At some point with the number of "Stolen _______" threads coming up here (and elsewhere), it might almost be good to have a discussion about what can be done to protect one's stuff. (Fuel cutoff, GPS, anyone make decent alarms?)
As someone living in Oakland currently... I'm not surprised. It sucks, but it comes with the territory. It -is- Oakland. Our neighborhood by Montclair has been pretty good. The worst it's gotten to is eggings, TP, and people coming around at ~2-3 AM pulling on car doors to see if anyone had left their vehicle unlocked. More commonly nowadays are people stealing mail (Prescription drugs), and packages.
Really the underlying problem is poor police coverage (~750 cops (And they aren't all on duty 24/7...), ~450K people. And I'm not blaming OPD, they just cannot afford to hire enough people to deal with all of the crime...), and a legal/justice system that can only be described as ineffective.
It's not just Oakland, vans are being stolen all over. If you use the search function here, there are multiple threads on theft prevention and recovery. There are lots of devices from alarms, locks, GPS locators, hidden cutoff's etc. Having multiple schemes seems to be the best bet, but anything is better than nothing. If you haven't already installed something, I wouldn't wait as folks are getting even more desperate. I've actually removed a wheel on mine for now................
Revelco should be installed on every one of these. And a GPS enabled alarm system buried deep in your dash. Compustar and viper both make low cost ones. 1der is right, the revelco doesn’t prevent tow away but the combo of these 2 systems prevents theft, and gives you the possibility of recovery. Best part is the installation of both systems should costs less than your $1,000 insurance deductible
When we're discussing how to stop thefts we really can't do much more than provide alerts of breeches and/or attempt to slow car thieves down from their smash and grab or hot wiring crimes.
I plan installing a DIY Ravelco this summer, already have an alarm along with cargo area dead bolts looks but even so I'm not that confident someone won't trying breaking in or driving away.
Not sure there is a sure-fire solution to not suffering a loss of prized vehicle---that's sad all on its own.
Multiple layers of protection are best, since thieves want to get away as quickly as possible and each layer slows them down. There have been plenty of threads on theft prevention, here's one:
Has anyone had any experience with the GPS-type tracking units ArcticTraveller shares with us? Good, bad or indifferent, how effective are they when/if a vehicle is stolen?
Has anyone had any experience with the GPS-type tracking units ArcticTraveller shares with us? Good, bad or indifferent, how effective are they when/if a vehicle is stolen?
I can say this about the unit. It pings the internet on a regular basis, and also on demand. You can log on and pull up history to see your travels. While I'm on a trip, Mrs A/T keeps track of my location by logging on to our account and asking for my current location. On my last trip that lasted 10 weeks, it only failed to work when we were in the Black rock desert and there was no cell service, which was expected. As long as a thief doesn't find the unit and remove it, you should be able to locate your vehicle about anywhere. Add in the fact that it's cheap with no monthly charge for two years and I think it's a winner, but hopefully I never need to use it to recover my van. I will say though, that I have never tried it in Mexico so I don't know if the sim card they use works there.