I brought the OEM alarm mainly because I wanted the audible indication that I had actually locked my car (I'm normally on autopilot when I lock the car so I love the tone) and also for the added piece of mind. Good to know it did it's job to protect the inside of BatMini at the very least.

 

As far as I know, most driving lights require other lights to be on, or at least a power source to verify their ability to engergize. My lights are wired up to ground, power, and my high beams. If my high beams are off, you cannot turn the lights on. I could have wired them to the low beams, but didn't want to. You could also wire them to a false source so that they think they can turn on all the time.

When the OEM alarm goes off, you high beams flash. When my high beams flash, my driving lights pop on, and since I have the Altas in a very dark neighborhood, you could imagine how bright they are, especially facing my house and reflecting everywhere else. I'm 90% sure the light and sound spooked them the most.

My radar detector and GTech RR Pro are on the dash. The fact that the window was pulled out shows me they not only broke it, but pulled it out of the way and tossed it to the side to gain access. They could have snatched and run with the things on the dash... But I bet they spent about 5 seconds trying to figure out how to get in, and then ran when they couldn't.

And I had at least 4 neighbors broken into with things stolen last night. As far as I know, I'm the only one that didn't lose anything but a window.

My car was sparkling clean for the fourth of July parades. I saw plenty of smudges and partials, but I know how to find fingerprints. I also know that PG County Police botch them, because when my wife's truck was broken into last, they didn't check for prints. I called and complained and the supervisor said exterior prints don't count, because it doesn't prove they were inside. I found an interior print, and the cops came back out and botched it by misplacing the tape and only getting half of the print. :impatient

Not well. My deductible is $500, and total damages were $330 (window + tint). So I didn't report it.

 

It sounds like police patrols seriously need to be stepped up in your area and everyone needs to buy alarm systems on their homes and cars and set them.

 

Well, we are getting the Bowie police here sometime in who knows how long... But I doubt that they would patrol my neighborhood. That's what security gards in private communities are for. Unfortunately, I live in public, with a poo HOA like everyone else.

 

What about a neighborhood watch? http://www.citizencorps.gov/citizenC...rid=2&state=MD
Bowie got 5 communities listed. Clearly there has to be more concerned citizens there since 4 cars were vandalized/broken into.

 

Goodness, why would you leave these items in plain sight? It's just a break-in waiting to happen.

An alarm system isn't going to prevent a dishonest person from smashing your window (and taking valuable items or whatever). Here's what most people in my neighborhood do when a car alarm goes off: Nothing. I don't even look out my window because 99% of the time, it's just the alarm flaking out due to a passing vehicle with a loud muffler (or for no reason at all). I had a very high end alarm system on my pristine 1984 Rabbit GTI back in the mid-1990s and it was broken into 3 times (darn those vent windows). Not only that, the police caught 4 deviants in the act of trying to remove the wheels. All with an alarm system. So I have learned to (A) not draw any attention to my car and (B) that a kill switch works pretty darn well.

 

`

 

I get the point. From what he wrote, it seems he didn't even hear the alarm. I can't imagine that thieves are really all that startled or afraid of alarms. I gather in the time it takes someone to look out their window in the middle of the night to react to a car alarm, a thief could pretty much get what they need and be well on their way. Nonetheless, it's unfortunate he was broken into.

Also, the kill switch was for the Rabbit GTI.

 

Mr. Danger ... I tend to agree with you on this. Car Alarms go off all the time and nobody cares. However, in this instance, it looked like they did panic.

I see you from Boston. Also coming originally from Boston, I can say that your perspective of alarms may be quite different than the middle of MD perspective. I agree that in the Boston area, I gave up on alarms totally ... not worth it at all. I've seen entire engines stripped from cars years ago. Cars left up on blocks, cars stolen right from driveways, cars with the radio just left out so and notes to that effect on the car as the owners just get tired of broken windows. However, in other parts of the country, not immune to alarms, it "might" be of help.

However, as I said earlier, if its just vandalism, they wouldnt care.

 

Well put.

 

`

 

I'm sure it was the alarm combined with the fact that they couldn't figure out how to open the doors.

Also, the first time my car was attempted to be broken into, I'm sure it was my motion sensing porch light that scared the burglars off. These aren't pros, and I don't live in a bad neighborhood. These are kids out being delinquent and stealing things that aren't theirs.

A bunch of cars on my street were broken into, they got to mine, the porch light popped on, and again I was the only one not to lose anything. But I did end up with someone else's wet briefcase on my lawn as the crooks dropped some of what they had and ran.

 

Thieves and vandals suck

 

Will did you get the window fixed yet? Or is this turning out to become another long fix?

 

Lond fix?

Yes, I fixed everything the day of.

 

Spelling fixed. Glad to hear the car is fixed up quickly.

 

Well, time to revive an old thread.

Someone tried to break into my car again.

I live in a somewhat dark suburban neighborhood of Maryland, a neighborhood of townhouses and duplexes. Anytime a car is parked by itself in one of our ample 'guest' spots, I find it unusual because my neighbors all have 1 car and 2 assigned spots. I have 2 cars, so I use both of mine, but I know when I have guests.

So 11pm, I lay down to go to bed and I hear an alarm. Sounds a lot like an ADT house alarm, but I know it's not mine because it's a bit faint, so I assume it's another house. When I get to my stairway I notice my stais, foyer, and living room are flashing on and off... Crap, it's my Mini's alarm and the alta lightbar is lighting up the neighborhood.

I run outside in my undies and turn the alarm off since the lights would be lighting me up as well. I step out to the middle of the street and look around. I don't immediately see anything. I walk around a bit, and still don't see anything.

I go back in, put pants and boots on, as well as grab my 6-cell maglight, and go out to have a looksee. No damage or fingerprints on the Mini. Odd. I looked it over pretty well. Then I started looking into dark spots between houses and under cars, but I don't see anything.

Then I see an SUV parked across the street, in the leftmost of 4 guest spots, not near anyone's house. I approach the SUV with my maglight on from the passenger side, and I see some crap inside. I don't quite remember what, but I remember checking the front first. I believe I saw a canvas shoulderbag, some random crap , a set of pants(?)... I notice it's also odd, the drivers front, passengers front, and passenger rear windows are all rolled down. Odd for 11pm at night for someone to leave an SUV open with stuff in it. I turn the light towards the back seat and I see two legs. I move the light further back towards the cargo area, and a black dood in jean shorts, a white shirt with red horizontal stripes, and blood-shot very wide-awake looking eyes.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" I ask.

He just stares at me.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" I ask again, a bit more sternly.

He asks if I am the police or something.

I ask him one more time what he's doing there, and he doesn't respond to my question so I go in the house, grab the phone, and dial 911. By the time I get back to the front of my house (I left the porch light off to make myself less visible) I see the SUV brake lights pop off and on a few times, indicating he has jumped in the drivers seat. By the time I get 911 on the line, the vehicle has started and I start rattling off information "hello, my name is so and so, I live on this street, someone tried to break into my car so I investigated the area and there was a man pretending to sleep in a suspiscious vehicle parked in a guest spot across from my house... I asked him who he was and he didn't reply, and so I am calling you. This is the car type, color, and liscense plate, and this is the direction he is heading in now". The operator asks me if I need an officer at my location, and I reply "No, just try and get this guy and figure out what he's doing." and she says she's flagged the vehicle tags, and will notify officers in the area.

I look at the Mini again, I don't see any damage. I don't know what set the alarm off, but I will mark this encounter off as another save by the factory alarm. Entry, tilt, and sound level sensors... Something caught this guy being shady, and saved my Mini and my wallet, again.

 

Good show for the MINI alarm and a quick thinking MINI owner

 

This thread and your story is one of the reasons why I am getting the OEM Mini alarm on my new mini. Thanks for that. Be safe.

 

I dont know how to reply to this....

First off, I am truly sorry for that act of vandalism.

Second, it is obvious that none of us should keep laptops, purses, electronic devices, etc in a car stored on the street, or parked on a street. The only break ins that occur are when there is an obvious sign or visible object of something valuable.

In brooklyn NY, paranoid but safe people keep their car clean, show no signs of aftermarket electronics, their glove box open to show that nothing is in there. A face plate on a stereo is near meaningless. It might stop a 14 year old HS school kid from taking it, but anyone other than that gets money for the radio without the plate.

Car theft, an alarm does nothing except for incur more damage to the car in disabling it. I am serious when I say it does nothing, it really does absolutely nothing. Lo jack also does nothing to a real thief.

I agree that the alarm that is noisey causes people to leave the car faster, the real ghetto kinds of people who are petty thieves, taking obvious stuff, crackhead types.

I am an odd advocate of proximity alarm and windows open parked. I know this is taboo, but really, glass isnt exactly a security device. It blocks water and dirt. What does happen though is they steal a 400 dollar stereo , clothing, some other stuff, all the junk in the glove box, but the worst is them screwing up your windows, your paint, your interior, when they break the glass!

I know that's a whacky idea and one cannot live in a suburban area and do that as most of the thieves are younger people looking to jack something vs. crack head smash and grabbers, but it does work for during the day quick runs to stores, the places this type of smash and grab happens the most.

 

It sounds to me as though this is a neighborhood that's well-known and flagged by theives as an "easy target" area. I know that moving is not a reasonable option to protect a car, but it's pretty clear it's going to continue and will keep happening to those who live there.

Glad your MINI was spared this time!

 

I have a question about the OEM alarm as an owner (and fan) of the device -

Last weekend I was in my driveway tending to some rock chips on the front of my MINI with the touch up kit and did not notice that the key in my pocket had the "lock" button depress by accident, locking the doors and arming the alarm.

Anyway, I certainly wasn't bouncing or even pressing on the car very hard, but with the minor work I was doing on the bonnet, it was enough to set the alarm off.

I am wondering what system would have activated it from what I was doing. I don't think that there is a "body touch sensor" as part of the OEM alarm - and if it was the tilt sensor, then it certainly doesn't take much tilt at all to set it off.

I was happy that the alarm would trigger with such modest handling of the car - but wondering what exactly happened.

Any ideas?

Bill

 

1. You need to move! 3 breakins in 4 years!
2. How much did you pay for your alarm system?
3. You need to stop keeping thousands of $$$$ worth of goodies in your car dude you live in a bad area!

If I lived in a war zone and I had a bad habit of standing up and yelling "here I am" with a neon target on my chest....I would place a "very" high value on a bullet proof vest!

Just bustin!

I hope you catch the losers in dark alley some night!

 

There's some truth to this, a friend in Milwaukee had her Honda broken in twice, nothing taken because nothing was left in car but they buggered the locks up each time to the tune of several hundred dollars. She plainly left the car unlocked after that (empty of course) and had no more problems.

I just got a MCSC and decided against the oem alarm, $1100 installed seemed a bit much. The car will be parked overnight in a garage 95% of the time so I have not really decided what to do about an alarm. But the thought of someone slashing the ragtop to open the door has crossed my mind.

Is there an opinion about aftermarket alarms for convertibles vs hardtops?

 

The OEM alarm is about $400 (I forget the exact amount) from a Mini mail order dealer such as Ohio, Sterling, or Morristown... They'll ship you the parts at about 20% off MSRP. The parts are very easy to install, as Mini's are prewired for everything, so you just need to find where to plug the parts in, and plug them in.

Then you have to take it to the dealer and pay $40-120 (different dealers charge different amounts for labor) to activate it.

Well worth it imho. Don't pay a dealer to install it, or you'll be wasting about $500 in labor that they don't actually do. It takes about an hour to do it yourself.

EDIT:
Heres the last quote I got when researching the OEM alarm for someone else...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...9&#post1037763