Walked outside this afternoon to find my pretty much stock milano red 1999 Civic EX coupe was missing. Looks like some bastards stole it.. Luckily, my TSX was blocked by another car I had parked behind it.

Sad part is I actually live in a fairly safe neighborhood (never heard of a car getting stolen around these parts), but when I called the cops they said there have been a lot of thefts in the area lately. Argh. I only had liability on it (it was my beater, but in really good condition), but the insurance company recommended I file a claim and depending on the state I live in there might be a payout? I'm not holding my breath.

This leads to my question: what do you guys recommend in regards to beefing up security? Is the Club any good? A fuel cutoff switch would probably be a smart thing to install, right?

In case you're in Jersey here's a pic of it, please report it if you see it:

 

dude... i feel your pain ...(well not really because ive never had a car stolen)
but that really sucks

civics are a dime a dozen in the US, and i highly doubt ull ever see it in one piece again...
but keep your hopes up... u never know

but to the question:
my dad had a club on his 91 toyota pickup and on my mom's 95 bmw...

it works pretty easily... and its a rgeat theft deterrent for people trying to drive your car away...

 

The club only deters the casual thief. Someone who's really looking for your car will bring a saw, saw the steering wheel, and remove "The Club". So someone looking for a crime of opportunity but didn't bring his saw will skip the car.

There's a version that goes on the brake pedal. That's good because the brake pedal is one of the strongest points of the car (otherwise, if you slammed on the brake and it broke, you'd be in trouble). It's a little troublesome to install/remove though.

Fuel cutoff switch is good. It can either be wired to your alarm, or you can have a manual switch hidden in your car somewhere. My cousin had a manual switch on her old car. It was by the foot rest, and all you had to do is flick it with your foot.

Car alarms, again, are just deterrents for the casual thief. If there are more than one thief, one can break in and pop the hood, and the other with clippers just goes right in and cuts the battery cable to disable the alarm. Honda's have a weakness where thieves can steal it without setting off the alarm, but I'm not going to tell anyone what it is (although I'm sure everyone knows). The pager alarms are nice, but unless you carry a loaded handgun with you, I wouldn't recommend running up to the thieves to tell them to backdown. You might get an a$$-whooping and your wallet/keys taken off you.

Basically there's no way to really secure your vehicle. If they really want it, they'll just steal/borrow a flatbed tow truck and tow your car away. The only way to secure your vehicle would be to prevent anyone from physically coming near your vehicle, such as garaging it, and then putting 5 padlocks on each entry to the garage.

Lojack or some sort of tracking system is probably the best bet. Thieves will usually park the car somewhere and let it sit for a few days to see if the car has lojack or whatever. You'll be able to recover your car within a day.

 

sorry to hear about your stolen vehicle. What part of jersey are you located in?

 

Does the TSX have already an ignition kill on it? I know there is a chip in the key to start the engine. I'm thinking it's pretty safe for it not to be stolen. The only problem is that the alarm won't go off when the windows are broken into.

 

yea, the chip is kinda like an engine immobilizer. If it doesnt recognize the key or something, then it wont start. Prevents the car from being driven esp. if like the ignition is punched out.

If you had only liability on your civic and it was parked outside, then i would def. have put the club on it. Its better than nothing and its pretty easy to remove/install. Might be worth it to not get your car stolen. My mom's car was stolen before and recovered. we used to have comp. on it but not anymore so we "club" it wherever we go. better than being left with no money and no car.

 

F*CKEN SH*T i hate these people. My friend worked his ass off for 4 years, saved up and bought a Civic SI, was soooo happy that it's his first car, and got it stolen a year after. I almost know how you feel man cause I was so pissed when my friend got his car stolen. He had one-way insurance so insurance didn't cover and cops never recovered his car. I just hate these people who steals cars.

Any ways on to topic. I have Lojack in my car but I don't know how effective that would be. I mean the theif could take my car, strip it down, and leave it there for the cops to locate it. I would like my car back if it's stolen but I wouldn't want it stripped down. I'm glad our car has an immobilizer though. I drive a manual so I leave the clutch lock thing when I park in places for a long time or feel the place is fishy. From what I believe, the best and cheapest security would be a club with brake/clutch lock.

 

True that on the LoJack thing. Both my parents car has it. They've never had their car stolen, but a friend of theirs did. It was equipped with LoJack and they had it back the same day. There were some scratches on the sides, but insurance took care of it. They sure happy. I guess I would've been too! 3 Series BMW!

I'm thinking about bitting the bullet and getting on my TSX as well. It's a little pricey, but WAAAAAAAAAAAY chepaer than finding out that someone jacked your car....your beloved car and having to replace it.

 

The Club - Pointless crap. Don't buy it. Like the previous poster mentioned, they will saw through the steering wheel and take your car.

The Autolock - This device supposedly braces onto the brake/clutch pedal so you won't be able to shift out of park, or start the car for MT. They are the strongest parts of the car, and you can't saw through a brake/clutch pedal.

But they sell a device that brute forces the autolock until it snaps, making the device useless. (I forgot the name) Anyone can buy it. Autolock, like the club, is again pointless.

Car alarms which just makes a sound- Who actually pays attention to these things nowadays?

The only thing that I think is worth looking into is,

1. Car alarms with remote, which pages you when your alarm goes off, telling you which part of the car was broken into. Any car alarms which does not alert you via cell phone or remote is pointless.

2. Lojack.

 

Woah... where can I find car alarms that can alert me via cellphone? That's be VERY useful. If it's accurate and no chance of a false call, you can actually go rushing to save your car the moment you found out.

Scary thing happened to a fellow coworker the other day... he just started a week ago and got his civic hatchback (it looks like the civic model above) stolen. It's very attractive to thieves because it had a custom paintjob, rims, bodykit (it has "Password JDM" decaled on the rear), carbon fiber hood, many gauges (didn't see what they were for), and a custom removable steering wheel. I don't know why but he was forced to quit and move back to hawaii after that (From what I heard). What bastards. I thought the removable steering wheel was a great deterrent but guess not. Although it didn't happen at work, I'm now more scared than ever to leave my car alone except in my garage... especially with all the mods I've planned for the summer.

Why the **** do some people have to stoop so low!?!

Hearing stuff like this gets me fantasizing sometimes how I can install a grenade in my car that detonates if a thief breaks in. I don't care if it destroys my car if it takes the bastard with it. Of course I didn't take into consideration the "what if" scenarios where my car is not being stolen...

 

That's worthless as well. I had one, and I got to see the thief in my car. But heck no, I'm not going to approach a criminal who probably has no reservation in killing me.

A car alarm with a back-up battery and a siren inside the cabin might work. Unless they have ear plugs, there's no way they'll want to put their head anywhere near a siren in an enclosed space to disable it. And if they do, they'll have ear damage and you'll have your revenge.

 

my sis has the same car. i'm from nj too.

where in nj are you located? i'll keep an eye out.

sorry for your loss.

 

Thanks mojox20, I'm in Sayreville..

I don't think most TSX owners have to worry just yet, I've been on a LOT of Civic forums these last 8 days, thieves seemed to be obsessed with the 1999-2000 Civic. My bumper was cracked and my hood had a little rust from a fender bender, but I guess that wasn't deterrent enough for those bastards...

 

A manual fuel cutoff is a good idea. The thief would basically have to locate it before he is able to drive away. You can do it for under $10, too, so it's cheap AND effective. The only other way to steal the car would be to tow it, but most thieves do not even consider this possibility. They just try to drive it away.