TheSamba.com :: View topic - effing break-ins

Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:04 pm

ok, i get it. when i used to leave my tools in my unlocked bus, i was asking for it. so after almost weekly rummagings i started locking it and removing anything of value. last night they jammed a screw driver in and popped off the wing window lever on the bus and smashed the vanagon wing window. what was their prize? a diaper bag from the van and a bag of pipe tobacco from the bus. it's just ridiculous now, this has happened so many times, is obviously the same people every time (they always twist the mirror around in the same way), we're obviously marked. i'm reticent to put in an alarm ($450 for both vans) cause they're so obnoxious but i'm at the end of my rope. anybody solved this problem?

Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:47 pm

i used to live in a beautiful apartment in san francisco.... where i parked right across the street from public housing. this was my solution to nightly car prowls.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:53 pm

chachi wrote: ... anybody solved this problem?
Don't mean to 'snarkee' but...
Move someplace safer

Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:22 pm

meth or heroin users, that is the question

a tear gas canister rigged to explode might be fun

Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:25 pm

Trunk monkey?

I believe that vehicle damage is the real crime. Prowlers do thousands of dollars in damage for what? Loose change and cellular phone charging cord.

Take anything of value out...don't lock your doors....disabled so it can't be stolen...

If ur ambitious....and if it's the same crew and they have a pattern....wait for them with a video camera or....2 to the body and one to the head

Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:22 pm

Pepper spray rigged to door opening. You access the van from the sliding door after installing the "pepper mill".

Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:22 pm

phlogiston wrote:
i used to live in a beautiful apartment in san francisco.... where i parked right across the street from public housing. this was my solution to nightly car prowls.

wow that is crazy. how did you get out?!

Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:48 pm

Howesight wrote: Pepper spray rigged to door opening. You access the van from the sliding door after installing the "pepper mill".
and then he wakes up early in the morning for work and forgets he put it there..... :shock:

Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:56 pm

put in a home made immobiliser, and leave the van unlocked, if your break ins are not people looking to steal the van, leave it open, they can see you have nothing in there, and with luck close the door behind them.
my brother had a car broken into a few times in london, they peeled the top edge of the door open, he left a not stuck to the inside of the window, letting people who might want to break in, that it was unlocked and that there was nothing inside the car.

time to carry a man bag, and keep everything in there you might need on a daily basis, and leave the van open.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 6:04 pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6WB5YJia8

Wed Oct 15, 2014 6:56 pm

I used to leave the doors unlocked when it was parked in the driveway. Woke up once to the empty ashtray thrown across the yard and another time to a passed out teenager in the drivers seat. (clearly messed up on drugs/alcohol, glad no bodily fluids left him) Now that i have a garage it gets parked in there at night.

It also got broken into in a hotel parking lot. Luckily the slider window lock didn't engage so the thief just slid it open and entered. Never had any property damage so it seems as long as the van cant be driven away, keeping it open with no valuables inside might be a good way to go. Although vandalism would be a concern. Also keeping the van empty, clean, and clutter free may deter thiefs from attempting to enter.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:02 pm

I don't lock my bus... pretty much ever. If they want to get in I let them in. There is nothing they would want to steal in there anyway. (At least that they could find). I do have a kill switch hidden so they can not drive it away. They can steal the change from the ashtray all they want... and they have several times. Who cares?

You can never stop someone from breaking into your vehicle.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:06 pm

the more difficult you make it to get in, the more damage you are going to find, from someone who felt he needed to get in.
:(

Wed Oct 15, 2014 8:27 pm

Just kidding, I'd never risk my dogs safety that way. But it would work.
We were in a parking lot, he always comes up front when left in the car or van.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:20 pm

dobryan wrote: They can steal the change from the ashtray all they want... and they have several times.

yeah no problem there. they just stole the whole ashtray.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:38 pm

chachi wrote: wow that is crazy. how did you get out?!

the sliding door!

preventing car prowls is a strange game of psychology. i wasn't sure at first if the chains would signal to a would-be thief that my car was well secured and not worth the effort or that it was obviously stuffed with valuables... but in 5 or 6 years of parking on the street in "bad neighborhoods" in oakland and san francisco, i only had one break in, and that was because my friend left a $5 bill behind and i didn't see it.

before i put the chains in, i got hit twice in one week.

Wed Oct 15, 2014 9:51 pm

$450 for an alarm is probably cheaper than replacing the triangular vent window (or others) several times. But, maybe the window stickers that come with the alarms are ultimately more effective than the alarm itself?

Other thoughts:

1. The flashing red LED light on the dash trick.

2. Kill switch. Bigger bummer if the whole van disappears.

3. RMW under seat steel safe. For valuables that must be left behind once in a while.

Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:55 am

chachi wrote: dobryan wrote: They can steal the change from the ashtray all they want... and they have several times.

yeah no problem there. they just stole the whole ashtray.

:oops: :lol:

Thu Oct 16, 2014 7:54 am

ThankYouJerry wrote: $450 for an alarm is probably cheaper than replacing the triangular vent window (or others) several times. But, maybe the window stickers that come with the alarms are ultimately more effective than the alarm itself?

Other thoughts:

1. The flashing red LED light on the dash trick.

2. Kill switch. Bigger bummer if the whole van disappears.

3. RMW under seat steel safe. For valuables that must be left behind once in a while.

DETERENCE is key.....id rather deter a crime then to cach the person in the act...flashing red light is a great idea....the used to sell battery operated packs with a red blinking light at target....
Never had my Honda stolen with one of them inside....

Thu Oct 16, 2014 8:08 am

I've never had any of my cars broken into when I remembered to arm the alarm. I've had multiple break - ins, and one car stolen and stripped bare when I forgot to arm, or had a dead battery that prevented me from arming.

I've heard so many times that car alarms don't work, or that a determined thief will get into your vehicle, alarm or not. I have not found this to be the case.

I would get another quote on the alarm. $450 is a lot. Admittedly I've spent a lot more on one of my cars, but I've also spent a lot less. I assume that the $450 is an installed price. If you can install it yourself, you could do it for under $100 easy.

Every time I buy a car, a new sound system AND alarm go in immediately.