Car alarms

[JonW]

Is it worth fitting a car alarm to my eight-year-old Fiat Punto? It's just been broken into and I'm keen to avoid a repeat performance. Are these alarms actually a deterrent and is it worth the expense of fitting one to a car worth less than �2,000?

[BadBob]

I would say no. Simply because the sort of thing that has just happened to you would and did happen outside my house with an alarm. Somebody smashed a window and grabbed a load of CD's from a car and ran off, the alarm went off but of course by the time anybody came out they were long gone. In car alarms its more the imobiliser which is more usefull which is used mainly so the car cannot be driven away, if its theft from the car its not really much of a deterant. The best advice is don;t leave any valuables in your car on show or otherwise.

[BadBob]

Thats no to say if the car was new I would get an alarm but as your saying the car isnt worth a great deal then I wouldnt consider it good value.

[JonW]

Cheers Bad Bob. Thing is, there was nothing in the car and nothing on display, but that seemingly didn't matter. I guess the alarm may not have been a deterrent, but had it gone off I might have been able to catch them as it too happened right outside my house. Bah.

[BadBob]

Then it seems that you think it may be worth it. Seeing as you had nothing in the car, did they break in or just smash the window. If its the later it may have just been vandals. I can't see why somebody wold break into a car if they could see anything so in that scenario I guess an alarm may have been a deterant.

[JonW]

No, wasn't just vandals. As well as smashing the window they'd had a go at the lock as well. I'm going to move somewhere nicer, I think. Thanks for your interest.

[BadBob]

Last one honest. On a similar note, I used to have a motorcycle, on which security is much more of an issue than a car (given you can easily steal a bike without a crane). So my theory was this, as long as my bike had a least one more security device than the bike next to it mine was second on the list to get nicked. So if you leave your car in an area with cars without alarms having one would reduce the chance yours will be broken into/stolen.

[Jenny Tools]

A cheap option is to go to halfords or maplins and buy the small red LED lamp only. Wire this in to come on when the ignition is switched off. so when you park the car a alarm warning light flashes inside the car. Cheap and they wont be able to tell its not real

[Gef]

If I were you, I'd just leave the keys in the ignition and claim the insurance ;-)