I used the lock and tin can for years on my 97 honda. finally, and thanks to all who helped me, i bought a 2009 honda accord. since this car has the chip in the key, and the car is, or so i am told, not driveable by anyone without the key or a $20,000 machine to get around that - is there any point in still using the club? who or what would it be deterring at this point? thanks
At best, it’s a visual deterrent to keep somebody from breaking a window or forcing a door only to find that they can’t drive it anyway. Depends, I guess, on how much aggravation you are willing to put up with and how much car theft there is where you park it.
@Mayday is correct. It’s a visual deterrent at best. A Club can be removed in about 15 seconds with a sharp hacksaw and even quicker with a cordless angle grinder.
Right - but don’t they already know they can’t drive it because they don’t have the key?
No!!! That’s why why try stealing cars. And I doubt any thief keeps a list in his pocket of cars that cannot be taken. And they don’t really care if they do damage trying.
I’d continue to use the Club when parked in a risky area.
I had a clients car that they broke into…broke the steering column…but were not able to take the car. Parts and labor to replace the column and get the computer flashed was just over $1000.
A month later the same thing happened, but a little less damage. That time it costed about $400.
Both times they couldn’t start it because of the security system, but they didn’t know that until they tried.
Yosemite
It all depends on how smart the car thief is. A smart one will skip the ones with chip keys. The really smart ones will quickly defeat the chip keys. The dumb ones will wreck your ignition trying to break the ignition lock if there’s no visible deterrent. The really dumb ones will smash your window anyways.
The club will help if the thief just goes for the easiest targets. If your car is specifically targeted though, the club is useless. There are stories about chop shops getting busted, with dozens of clubs in a pile in the corner, usually just bent in half in seconds to get them off.
thanks all. now i understand.
Your old Honda is much higher on the “most stolen list” due to it’s ease of theft, and need for the parts it can be broken down into. While your new Honda is harder to steal, it can be done. I don’t think the computer needed is as much as $5000, according to my friendly local locksmith who uses one to replace lost keys for me every once in a while.
If you think your new car might get swiped, the club is a good visual deterrent as mentioned. They are very easily removed by simply sawing through the steering wheel at one end or the other. Any car thief worth his prison term is aware of that, just like they are aware of the need for a transponder key for your newer Honda.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2012/08/20/the-10-most-stolen-vehicles/
I’ve read that the Club can encourage a thief because he figures it’s on the car because there’s no other deterrent.
I’ll go off slightly off-topic
Thieves . . . especially car thieves . . . are among the scum of the earth
They have absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever
As far as I’m concerned, they serve no useful function in society
The people I feel bad about are the thief’s kids, when poppa gets busted and goes to jail, and even if he doesn’t go to jail, now he’s got a record, and will have a much harder time getting a job. And somebody’s got to put food on the table and a roof over junior’s head
I have 0% sympathy for the thieves themselves
I did not resort to stealing, when times were tough for me. I did not steal something, because I was jealous and/or couldn’t afford it
Mind you, I’m talking about the average US city, right now. I’m not talking about the slums in Brazil, Mexico City, or people starving in wartime cities which were bombed
Just imagine if you can’t get to work, because your car was stolen. Or maybe you can’t even operate it, because it was damaged during an attempted theft. Perhaps the boss will not take kindly to you being late, and maybe you’ll get fired. There are plenty of bosses out there with 0% sympathy. And the boss’s reasoning would be “Everybody got here on time, except you. I’ve got a stack of job applications on my desk, and you don’t even show up on time.”
I don’t know everything
Perhaps somebody can give me a GOOD reason why it’s alright to steal
I think I’d forget it. Doesn’t take much to cut a notch in the wheel to remove it. I agree they are scum. Best deterrent is a garage and good neighborhood.
@Bing
I agree the car in the garage is a good deterrent . . .
But I suspect some of the regulars . . . myself included . . . can’t afford to live in a good neighborhood
Just this week, my local paper reported that only 22% of cars that are stolen in my county (with a population of about 500,000) are ever recovered. I have had two stolen over the years, and both were found within three days. I guess I’m lucky.
I also know two people who found their OWN cars when the police were no help. One called 911 to report her finding. They asked if she had an extra key. She did. They told her to drive it home. It wasn’t stolen initially from the house, but the thief had access to the registration, so he could have dropped by. It was never stolen again.
The club is useless. A battery powered saw will cut through the steering wheel in seconds and the club will fall off. That’s why it’s called the club.
You don’t even need an electric saw, actually.
A couple of good hard yanks with a dent puller will extract the lock from The Club pretty easily.
Back in the old days when I used The Club, I used to install it with the lock facing toward the front of the car, so that a dent puller couldn’t be used on it. However, someone with a saw could still have cut it in half very quickly.
I’d continue to use it. I use a club and steering wheel cover on my car. It isn’t intended to stop a serious/professional thief. It’s only intended to stop the amateur looking to take a joy ride.
Granted it’s not the best deterrent but, are all your windows in the house barred. Do you have the best of locks on the house door, the patio door, your garage door.
If they want to get into your house they will, just like the car.
So why not let those who wish to have that little extra security…when they park in a bad neighborhood have at least a little faith in it. It’s better than nothing.
A garage won’t help, they’ll just break into the garage.
I know a guy that thought that he had outsmarted the thieves. He installed a toggle switch under the dash on the passenger side, to disable the ignition. Worked great.
Then someone tried to steal the car. They were unable to get it started, but they did so much damage to the column and ignition that he had to junk the car.
I too feel that they are the scum of the earth. They can do $1000 worth of damage in minutes and they could care less that the owner cannot afford to have it fixed or buy another car, and they really need a car.
Let’s just sentence them to harsher terms and send them to Sheriff Joe in Arizona, and trhey live in a tent city in the desert for a few years.
Yosemite
^
I agree, Whitey, but where some people choose to use that device can be mind-boggling to me.
When I take my power-walks, I usually park my car in the parking lot for the local memorial Rose Garden. This garden–in a rural area–is very far off the beaten track, and is frequented only by the elderly and the handicapped, it seems.
And yet, last week, I spotted a VW Golf parked there, with The Club installed on the steering wheel. Thank God that the owner was taking precautions against those roving gangs of geriatric car thieves.
The only thing worse than being laughed at for using the Club in a nice area is having your car stolen while the Club sits unused.
