Christina wrote to tell us that her car was stolen from her carport in Bitter Lake, just north of Greenwood, over the weekend:
We live in Bitter lake, and woke Sunday morning to our Honda Element missing from our driveway. It was stolen from our carport between 10pm Saturday and 8am Sunday. Unfortunately, it is the second car stolen from our driveway in the last two years. Both times, the thieves have been sophisticated enough to by-pass anti-theft devices and have done it in the middle of the night while we were home. Our next step is to install a video and motion-detector system (we’ve had other thefts in addition to the cars and it’s getting ridiculous, so we feel like we need to do more to prevent it).
We’ve notified the police, but thought others might want to know. And, what other steps have people taken to protect their cars/homes/belongings/families?
So, how about it readers? What advice can you offer to keep thieves from stealing your car, especially if you’ve already installed various anti-theft devices?
17 responses so far ↓
1 dlanding // Aug 30, 2010 at 10:38 pm
I have an old 90s Honda that was stolen 3 times in Seattle. (Yes, that’s a lot for one car.) Each time it was taken, I hadn’t put the “Club” on. I now have it on nearly every time I leave the car — even at the grocery store — and haven’t had a problem since.
2 john walker // Aug 31, 2010 at 5:10 am
thieves cut the steering wheel with bolt cutters in 5 seconds to get the club off. best to wire in a hidden switch so the fuel pump or ignition is cut off.
3 Whopper // Aug 31, 2010 at 7:02 am
Move to a better neighborhood.
4 Iron City Mike // Aug 31, 2010 at 8:38 am
They still make The Club?
5 Zinck74 // Aug 31, 2010 at 9:10 am
I think theives generally go to an easier to steal car as opposed to cutting off the steering wheel.
An ex of mine had her car stolen a couple of times. Each time it was taken for a joyride or someone just needed quick transpo. Both times it was found within a couple of miles from where it was stolen without a whole lot of damage done.
6 a.out // Aug 31, 2010 at 9:37 am
Not being sarcastic, but don’t buy a Honda. Aren’t they the most frequently stolen cars?
7 JM // Aug 31, 2010 at 9:43 am
Sometimes, the cars are stolen just to get a couple of parts, but the theft is extremely frustrating to the owner left without transportation. Get a job you crooks!
8 Daniel // Aug 31, 2010 at 10:15 am
John’s idea is best. When I was travelling into Mexico alot this was a must. The Club does work for casual theft but you have to be dilligent about it.
Hondas are stolen alot because the parts are ex$pensive! The older a car gets the worse it is. I think that the Cash For Clunkers program will exacerbate this in the near future.
I drive an ’87 Volvo and am thankful that there are alot of them in town and good used parts availability.
9 Zinck74 // Aug 31, 2010 at 12:22 pm
That’s interesting Daniel. A friend of mine had an old Honda and while it was parked in the 65th P&R someone came along and ripped off the entire steering wheel!!
10 Fnarf // Aug 31, 2010 at 12:48 pm
The Club will protect you from teenagers looking for a joyride but that’s not what you need to worry about. Their Element is undoubtedly stripped of half its parts and abandoned on some side street in a distant neighborhood.
11 She never mentioned..... // Aug 31, 2010 at 2:12 pm
…if she had a club on her car or not. Hondas are a big target but not so much for the Elements. @ 6: Don’t buy a Honda because they get stolen? Then you may as well not buy anything Japanese. In fact, with that logic you should by a crappy Chrysler. Get real. I’ve owned three Hondas over the last 15 years and have never had one stolen, but I’ve always had a club on mine no matter what. I put it on even when I go into a grocery store.
12 shopdog // Aug 31, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I had a Honda with a club on it stolen from the locked parking garage of my building. The police officer told me that this neighborhood (Phinney/Greenwood) is the worst for car prowls and thefts all along the I-5 corridor.
He said that if they don’t cut the club off, two things can happen: either they drive with the driver’s door open to a nearby garage or building that will hide the car while they remove the club, or, they will pull the entire steering column out and replace it with one they bring with them.
13 Tiktok // Aug 31, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Buy a car with a stick shift.
14 SPG // Aug 31, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Have you ever compared a list of the “most stolen” cars to a list of the most common cars on the road? They usually match up fairly closely.
15 Phinney // Aug 31, 2010 at 6:43 pm
@Tiktok: I had a 5-speed and that car was stolen too.
I had a 1991 Honda Accord and the parts were certainly worth more than the car as a whole. That is the very reason it was stolen and the frame was found a month later ditched at a construction site.
16 #6 // Aug 31, 2010 at 8:22 pm
It used to be the Corvette, then the VW GTI – it’s always the car that is ‘worth more as parts’ that is near/at the top of the ‘must steal’ list.
I believe older Jeeps had an option (or aftermarket add-on) where you could actually take OFF the steering wheel and take it with you?
Another alternative (not sure if this is avail. here in USA, our friend has it on his Isuzu Trooper in Costa Rica) is a ‘delayed’ alarm that kills the battery. Basically you beep-beep the alarm off (like normal), start the car and start driving down the street. A few blocks later you have to bleep-bleep the alarm again – or the car is immediately shut off and disabled. And this latter shut off is (supposedly) hot-wire proof (which I’d be inclined to believe given that – while I’m sure perpetuating a stereotype – cars are far more often stolen down there)…
I have a buddy with an Element – who used to live in a pretty bad area in Tukwila (near where there were semi-regular shootings and gang activity) – i’ll ask him what he used (if anything)…..
17 gobigblue // Sep 1, 2010 at 12:32 pm
hondas are the most stolen because there are more hondas on the road than any other brand. it has nothing to do with parts.
when measured by the percentage of a brand/model on the road that have been stolen, honda isn’t even in the top 10 cars “most likely” to be stolen.
the car that is most likely to be stolen is a cadillac escalade.
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