direk_04TL

have you guys ever heard of any 04 TL's being stolen for parts? i just read the posts about the basic alarm the TL has and frankly, im a little worried! my brother's 02 Integra Type-R got stolen last year and it was gutted! -- it shares the same "transmitter in the key" technology as the TL. would appreciate any thoughts! thanks!

anthracura

I have not heard about the entire car being stolen but I have been told by a few people about the headlights being stolen. They're supposed to be worth a few hundred dollars each!

I bought LoJack just to be safe. (for the car, not the headlights. )

A

JoganJani

Guys whatever you use, you cannot stop the thieves. You can only slow them down. There are all kinds of cars being stolen. We just need to keep our fingers crossed. I've not heard a 04 TL being stolen yet. Though remember a thread of a cop whos TL got towed and he thought it was stolen.

Ed-Head

You should consider Mobilguardian for your car. It's a system similar to LoJack...but works a hell-of-a-lot better since your car can be tracked thru the internet with it and also thru the mobileguardian service.

Unlike LoJack that needs xmitters and doesn't work in every city, MobilGuardian will.

I brought thru the Acura dealer here in Atlanta and they had it installed for me in 1 hour.

Here's the website for more information

http://www.mymobileguardian.com

direk_04TL

thanks Ed-head!

varanelli

I've heard rumors of the Xenon headlamps and wheels being stolen. The latter is why the TLs come with wheel locks. The dealers don't want them sitting on the lot waiting to be stolen.

direk_04TL

i just went on the Mobile Guardian website and unfortunately, there are no dealers here in my area (Washington, DC), i may just consider getting LoJack. thanks for info!

Thorin78

Even the bat mobile got jacked into. Look at all the protection Batman had on that baby.

Hrm...MobileGuardian is like OnStar. You can buy their minutes or you can buy "locates". Interesting concept. I don't know if lojack works off the same concept.

rets

So far, I know some rim caps were gone... and a few months ago, one of Acura dealership in Long Island was breached by thieves. A few cars in their lots were damaged, including a few of 04TLs. Due to thieves never know it's so hard to remove those headlight, they almost smash those cars' front...

DMZ

Due to all the headlight theft problems on the pre-'04TL's and CL's, Acura designed the '04 TL headlight assemblies such that you have to take off the entire front bumper in order to remove them.

mastertl

i was wondering how much is the Early Warning System from LoJack? I dont have mobile guardian in my area (California!!!) and the closest one is probbaly in Arizona. The closest dealer that installs it is from the place I bought my TL (YAY) and I was wondering how much would it be?

Ed-Head

Direk,

Sorry about you not being able to get Mobileguardian. I haven't had any complaints about it yet, but then haven't had to use the service either.....and Hope I never will!!!!

Don't know about MobileGuardian and LoJack being similar in terms of service. I just remember that several Cobb county Police officer's telling me that LoJack didn't work in all situations and locations. And that car theives know the hiding locations of the LoJack module.

The thing that I really liked about the Mobileguardian is that they don't put any stickers on the car to announce that it's on-board.

mastertl

Ed-Head

Are you sure the LoJack tells you, by sticker, that it is installed? I dont think so. If it wants to send an inaudible signal, it would be stupid to tell someone that it is sending one right? And besides, even if they do put a sticker, I will be taking it off. While it may not work in all states, I think that a lot of us are only doing our heavy traveling in one or two states and times when we do go cross country or something, LoJack will protect it most of the time. I have not seen enough comparison between the two systems to make a decision, but I thinkn the fact that MobileGuardian does not have an Acura dealer in California (absurd), I think I will be going with LoJack since its only about 3-5 miles away from where I live. I do not plan on going out of state for a long time and I think the coverage in California is prefectly fine for me. I am sure that both systems are qualified in terms of vehical recovery, its simply a case of to each his own. Good luck to everyone here on this forum and lets hope we never see that day that our TLs are stolen.

Btw, can anyone tell me the full price, including installation and labor and all that stuff for the LoJack system.

NightRider

I have heard of this. Here in Denver my friends 00 Prelude got stolen one night from the curb in front of her house! Police found the car a few weeks later up in the mountains about 40 miles away COMPLETLY stripped. The asians took the stereo and speakers, headlights, seats, steering wheel, wheels and tires, windows, all body panels, doors, sunroof, and the entire engine...

This is what worries me about having a nice Asian car. :sqntfawk:

rescueswimmer

I have the best alarm system out there. Full coverage insurance. Well atleast it is the best untill the car depreciates some more.

direk_04TL

NightRider

I am not positive, but I used to be fairly good friends with an Asian (Vietnamese) who was in an Asian gang and he admitted that he knows of "chop shops" people take stolen parts and cars to all the time for money or to modify their own vehicle. There was an article in the paper (Rocky Mountain News) about street racing awhile back and a kid here who had a early 90's hatchback (CRX I believe) and dropped Prelude or something similar engine in it and had it turbo'd. Although the engine eventually blew, he was running 10's in the quarter!

Monte TLS,MAX

No not yet but Im sure it will happen, BTW your brother had an 02 Integra Type R. I thought that cars production ended in 00 with the RSX taking over that line.

Ed-Head

MasterTL,

You might have a point there, I've seen some LoJack equipped cars with stickers, then come to think of it, I know of some others that don't have them....

Either way, both systems are good.

foot3ch

I am from Norcal. I got mine installed at my dealer for 795 bucks. Just one time pay, no deductible or anything when ur car gets stolen. I hope this will help.

direk_04TL

dude sorry, it was a yellow 2000 Integra Type-R. thanks for the correction.

apwalsh

In regards to the heaadlights being stolen, they are bolted in to make it harder to remove them, but with a crowbar and sawsall they can be stolen.

That is what happened at the dealer in LI. I think the headlight repairs cost something crazy like $5000.00, and that is just for the headlights and ballasts, etc. not the damage to the surrounding body from crowbars.

I think there was a thread with more details somewhere here

Pot80h

This thread caused some amusement over dinner tonight...

Told hubby about the mods that Acura had made to make the headlights harder to steal.

He observed that GM would never have made that mod as it would reduce their sales of aftermarket replacement parts!

Sooo cynical for one so young

GoBig

Try Boomerang Tracking. http://www.boomerangtracking.com/

twong11219

I'm a little offended by the stereotyping of Asians stealing cars or parts. Cars are being stolen by anyone desperate enough to make a buck. It might have been a coincidence that your Asian friend ,that was or is still with a gang, knew some chop shops.

If I parked my car outside, I'd eyeball anyone and everyone, regardless of ethnicity because everyone has the capability to steal.

FYI: I do have LoJack and I'm not going to promote it by putting a sticker saying I have it. All it means is the person who stole it has a shorter period of time to chop the car and find the transmitter. Everything is a deterrent. I don't even bother with "the Club" because it's so easy to bypass. The best thing is to design a house that you can park your car next to your bed.

direk_04TL

GOOD CALL TWONG!!

NightRider

Good call about the bed. I hear you about Asians, (I don't know if you are one). I am definitely not racist, I just explained a single experience. I also look at anyone and everyone who goes near my car. I check my car for scratches dings and the like everyday when I leave work.

Mylriahd

Sure, anyone can jack a car, but whether you believe it or not, asians typically tend to have a brutally efficient system for doing so. If the car was completely stripped, my bet is on asians. Be offended all you want. My wife is from Tokyo, so don't go off on me being racist.

3 days after I bought my 00 Integra GSR, the airbag got stolen out of it. Not only that, but I happened to SEE the guys who did it. Asian. But at the time, a truck full of asians (and I mean full, like 5 or 6 guys in an extended pickup) parked right next to my car (in an apartment lot.) didn't raise any alarms for me. I opened the blinds, saw them (they ALL looked at me, which was weird to me, but I was doing my own thing in my apt.) Go out to my car an hour later and bam. The cop who came to take the report said the dealer should have told me that the airbags in my area (eastside of seattle) were such a hot item.

One thing about it being asians though; that brutal efficiency saved me some money. Someone desperate for money would have broken a window; these guys jimmied the door (with the horrible horrible locking design in the integras it's not hard) and took only the airbag and didn't damage anything in the process. (Though the officer said if I hadn't startled them by opening my blinds, they probably would have taken the seats too.)

Is this a racist comment or one meant to offend you? Nope. Its all fact. Being blind to it doesn't make you better than any of us, but it does make you prone to being needlessly offended. Just because you may be asian doesn't mean when someone says "asians" they are talking about you. When I see a comment like "the asians stripped the car", i'm thinking of those guys in that truck... those worthless misguided souls who happen to be of asian decent; I'm certainly not thinking of my wife or any of my asian friends and family -- who also happen to be of asian decent (or in many cases, directly asian.)

direk_04TL

now now, guys, this is a post about STOLEN CARS, not ASIANS.

twong11219

Fine Direk. I won't add to it. I made my point and "Myrliahd" made his point.

Due to his incidents, he has built a sterotypical view of most asians. I'm sorry he has this view, but I hope he can know that there is at least one other asian, other than his wife, that doesn't go around stealing car parts. I respect people's property, and I hope people respect mine. If more people did that, maybe my car insurance wouldn't be so high.

Sorry I strayed off....Now....Back to the "Stolen Car" topic.

fsr20det

i am asian btw, if i was to steal a mercedes i would probably steal just the rims maybe headlights, if i was to steal a type-r i would strip it down to the chassis maybe even strip the vin's and make a race chassis and sell it! why do you ask? i KNOW i can sell all the type-r parts including the screws very fast and easily where as the mercedes icould dump the rims and hid's but the other parts are too much trouble to sell. its all about supply and demand not ethnicity......

msisaac

MasterTL,

I contacted a Lojack dealer and I think he quoted a price of around $699 for the unit and some extra cash for the install. All told, I think I would have been out around $800 for the whole thing. Not too bad.

The best thing to do would be to go to lojack.com and get info for a lojack dealer in your area, then contact them.

Matt

abtl

I had my 1998 white Integra stolen right out of my driveway at night on March 30. Police found it few days later stripped down to the bones and filled with street trash. It hurt so much when I looked at it first, took some digi photos just to remember my first new car and my first Acura. I read a report later that 1998 Integras are the second most stolen cars in the US right behind 1995 Saturns, based on the ratio of number of registered cars and cars reported stolen. I have my new TL since May 28 and no problems yet. I had the lowjack installed by the dealer for $795 and there is no sticker on my car.

The lawyer who lives across the street is always talking to the local police told me that a guy down the street has a son who had been involved in car thefts in the past, and the son is out of jail recently (just before my car was stolen). If something happens to my new TL then I am moving.