Low Jack Is A Rip Off. It's only use is so that they can track where you are and reposes your car if necessary. Well, ok, it's real use is to add $895 to your car purchase price.

Your already paying 10% to the dealer on the base price of the car, plus at least that much--and probably more--on all those options you are buying. Low Jack is as useless as 'paint protection', or 'rust protection' and just as big of a rip-off scam.
IMHO.

 

Will the dealer top off your turn-signal fluid when you get an oil change for extra $?

 

Some dealers in Southern California are charging $1500 for lojak, $300 for "paint protection" $1000 for a stereo "upgrade", etc, etc. $30,000+ out the door for an S is silly, IMO

 

I used to work in the Circuit City Roadshops as a roving technician, and I've heard a few stories on lojack. One of them being that sometimes they don't even install the system. But again, this is hearsay, so grain of salt with this one....

 

and since you feel the need to be that way here's right back at ya ...Are you really that ignorant??? While I don't use it because the odds of my car getting swiped are really, really low(now I've done it!) if I lived in a high population, high crime area I'd fork out the dough for not only the savings on auto insurance, but also to know that if it is stolen it wouldn't be very long before I'd have my car back. Your inability to realize it's potential to some people just re-enforces my belief that there are still plenty of narrow minded people whose opinions are best listened to within the confines of their own homes.

You do realize of course that even more people think owning a mini as useless and a rip-off? Not me of crourse

So if you have to vent and be stupid about it why not test it out with your friends first before letting the rest of the world know.

 

I AGREE!....with wizardbill

What the heck do you pay insurance for? If my car is ever stolen, I DON'T want it back. You don't know what was done to it while the thief had it...better to never find it than get it back.

And the insurance savings aren't that great.

 

yes i agree, i wouldnt want my car back if it was stolen. y else have insurance?

 

Based on my brothers experience with a lojack-equipped BMW, you DEFINITELY wouldn't want the car back. The cops did NOT follow the car, until, they said, it had stopped moving for several minutes. In other words, they waited until the car, an M3, had been totally trashed and left smoking on the side of the road. My opinion is that Lo-Jack is really for the insurance companies, as they can then easily locate the car and then negotiate themselves out of a complete loss.

 

Friend of mine bought a used pickup. After a time, it was stolen. He reported it. Cops soon called and said they had the truck. They'd found it via the LoJack.

He didn't know it had LoJack but once the VIN was entered in "the Matrix" as stolen everything was automatic from there.

This was South FL. Amazing that the vehicle was found before it was loaded on a banana boat and sent south....

That never convinced me to buy one tho.

 

PAys for itself with insurance savings. But if you don't carry insurance I guess that wouldn't help you. They also have an upgraded LOJACK that will allert you when your car is moved without your key in it. Immedietly. SO if you go to work they don't have na 8 hour head start (max).
LOjack is like good insurance, a ripoff till you actually need it.



Paul

 

WOW talk about opinionated! No offense Fred but this was wizards thread and this is his place to vent and you just disrespected the crap out of him, I feel the same way alot of these guys do about not wanting the car back because I am not sure how it works with lo-jack but if your car is stolen and then recovered it goes down as a theft recovery and that gives it about as much value as a salvaged title

 

You guys know you're responding to a 3-year-old rant, right?

 

Time stamp? What time stamp?

Cracks me up when people when people dig up ancient threads for no particular reason - let loose the dogs!

 

Do you mean "Release the hounds"?

 

Woof Woof!

 

actually my insurance company gives the same/max discount for theft prevention for etching the glass with the VIN as for LoJack and any alarm. Seems etching lowers the value to 'choppers' and has the same if not more deterent value than any alarm or location device.

Last time i got the etching done it cost me $10.

Many alarms don't even qualify for max discounts.....in those cases etching saves you more.

But, whatever lets you sleep well....

 

Etching mini glass? I do that on the highway.


Paul

because I responded to an old thread. At what point do they go to archive?

 

My apologies gang, I suppose I should hang up my pick and shovel. I didn't read the timestamp when I was sifting through searched posts....

 

Heee. But you know what? LoJak was a rip off 3 years ago and it still is today.

Matt

 

I bought the system not knowing the difficulty inherent in the theft of my MINI. However, that said, my insurance, over the lifetime of the vehicle goes down, whatever the amount I much prefer it in my pocket. Further, if your car is stolen and is returned with ANY damage you get $2500 from LoJak (or something in that ballpark). That's over and above whatever your insurance forks over. LoJak may not be for you and you may find it over priced, and on the MINI it may not really be necessary but its certainly a handy thing to have. Railiing against seems a bit silly since no one is forcing you to buy it.

 

Who let the dogs out??

 

with the risk of being trashed...... I have lojack in a 1998 Expedition, I paid $500 for the lojack and alarm combo...I haven't had to use the lojack yet but I figured at that price I couldn't get hurt back then and especially now.

cheers all

 

I don't know where your brother had his M3 stolen from....I know in So. California not all police cars are equipped with LoJack receivers. You need at least two receivers (two different police cars) to follow a signal. The more police cars the better. LoJack will work with the stolen car moving and it is pretty easy to follow the signal. In San Diego County we have the benefit of having the Sheriff's helicopter equipped with a receiver. "You can run, but you can't hide from the copter!!".....one more thing.....the LoJack signal doesn't activate until the stolen car has been entered into the Stolen Vehicle System.

 

MiniFen,
His car was in NJ. But it wasn't an issue of whether the cops were equipped to track the car, instead it was their policy NOT to track the car until it stopped moving.

 

After having a previous vehicle stolen and stripped in one night (including all my school books), I was happy to get lojack. And for having it installed - my dealer had the installer come to my office. With the stolen car rate in San Diego, I don't mind offsetting the cost with Insurance. Whether truth or not, the installer told me that they are able to retrieve over 90% of the reported stolen cars before they reach Mexico. That's a pretty good number considering how close it is...
It will take 2 years for the numbers to balance out, but worth the possibility of saving my personal stuff within the MINI.