Car Security Guides

1. End up in chop shops
Many end up in chop shops, where the vehicle is stripped down to its components that are sold separately on the black market. By selling individualparts, thieves can make two to four $times a vehicle’s actual worth. These thieves are professionals who can strip a vehicle in less than 30 minutes.*

Chop shops are often backyard garages in residential areas. They usually are short term rentals where cash is paid for the first month rent. The garage is used for stripping stolen cars and then abandoned. When garage owners are not paid for the second month they look in their garage, often finding the hulk of a stolen car plus remnants of others that have been stripped. During the period the garage is being operated as a chop shop, stripped stolen vehicles will be found in an approximate six blocks area around the garage. One of the common “scams” run by chop shops is to dump the stripped vehicle on the street, and wait for it to be recovered and written off by the insurance company. The vehicle is then auctioned off by the insurance company as salvage, after which the thief legally buys back the written off vehicle at the auction and re-assembles it using the original parts that were stripped off of it. The thief can now sell the car and register it legally! (more…)

Why take your car to a professional to get an alarm installed, when you can do it yourself? It’s easy enough if you know how. You’ll need scissors, a knife, soldering gun, soldering material, crimps, drill, screw bit and screws, test light, tie wrap, double-sided mounting tape and a voltage meter. Be sure and completely read the installation manual that comes with the product. Because there are so many different makes and models of cars, and because each model is different when it comes to locks and doors, you will need some assistance from the manufacturer’s help line. There should be a phone number listed on the package where you can call to find out what type of locking system your car has. Also ask what color of wire to connect to in order to interface the locking characteristics of the alarm. Question the advisor on how to install the relay for the door lock feature and what color of wire to connect to for the starter disable feature. In addition, ask how to hook up the relay and find out how to set up the voltmeter to test the door lock wires on your particular car. One more thing they can help you with is finding out how to access the factory door triggers. Check the installation manual to help you decide where to place each component. If you’ll be installing an alarm with a current or voltage-sensing feature, ask the technician what color of wire works the overhead light and how you can access it. (more…)

This is a solid performing unit offering great range and reliability. The control module is extremely compact and constructed of a reasonably thick flat black plastic. The wires are of a good gauge but the connections to the plugs seems wimpy compared to brands like Clifford and Alpine. It includes on board relays for power door locks, trunk release & parking flash.

The 800ESP comes with a shock sensor, starter-kill, as well as sensors for the hood, trunk, and doors. Unlike the 500ESP which has a 3 channel receiver, the 800ESP has 7. With only 3 channels, your expansion choices are quite limited. Basically, if you program the 500ESP to pop your trunk and to turn on your headlights, you can’t add any other options. But with 7 channels, well, that opens up a whole bunch of choices of what you can do with your alarm. Remember, almost anything in your car which can be turned on or off with a switch can be operated from your 4 button Viper remote. Most people use the channels for things like popping the trunk, turning the headlights on and off, opening a power gas door lid, turning on the stereo.
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This Clifford Concept 300 Car Alarm is Thatcham Category 1 which means it has both an immobiliser and an alarm which have to meet stringent standards and also has the nice benefit of a reduction in car insurance premiums. This is one of the cheapest Thatcham 1 approved alarms on the Market, but many customer thinks that tis is probably one of the best. It never goes off in the night on a false alarm. It always locks on the first keypress. It never malfunctions.

You can activate the alarm from a good distance and are supplied with 2 nice carbon fibre looking fobs. (more…)

GPS vehicle tracking has many uses. The most obvious reason to have a GPS vehicle tracking system is in a situation where your car is stolen. If you ever become a victim of vehicle theft and are lucky enough to have a GPS system installed all you will need to do is to inform your GPS carrier of the theft. They can track the car’s exact location and its speed, when the vehicle has been located, they will call police to recover it for you.

Once the GPS device is installed on the vehicle, the user subscribes to a service that works with law enforcement agencies if the vehicle is stolen. There are some vendors that charge a fee only if the vehicle is stolen. If the system has the feature of two-way communication, one can disable the vehicle, trigger the alarm, or lock the doors.
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