Classic Car Theft
 

I live in NorthWest Ohio and there has been some classic cars stolen in my area lately. What could I do to protect my car that I've owned since 1988, I would be devastated if I lost her to car thieves. Would like to here how some of the members are protecting your rides.

If you have a Iphone Get a Iphone Air tag and hide it in the car.

don't take it anywhere where you can't keep an eye on it. That includes the hardware store, gym, the park etc. Modern thieves use rollback towing trucks, just like the repo guys. They can have your car loaded and gone under 3 minutes. At home, keep the car inside your garage not in the driveway, no sense advertising you have a classic car to the 'lookie loos'. Also, keep it insured with stated value insurance. I know it can be expensive for $50K + car's. But like your home, its a big investment.

Keep it in a locked garage overnight; preferably one with an alarm.

For casual theft (such as while you are in a restaurant) you can do a hidden kill switch. If it is an older model with point type ignition, the most effective switch is one that grounds the negative side of the coil. You can hide a toggle switch somewhere that grounds your coil for anti-theft. That way, even if the bastards hotwire it, it STILL won't start. Buys you some more time. May also work with some ignitions with different triggers, but I have never tried it.

If your car is accessible, a pro that has scoped out the job and has a roll back is taking your car.... period. So, the air tag, if well hidden is the best hope of quick recovery.

Also, you don't want "stated value" coverage. You want "agreed value" coverage. And yes, I am absolutely positively certain of that. Some of the big insurance companies are glad to write you a stated value policy. Read the fine print. In the event your car is stolen they will be the LOWER of the stated value and actual cash value (acv). And trust me, they will come up with a lower ACV, and argue it to death. They will find "comparables" galore. You will have to PROVE otherwise. Good luck with that.

Charley I have an Android phone, anything similar to the "Air Tag" but for an Android

You can get an app for your phone that can detect trackers placed on your car too. The thieves don't need to see where the car goes for later, they can track it.

3 minutes to snatch a car is an absolute eternity. The small Japanese repo trucks can hook up & be gone in 20-25 seconds without the driver even exiting because all the boom controls are inside the cab of the truck. Unfortunately, Apple AirTags are only good for pointing out the initial direction that was traveled from the theft site because these thieves now have scanners to find them! There’s been several thefts where the AirTag is found on the side of the road just a couple miles from the initial theft site. My apologies in advance for being such a Debbie Downer but technology falls on both sides of the law these days!

OK, the kill switches do work and most of my cars have 2 of them. I do total electrical kill not just a single wire kill. Just like in a drag car with the kill/safety on the back in case of a crash Moroso and others sell high amp switches and I run a 1 gauge wire. One of my switches is easier for me to access and is the type with a single red removable key. IF I go where I leave the car and am out-of-site, I turn it completely off and take the hidden key with me, then close the trunk.

Now my 2021 has a nice high end alarm. Those to are making there way to my classics. It tells me where the truck is, if its hit or moved, door or hood opened, text me on my phone to any activity with an incriped cell signal. Will also tell you if signal is "lost".

At present, here in Canada, I'm insured with Haggerty and all have 19A AGREED value coverage, with appraisals sent to back up my values. Stock or mildly modified car are less then 1% of the value for insurance costs per year. $110,000 value is $905.00 annually. Modified cars, like my '69 Nova with aftermarket front end, tubbed, 800Hp bb and $90,000 value is about $1,450.00. But I got to ahold of Haggerty as I have a few projects I think I want to insure because usually once you get to 5, the insurance cost goes down significantly.

We had three pickup trucks stolen out of the parking lot in Dallas during the NCRS judging retreat in March. These trucks were parked outside of the secured parking lot where they left their trailers because the secured lot was too far away from the Hotel entrance. Nothing in the secured lot was stolen. The police said they take side streets with no cameras, load them up in trailers that cancel out the OnStar signal and store them in buildings that cancel out the OnStar signal. All three were GM products. OnStar had no active signals for these vehicles. I don't know what part of this is accurate as described by the Dallas Police Department, but it shocked the heck out of us hearing about the technology involved.

As usual, the bad guys figure out out to use all this convenience technology against us far better than we can to protect the vehicle.

When you park. Crank the steering wheel all the way one direction or the other... if it has a locking column. Make sure you are nose in to a curb.. building.. or another car. It'll make it harder for them to steal.

I see an opportunity for an invention here, or maybe just a different application of an existing product. There has got to be a way to stop rollbacks from being able to just hook and book. Whoever figures that out will make bank.

Anyone using Apple Air Tags should go to You Tube and watch a video on how to remove the microphone from an Air Tag. It’s a very simple process and only takes a few minutes.
Doing this will render the Air Tag absolutely silent.

The last thing you want is the thieves hearing a sound actuation you either intentionally, or unintentionally set off.

Speaker removal
 

A "decoy" air tag is also a good idea. The idea is to make them waste time and think they have found it.

How long do the batteries last in those things?

Any reason you can't place two or three in one vehicle?

I have had a couple out there for at least a year. Put as many as you want.

I just got a notification yesterday about one of the Apple tags thats in one of my cars has batteries being low. I think its been in that car over 18 months.

I was wondering if you had some information about the stolen vehicles you could post. You never know if someone on the message board will run across one of them.

I was in Houston for work recently and one of my counterparts had his new Duramax 1500 stolen from the hotel parking lot in 4 minutes from the time the perps drove up and drove it away. Hotel security footage showed one guy slide under the front end while the other was gaining entry in the driver side door. His OnStar warned him of multiple computer failures.

I live in a neighbourhood that is hit by car thieves multiple times per week. We can’t park my Lexus suv winter beater in the driveway overnight or it will be gone. Insurance made us put the ‘Tag” tracking system in it or they were going to increase rates by 40%.

The police have given seminars to the residents here a number of times. My take-aways were: always park in a garage, exterior to be well lit, layer protection to slow thieves down - club, kill switch, alarms, immobilizers, wheel clamp, park cars behind the target cars. Finally, a large, loud barking dog is one of the best deterants.

For a muscle car, I’d do a kill switch and wheel clamp.

They need to start cracking down on thieves hard. Harsh brutal barbaric punishments are the only things these pieces of sh** will respond to. The punishment needs to outweigh the crime... Until then.. it'll only get worse.

6 months hard labor for shoplifting a pack of gum would be a good start.