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Are you concerned about buying a convertible?

5K views 41 replies 21 participants last post by  Ben Kramer 
#1 ·
I used to hang out around a Honda S2000 site and was horrified to read about the number of people that had their top slashed. In some cases is was done to get at what was inside the car, but other times it was done out of plain evil meanness. Are you concerned that your new Solstice will fall victim to the same fate?
 
#2 ·
No. Not in my case. I guess it depends a lot on where you are parking. I'm past the night club stage of life and don't often park in questionable areas.

If someone wants to damage your car it's pretty easy to do that even if it's a hardtop. If they want what's inside they can pretty easily break a window to get at it also.
 
#5 ·
I am concerned, but there's nothing you can do until a hard top comes out. I'll probably just try to patch up the tear, that way it won't hurt so much the second time. I don't know what it is about convertable tops, there are plenty of ways to easily do serious damage to sedan, SUV or pickup, but somehow soft tops are an easy target. Totally sucks that there is so much evil in the world. :mad
 
#6 ·
The Miata forum just had a lengthy discussion about cleaning up substances that had been poured (or deposited :eek ) into their cars if they leave them with the tops down while shopping or whatever...

However, most left their tops down to prevent them from being slashed. Most thought it was people rumaging through the stuff they see in the car. With a small percentage leaning towards jealousy...

Birds I can understand, but people shouldn't behave that way. :mad

I can only pray that karma will even things out, even if we don't get to see it happen. :thumbs
 
#7 ·
While I have never personally owned a convertable I have read some strategies of others. The best one that I read about was a guy who never left anything of value in the cabin of the car and allways left the doos open. That way if someone wants to get into the car the could just open the door and not slash the roof, and he kept all of his valuables in the trunk.
 
#8 ·
As an owner of a '79 Camaro, which is also my daily driver, I have come accustomed to NOT leaving anything valuable in plain sight. All they need is a screwdriver or coat hanger and my lock is popped. Not the most secure vehicles in the world. That's the beauty of a lockable glove box and a trunk. Smaller items like sunglasses, favorite CDs, etc. go in the glove box and get locked upon leaving and then anything else gets tossed in the trunk. Oh well, having the soft top doesn't really concern me. I wouldn't leave it down while shopping or leaving it unattended for any length of time anyway. Maybe for a quick 5 minute trip into the store or while I'm at work since I can park right outside the window next to my desk, but not if I'm going to be away from it and can't see it. Never know when someone may get the urge to "drop" something into it or when a divebombing bird might attack.
 
#9 ·
It depends on how easy the top is to put up and down. I've had two Miatas, and with it taking about 10 secs to put the top up/down on my '02, I usually put it up when running into the store for any length of time. But on my older one, with the zippered plastic window, I'd leave it down because it was a pain to mess with the back window. If the solstice requires you to walk around the car messing with latches and checking that eveything folds correctly, I'll be less likely to put it up everytime I park it. As far as getting my top slashed, yeah had it happen once, for no reason since they didn't even get into the cab. Someone is likely to put out aftermarket tops for solstice for less than a $500 deductible.
 
#10 ·
I owned a '79 Triumph Spitfire back in the day, and I did buy the removeable hardtop because of the sometimes harsh Winter where I live. Fortunately, I never had any vandalism problems on the car, to the softtop or hardtop. Lucky, I guess! :D

By the way, the '79 Spitfire was a sexy car, too - nice curves like the Solstice!
 
#11 ·
Of course, you could apply what I've joked about doing to all my new cars to your new roof:

Most new cars I get, I just take the key and pop a little scratch on the door, in plain sight. Just to get it over with :lol

Then when that magnetic shopping cart zipps across the parking lot, through three lanes of WalMart parking and maneuvers deftly through eighteen parked SUV's and Minivans and *POW* bumps into MY car... I know that I was the one who put the FIRST scratch in it.

So, when you get your Solstice, just take your pen and poke a neat little hole right where you can see it. Then tape it over and smile when that bozo comes by and slashes it... :lol :lol :thumbs
 
#12 ·
My current daily driver is a soft top Jeep Wrangler. I've never locked it, I don't keep much of value in it (cheap-o tool kit, tow strap, emergency roadside kit). About half the time either the windows are out or the top is completely down. I'm sure people are occasionally looking in it, and maybe even going through it. I just don't give them any reason to tear stuff up and leave nothing worth stealing. I also use a club type thing on the steering wheel to deter joyriders from taking it for a spin. It won't stop a real car thief, but around here my Jeep isn't much of a target.
 
#13 ·
I too have a Jeep Wrangler and have not had a problem with breakins or vandalism. I work downtown too, and there are tons of problems with breakins downtown.

The real key to preventing breakins is not to have anything sitting around the car to encourage the thief to break in. Just keep everything out of site. Most thiefs will not break into a car hoping there is something of value hidden in a trunk, or in a glove box, when the next car will have a cupholder full of change, 6 CD's on the back seat, or some other enticing item in plain view.

Random vandalism is more difficult to protect against, but that partially depends on where you park. Take a nice car to a shady neighborhood and leave it unatended, and something is more likely to happen to it than if you left it in a nice neighborhood.

Shopping malls and large shopping centers are places where you simply should not take a nice car if you can help it. Malls/shopping centers tend to have all of the following: People with kids who park their urban assault vehicles on top of your car, and then their kids play "bounce the door off the little car next to you" putting plenty of scratches and dents into it. There are the teenager packs that congregate, and teenagers like to do things to other peoples property. Vandalism is a game, and they have no problem breaking, scratching, dumping stuff in, or otherwise causing harm to vehicles, merchandise in stores, etc. Thieves love these places because there are a ton of cars to check, and there are sure to be some they will find worthwile items in to take.

I am sure there are more, but parking lots for malls and shopping centers are terrible places to leave a car.

In the end, I guess you just need to be careful where you take and leave a ragtop. If its a second car its not so bad. If its your only car, then you may have to take some risks. Hopefully not too many people have problems!
 
#14 ·
I agree, Malls and Trix are for kids. Also learned a long time back two rules, "You can't thart a determined thief but you can keep the honest people honest." and "Don't hang bait or you'll get bit." In a time long ago, after the second time my home stereo got stolen, I put all the replacement, high dollar components in "SoundDesign" and "York" boxes. I've still got them in a closet somewhere. Remember Quadraphonic?

SolsticeWaiting, looked at a Triumph Spitfire where the owner had pulled the Iron Maiden block and replaced it with a third gen Mazda rotary. Had almost two feet of empty between the radiator and the engine. He showed me slips from the strip with low 12's in the quarter mile! And still looked stock (skinny tires)except for the roll bar. You can do a lot with under 1500 pounds. Everyone else was hanging around the "Muscle Cars" but the fastest car there was being ignored 'cuz didn't look it.
 
#15 ·
Shopping malls and large shopping centers are places where you simply should not take a nice car if you can help it. Malls/shopping centers tend to have all of the following: People with kids who park their urban assault vehicles on top of your car, and then their kids play "bounce the door off the little car next to you" putting plenty of scratches and dents into it.
park in BFE and carry a digicam with you to snap pics of license plates of cars when you have to park next to them. anyone who taps your car better not leave any paint on it or their ass is yours :thumbs !
 
#16 ·
Bizz said:
park in BFE and carry a digicam with you to snap pics of license plates of cars when you have to park next to them. anyone who taps your car better not leave any paint on it or their ass is yours :thumbs !
Problem with that is that thieves and vandals love it when you park in BFE. That affords them plenty of privacy!
 
#17 ·
2KWK4U said:
Problem with that is that thieves and vandals love it when you park in BFE. That affords them plenty of privacy!
not really. it puts them out in the open. and when the alarm goes off, there no mistaking what car is making the racket. about 10 (if not more) of my clubs members have had their GP broken into in the past year. and, they have all been in large parking lots parked with other cars. :shrug
 
#18 ·
Bizz said:
not really. it puts them out in the open. and when the alarm goes off, there no mistaking what car is making the racket. about 10 (if not more) of my clubs members have had their GP broken into in the past year. and, they have all been in large parking lots parked with other cars. :shrug
We'll just have to agree to disagree, then. My GTP was broken into as well... in BFE. Unfortunately, they're just too damn easy to get into, if you know what you're doing. If you haven't done so already, I advise you to get rid of the lock cylinders by replacing your front door handles with rear ones. You'll have to build in a failsafe or two in case your transmitter battery or car battery dies, but that's relatively easily done.
 
#20 ·
Butt-F(*oolish*)k Egypt. Generally considered offensive to those from said countries.

Bundoks. Way away from anything. Katmandu.

A safe distance away from shopping cars and other vehicles. Backwoods... :thumbs
 
#21 ·
The problem with parking way out in the middle of nowhere in a parking lot, is it is like errecting a sign that says "here is a nice car, please break in, scratch it, mangle it, and ruin it for me!"

I always see people with nice cars parked far out, and there is always a jerk with a beater who will park right on top of it, with no other cars around! There are simply people out there who enjoy being vandals, and the best way to keep a car safe is not to take it into a high risk area. Its sad that in this society someone would want to destroy someone elses nice property.
 
#22 ·
solsticeman said:
Butt-F(*oolish*)k Egypt. Generally considered offensive to those from said countries.

Bundoks. Way away from anything. Katmandu.

A safe distance away from shopping cars and other vehicles. Backwoods... :thumbs

Thanks, solsticeman.
Backwoods and bundoks were terms I grew up with.
I have added this new technical term to my vocab post haste. :thumbs
 
#23 ·
Dual zone Radar bases alarm

I use a dual zone radar based alarm in my Fiat. What it does is it has a perimiter alarm that chirps when someone aproaches the car within 3 feet. and the second zone say you leave your top down if you even reach over the cabin the alarm will sound. You dont even need to touch the car for it to go off. Just add a few small piezo sirens and NOONE will be able to even stay near the car when it goes off. 140db will do that rather effectivly. But before the alarm I ALWAYS left my doors unlocked and used the removealbe face for the stereo too. My cds are worth manybe $100 in the car and the top is worth $250 so its worth the risk. But radar alarms are the way to go for convertibles or any car really
 
#24 ·
Bizz said:
park in BFE and carry a digicam with you to snap pics of license plates of cars when you have to park next to them. anyone who taps your car better not leave any paint on it or their ass is yours :thumbs !
OK, I give up, what's BFE? Anyways, my stratagy for avoiding door dings is to always try to pick end slots to protect at least one side, park far away from the Mall/stores reducing exposure (most people are lazy and want to park as close as they can) and staying out of parking lots and parallel parking on the street when ever possible. I find bumpers can absorb more punishment than body panels can.

If you live in and urban area, dings, dents and the potential for vandalism are a reallity for a daily driver. None of the damage to my car are a result of me, except to say I took it out of the garage. After the first dent it gets a little easier to deal with. Trying to get anyone to pay for a door ding, even if you do have photographic evidence, would be near imposible. Hell, trying to collect on someone rearending you is hard enough. Where I live, probably half the cars are uninsured, even though it's the law. I know, it's happen to me more than once.

I often envy people who live in the country, but then I guess you have to deal with hitting a dear or something. Ya can't win. I found out along time ago, if ya drive 'em, they get f**ked up. :mad That's why show cars rarely see the light of day and get trailered everywhere they go!
 
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