From digest.v6.n383 Mon Mar 17 15:33:40 1997
From: FSTBMWM3_at_aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 13:36:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Alarms and such

My sympathy for the guy who had his 325/94 stolen at the parking lot. I am not surprized that his hi tech VIPER alarm did not do the trick.

Long story short:

1. Any alarm can be bypassed in less than 2 hours by a trained teenage kid.
2. Any car can be towed away to a "cooling off" place, before the "pros" strip it.
3. Cops care more about giving tickets for "5mph over limit" than responding to theft calls.

Short Story Long:
1)

1. $50 - $300 alarms Thieves know were the siren and the battery are located. They "pry" the hood next to the battery or siren with a bar and once there is a small opening the cut the power. No siren ,no problem. Bust the glass, hot wire and off you go.
2. $300-$800 alarms Kreep under the car and cut power with long pliers. Once siren is disabled, take your time in the car to locate the "alarm black box" and rewire it , by reattaching the color coded wires going in , with the same colored wires coming out of the box (sounds kinda easier than it is though) In a couple of hours a trained teenage kid will be driving away to the strip shop.
3. $800-$5000 GPS, Lowjack, Batman signal type alarms. Car is "parked" on underground mall / bussiness./ subway parking lot. After a couple of days the battery of the signal transponder dies and the car is streetable.

2). Tow cars.
Any car can be towed, and people dont usually question tow truck drivers (I do though)

3) In Bethesda,MD (as upscale as it gets) when somebody broke into my girlfriends car the cops showed up after 4 hours (non-emergency). When a car got stolen THE NEXT WEEK cops responded in 3 hours (again non emergency). Thief scum knows this . Add the revolving door criminal system (car theft is non-violent felony) and you have a thriving bussiness, where a crack head kid gets $300 for a stolen Chevy and $700 for a Bimmer.

Conclusion:
Get theft insurance.By trade I am a Computer Engineer but by night I am a security systems buff, with 2 unsuccesfull patent applications for hi-tech alarm systems (sattelite tracking w/ full vector positioning AND remote control of vehicle-have prototype that works of the maritime satellite system) .
My M3's best protection is full insurance coverage.

Pointers / Appendix:

1. Alarms
   1. Watch out for crooked alarm shops. They find out were you live and they steal your car, thru alarm-backdoors.
   2. Avoid cookie-cutter alarms, and customize as much as possible.
   3. Install a fuel pump cut-off switch at the trunk lock. Every time you open the trunk (to put your briefcase or stuff) the fuel pump lead wire gets connected). No messy wiring just one quick rewiring of your fuel pump lead wire. You can also T in a race cut-off switch and improve the safety of you car at the same time. My old car had a magnetic switch in the C pillar. I just swipped the key magnet at the top of my C-pillar and my fuel pump lead wire was live again. This implementation costs $20 and is more effective than the best $5000 alarm.
   4. avoid street parking and bad neigborhoods.
2. Towing avoidance
3. Park your car in well lighted, hi traffic areas.
4. Park in spots where its almost impossible to fit a tow truck or flatbed behind your car. Pick lot corners, underground support collumns, walls etc. Think like a tow trucker.
5. Park in way that makes your car, hard to lift/roll on flatbed. Turn (all the way) and Lock the steering wheel. Angle your car, in manner that would limit the positioning of flatbed behind it. Remenber flatbeds need lots of space.
6. Dont "hide" your car inbetween big cars. The shadow of a Suburban gives a thief all the cover he needs.

A pro can still steal you car, after all of the above, but he will pick the car with the CLUB or $300 "Barbies' My First Alarm" special.