Car Security - Clifford?

[TheMikeh]

Hi guys,

Seeing my last car was tourched and my mums car was broken into Im looking at increasing the security on my LCR. Has anyone got any experience with the big boy alarms? like the clifford ones that come with remote start? Does it reduce insurance premiums too?

Mike

 

[JamesL]

personally I would rather buy a tracker than an alarm, since the leon already has one. Lets be honest a better alarm wont stop someone breaking your window, or torching your car, but it may prevent them nicking too much I suppose.

Obviously an upgraded alarm isnt a bad thing but for the money I'd rather have a tracker - although thinking about it I suppose a tracker is more expensive.




Nice useful post then ^^ lol, sorry!

 

[TheMikeh]

Some of the alarms come with trackers too though dont they? Most of the things that have happened here have been theft and damage so an alarm would be an early warning signal and a tracker, tbh pretty much useless unless they start stealing cars too ...

Think it would be a good idea to maybe have a tracker and alarm combo? anyone got any experience with the clifford alarms for example?

Mike

 

[FLK]

Think it would be a good idea to maybe have a tracker and alarm combo? anyone got any experience with the clifford alarms for example?

Previous owner fitted my LCR with a Clifford system and it's been fine since I've had it with no false alarms even in strong winds. I've also got tracker monitor installed on the car as well for about £200+ but mainly it's for peace of mind. I also have a gap insurance policy as well so I guess I didn't really need the tracker fitting if I'm going to get my money back in full.

The tracker isn't a deterent as it's not something that's advertised on the vehicle as they'd pull the car apart to find the tracker. In a way though a big negative point of a tracker is would you want your car back after it's been nicked and potentially been thrashed or damaged? I do now doubt whether I should have bothered with mine.

 

[oldman]

alarms are ok, they make a loud noise, but how many times do you actually see people react to them????

didn't think so.
Not saying a better one would be a bad idea, just that they make so much noise people just ignore and aren't going to argue with a kid who puts brink through window because no doubt if you caught him, his 20mates would do you over or you'd get nicked for hurting him accidentally when you fell on him.

Tracker would be a better option, but when it's been nicked do you really want the car back, i know i wouldn't.

 

[TheMikeh]

Very true ...

Might have to have a rethink on this.

 

[JamesL]

Save the money and hire someone to stand guard 24/7??

The only really useful thing to do, is keep valuables hidden, keep the car clean and tidy so that if anyone looks through the window there is literally nothing in there to steal, or to hide valuables under.

 

[Benny]

Save the money and hire someone to stand guard 24/7??

The only really useful thing to do, is keep valuables hidden, keep the car clean and tidy so that if anyone looks through the window there is literally nothing in there to steal, or to hide valuables under.

thats exactly what i do with mine. litterally nothing visible. i always take my radio faceplate out no matter where its parked!

i also hide the locking wheel nut (not in the boot as thats too obvious) but recently ive heard of kids litterally hammering a socket in and just doing it that way anyway!

 

[AdamB]

Early 225 Cupra R's like my 54 plate came with a tracker but they were proving to expensive to Seat so they gave away race days to the owners of brand new Cupra R's instead.

My insurance company said they weren't bothered about the tracker as my car was under £20K, can see why Seat stopped fitting them.
It cost me £350 for one off payment or you can pay £100ish per year.

 

[andycupra]

Scotty_B had an issue with a clifford on his LCR, which if im correct ended with clifford confirming that its not compatable with the LCR...


Presuming any alarm you get would be Thatcham Cat 1, then yes it may reduce insurance, ( be aware that to do it properly you have to get the alarm checked annually to confirm its working..).
However in my experience many insurance companies dont give a discount, those that do were not the most competitive to start with.

Also note ive seen cars get damaged because of alarms... someone walks past, it goes 'beep' they cr@p themselves then take it out on the car...

The first thing you want to do is the delock mod.

 

[Havok316]

I had a clifford G5 series in my old car problem was it was way too sensative. A gust of wind usually set it off and sometimes even the rain. The other problem i noticed was a house microwave sets them off lol as my car was always parked on the drive by kitchen and gaurenteed to set it off every time, the other thing I had is when I went on holiday for 2 weeks as the battery became flat the alarm kept going off (using its own battery) and p*ssed the neighbours off lol. I also herd it depends on the installer as well because a few people have had problems regarding wiring etc. Apart from that the features are superb like anti-hijack etc etc but going for all the stuff can be very costly at about £600 +.