Trackers

[monkeyhanger]

Police rarely give a sh!t if there is an insurance company willing to pay out - they're more of a provider of crime numbers now. They could try harder to catch criminals (fingerprints etc), sometimes they know exactly who's door to knock on when a certain crime happens in a certain area, but until one of these soft judges has his own car stolen or his house burgled then they usually just hand out suspended sentences.

[matchboy]

monkeyhanger is right - these days they will just break into your house to get the keys. I seem to remember there were a few mk6 GTIs nicked this way when they came out.

[monkeyhanger]

monkeyhanger is right - these days they will just break into your house to get the keys. I seem to remember there were a few mk6 GTIs nicked this way when they came out.

With that in mind, your car theft deterrent should be a big scary dog in your house that'll bite a chunk or 2 out of any would be car key burglar.

[matchboy]

Yep, a dog is the best deterrent. Even one that doesn't bite - the barking will be enough.

[Bill_the_Bear]

I have a big scary cat.  He will bite a few chunks out of you.  No kidding, the little git is vicious.  He barks at flies too...   Strange creature.

Anyway, best thing to do is put the car away in a garage.  Personally I'd love to prepare some nice "surprises" for anyone braking into my house.  Connecting my keys to a power socket for instance...  Apparently this is frowned upon though.  It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me though.  Pick any house you care to and I'll bet there are half a dozen life threatening situations you'd be greeted with if you were rushing into it in the dark and not being the owner don't know the place.  Odds are good you'll at least brake a leg, unless you are a "professional" at running into other peoples houses in the dark.

Its unreasonable to expect people to keep their houses safe for strangers running in at the middle of the night.  Therefore, where is the difference between having a knife rack fall off the wall and kill you, or falling into the open cellar, or slipping on that dodgy door mat... and grabbing a car key connected to 240V?  The only difference I can see is that its hard to see why someone would legitimately wire a key to 240V, but last I checked no law says everything I do in my house has to be considered "legitimate" by Joe Bloggs public.  Its perfectly safe because everyone who might legally be in the house and taking the key is aware of the hazard.  In my opinion once you've bust into my house you've left all your rights outside the door and whatever happens to you is your fault.

[monkeyhanger]

I have a big scary cat.  He will bite a few chunks out of you.  No kidding, the little git is vicious.  He barks at flies too...   Strange creature.

Anyway, best thing to do is put the car away in a garage.  Personally I'd love to prepare some nice "surprises" for anyone braking into my house.  Connecting my keys to a power socket for instance...  Apparently this is frowned upon though.  It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me though.  Pick any house you care to and I'll bet there are half a dozen life threatening situations you'd be greeted with if you were rushing into it in the dark and not being the owner don't know the place.  Odds are good you'll at least brake a leg, unless you are a "professional" at running into other peoples houses in the dark.

Its unreasonable to expect people to keep their houses safe for strangers running in at the middle of the night.  Therefore, where is the difference between having a knife rack fall off the wall and kill you, or falling into the open cellar, or slipping on that dodgy door mat... and grabbing a car key connected to 240V?  The only difference I can see is that its hard to see why someone would legitimately wire a key to 240V, but last I checked no law says everything I do in my house has to be considered "legitimate" by Joe Bloggs public.  Its perfectly safe because everyone who might legally be in the house and taking the key is aware of the hazard.  In my opinion once you've bust into my house you've left all your rights outside the door and whatever happens to you is your fault.

My great uncle's best mate wired his garage door handle to 4 large car batteries when he went on holiday years ago and a burglar got some horrific hand burns as the DC nature of the battery clamped the blokes hand onto the door handle. He was taken to court and got a suspended sentence. The judge was very sympathetic as to the measures "hobbley bobbley" (he has 1 leg 2" longer than the other) had taken to protect his house whilst on holiday.

[Bill_the_Bear]

My great uncle's best mate wired his garage door handle to 4 large car batteries when he went on holiday years ago and a burglar got some horrific hand burns as the DC nature of the battery clamped the blokes hand onto the door handle. He was taken to court and got a suspended sentence. The judge was very sympathetic as to the measures "hobbley bobbley" (he has 1 leg 2" longer than the other) had taken to protect his house whilst on holiday.

No sympathy for the theif here.  However, I wouldn't want to do something that creates a health hazard.  If a local kid kicked his football onto my drive, then when retrieving it he touches the garage door handle... well, for that I think it is my fault!  No kid is going to accidentally wander into my locked house in the dead of the night and try to take my car keys though.  But this is all hypothetical so... meh.

[Gryzor]

No sympathy for the theif here.  However, I wouldn't want to do something that creates a health hazard.  If a local kid kicked his football onto my drive, then when retrieving it he touches the garage door handle... well, for that I think it is my fault!  No kid is going to accidentally wander into my locked house in the dead of the night and try to take my car keys though.  But this is all hypothetical so... meh.

Believe it or not, I was going to quote exactly the same scenario as you earlier on, but my post went a bit off track so didn't bother! It's a really touchy subject all this "what is reasonable protection?" malarky!