Kill Switch Saved Me

[INCRHULK]

It's funny that every time the subject of theft comes up, quite a few people say "I don't care, they can take it if they want it, I'll just get money from insurance and buy a new one". WRONG!!! What you will get from insurance will be FAR LESS MONEY you are going to need to replace your stolen car. Just to remind everyone again, the insurance will only pay you the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your car, which is more or less the cost to replace a car with a “substantially similar vehicle.” They consider things like depreciation, mileage, condition, year, etc. In my experience, the ACV payment will be somewhere between the retail value and trade-in value, but much closer to the trade-in value.

Some insurance companies offer "New car replacement insurance", which provides enough money after a stolen or totaled car claim to buy a new model of the same vehicle. Most people do not have these policies because they are more expensive.

So yes, if you have an old rust bucket that is beaten to death and is on it's last legs, then having your car stolen will "benefit" you. Unfortunately, demand for such rust buckets is zero to none, so most cars being stolen are relatively new and/or are in good condition.

Quite a few states do not have laws that require insurance companies to include sales tax in the ACV. So if you bought a new car and had it stolen a year later, you just lost thousands on dollars on sales tax alone.

For me, having my Jeep stolen will automatically means losing many thousands of dollars. The MSRP of my Jeep was $87,280. I think my ACV will be right around $75K today. A brand new '23 392 with similar options to mine is selling for around $82K on cars.com today. A '24 392 optioned as close as possible to mine has an MSRP of $92,380 today. Even if I order one from one of the forum dealers with a big discount, I will still pay around $86K out of pocket and will have to wait for 7+ months. Overall, it's a lose/lose/lose for me, so it makes sense to at least try to make my Jeep harder to steal.

This is only true if you don't have a replacement value waiver. Depending on the insurance, the price of the waiver increases down the road, but for me, it added $25/payment for my insurance, and it was a god-send after my KL was totalled. I paid off the remainder of the loan and got a substantial downpayment on the Hulk that replaced it.

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[ek1]

This is only true if you don't have a replacement value waiver. Depending on the insurance, the price of the waiver increases down the road, but for me, it added $25/payment for my insurance, and it was a god-send after my KL was totalled. I paid off the remainder of the loan and got a substantial downpayment on the Hulk that replaced it.

Can you check your actual policy and see if it's called "replacement value waiver"? I googled it and nothing came up, which means it's probably some language unique to your insurance company. What exactly does it do anyway?

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Key switch probably kills fuel pump and the little bit if gas in the lines made it that far. Just guessing.

Did you have a tazer or something similar that bypasses the security gateway. Not blaming as i have one too, and kill switch sounds interesting.

Fuel injection relies on pressure in the lines, not loose fuel sitting at near 0 psi pressure. It wouldn't go a block without a pump pressurizing it. (I found out the hard way)
Last thing you want is a vehicle dying in traffic. It's why they don't stop Jeeps that are driven away with a non-legit start. It's allowed to run until the thieves shut it off. Shutting it off in traffic opens you to law suit.

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

Except they're getting stolen as well. Auto trans are a North American thing. The majority of Europe, for instance, still use a manual transmission. You're not sitting in some holy grail. My buddies 6sp Rubicon was just stolen.

My son and his wife both know how to drive sticks, and my Korean daughter-in-law used to drive delivery trucks in Korea. She can drive anything almost anywhere. It's not that hard to find people that can drive a stick. Making it worse - most real thieves know as much about your Jeep's electrical system as you do, likely more. They aren't stupid. They know how to check codes and hot-wire a lot of these systems. They know where the CANbus connections are and how to tap into them to start vehicles.

Takes ten seconds to look under and unplug it, though. Same thing with the tazer. An experienced thief is going to see that very quickly.

Yup. They aren't stupid, they have the tools and know-how. They know where the security gateway is, the CANbus connectors and so on.

 

[INCRHULK]

Can you check your actual policy and see if it's called "replacement value waiver"? I googled it and nothing came up, which means it's probably some language unique to your insurance company. What exactly does it do anyway?

I will pull out my policy and check the actual waiver verbiage.

 

[patternman]

Ah, another one for my ignore list.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

@rickinAZ
@smokeythecat
Two more for my ignore list!

 

[rikity]

It's funny that every time the subject of theft comes up, quite a few people say "I don't care, they can take it if they want it, I'll just get money from insurance and buy a new one". WRONG!!! What you will get from insurance will be FAR LESS MONEY you are going to need to replace your stolen car. Just to remind everyone again, the insurance will only pay you the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your car, which is more or less the cost to replace a car with a “substantially similar vehicle.” They consider things like depreciation, mileage, condition, year, etc. In my experience, the ACV payment will be somewhere between the retail value and trade-in value, but much closer to the trade-in value.

Some insurance companies offer "New car replacement insurance", which provides enough money after a stolen or totaled car claim to buy a new model of the same vehicle. Most people do not have these policies because they are more expensive.

So yes, if you have an old rust bucket that is beaten to death and is on it's last legs, then having your car stolen will "benefit" you. Unfortunately, demand for such rust buckets is zero to none, so most cars being stolen are relatively new and/or are in good condition.

Quite a few states do not have laws that require insurance companies to include sales tax in the ACV. So if you bought a new car and had it stolen a year later, you just lost thousands on dollars on sales tax alone.

For me, having my Jeep stolen will automatically means losing many thousands of dollars. The MSRP of my Jeep was $87,280. I think my ACV will be right around $75K today. A brand new '23 392 with similar options to mine is selling for around $82K on cars.com today. A '24 392 optioned as close as possible to mine has an MSRP of $92,380 today. Even if I order one from one of the forum dealers with a big discount, I will still pay around $86K out of pocket and will have to wait for 7+ months. Overall, it's a lose/lose/lose for me, so it makes sense to at least try to make my Jeep harder to steal.

Some companies will do "Stated Value", thats what I did on mine with an itemized list of mods and pictures of everything. Costs $40 more a month and is essentially $25k more coverage in value

 

[UncleJimmy]

I have been using a steering wheel lock for about 30 yrs. that I put on reverse so the key lock is harder to pick. I'm kind of hoping the thieves will pass it over and not want to bother. It takes about 5 seconds to take it on and off.

 

[JLFSA]

If mine gets stolen, I never want it back.

 

[JLFSA]

I have been using a steering wheel lock for about 30 yrs. that I put on reverse so the key lock is harder to pick. I'm kind of hoping the thieves will pass it over and not want to bother. It takes about 5 seconds to take it on and off.

Takes about 5 seconds to cut with a battery operated angle grinder with a cutting blade.

 

[UncleJimmy]

Anything can be defeated, but I'm a little skeptical of 5 secs with hardened steel. It's also a little more conspicuous to be using an angle grinder in the front seat.

I could be wrong, but the idea is since most don't use these anymore the thief may not have the tools, knowledge or time and hopefully pass on.

 

[Heimkehr]

Takes about 5 seconds to cut with a battery operated angle grinder with a cutting blade.

Maybe a bit more than 5 seconds is needed, but yes, it would be a fairly quick operation.

Back in the early 90s, when steering wheel locks were very popular and well before cordless power tool tech existed as it does today, the criminals would use inverted cans of compressed air to freeze the exposed metal portion of the "club". The now-brittle steel was then easily broken with an engineer's hammer.

 

[Mike_Hawk]

Ah, another one for my ignore list.

 

[Xorak]

Anything can be defeated, but I'm a little skeptical of 5 secs with hardened steel. It's also a little more conspicuous to be using an angle grinder in the front seat.

That's why they cut through the steering wheel instead

 

[Deleted User 38384]

Best anti-theft device.

I know a guy who knows a guy who has a friend who's relative has access to directional charges, if you know what I mean.

I've been thinking, maybe the best security system is in fact a toggle switch that goes between the ignition on one side, and the directional charge on the other side you replace your airbag with. Then anyone who tries to steal your vehicle will not only make the vehicle inoperable, but the person in the driver seat will also become inoperable.

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