I was wondering is it safe to park my fit outside. I usually keep it on the garage but am tired of waking up every morning and moving my car so my wife can drive it to work. Any one got their fit stolen or missing rims yet. Am from the sacramento area.

 

It largely depends on what kind of neighborhood you live in. Sure, there have been Fits stolen or the rims jacked but usually they were in bad neighborhoods.

 

Sport model wheels are getting more popular with the Civic and Integra crowd, i don't trust my Fit to sit without locking wheel lugs.

 

I keep my Fit in my bedroom when Im not driving it.

 

Drive the Fit into the room. Close the garage door, turn out the light, open the hatch, slip under the covers on a conveniently placed matress in the back... Insta-bed on wheels!

 

I personally don't believe it is just the bad neighborhoods. I think thieves roam around. Yes, the stock wheels have been targeted and was even a subject of an evening a news cast back in Chicago. At the very least, some locks, just to make the thieves target the easier prey.

 

Maybe let your wife drive your car???

 

Chicago is not really a fair comparison though. They stole the wheels of the mayors SUV while he was giving a speech, i think about crime. in CHicago they will steal the wheels off anything and everything

 

I live in Sacramento and wouldn't trust leaving my car outside. I even try to keep it in my sight when at work. One co-worker had someone break into his car to steal dry cleaning.

 

I can not tell you what to do in the People's Republic of Kalifornia.

Around here we leave the keys in the car so we do not have to go looking for them when we want to use it.

I guess it really depends on where you are parking the car.

 

American cities differ greatly. I guess it's fairly common in some parts of the country for the "good" and "bad" neighborhoods to be somewhat close together, and even people in good areas feel compelled to have security systems. I don't really get this, being in a different type of city - in Boston, in the nice towns home security is really unnecessary because the nasty parts are so far away that thieves would have to travel a long way to get your stuff, and they'd stick out to the local residents. Some people have the systems, of course, but it's equally OK to leave your door unlocked. I had a neighbor growing up who never locked their house or car. Well, maybe they were robbed once, now that I think about it. Never mind.

But seriously, it depends where you live and what the place is like. I lived in a part of Boston for a while with substantial mob presence; cars were never stolen because if you took the wrong one you'd be in real trouble when you tried to fence it. But there's other areas that you know to just stay away from if possible; where that "auto unlock" starts looking like a liability :P

The 4-lug wheels DO fit older Civics. As a result they're highly in demand. You see stolen ones sold online all the time. Locks don't stop a determined thief, but they discourage casual ones. The best idea, by the way, is to park on a steep hill.

 

Really bright motion detector lights might help discourage thieves.

 

I only really have experience parking and leaving my Fit on the streets of Chicago. But I have a feeling that it is the same for all urban areas, unless you live in the suburbs. The best defense is to not stick out in a city, where there are millions of cars, and hope the thieves steal other people's stuff. Buy an alarm, and locks, and hope the thieves will target some easier prey.

That is why I hated living in an apartment with no garage in Chicago. Want red JDM emblems on your car? Nope--they'll pry it loose with a screw driver and dent/break/scratch your car in the process. Want to install mounts for electronics for your dash? Nope--they'll see it and bash your window and look in your glove box because that's where everone keeps their GPS. You like your bumpers scratch free? Nope--people will park and bump your car to get in and out of a parking spot. Ok that last one is just my pet peeve with city parking.

 

safe or not is really dependent on where you live... my GE are outside 24/7. my previous GD was also outside. only time was a rude neighbor down the street let her dog shit in front of my GD and pee on my wheel. well, that was all caught on my security camera so i had a nice(?) chat with her the following day and made her clean up the mess.

i too need to move my GE out of the way to pull out my G on a nice dry day to go to work. it's kind of a hassle, never good on the car or battery just to move it, but oh well. that's the GE's life.

 

When I had a del Sol people would bump the car while I was STANDING THERE. Crazy! So next time I bought a CRV, and one big selling point was the black plastic bumpers and the wheel on the back. The only thing to show dents after three years was the crumpled license plate.

You can buy those bumper guards, platic stick-on, they work good but on a Fit they won't look great (they'll look good on the back probably). Maybe better than the scratches. Pick your poison.

 

yah, downtown people use bumpers as they say 'bumpers are meant to be bumped.'

wtf. i hate the city, this is why i rarely go there and only park at parking garages.

 

I don't mean to upset anyone here but umm, it's a Honda Fit. You can park it outside. You can park it anywhere. You should also have insurance.

 

true, but just letting you know some of us actually OWN our cars and have a house and family, not leased or pretending to have money buying things one can't even afford and think one can just say things they want just because they were "making payments" for something they couldn't afford... hahaha.

so no reason to be an arse.

 

I would be slightly concerned about the wheels if you have a sport. Sacramento seems like it has a rather lively (and younger) Honda community from all the times i've been there visiting. Wheel locks would be a good investment.

I wouldn't worry too much about the car itself getting stolen.

 

wish someone would steal my 09's sport wheels so i can get new scuff-free ones and run them on my '12.