Car alarm systems

Car theft and crime has been on the rise for several years, and many types of car alarm systems have been designed and developed for the purpose of drawing attention to a vehicle or owner that might be in the process of being victimized. Some people argue that alarms are annoying, don’t actually stop a thief since people rarely pay attention (ie. the ‘car who cried wolf’ syndrome), and aren’t helpful in ‘real time’ for catching someone as they are trying to break into a car.

There have been debates throughout neighborhoods about the pro’s and con’s surrounding the basic question of whether to lock a car or not. Some people feel they save money by saving the car prowler the trouble of having to break a window. That is a valid low cost strategy for thwarting a would-be thief: keep nothing in the car, and keep it unlocked. The prowler looks, finds nothing, and moves on. However, some argue that this is essentially giving up, and inviting prowlers into private property. Locks on cars do not keep prowlers out, however locks combined with car alarm systems in addition to visible theft prevention devices like the club seem to be effective deterrents for both prowlers and thieves.

If a person decides to keep valuables of any kind in their car, including chargers and stands for electronic devices, these should always be kept out of sight in the trunk when the vehicle is not occupied. Leaving anything of value within sight of a window, or even in the main compartment of the car is invitation for a broken window. Recently there have been reports of laptops stolen right out of the front seats of locked vehicles. Signs have appeared on street lamp poles resembling lost pet fliers, “Toshiba Laptop stolen from contractors truck Wednesday. Please call if found!”

Alarm systems have come a long way from the first days of simple loud sirens that went off with the slightest breeze. Now an owner can have several options on how much notification they want, the details of what’s happening to their car, as well as how sensitive they would like the alarm to be. Some come with key chains that transmit data over a certain range about what has happened to their vehicle. These new alarms can help protect your investment, and give you peace of mind for your vehicle of choice.