, its definitely a good option.

ubu

Get an infra red motion sensor type alarm for your house, no matter how good they are at getting in the window, as soon as they step foot inside it will detect them and the alarm will go off.

stratos

Just further on window alarm types.
I notice most companies are fitting reed type switches only on windows, backed up by an infrared motion sensor, the reed switches only pick up if a window is opened.
In my opinion this is not good because in my experience ir motion sensors are notoriously fault,
Each window frame should have an inertia sensor fitted as standard, this detects vibrations on the window frame.
It is wired back to an anyliser( spelled wrongly I think ) circuit in the master panel.
This helps it sort out background vibrations from, lets say someone removing a window pane.
The new ones can even detect the old ball bounce trick.
This is where a crim walks by his target house and throws a tennis ball lightly at the window, when he knows your house is empty and the alarm on, this helps him to determine if you have inertia sensors, and not come back later when it's dark.
Most windows are externaly glazed, that is to say by removing 4 plastic bits of trim the window pane can be removed.
This is why reed switch types imo are next to useless.

gobby

Why dont ye just get the unalarmed window alarmed?

John R

gobby wrote:

Why dont ye just get the unalarmed window alarmed?

Why don't you read the half-dozen detailed posts directly above about window security?

PaddyFagan

PaddyFagan wrote:

Windows - they are of the type described, I believe "Externally glazed" is the technical term - I have a couple of companies coming out to look at them and advise.

There seems to be a lot of interest in this topic, so to update - I have a quote to replace the unit (it's big) at just over 4K with an internally glazed uPVC one. I will get more quotes and see what I can get.

This window is alarmed, with both reed (open/closed) and vibration sensors. (and there is a IR sensor in the room as well).

It also looks like all the existing uPVC windows in the house have the security tape fitted - it was "just" the large wooden window at the back of the house that didn't :mad:

Paddy

gobby

John R wrote:

Why don't you read the half-dozen detailed posts directly above about window security?

Too lazy

MercMad

Sorry to hear of your troubles Paddy................I really hope you dont get rid of your car just becauise of these scumbags !

I had similar problems earlier this year, they tried to take out the rear kitchen window. We ahve Phonewatch but that didn't even deter them. I reckon they knew how long they had befor ethe cops got there and they werent bothered about the neighbours seeing them !

We reckon that there was a bunch of folk distributing bags for people to throw out all their old clothes etc. There are some legit companies/charities doing this but these guys were doing the rounds and breaking into houses to get what they could. If they were ever challenged they could claim that they were collecteing their own bags of clothes. They could have anything in the bags and also had some form of excuse for setting off an alarm or being on someones property.

Anyway this is slightly different to your issue as they may not have been after the cars but they were trying to get into the house in a similar way!

What I did was bought 3x 500W Floodlights with PIR, 2x Surveillance cameras (off eBay for about €50) which could be wired remotely into the TV/vidoe, so no drilling and routing cables etc., just a 12v DC power supply which I hung down from the attic.

I put a security grill over the rear window (only one of mine was a threat as the others were either innaccesible or there were better doors windows in the way) This grill can slide back on the outside wall, out of view. Its a trellis type, very strong, and looks fine even when pulled accross. We leave it accross all the time in fact.

The cameras switch on the TV or Video when they sense movement and obvioulsy the floodlights switch on. There are inertia sensors on the windows and there are wheel clamps on the cars. I leave the keys of the cars in the hall, if they are that desperate they can have the cars, I just dont want them up the stairs !

For your case, get wheel clamps, floodlights with mesh, and agrill on the window !

Nuttzz

I had the same problem as you paddy, I have a dog and the security lights. They broke into the back of our house and fed the dog, the security light in the back gave them light to work with so they could see what they were doing IMO thankfully the keys were upstairs so i was only down an ipod and mobile phone

Changing / respraying the car wont work, they know what it is and were you live.

Talking to the detective (who is a friend of the GF) there are a number of thief rings about however they are non confrontational, they just want the car (they steal to order) they don't want to be up on GBH etc. He advised us to alarm everything (the house just had a basic alarm system) bring the keys to the bed room and have a lock on your bedroom door and a panic button in the bedroom. If you know someone is in the house, lock yourself into the room and hit the panic button

Mailman

@mercmad
Is the image on those cameras clear enough to identify those thieving scallywags if needed?

unkel

MercMad wrote:

Sorry to hear of your troubles Paddy................I really hope you dont get rid of your car just becauise of these scumbags !

I sure hope you won't get rid too, Paddy!

The same thing happened to my father in law back 10 years ago when his brand new Rover 620TI (fast 4 door saloon - loved as a get away car by serious criminals) was attempted to be stolen several times. Around that time fast 4 door saloons were the major target for professional criminals

He gave up and bought a VW Jetta

Obviously he had to change that after a few months nearly killing himself with boredom, but he never got another car as nice as that Rover

If I were you, I would not try and further secure my house. A tracker device would be the only thing I would contemplate

Borderfox

I had a Honda Civic VTI about 7 or 8 years ago and the first thing I did to it was to fit a RAID snap-off steering wheel, no airbag on the Civic so was able to do it myself. I was approached by some guy in North Strand who told me where I lived and worked and what times I worked but that they couldn't nick the car without the steering wheel on.... I know it will mean losing the drivers airbag but might work out. I think all the electronic stuff is grand but it's the visible mechanical detterent's that I think work better...... Hope this helps