500 Hello and a request for advice re: 500 security

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500 Hello and a request for advice re: 500 security

owly

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Evening! I have just today picked up my lovely Fiat 500 (2012 Lounge) and I'm very happy with it. But having tucked her in for the night, I've begun to feel a bit paranoid about security while parked outside my house. It's off the main road residential parking (no garage available) but the cars can't be seen from any house windows. We're in a sort of cul de sac so few passersby at night. It's not a very dodgy area but my car will be one of the nicer ones parked there! My concern comes from Googling and finding not-so-great reviews of the 500's security. So my question really is, am I worrying unnecessarily or is there anything I should be doing to improve security?

I had already picked up a steering wheel lock from Halfords, more for a visual deterrent than anything else (I know they can be removed pretty easily by anyone who's set on nicking it) but it turned out to be too big so will return tomorrow. Is it worth investing in a Disklok or is that just overkill?

Thanks in advance for help :)
 
Car cannot be started without the key. The key has a microchip in it, like you might put in a dog's neck. When starting the car reads the chip, and if not happy won't start.

Do not leave the key in a dish on the hall table, visible from the letterbox. Thieves have been known to go fishing with a pole and hook. Keep it out of sight.

Steering wheel lock will quickly become a pain to fit each time, and you'll stop using it, so consider the hassle, against the peace of mind.

However much you secure the car, weakest point is the windows. Just don't leave anything valuable visible. Try to park near something more expensive, so any thief is drawn away form yours.

A clearly labelled cyanide gas canister inside may be a deterrent.
 
Keys with microchips which most of them have these days can easily be bypassed by modern thieves with a bit of kit that costs a couple of hundred pounds bought on the Interweb. They do tend to target more expensive cars, but it has been known that Fiat 500s have been targetted.

As mentioned above, you are more likely these days to be burgled and your keys taken. This is how the vast majority of cars are stolen now.

I imagine that your paranoia will wear off after a few weeks of your pride and joy being OK overnight.
 
The short answer is that if a thief wants your car, he's going to get it.
Check out the repo men on YouTube - they snatch cars back however much the owner (debtor in their case) tries to secure them. And they do it fast.
It will more likely get broken into by an opportunist if anything of value is left visible inside - including sat navs and dashcams, so the advice above is good - hide everything of value.
Friendly world we live in, huh!
 
What if they come with a truck and forklift it on to the truck? Then no security can help = )
 
What if they come with a truck and forklift it on to the truck? Then no security can help = )
Motorbikes are being stolen now by being loaded into the back of vans in the dead of night. Can't see our 500s falling for that.

Top tip, if you're worried about your car being stolen. Get an old worthless iPhone. Load it with a pay as you go sim, load it with find my iphone app. Plug it into the accessory socket and run the cable stashing the phone somewhere it can't be seen. Your car gets stolen, you can track it.
 
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