Stolen Wheels!!!!! ANGRY

butdamnbrian

it's a cost-benefit analysis..

what's more valuable? the door/window or the stuff in the house? the stuff in the house is more valuable (including you and the family), so the doors stay locked and the burglar has to break the door to make it inside.

with the z, what's more costly to you personally? replacing the wheels or fixing actual damage to the car (which may be minimal or severe)? replacing the wheels costs less, thanks to insurance, and the car won't suffer any damage that could trigger a salvage title. so in this case, it makes more sense to leave off the locks. (this assumes, of course, that thieves do more damage to a car if it's got wheel locks. if not, then the locks should stay on.)

over the many break-ins i've suffered, the value of the stolen stuff has been much much less than the cost of fixing windows/body damage/lock damage/paint. so if i know a thief is going to make it into my car either way, why not leave the doors unlocked and save myself the repair cost?

rha600

the wheels/tires/TPS/lug nuts + labor costs for my Jeep cost just under $10K. That would have to be A LOT of broken windows and scratched paint.

Mt Tam I am

Sorry to hear about the theft. Bring back horse whipping I say.
My buddy and I are at odds with our driveways. I have automatic lights to deter crime while he thinks it gives crooks light to work in. Were your thieves working in the dark or light?

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daleks

Have the light trigger a recording of a dark barking.


Layered security FTW.

Jeffblue

between 2 and 7 am.

I understand WARMANDSCI's point about not wanting wheel locks, and its definitely valid. Fortunately, i was lucky in that my car was nicely set on bricks. however, others aren't so "lucky." these people will just leave your car on rotors. if your car tips over once they have your wheels, they could really care less. and my feeling is, my car is a lot more likely to be damaged, or even further harvested once its on a set of bricks.

there's 2 different types of criminals we're talking about. Theives are motivated by money. They want your stuff so they can sell it to buy things. If theres no money in it for them, they could care less. they take the risk of getting caught in exchange for the opportunity to make a quick buck. a thief actually appreciates the monetary value of something enough to take it, in order to benefit themselves

Vandals, are motivated by wanting to destroy things. They take the risk of getting caught in exchange for the joy they get out of destroying the property of others. a vandal has no appreciation for anything of monetary value, so instead of trying to take any of it, they just ruin it.

although i am somewhat concerned with someone vandalizing my car, i am much more concerned with someone trying to steal it/steal parts from it, because their is an incentive beyond just getting your jollies out of ruining other people's property, and that incentive is $$$$. the fact of the matter is, i take the risk of destroying my car every time i drive it, and thats something i have accepted. it could be damaged by an accident, a tree, or someone driving into me, and although these are accidents, they have the same result of a vandal. my car is damaged. thats why i have insurance. by driving a car, or any vehicle, i accept that it can be damaged, and whether that is on purpose or by accident, it can happen. i DO NOT, however, accept that the vehicle i own, should be stolen from me, or ransacked for parts, including its wheels.

sorry for rambling, but long story short: a car can be damaged or destroyed just during regular expected use. a car would not wind up on blocks, stripped, through any type of normal use. so, i am more concerned about theives than vandals because stealing gets you money, vandalism doesn't, and money and drugs are what most criminals want

butdamnbrian

but at least losing your wheels wouldn't risk your car getting a salvage title, which would be the worst part of having your car significantly damaged..

rha600

somehow I highly doubt they would have been able to do enough damage to my truck while it was sitting in my driveway to allow for that. they would have had to take a sledge hammer to every part of the truck, turn the hose on inside, rip out the interior...

But I do know what you mean and I agree. I do think the people doing all the wheel stealing are more in for the cash than worrying about doing damage to the car. I know my truck didn't have a single scratch on it (and it's parked VERY close to the hedges on one side) and from what I've read on here other people's cars are the same way. So for whatever reason, these guys are very careful not to damage the car. I guess you can call that a good thing.

WarmAndSCSI

Just ignoring the totaling aspect of it, I'd much rather have my car nicely set on bricks and get a new set of whatever wheels I want courtesy of a check from my insurance company, minus $50, than to have my car screwed up to the point of needing a new paint job or major body work. I'd rather have my wheels stolen than even have somebody key multiple body panels.

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butdamnbrian

yeah, you're def. right about how much damage would be done. i think most real wheel thieves would either attempt to remove the locks or just move on... but they probably wouldn't go crazy on the car out of frustration. plus, i'm guessing the real thieves would keep the car clean so that they have a better chance of coming back in a month to find a brand new set to steal off the same car. i just wish people would stop smashing windows/keying cars! take my wheels all day, but leave the car intact! it's one reason i'm still on the fence about picking up an avic or alpine...

at any rate, i also agree that not all thieves are of the same quality/motivation, so i def. run locks on my cars all day long!

maybe i'll keep the locks but leave a set of lifts in my carport. that way, the lazy thieves will see the locks and move on, but the determined thieves will jack my car up the right way without bending my frame on some blocks

butdamnbrian

so we actually raised an interesting question: how much damage triggers a salvage title?

according to wikipedia, damage that costs 70% of the car's value will trigger a salvage title:

Salvage title - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

so for a 30k value car (ballpark for a clean 2010 z?), 21k in damage would trigger the salvage title. what kind of external damage do you guys think would add up to 21k?