cdodkin

So, I had a similar issue, only with stereo's disappearing from my cars outside of my place on a regular basis.

Every time I replaced a head unit and CD changer, they'd come back for them and steal them again!

Ended up fitting a paging car alarm, as the siren ones are almost completely useless.

The pager alarms activate a radio pager once triggered, so you can respond accordingly. In fact the silent alarm approach with the pager allows you to respond without the thieving b@st@rd knowing you're on the way

In my case, I responded dressed in a black hoody and black jeans, armed with an aluminum baseball bat

Caught the little at 3am one Saturday morning, and gave him the distinct impression that he was about to become batting practice.

Never had another problem.

So if you're thinking alarms, go silent pager to make it effective

donquixote30

cdodkin.

Are you serious? Does saving one's Xenon lights deserves that level of risk? One never knows how vicious, disturbed or determined a thief may be. Not a sensible alternative, in my view.

cdodkin

Hey, you can always call the cops when the pager goes off, and hope they turn up in time to do something.

Personally, I'd had enough of being a victim.

Turned out the kid doing the self serve on my stereos was local, and would have continued to help himself without some level of intervention.

He was funding his drug habit with the stereos, and we needed to establish some boundaries.

The cops caught him a number of times, but could never nail him - however, he decided that shopping further afield was safer for him than visiting my cars.

mooty

i am sorry to hear about your stolen lights, those bastards. may they die of slow and painful death. maybe someone will steal their eyes....

however, i am not aware that there are any cops in miami (other than CSI miami and miami vice)... really.

Rolf Stumberger

That's right, never confront a thief.

Shoot the piece of s##t from a distance.
That way , the bastard will know how vicious , disturbed or determined a car owner can be . Lol

cdodkin

What ever floats your boat.

My little encounter was back in the UK, where owning a gun is a so I had to get up close and personal in order to convince the criminal that I was sufficiently motivated to defend my property.

In the end, I decided that hiding behind my insurance, and getting stuff fixed & replaced every month was not solving the problem, but feeding it.

How ever you do it, you have to be more determined than the criminals if you expect to hang on to your stuff, and stop the insurance costs spiral.

IMHO.

Paul S.

True story--my Admin's boy friend, went outside to stop a thief from stealing his rims, and was shot to death. I'm not sure I would confront a thief with a baseball bat, or at all. A set of Xenons are not worth risking life and limb to protect.

cdodkin

So I'm an idiot for stepping up and defending my own property.

I'll leave the keys in next time, with a neon sign over the top saying 'Please Help Yourself - I won't Bother Coming After You'

It's a sad state of affairs.......

newport996

No...but here in the states, its not worth it....most thieves are armed, and the value of life among them is low....they would rather kill you than go to jail...they go into it knowing this...especially if they go through the trouble of casing you and knowing your schedule....they are professional thieves and they mean business....over in the UK where there is much more strict gun control the odds are different....

Paul S.

An idiot, I don't know. But surely reckless. When you're dead in your coffin, do you want your epitaph to read, "He died for Xenons"? There is a difference between locking your possessions and making them more difficult to steal versus risking personal injury or death.

But if you are intent on protecting your stuff, I recommend you buy a gun and learn how to use it. But be aware you will be risking jail time if you shoot (or take a baseball bat to) to stop someone from stealing. There are exceptions--example the Texas cases allow homeowners to shoot buglars in their homes and even shoot them in the back while the felon is fleeing the home; in California, I don't know but suspect they will be less lenient than here "in the Wild West".

But as they say, it is better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.

In the UK you don't have many guns. Here, do the same thing as you did, and you would be potentially carrying a baseball bat to a gun fight. Not smart.

barrett

Seriously, go to ebay and do a search for "porsche xenon" and you will find a bunch of sellers selling porsche headlights. I'm not saying that all these guys are dirty, but I'm also not saying that I think they're all clean.

It's disgusting that people will deface a nice car just to tart up one of their crappy Hondas (so they can boast to their friends how wealthy they must be).

jumper5836

not that many on ebay but this one definately looks like theft.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/PORSCHE-996-TURBO...QQcmdZViewItem

Dro

THats not theft. Thats being sold straight from gemballa HQ here in Malibu. Legit.

RedRocket

yes and no. a recent study by the US dept of Justice showed that crimes involving firearms are on the decline. This may be due to the much stiffer punishments for armed vs. unarmed crimes. I do agree that most criminals are stupid, however the successful ones tend to be fairly intelligent and are more likely to consider the consequences of being charged with armed robbery vs. unarmed robbery. Especially considering that the likelihood of a confrontation when stealing your headlights is fairly low. Roughly half of all robberies commited in the US between 1993-2001 were commited with a weapon.
Here is another interesting find from the same study.
the likelihood of an injury was the same for victims
facing armed and unarmed offenders (26%); serious injury
was more likely from armed offenders (7% versus 2%).

If it were me...and i caught someone screwing around with my C2S...they better be ready for an a$$ whipping, or an iron skillet to the head. There are risks in defending your property. to some, the risk of being injured is too high. to some they are good odds. I say to each his own.

newport996

Dont know about studies...but I do know about the streets...most thieves have been in jail....most say they wont go back easily....if its between beating someone down and jail...you are getting beat down...period....also most thieves dont work alone....there are at least 2 others so its not a 1 on 1 fight. Do you think they have not thought about, "what if the owner shows up?"...So when you think you have the upper hand and caught them by surprise...look out behind you....you may get caught from behind....I am just saying for me... Thats why I park in places I can control...i.e my HOUSE...or my office with gated private parking and 24 hour security....and then pay for insurance....who wants to be a statistic? I wanna enjoy my car, and my life....I know too many people killed from car jacking, wrong place at the wrong time, and trying to be a hero....unless you are personally threatened...why LOOK for a fight?