Hey guys, so I just got my new GN last week and I'm thrilled about it...so thrilled that now I'm paranoid about getting it stolen since I've heard so many stories. While I was looking for info, I found this on a Honda forum I used to go on for my old car. I thought it was interesting, and that we could either benefit from the info, or call bullsh** and brainstorm good ways to really keep our cars.
If you have a great anti-theft secret but you don't want to post it here (where every criminal in the world can google it and get ideas) I understand! But sharing info here would definitely help me and I'm sure other owners too; I'm totally new to these cars so I need all the good advice I can get.
HERE'S THE STORY - IT WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ME!!!
About Me and My History:
As some of you already know, I'm a convicted felon. Been there and done that ****. I've stolen over XXX amount of cars, from civic hatchbacks to NSXs. YES, I've pulled a couple. They're not that fast. They're no harder than anything else. But that doesn't mean to go out and look for one God Dammit! Ehhemmm anyway, I've done time in jail several times. No prison yet, but that's around the corner if I do it again. I've gone through counseling because I thought I had a mental problem. I mainly stole Hondas and Acuras. I never really wanted to steal any others. This was all back when I never had a car of my own yet. I wanted to be a racer I guess. I wanted to show off my car-stealing skills to others so much that I ended up with a list of felonies. Car thieves don't always wear all black. They wear slippers, khaki cargo shorts, and Hawaiian shirts like I did. All of this **** and 90 miles more of info I could tell you is all the past. It's no longer my thing, but I am willing to educate those who are willing to listen (read).
What Thieves like me would look for:
Location
First right off the bat is the location of the car. If its in a well-lit area with high foot traffic, chances are the thief will be less inclined to take the risk. Obviously someone might see him. Its also very important for a thief to look like he owns the car he's trying to get into. Sometimes location won't make a difference if the thief knows what he's doing or is confident in his ability. It also depends on what method he's using to steal the car. That'll make a big difference as to what locations he'll chose to work in. If he's got a master key or what is often called a "Shaved key", location can make little difference. Master (Shaved) keys allow access times as quick as 1 to 10 seconds. The thief gives himself a set amount of time to work with before he starts to look too suspicious. Usually in my case, high risk area=10 seconds allowable MAX, Medium risk area=15-30 seconds, and Low Risk(dark neighborhood 2am)=all the time needed.
LEDs
A thief will look for flashing LEDs inside. It's not always a sign of an alarm because it could be a decoy. There are ways to find out if it's a decoy or real alarm, and hitting the car is the simplest method among MANY MANY others. Factory stereos have a flashing red LED on it which is engaged when the car is off. It flashes at a different rate(slower) than a real Alarm LED. I should know!
Steering Lock
He'll also look for a steering lock. Depending on what kind of lock will give a red or green light for the thief. The AutoLock brake pedal lock DefConLevel 6 Bull**** is frickin stupid. It'll just stop the thief from using the brake. The car can still be driven away. My sister has that lock on her accord one day and I got in it and drove it around the block right in front of her! In my opinion, the MasterLock Titanium 4 Prong Steering wheel lock is really good. Chances are they ain't gonna waste their time to cut that or the steering wheel, especially not in the front row of a mall parking lot where others can see them.
Stereo/Other Electronics
If you have a removable face plate on your car, take it off when you get out of your car. If a thief walks by your car and sees that it's missing, he knows there is a 50-50 chance that either you have it hidden in the car somewhere (glove box, under seat, behind seat in the pocket, center console) or you have it with you personally. It'll make him want to take the chance a little less. He might move on to the next car. This applies to any other electronic stuff in plain view in your car. If you have an in-dash DVD unit, VAFC, aftermarket gauges, PS3, or whatever he'll want to break in and take that ****.
Alarm
Whatever you do, DO NOT put stickers on your car pertaining to any type of alarm. If you put, say, and VIPER sticker on your door window, he'll just know exactly what wires to cut! No LoJack, Python, nothing. Don't put those fake ass blue LED scanner light bars that go back and forth either. Dead give away. Also, If you are planning on getting an alarm installed, go with someone you KNOW does good work. I don't care what kind of alarm you have. A $10 alarm is far better than a $300 Compustar any day if the installer didn't do it right. Hide that control Module! The better you hide that module the more difficult it'll be for the thief to find or cut the wires. Even if you can make him search 30 more seconds, that's an extra 30 seconds more you've just bought yourself to run outside your house and smash him in the eye socket with a _________(you pick your weapon).
Transponder
A Transponder is a Chip built into a key that, when trying to start the car, it sends a signal to the ECU which then authenticates with the ECU. Technically you don't have to have the transponder key as the key starting the car. As long as you have the "chipped" key within 7 inches from the ignition, you can have a copy of the key in the ignition to start it. I don't know why you would want to do that but, yea, it's possible. Just letting you know. This isn't something that you can get installed if you currently don't have it. All I want to say is don't think that these are undefeatable. The average car thief won't be able to steal a car with a transponder. There are several ways of beating a transponder system, it doesn't matter if you know what these are or not. Just know that there are several ways to get around it. There's nothing you can do to make sure they CANT beat it. I've seen situations where someone had a transponder in their vehicle and got their car stolen. The insurance didn't want to give them any money for the loss because they claim the technology can't be beat. Bull$h!T !!
Door locks
Shave your locks. Not everyone wants to do this but if you can, it's one of the best deterrents. This'll make it very difficult to enter a car. Yea they can use other methods like a jimmy or even a Code Scanner. There are devices that few thieves have that can open all alarms within a certain distances away from them, all at once. Just imagine standing in the middle of a parking lot, you hit the button on the remote, and all the cars start unlocking. They have it! I don't know where they get it, but they have it!
LoJack
No one is supposed to know where the LoJack modules are installed. Not even the owner of the car. They don't install it in the same place every time. It's always random. I have LoJack in my car and I have no idea where it is. I got a $100 discount in Auto Insurance too! Definitely good to have if you want your car recovered if it gets stolen. If you don't care and you just want your insurance to reimburse you for the loss, just stick without it.
Wheel Locks
These are very good to have. Good thieves have wheel lock adapters already. They might have a couple different styles. If you got yours at Autozone or somewhere else well known, chances are they have your same wheel lock adapters too! Put 2 different kinds of wheel locks on your rims. It'll make it that much harder for them to get the lugs and wheels off.
Insurance
Full Coverage. If you think you live in a neighborhood that is prone to theft or have a car that would be a decent target, you better have full coverage.
In short:
Lock your doors!
Hide your alarm module very well
MasterLock Titanium 4 Prong Steering Lock
Remove Stereo Faceplate
Have Minimal Electronics in plain view
No Alarm Stickers on windows
Multiple Wheel Locks
No Fake flashing LED scanners
Park in high traffic areas
LoJack
Full Coverage Insurance
If you have a great anti-theft secret but you don't want to post it here (where every criminal in the world can google it and get ideas) I understand! But sharing info here would definitely help me and I'm sure other owners too; I'm totally new to these cars so I need all the good advice I can get.
HERE'S THE STORY - IT WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ME!!!
About Me and My History:
As some of you already know, I'm a convicted felon. Been there and done that ****. I've stolen over XXX amount of cars, from civic hatchbacks to NSXs. YES, I've pulled a couple. They're not that fast. They're no harder than anything else. But that doesn't mean to go out and look for one God Dammit! Ehhemmm anyway, I've done time in jail several times. No prison yet, but that's around the corner if I do it again. I've gone through counseling because I thought I had a mental problem. I mainly stole Hondas and Acuras. I never really wanted to steal any others. This was all back when I never had a car of my own yet. I wanted to be a racer I guess. I wanted to show off my car-stealing skills to others so much that I ended up with a list of felonies. Car thieves don't always wear all black. They wear slippers, khaki cargo shorts, and Hawaiian shirts like I did. All of this **** and 90 miles more of info I could tell you is all the past. It's no longer my thing, but I am willing to educate those who are willing to listen (read).
What Thieves like me would look for:
Location
First right off the bat is the location of the car. If its in a well-lit area with high foot traffic, chances are the thief will be less inclined to take the risk. Obviously someone might see him. Its also very important for a thief to look like he owns the car he's trying to get into. Sometimes location won't make a difference if the thief knows what he's doing or is confident in his ability. It also depends on what method he's using to steal the car. That'll make a big difference as to what locations he'll chose to work in. If he's got a master key or what is often called a "Shaved key", location can make little difference. Master (Shaved) keys allow access times as quick as 1 to 10 seconds. The thief gives himself a set amount of time to work with before he starts to look too suspicious. Usually in my case, high risk area=10 seconds allowable MAX, Medium risk area=15-30 seconds, and Low Risk(dark neighborhood 2am)=all the time needed.
LEDs
A thief will look for flashing LEDs inside. It's not always a sign of an alarm because it could be a decoy. There are ways to find out if it's a decoy or real alarm, and hitting the car is the simplest method among MANY MANY others. Factory stereos have a flashing red LED on it which is engaged when the car is off. It flashes at a different rate(slower) than a real Alarm LED. I should know!
Steering Lock
He'll also look for a steering lock. Depending on what kind of lock will give a red or green light for the thief. The AutoLock brake pedal lock DefConLevel 6 Bull**** is frickin stupid. It'll just stop the thief from using the brake. The car can still be driven away. My sister has that lock on her accord one day and I got in it and drove it around the block right in front of her! In my opinion, the MasterLock Titanium 4 Prong Steering wheel lock is really good. Chances are they ain't gonna waste their time to cut that or the steering wheel, especially not in the front row of a mall parking lot where others can see them.
Stereo/Other Electronics
If you have a removable face plate on your car, take it off when you get out of your car. If a thief walks by your car and sees that it's missing, he knows there is a 50-50 chance that either you have it hidden in the car somewhere (glove box, under seat, behind seat in the pocket, center console) or you have it with you personally. It'll make him want to take the chance a little less. He might move on to the next car. This applies to any other electronic stuff in plain view in your car. If you have an in-dash DVD unit, VAFC, aftermarket gauges, PS3, or whatever he'll want to break in and take that ****.
Alarm
Whatever you do, DO NOT put stickers on your car pertaining to any type of alarm. If you put, say, and VIPER sticker on your door window, he'll just know exactly what wires to cut! No LoJack, Python, nothing. Don't put those fake ass blue LED scanner light bars that go back and forth either. Dead give away. Also, If you are planning on getting an alarm installed, go with someone you KNOW does good work. I don't care what kind of alarm you have. A $10 alarm is far better than a $300 Compustar any day if the installer didn't do it right. Hide that control Module! The better you hide that module the more difficult it'll be for the thief to find or cut the wires. Even if you can make him search 30 more seconds, that's an extra 30 seconds more you've just bought yourself to run outside your house and smash him in the eye socket with a _________(you pick your weapon).
Transponder
A Transponder is a Chip built into a key that, when trying to start the car, it sends a signal to the ECU which then authenticates with the ECU. Technically you don't have to have the transponder key as the key starting the car. As long as you have the "chipped" key within 7 inches from the ignition, you can have a copy of the key in the ignition to start it. I don't know why you would want to do that but, yea, it's possible. Just letting you know. This isn't something that you can get installed if you currently don't have it. All I want to say is don't think that these are undefeatable. The average car thief won't be able to steal a car with a transponder. There are several ways of beating a transponder system, it doesn't matter if you know what these are or not. Just know that there are several ways to get around it. There's nothing you can do to make sure they CANT beat it. I've seen situations where someone had a transponder in their vehicle and got their car stolen. The insurance didn't want to give them any money for the loss because they claim the technology can't be beat. Bull$h!T !!
Door locks
Shave your locks. Not everyone wants to do this but if you can, it's one of the best deterrents. This'll make it very difficult to enter a car. Yea they can use other methods like a jimmy or even a Code Scanner. There are devices that few thieves have that can open all alarms within a certain distances away from them, all at once. Just imagine standing in the middle of a parking lot, you hit the button on the remote, and all the cars start unlocking. They have it! I don't know where they get it, but they have it!
LoJack
No one is supposed to know where the LoJack modules are installed. Not even the owner of the car. They don't install it in the same place every time. It's always random. I have LoJack in my car and I have no idea where it is. I got a $100 discount in Auto Insurance too! Definitely good to have if you want your car recovered if it gets stolen. If you don't care and you just want your insurance to reimburse you for the loss, just stick without it.
Wheel Locks
These are very good to have. Good thieves have wheel lock adapters already. They might have a couple different styles. If you got yours at Autozone or somewhere else well known, chances are they have your same wheel lock adapters too! Put 2 different kinds of wheel locks on your rims. It'll make it that much harder for them to get the lugs and wheels off.
Insurance
Full Coverage. If you think you live in a neighborhood that is prone to theft or have a car that would be a decent target, you better have full coverage.
In short:
Lock your doors!
Hide your alarm module very well
MasterLock Titanium 4 Prong Steering Lock
Remove Stereo Faceplate
Have Minimal Electronics in plain view
No Alarm Stickers on windows
Multiple Wheel Locks
No Fake flashing LED scanners
Park in high traffic areas
LoJack
Full Coverage Insurance