36 replies to this topic

[Bill]

Most of you heard or read about my catalytic converters stolen while I was at church.

Well... I have 3774 reasons why I am glad I have insurance!

The total for the repair came up to $3774.00, of which I have to pay $500. That is with teh insurance discount, they told me I would have been looking at an additional 10-15% if it was an out of pocket expense.

They had to replace two catalytic converters, the stainless steel exhaust pipes to the muffler, two oxygen sensors and the wiring to those oxygen sensors.

So, what do I do to keep this from happening again? Any ideas?

- Bill

[mikest2]

Bill, on Nov 6 2007, 06:08 PM, said:

Most of you heard or read about my catalytic converters stolen while I was at church.

Well... I have 3774 reasons why I am glad I have insurance!

The total for the repair came up to $3774.00, of which I have to pay $500. That is with teh insurance discount, they told me I would have been looking at an additional 10-15% if it was an out of pocket expense.

They had to replace two catalytic converters, the stainless steel exhaust pipes to the muffler, two oxygen sensors and the wiring to those oxygen sensors.

So, what do I do to keep this from happening again? Any ideas?

- Bill

Living in Seattle, a guy should be able to always park in a puddle and put an electric fence kit to good use. Just don't grab the door handle while wading.

[SkiBachelor]

Install some plates under the car which would prevent people from removing them. :)

[lastchair_44]

Bill, on Nov 6 2007, 06:08 PM, said:

So, what do I do to keep this from happening again? Any ideas?

- Bill

Two words- Trunk Monkey!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4HfMUGsniJ8

[lastchair_44]

But here's the more logical solution. This remote start/alarm system will page you if your vehicle is being "violated".

http://www.commandocaralarms.com/itemdetai...p?ProductID=496

[EagleAce]

Damn Bill, that SUCKS!! Personally I'm not a lover of car alarms; I had one and somebody STILL got in and took $2000 worth of stereo equipment . Insurance covered it all, thank God!! I always hear alarms go off here in the park and most people just ignore 'em. Stupid things irritate me! The shield idea sounds good.

[lastchair_44]

EagleAce, on Nov 6 2007, 07:18 PM, said:

I always hear alarms go off here in the park and most people just ignore 'em. Stupid things irritate me! The shield idea sounds good.

*Cough* Key word was page. You don't need the alarm to sound and annoy people, you will be notified by a vibrating keypad in your pocket. Extra steel to protect the exhaust system doesn't sound all that great to me. You'd be adding more weight to the vehicle, and trapping extreme temperatures. Good thought, but not very practical in my opinion.

P.S. - And what of the beloved trunk monkey?

[EagleAce]

lastchair_44, on Nov 6 2007, 07:37 PM, said:

*Cough* Key word was page. You don't need the alarm to sound and annoy people, you will be notified by a vibrating keypad in your pocket.

interesting..never heard of that kind.

[Lift Dinosaur]

I like the combo - commando to give you the vibrating message...and the Trunk Monkey (with remote release capabilities) to take care of business. Yea, that's it!!

Dino

[lastchair_44]

Lift Dinosaur, on Nov 6 2007, 08:08 PM, said:

I like the combo - commando to give you the vibrating message...and the Trunk Monkey (with remote release capabilities) to take care of business. Yea, that's it!!

Dino

I think the Trunk Monkey should be a standard option on all vehicles.

EagleAce, on Nov 6 2007, 08:07 PM, said:

interesting..never heard of that kind.

Either did I until about a week ago. Check out the link, pretty cool and affordable.

[SkiBachelor]

However, would this system actually be able to tell whether someone was removing parts from under your car?

I guess a good way to test this system out would be to remove a tire while the system is armed.

[lastchair_44]

SkiBachelor, on Nov 6 2007, 08:31 PM, said:

However, would this system actually be able to tell whether someone was removing parts from under your car?

I guess a good way to test this system out would be to remove a tire while the system is armed.

Dunno...hopefully it would pick up the vibration caused by someone cutting exhaust pipes. I would think the thieves would have used a sawzall or something similar to do their dirty deed and if that's the case, those types of tools cause a ton of vibration during use. Also, removing exhaust pipes would also cause a lot of vibration/knocks and hopefully one of the two would set off the knock sensor. Two more things..this is a "cheaper" model, I'm sure you can get better protection with a more expensive unit. And two, the unit mentioned qualifies you for an insurance discount so that must mean something.

[LiftTech]

Bill, on Nov 6 2007, 09:08 PM, said:

Most of you heard or read about my catalytic converters stolen while I was at church.

Well... I have 3774 reasons why I am glad I have insurance!

The total for the repair came up to $3774.00, of which I have to pay $500. That is with teh insurance discount, they told me I would have been looking at an additional 10-15% if it was an out of pocket expense.

They had to replace two catalytic converters, the stainless steel exhaust pipes to the muffler, two oxygen sensors and the wiring to those oxygen sensors.

So, what do I do to keep this from happening again? Any ideas?

- Bill

480 DC

[Emax]

I thought about a sign on the underside of the car saying: "If you can read this, you have received a lethal dose of gamma radiation"
But then, chances are they can't read.
Maybe you'd better put God in charge of this... or one of his henchmen.

[Woodroe77]

i had a DEI alarm (viper, venom,...ect) for my last car. My radio was stolen so I researched and found that you can buy add on modules. The version I had allowed for 3 inputs. The standard vibration module. and two spares, so i bought a glass break detector which sense the freq of glass breaking, and a motion detector. I have no idea how this thing worked but i had it dialed to 3 feet outside the windows. Anyone walking close to the car got a little warning chirp. If alarms like this are still available, i'd pick up one of these as im originally from just outside new york city and i've seen tires jack'd, stereos, hoods, t-tops, bumpers, air bags.....never seen a stolen cat. converter.

[lastchair_44]

Airbags?!?! Jeebus!

[EagleAce]

two words--black market. Cat converters have what they call precious metals--palladium--in them. That is why they are soooo expensive. People steal them and sell them cheap; same thing with airbags, but they don't have precious metals.