Vandals
18 August 2006, 64,924
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ntil very recently, I’ve had nothing to report with the TiD other than
I’ve broken the fifty five to the gallon barrier. I have settled down with Saab ownership and
I’m learning to appreciate the car for being a comfortable motorway
machine. At this point there doesn’t
seem to be a sporty nut or bolt in it whatsoever but I’ve not driven it that hard yet.
However. A local yobbo smashed the drivers’ side front
window using a screwdriver. The alarm
sounded, I was down and outside in eighty four seconds and he (or I suppose she) got away with
nothing. Under a week later somebody
else smashed the drivers side window and then the passenger side window,
damaging the glovebox lid and rooting through.
The glovebox wasn’t locked either...
Muppets. I didn’t hear the alarm
the next day, instead discovered the car with glass everywhere at six thirty in the morning.
Both times they got away with nothing.
Smash and grabless. Muppets. The 9-3’s locks are isolated from the
interior door handles so in theory it’s impossible to open the car once you’ve
smashed the window.
Naturally enough we’ve involved the police and I’ve had to pay out two
excesses for the windows and spent a couple of days with a temporary Perspex
window in place. I don’t feel
particularly angry about it writing this now but I suppose it would have been a
different story if I caught somebody in the act, heh.
I’ve been considering getting security film applied to the Saab’s side
windows. This stuff is designed to keep
the window intact if it’s struck by a screwdriver, hammer or similar – but you
can push it out if you’re inside the car involved in an accident. Of course the disadvantage of using security
film is that the would-be thief will smash every other window on the car, dent
a panel, slash the tyres or whatever.
You also have to get the window replaced and the file re-applied so the cost of a would-be break in is
almost doubled. The advantages are that
they shouldn’t gain access to the car (at
least, not in a few seconds), the interior doesn’t have glass everywhere
and you may prevent it from happening
again.
Other options include upgrading the alarm with a pager to warn me and
perhaps a proximity alert too, although of course this will annoy people just
as much as it’ll prevent potential break ins.
It’s all money and about now it may be cheaper to move elsewhere or
simply park the car elsewhere.