Re: Alarms

[Jean-Claude Desinor <desinor@ibm.net>]

Addressed to: "Michael Friesen" <mfriesen@sympatico.ca>
              "Scirocco List" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>

** Reply to note from "Michael Friesen" <mfriesen@sympatico.ca> Wed, 14 Jul 1999 23:14:27 -0400
>
> Can anyone recommend an alarm system? My car got broken into tonight, and
> my stereo system is all gone. I want to prepared for the next guys. They
> did it all in broad daylight in an outdorr parking lot. They were pros
> though, cause they even had tools to cut the console open to get my deck
> out. Bastards. I'm not quite sure what made them destroy the rear seat in
> order to find my sub and amp, but they did. So now I have to fix all the
> damage and replace everything missing.
>
> Back to the topic. My dream would be to have a system that's not only
> loud, but has a paging system attached. But I also don't want to go too
> expensive. Problem is I'm not usually within earshot of my car, so how
> would I know the alarm is going off?
>
> Anyway, any advice would be helpful.

  I can sympathise with you, my Scirocco got broken into three times in
three months, back in 1985, before VW had the good sense to put in coded
radios.

  I went to a professional alarm installer and got a system with shock and
voltage drop sensors, and a glass break detector. I complemented that later
with an ultrasonic motion detector. The hood, trunk, doors are protected. A
tap on the glass triggers the alarm, and if that is not enough, the motion
sensor will get them.

  But this is still not enough: park in a place where the car will be seen
if it makes noise. People will not jump to its defense, but a large
percentage of burglars will not hang around if they can be seen. The other
percentage will not be deterred by that, but probably will not take risks
just for a stereo system.

  In addition, newer systems will also have a pager. I do not know which
system to recommend, but it pays to go to a professional installer, because
they know which holes a thief will exploit in a system.

  Anyways, after my bad experiences, I started to figure out it was cheaper
to park illegally in a well lit spot than to face the aggravation a break-in
causes. The third time, there was no longer a radio, but they opened the
trunk from the inside and found my photo equipment. Worse, my address book
was in my camera bag. Took me years to rebuild my contact list. My brush
with thieves caused me to drive for two years without coverage for the car
because my premiums trebled. It is a nerve racking experience.




        Jean-Claude
        84 8v

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