[TR] Anti theft for LBCs

[Jim Muller]

On 12 Sep 2009 at 9:12, John A. Wise asked:
> Has anyone installed a LoJack type system on their LBC?

I have not.  In this state there is a significant insurance discount 
for anti-theft devices, classified into three tiers, I think.  So on 
a previous new Caravan we had LoJack installed.  It was never stolen 
so we couldn't say how well it worked, but it did pay for itself over 
the life of the car.  As I recall, the premise at that time was that 
a recovery system should be hidden so that theives wouldn't know it 
was trackable.

Thoughts seemed to have changed since then.  For example, the 
presense of an alarm system is usually announced by a blinking LED on 
the dashboard, I suppose because the thief would probably choose 
another car.  When we bought our next car "they" didn't recommend 
LoJack.  For modern commodity cars the monetary value of theft is in 
the parts, and a quick chop-shop could remove the valuable parts and 
dump the trackable remains before you even notice it is gone.  Notify-
if-moved systems are useful because they are faster to notice the 
theft but a good chop-shop could still be done with the car in 20 
minutes.  With more valuable models stolen for their black-market 
resale value, e.g. high-end Benz or BMW, the thieves park it in an 
out-of-the-way place and wait.  If no police show up in a few days, 
they know it is safe to take away.  So the recovery process becomes a 
waiting game between the thieves and undercover police who will watch 
it until it is claimed instead of recovering it immediately.

In any case, if the car is replaceable you probably don't want it 
back.  A joyrider or parts thief could leave it in such a state that 
the cost to fix it will make it "totalled" anyway.

With a classic LBC, the case isn't so clear.  A joyrider may break it 
but unless it is wrecked you probably do want it back.  However a 
joyrider isn't likely to hide it when done.  There is no ready market 
for used LBC parts like there was, for example, for Toyota hubcaps 
for a while.  So a chop-shop isn't a threat.  And the black-market 
probably isn't interested because a nice LBC is probably too 
recognizeable.  So other than the financial benefit of lower 
insurance bills there isn't much value in a recovery system.

That's how it seems from this corner.

-- 
Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com
'80 Spitfire, '70 GT6+