Car Alarms

[JMO]

Help me out, actuaries. Are there any statistics on how well car alarms prevent crime?

Feel free to add anecdotes, whether you have statistics or not. Has your alarm ever done anything good?

[Gandalf]

They seem to be ignored when they go off.

I must have set my wife's car alarm off at least 10 times while unlocking it and opening the door. Most of those times it has been opening the door after unlocking it. She doesn't have the problem because she has one of those remote controls to unlock it. It doesn't always happen when I unlock and open it, but it might be 10% of the time.

[LoneGirl]

Someone tried to break into my car once and the alarm never went off (at least to the best of my knowledge - I never heard it and it was parked where I should have been able to hear it). Fortunately, the would-be-thief was unable to get the door open and steal anything, but not before doing some extensive damage to the door.

[yanz]

A guy I know who installs car alarms (and stereos, etc) told me that there was a study done that said car alarms actually do more harm than good. I think the study was NY-based, but can't recall now (this was a few yrs ago). I challenge a google monkey to find it.

[tometom]

Originally Posted by yanz

A guy I know who installs car alarms (and stereos, etc) told me that there was a study done that said car alarms actually do more harm than good. I think the study was NY-based, but can't recall now (this was a few yrs ago). I challenge a google monkey to find it.

This story appears to be related to that study, it's from '91 and in the NYtimes: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...51C0A967958260

Hey I tried.

[Da Bears!]

They help people find their cars when they can't remember where they've parked.

Perhaps in potential rape situations the panic button can be useful as well. But I wouldn't know.

[JMO]

I see I left out an option on the poll. . .
Statistics show that car alarms increase crime. I'm sure there were people in my neighborhood who wanted to kill me this morning. (Nothing personal.)

[H.R. Paperstacks]

I think you might also want to look into time of day and weather conditions(storms) with car thiefts......I would think more cars are stolen in the rain or after six starting on friday.

Since those are the times I would think no one is watching there cars or can't hear alarms as well.

[GadgetGeek]

Originally Posted by Da Bears!

They help people find their cars when they can't remember where they've parked.

I thought this was the only purpose of a car alarm.

[JMO]

Originally Posted by GadgetGeek

I thought this was the only purpose of a car alarm.

I don't need the alarm to do that. On my car, the "lock" function causes a single beep and the lights flash.
Plus, I always write down where I'm parked before I go board the plane.