Its official, trackers and physical theft deterrents are useless.

rorywquin

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Although legal in South Africa, the guy that invented it only sold a few hundred before taking it off the market as thieves would just shoot you through the window and take your car without the risk of getting their eyebrows singed.
Post #15 :)
 

rorywquin

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Although legal in South Africa, the guy that invented it only sold a few hundred before taking it off the market as thieves would just shoot you through the window and take your car without the risk of getting their eyebrows singed.

It was actually trackers that started the shooting. I had a tracker back in the mid 90s (BMW 525i) it had two buttons on the fob

1) Need roadside assistance
2) Been hijacked

It also had a concealed button where you had to press the brake and push the button at the same time to get the chopper out. They guaranteed to have your car back in 4 hours. Sent out a chopper out with ex-army crazies. Turned out that many of the hi-jackers never survived. They soon got wise to it and just shot before you had chance to touch any button.

I don't miss those days of the wife and I carrying hand guns and doing a reconnaissance of our driveway before stopping to open the gates (automatic) and driving in.....:eek:
 
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So if all insurance companies are taking the stance that theft deterrents don't work why do they insist car doors are kept locked when the vehicle is unattended!
 

00slk

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So if all insurance companies are taking the stance that theft deterrents don't work why do they insist car doors are kept locked when the vehicle is unattended!

So your Radley handbag isn't stolen off the back seat with all the Missus' money and credit cards in it :rolleyes:
 

00slk

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My Mate had his car broken into years ago and we thought they might be back to steal the car (MK2 Cortina) so we removed the window and door handles from the inside. The scumbag returned the next night and unlucky for him my mates brother was walking back from the pub and noticed someone inside the car. Richard banged on the side window and the scrot panicked and realised he couldn't get out............One guess, Shepherds Bush 11:30pm in 1979, say no more, however Richard let him out and he ran off.
I think it must have been the same scum that nicked my car one night from the same street around the same time, it was involved in a high speed police pursuit through Shepherds Bush and Fulham before being abandoned. Got the car back from the pound the next day. The Coppers told me their pander car couldn't keep up with the Triumph PI :D
 

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if they made the punishment for car crimes ( well all crime ) they wouldn't be any ! watch any of the police chase type programmes on TV and very few of the lil B******* get properly punished and most get bail or let off for insufficient evidence
 

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Because they cannot get a Thatcham rating for it (works differently to trackers and other anti-theft devices) , insurance companies aren't interested.

I believe that like the car flame thrower:shock:, it is also a SA invention.

I think youll find they are now Thatcham approved. The paperwork and steps we have to complete when installing them has tripled recently.
 

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if they made the punishment for car crimes ( well all crime ) they wouldn't be any ! watch any of the police chase type programmes on TV and very few of the lil B******* get properly punished and most get bail or let off for insufficient evidence

Bail is not getting off. Its being given your liberty back whilst investigation takes place. Many car thieves are dealt with in accordance with the law which often means a custodial sentence.
 

rorywquin

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................ often means a custodial sentence.

Often? If there is a custodial sentence it is usually a slap on the wrist. The punishments are a joke which is why it still happens.

Car chase, people's lives endangered, £1000's of resources (helicopters etc) wasted and the perp gets 6 months suspended, a suspended drivers licence (is that punishment for the scum) and maybe a couple of £100 fine. They should be locked up and when they get out made to pay back the cost of everything............
 

rorywquin

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I think youll find they are now Thatcham approved. The paperwork and steps we have to complete when installing them has tripled recently.

That is good to hear. When I chatted to one of the guys that was involved with the development (admittedly 3 years ago) , he'd mentioned that they were struggling because it worked so differently to other systems.
 

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Bail is not getting off. Its being given your liberty back whilst investigation takes place. Many car thieves are dealt with in accordance with the law which often means a custodial sentence.
that might be what the term means but it also means they a free to reoffend and most do because they don't know any different , custodial sentence in one of her majestys holiday camps , yeah bet that teaches em a life lesson pal , not !
 

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According to the Thatcham site: https://www.thatcham.org/thatcham-security-certifications/ there is currently no certification existing for Autowatch aftermarket products and 'Alarm Upgrades' or 'Electronic Immobilisers' have been given their separate listings so would not be assessed under the 'Vehicle Tracking' or 'Asset Location Systems' because they "were different" as they too have their own categories.
 

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Yes, be lucky you don't live in South Africa now!

There are 60 murders every day on average, of which 8 are women and 3 are children!

And that's just Murders! Sexual offences - almost 150 a DAY!

This excludes about 450 common assaults per day, and about the same again for GBH.

Robbery, around 550/day.

Car hi-jacking, 50/day.

Car theft, 129/day.

Don't forget these are only "Reported Offences"....

This for a country that has a population of about 57 million.

I lived in Jo'burg for 2 years from '97 to '99. Glad I left when I did looking back. But at the time I really didn't want to but they wouldn't renew my Residence Permit which I had had from 1964!

So don't complain too much!!!
 

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I remember a SA recruitment drive in the '80's looking for a whole raft of Engineers from most of the Construction Industries, it wasn't on a Contract basis they were looking for people to emigrate with a substantial relocation package but after I made enquiries regarding their claims I was horrified to find the truth about the place, I had a friend who accepted the relocation package and moved there with his wife where he spent the next 2-3 Years buying his way back out! I've worked with Saffa's since and the stories of life in SA have changed little over the Years.
 
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flowrider

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I've worked with a couple of South Africans in UK, both said they would never go back. Stories of locking themselves in steel clad bedrooms at night, always carrying guns when out, never stopping anyway unfamiliar. Sounds a nightmare.
 

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I remember a SA recruitment drive in the '80's looking for a whole raft of Engineers from most of the Construction Industries, it wasn't on a Contract basis they were looking for people to emigrate with a substantial relocation package but after I made enquiries regarding their claims I was horrified to find the truth about the place, I had a friend who accepted the relocation package and moved there with his wife where he spent the next 2-3 Years buying his way back out! I've worked with Saffa's since and the stories of life in SA have changed little over the Years.

I left Zim in 1981 and worked on the Gold Mines as they offered a good relocation incentive, it was about R1000.00 which wasn't to be sneezed at in 1981, and practically a free house with free lights and water. This was in Saaiplaas, Virginia near Welkom in the Orange Free State. I was an Environmental Control Officer. Basically went underground every morning, about 2.5 kilometers, and took temperature readings at certain locations to make sure it was safe for the Miners to work. They were hot places, on average 33-34 *C and close to 90% humidity! There had to be at least 3*C between the dry and wet bulb temperatures. Anything less than that and the Miners would have to be pulled out of that Stope/Section. Some of the places you had to crawl into in the pitch dark so tight that you couldn't turn around thinking there was nearly 3 K's of solid rock above you and the haulage you were crawling through started off about 3m x 3m! You tried not to think about it because you could almost taste the panic start. Better not to think about it at all. Meanwhile the sweat is dripping off your nose, chin and getting in your eyes..... There were better places to be!
But I eventually left the Mines after There was a "Rockburst" or "Bump" one day. We were walking along a haulage, (there's always 3 of you) which are fully lit so you have your Helmet Light turned off. It was like a loud explosion and all the lights went out, but we could ear lumps of rock falling all around us. When we turned on our lights some of them were the size of a suitcase! We were very lucky! Sadly 7 Miners were killed though at the Stope we had just left...... I never went down again - hey, I was 22 and had a new wife! So I eventually left after I was given Office Leave. I went on to sell Honda Motorbikes...lol. Safer!

Anyway, there was no crime to speak of at all. Laws were very strict. You had more change of getting catching a slap from some Dutchman, (Afrikaner) that didn't like the way you spoke - being English. The bars were rough generally - literally sawdust on the floor!!! And it wasn't only to soak up spilt booze! But they usually ended up buying each other a Dop, (drink) and having a good laugh - it was scary sometimes. But not as scary as underground...lol.

In '83 I went back to Zim - the Free State was a pretty boring place and sweltering hot in Summer and Freezing in Winter! No wonder it was called the arrsehole of Africa! :D

But even when I went back in '97 - '99 I never had a problem with crime - didn't even bother carrying. But I do miss going shooting! My brother had a couple of Ruger .357's...
 

rorywquin

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I remember a story doing the rounds in Harare, (that's in Zimbabwe - Africa) this one chap got sick and tired of getting his car stolen - I think the number was 3 in as many months - so he came up "with a plan", (another thing we had to be good at).
Anyway, I digress.

He decided to get a half bottle of Brandy, have a few out of it and then refill it with poison, Rat Killer - Arsenic maybe, and leave it in the cubbyhole. (Get the picture).

Anyway, as sure as Jannies a couple of nights later in the morning it was gone. The car was soon found a few K's away parked on the side of the road. The car was still in good condition. The same couldn't be said about the 2 thieves...lol. :D

Apparently he did get originally charged but at court it was found that the deaths were "self-inflicted"! Case dismissed!

Allegedly the Judge had lost a few cars to thieves himself. ;)

Like the story with the car radios in the old days (went into the dash from the inside of the dash with nuts on the tuner and volume to hold it in place (anyone remember those ?). Apparently people would solder a bunch of fishhooks to the back of the radio.

Reminds me of teh cops that told my dad (he lived rurally and had a string of robberies) "If you catch him, shoot him, drag him into teh house and put a knife in his hand. We'll take care of the rest."
 

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Yes, be lucky you don't live in South Africa now!

There are 60 murders every day on average, of which 8 are women and 3 are children!

And that's just Murders! Sexual offences - almost 150 a DAY!

This excludes about 450 common assaults per day, and about the same again for GBH.

Robbery, around 550/day.

Car hi-jacking, 50/day.

Car theft, 129/day.

Don't forget these are only "Reported Offences"....

This for a country that has a population of about 57 million.

I lived in Jo'burg for 2 years from '97 to '99. Glad I left when I did looking back. But at the time I really didn't want to but they wouldn't renew my Residence Permit which I had had from 1964!

So don't complain too much!!!


This reality has replicated itself across Africa and we get told our its our fault.
 

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