Is it worth taking a loss for emotional wellbeing/added security?

**maat55** · 10-12-2010, 03:46 AM

Do you have any lighting system around the car? You might install one of those motion lights.
get the club, it will detour future thefts as well.

**Broken Arrow** · 10-12-2010, 04:38 AM

Well, the good news about car thieves is that they don't tend to escalate to home invasion. Professionals may do it for a getaway car, habituals do it for a hooker and blow for the night, and joy riders may just want to race around town. All have their reasons for stealing your car, but these reasons are not likely to extend to specifically you or your family.

As far as street thievery goes, stealing cars is among the safest. If a car is out on the curb or driveway, it's just a matter of jimmying or smashing to get inside, grabbing what they want, and leaving in a few minutes. The relative safety and ease is what entices some to take this route, but again, because of the same relative safety and ease, not many will up the ante to a house or especially families if a car is enough.

Therefore, parking a car in a garage is actually one of the best things you can do to secure it. First and foremost, it gets it out of plain view, and a would-be thief can't easily identify it. Also, if they want to go after it, a garage presents an extra layer of hassle that they may not want to deal with, opting for an easier target instead. (A Honda Accord screams easy money by the way.)

I would not worry about your car in a garage increasing the danger to your family. That isn't to say that you are not in danger of burglary or home invasion. Quite the contrary, I would put some serious thought into hardening your house to repel that. I'm just saying that garaging your car should not increase that risk.

Also, I'm not a fan of the club. I've seen videos of car thieves anticipating and defeating that within five seconds and with minimal effort. Give the garage a try. Installing more motion sensor lights outside is a good idea though.

Finally, if I was in your situation, I too would have serious concerns about the safety of your family and especially your property. If your car is jacked more than once for any reason, that should be setting off alarm bells in your head. Remember that if they get away with it once, they will feel more comfortable committing the same crime a second and a third time. That's bad.

You know the definition of insanity. It's time to make some changes.

**marvholly** · 10-12-2010, 04:39 AM

Guppy
Saw this over on msn too.
Think the advice you got here is MUCH better, at least for a trial run.

**disneysteve** · 10-12-2010, 04:45 AM

A couple of thoughts...

If you refinanced within the past few months, you are probably not 10K upside down on your home. Lenders have gotten pretty conservative. If you don't have equity, they don't approve the refi.

Same question as maat55 - What security do you have for your cars? Lights? Alarm? Club? Kill switch? LoJack? How about putting up a gate? Anything that serves as a deterrent to a potential criminal can make a difference. Crooks want the easy target, the one they don't have to work for.

**guppy** · 10-12-2010, 06:33 AM

Steve - We completed the FHA loan refinance approx 8 months ago. House was valued at 175k which even seemed generous at the time, but the loan was for 170,820 including refinance/closing costs. Since Feb '10 it seems like housing has slowed even further in our area which is why I'm not optimistic about what the house would sell for.

Currently the car has no security system. My husband is now looking into buying a hood lock, possibly installing a kill switch or maybe an alarm. In the meantime I told him to start parking the car in the garage since I think that would eliminate most if not all of the threat of getting stolen. I shouldn't complain about little things, but with me coming home first that means I'll either have to leave my car on the street until he's home or park in the driveway and then pull it out when he gets home only to pull it back in after he gets his in the garage (and then repeat the whole process in the morning). I know, I know, these are little annoyances and worth it if it keeps his car safe.

I probably shouldn't be so hasty with this moving idea. Part of me would like to list just to see if we would get something close to what we owe so for peace of mind I could move to a better area and school district, but part of me knows that we will be in great shape financially if we can just stick it out in this house for a few more years..

**cypher1** · 10-12-2010, 07:27 AM

Broken Arrow summed up the options pretty thoroughly. To add, your garage (any garage) is the simplest, cheapest deterrent of reducing car theft. Isn't that also one of the main purposes for a garage as protection? If left outside, alarms help, club deter but can be broken quickly , LoJack is very good, but pricey I hear. A fuel kill switch would be simple, and if you wanted more, have a battery and ignition kill switch added. If you don't want to pay to do that and you're worried mainly about car theft, you could disconnect the distributor wire at night or pull out the ecu (kind of a nuisance for either). That still won't deter from someone just breaking a window to steal something. In the past on my Integra/civics, I never locked the doors in any bad neighborhood and had only liability. Why? Instead of making all those hidden switches, I made my main relay (little box that controls fuel pump/injectors) easy to disconnect and accessible quickly. I also had nothing worth stealing (besides a crap deck and maybe my ECU) so I didn't care if others wanted to get in without damaging. One last note on car thieves, if they really want a car, they'll get it. I've heard of them even towing, like an impound, very very rare though. But for majority of these punks, if they can't start that car within the first 60 seconds, they're not going to stick around trying to diagnose why.

**disneysteve** · 10-12-2010, 08:05 AM

Originally posted by cypher1 View Post

That still won't deter from someone just breaking a window to steal something.

I also had nothing worth stealing

This is SO important. NEVER, EVER leave anything of value visible inside your car, not even for a moment to run into a store. Don't leave a GPS, video player, cell phone, purse, backpack or anything. Every time you leave your car, it should be empty. There should be nothing of any possible value visible from outside.

My favorite story on this topic:
When I was a resident, one of the interns came in all upset that her car had been broken into. We all went outside with her and it turned out she had a Jeep with one of those zip-up plastic covers, so no locks. Anybody who wanted to could just unzip the cover and get inside. The thief stole a bunch of her medical equipment and other items from the car. I had a little trouble feeling too sorry for her. She might as well have put a big sign on the car that said, "Free stuff. Come and take it." I'm not saying it was right for anyone to steal it, but she certainly made it incredibly easy.

**MonkeyMama** · 10-12-2010, 09:22 AM

Guppy - I already replied to blog - just wanted to add an "I'm sorry - that sucks!!"

DS -I moved from a big city in Cali to another one. Our current zip code had one of the highest auto theft rates in the country, for a time. We are CONSTANTLY getting e-mails from neighbors (or hearing through grapevine) about how you shouldn't leave your car unlocked with your purse inside, or locked with laptops/purses in plain sight. Dh are just continually amazed. A lot of our neighbors are from cities like LA and SF. The metro area we live in now has over 2 million people. It's pretty much, "duh," from our standpoint. If I had a dollar for every friend/neighbor who left their purse in plain sight but thought it was safe in a "locked car."

I think we feel safer here because so many of our neighbors leave their doors unlocked and their valuables in plain sight. I have no idea how people in a big city could be so naive. The area used to have a smaller town feel, but I think that went away with the population explosion.

Never leave valuables in the car (in sight or not), and keep them garaged: does the job pretty well. Seems like common sense to any city kid.

**guppy** · 10-12-2010, 10:18 AM

Thanks so much to everyone for their insight. It really helps to hear a few different opinions, and I am honestly in a much better place than I was this morning when I wrote the post. I've already emailed my husband to say we are going to start garaging his car and wait things out until I go back full-time to work after my maternity leave in late June. At that point we were planning on paying off my student loan, but now if we are still feeling anxious we will look into saving for a downpayment on our next home or most likely saving up for another cheap used car that won't be nearly as enticing for the downtown scum. He is already at around 270k miles on the civic, so another newer used car was in our not to distant future, anyway.

**cypher1** · 10-12-2010, 10:30 AM

Disneysteve: Exactly! I've had various cars broken in when younger, mostly decks/cds taken, car stolen once...so far. You learn real quickly to not give anyone any excuse to do a double take on your car, no matter where you are.

MonkeyMama: I'm kind of the opposite for caution in city vs suburbs. I grew up in the cities, but feel more vulnerable while living in the suburbs. IMO suburbs contain higher % of neighbors most likely of leaving doors unlocked, more items out, more welcoming. While as you said, in the cities are more likely of keeping their guard up. Statistics show cities typically have higher crime rates due to different standard of living, larger populations, more traffic, etc. I always double check my locks and windows before leaving my home, no matter how safe my neighborhood feels.

Guppy: I'm no parent, but anyone of us can see your concern in terms of raising a child in that neighborhood. I'm just saying it could always be worse, and I don't mean to scare you. About 4-5yrs ago my older sis and her husband, with 1yr old child, bought a house in a let's just say questionable neighborhood. They spent a good year or so gutting/remodeling it, which turned out nice. Less than a month after they move in, literally across their alley, 4 people were shot in their home, 1 dying, the rest in ICU. Its pretty creepy then you can see the bullet holes in your neighbors garages. Needless to say, they're still stuck there due to being underwater on their home value, etc. That was the worst I've heard in their neighbor besides a gang shootout that occurred later that year. On the positive side, the last 3 years have really improved, with better neighbors at least.

**jIM_Ohio** · 10-12-2010, 10:50 AM

If you lose money selling, it won't be much. Maybe 10k-30k.

30k is worth my peace of mind. Move now, lose 30k now, and them start rebuilding from there.

I would move to a better school district now, don't wait for when kid is 6 months away from starting school and having them make new friends right before school starts.

**Cassius King** · 10-12-2010, 02:41 PM

I would sell that house in a hurry! Even if it meant living with the parents for a few months. It's obviously stressing you out. You're about to have a baby and want to raise it in a neighborhood that is safe. If you're worried about your car in the driveway, when are you ever gonna feel safe when your child is playing in the yard or going to/from school.

Life is too short to put up with situations like this. With your income and discipline, it's not an issue. Go get the better quality of life for your family.

**KTP** · 10-12-2010, 03:41 PM

I don't do it, but I am reasonably sure that where we live, I could leave an open wallet on my dash with a $20 bill sticking out of it, windows rolled down, and a note on the front door to house that says "gone for vacation, be back in a week" and I would return with nothing amiss.

+1 vote to move.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 10-13-2010, 08:28 AM

move. i love where i live bc its safe. i can sit and walk outside without fear. Do you really want your little one to not be able to play outside? Maybe not now but definitely next spring i'd be outta there.

Is it worth taking a loss for emotional wellbeing/added security?