Car keys and car service places in California

Maintenance/Repairs
1

  1. Is it possible to avoid car service places from copying your car keys? Someone was able to get inside my Integra without breaking the car. See Amazon review:
    “In California many employees at car service centers can make copies of your keys and get into your car later on.”
    http://www.amazon.com/Viper-350-Plus-3-Channel-Security/product-reviews/B00445V9FC/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt_sr_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0&tag=rnwff-20

  2. Am I correct if you install a car alarm, they can damage your hood - open it and disconnect the battery and the alarm stops. Then they can steal stuff from the car? Or even tow the car. Mind you my problem has been that they are getting inside my car overnight and the car is parked outside in a multi family dwelling. So it is possible that they won’t be able to break the hood to remove the battery.

  3. Am I better off with a hidden Fuel pump cut off switch and a brake pedal lock. Or a basic car alarm?

2

Regarding 2, yes. All they have to do is disconnect the battery and they have free reign to do whatever they want. If they can open the door, it would take another second to open the hood, another two seconds to disconnect the battery. Your alarm may thus only be yelping for three to four seconds.
Where I live, that does not draw any attention.

I think a basic car alarm is probably best. Some alarms run the car for about a minute before they stall and start whaling. That’s to lull the thief into a false sense of security, thinking they got your car.
Sure, they’ll get the car out of your driveway but it will stall on the middle of the street. They will not stick around and try to fix it, with the car sitting there in the open and the alarm drawing attention to them.

You could just put a switch in line with the power to the fuel pump and put it someplace you can easily access. That’ll stop most thieves.

If anything, go to radio shack and get a blinky box for $5. It basically is a blinking LED attached to a battery. It lasts for a long time. Velcro it someplace where you won’t see it while driving, like under your seat pointing to the back seat. If someone looks into your window, they’ll see a blinking LED under your seat.
It will probably keep 99.9 percent of the thieves from even trying.

3

A sophisticated theif with an entire shop at his disposal, in depth knowledge of your car and its systems, and access to your manufacturer’s databases (including your key codes and protocols to program the system) cannot be protected against.

4

“A sophisticated theif …”

Yeah, but a sophisticated thief would likely take the car and sell it for parts; maybe export it to Latin America.

5

Not an integra, tho. The are actually popular street racers, them being light. I bet that is why they want it.

6

If you are talking about conventional keys, almost any car lock of that kind can easily be picked by someone knowledgeable. After all, that’s what lock service professionals do every day, right? There’s no need to copy your key. The electronic types of keys are probably harder to copy. If the manufacturer’s security design is done correctly, it would be very hard to copy an electronic key. But I expect most thieves don’t even bother w/that level of sophistication; they would just break the window or jimmy it somehow if they wanted access to the car.

I think there are better quality car alarms available that don’t rely on the car’s battery if that’s an issue for you.

I think the better sol’n to all this is to have a car no one wants.