" If somebody with 1/2 a brain wants to steal your car, they are going to steal your car."
I politely disagree, in fact it is the opposite, it is the people who put in 1/2 a brain worth of time and money to not want to protect their vehicle (or equipment) will be the ones impacted by theft. I had show cars most of my youth (5 figures worth of aftermarket), and have had this conversation too many times, even on a terrasse during Grand Prix weekend, where some smart ass insisted that he could pretty much steal any car. I told him with confidence that he could never steal mine, and if he did, he got to keep the car (it was an insane system, including electronic hood lock pulling against the hood release).
So here's the basics (think like a thief) :
By today's standards, there is no window breaking or coat hanger tricks (that is so 80's). They want to copy your key FOB or it's frequency via OBD to make it easy. I always assume my FOB frequency can be copied, so I make sure it cannot get copied.
1) Hide the VIN number with some paper, thief cannot take a picture the night before, head home, and use it to look up your frequency
2) Lock the OBD port, yes the lock is expensive ($500+) but once the port is locked, no way for them to connect their computer to copy the frequency
3) Steering wheel lock, I am not sure why people stopped using this, does not look pretty, but who cares, mine matches the color of my upcoming car
Those 3 things alone, if in place, will make most thieves walk right past your car, even if they managed to open the door to access the OBD port.
Now let's say for whatever reason they drag the damn thing on a flatbed.
This is where tracking comes in, and if you are paranoid like me, you will have no less than 2 systems.
4) The TAG system is great, insurance discounts pays the system/service within 2 years (for a 5-year service contract), and their recovery rate is very high.
On top of relying on a service to recover my vehicle (they do not share the GPS co-ordinates with you while they recover), I like to know where the car is at all times,
5) so I have a live GPS unit as well (Tracki) , hidden away.
So then the next smart person will tell me, yeah but they will disconnect the car battery. No problemo. Both units mentioned above actually work on their own standalone battery. TAG has something like 5 or 6 units each hidden in a different location, running off of a 5 year battery source. So even if the thief finds 1 or 2 units, several more, which are in difficult locations to reach, will continue to be accessible. As for the GPS unit, it has it's own battery too which gets charged from the 12v car battery, disconnect that source, and the unit will continue to function with live updates off of it's own battery, for the next 10-12 days, plenty of time to find the car.
Like I said, you get out of it what you put into it. Some don't care, and will just rely on their cushy insurance policy, and as I said before, good luck waiting for a replacement. To each their own.
Forgot the last one
6) Faraday pouches for your keys inside the house. Yes some FOBs are dormant when not moving, but I do not take a chance and block the signal from the front door (where thieves use wire antennas to capture the signal outside your home to copy it on the spot).
Before anyone asks me for links or brands or pricing, please see my tracking security post in the main section, all details are there.
