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From digest.v6.n384 Mon Mar 17 19:27:57 1997
From: rbrowne_at_erols.com
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:54:47 -0500 (EST)
Subject: <e36>AntiTheft tips-too late?

Someone wrote:

>Just had a rough couple of days. My 325i/92 just got stolen in broad
>daylight. Ever since it got stolen, I've been thinking of how the hell
>they managed to do it. I _had_ a VIPER alarm system.
>
>Here is what happened. Car was parked in Parking lot at 15:00, at 16:30 I
>have coat on and I'm ready to leave, President bumps into to me on way out,
>and tells me stories about his past, at 17:15 I am exiting building with
>President and then I realize that car is missing. President says it's
>probably parked elsewhere - I know where car was last parked.
>
>At this point RAGE & ANGER is going through me. I try to relax, and I call
>police - 15 minutes later they show up and we analyse parking spot and
>notice glass on the floor (passenger window). At this point officer
>presumed thieves broke window, and hot wired car. Police officer was
>convinced that car was hot-wired and driven off, due to tire marks on fresh
>snow.
>
>Next day many people new about stolen car and one lady actually noticed a
>car being pushed by another car onto street. She mentioned it semed all
>normal to her. When I heard this it hurt even more :(
>
>This girl left the office at 17:00, confirming that thieves were stealing
>car at that time period. I missed them by 15 minutes.
>
>After all this I believe thieves broke window, openned hood, yanked siren,
>put stick in neutral position, push car onto street & get car on flat bed
>tow truck.
>
>This made me realize that I need a better security system to prevent those
>bastards from taking my car. I'm currently analysing many different
>options as a hood lock, and systems where you get paged if alarm goes on
>and possible GPS solutions. If you have any information about how this
>could have been prevented, please let me know! I hope this does not happen
>to any of you and please use what happenned to me as an alert to your
>current alarm system.
>

Sorry..that sucks..bad. Couple of tips that MAY have helped.

1)Having an additional siren with battery backup. Keeps going even if wires are cut.
Annoying, annoying, annoying to the thief. Even more annoying? A mini Piezo siren installed inside the center dash vent! Ouch! Talk about loud in your ears!
2)I know you had a Viper alarm, but having a Club-type device would have added an additional layer for them to get through. They would have had to have the hacksaw with them. One cut for a regular club, at least 5 or six cuts for one of the imitator clubs that hook around the wheel in 4 places. Kmart carries one called the "Elephant" for less than $20.00 Course the lock on it can be picked pretty easily, but then the thieves have to know how to pick locks too. Again, think LAYERS of protection. 3)An easy hood-lock tip. Unscrew the hood release latch, and lock the latch in your glovebox/under your floormat. Unless they find the latch, it may take them WAAY too long to pop the hood. Whenever you want to open your hood, just slide the latch on...it works fine without the screw. When you finish with your underhood work, hide the latch again. I actually learned this tip from a digester over a year ago. I cant take credit for it, but I do it!

If they really want it, they will get it. But the above may have gained you that 15 mins you needed. They probably had targeted your car specifically as a parts car. Used parts for E36's can be hard to find, especially around here in the DC area...none of the junkyards seem to have any.

Ron Browne
1992 318is
Bowie, MD

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