Are you going to be doing this continuously? That's what the comments seem to be assuming. If it's such a scary place, you should live someplace else.

 

Not everyone has that option. It's easy to suggest moving, but I doubt that anyone lives someplace unsafe entirely by choice. I ended up in New Orleans because of my job. Unemployment is even scarier than crime these days, so as long as the job is here, so am I. I don't know blazej's circumstances, and they're none of my business, so I won't ask.

All I can suggest is, don't worry too much about break-ins or theft, no matter where you live. The Honda Fit isn't exactly the most popular target for thieves to begin with, and as long as you take enough precautions to give yourself some peace of mind, the rest is just trusting to God, luck, or karma.

 

You could always get one of these. I know I want one:

 

Leave your car bone stock

 

You guys have it all wrong. Put a small, yet noticeable police dept sticker on the car. Leave the car open and RUNNING. Everybody will think it's a bait car and will leave it alone.

Enjoy your day!!

 

Won't work for me. Everybody in the New Orleans metro area knows that the police don't even both looking for stolen cars, let alone use bait cars. When my minivan was stolen, years ago, I was told by the NOPD duty officer I called it in to, "We don't look for stolen cars. We have over 300 reported every month, and don't have the manpower. If they use it to commit a crime and we catch them, or if they abandon it somewhere, you might get it back."

This was later confirmed to me by a friend whose car was stolen. After his car was stolen, it received over 350 parking tickets in nine months. He got a nastygram from the police, saying if he didn't pay the tickets, they'd boot and tow it. He told them, "Great! Boot it! Tow it! I want it back!" They never booted or towed it, but quit sending him unpaid tickets in the mail. They "found" his car that many times, and never once checked to see if it had been reported stolen before slapping a ticket on it.

Anyway, after the police told me they wouldn't look for my stolen minivan, the unhelpful but apologetic police officer told me, "Most cars are stolen vby someone who lives in the neighborhood. So, it's probably still in the neighborhood, if you want to go looking for it yourself."

He was right. I found it, sixteen hours after the theft, less than a mile away. Then I proceeded to stea— repossess it back, at gunpoint. No one ever messed with it after that! Needless to say, when I told the police and the insurance company that I recovered it, I didn't say how!

 

If you really did it at gunpoint, you're lucky they didn't call the police or you'd be in jail.

What kind of gun do you have? I carry the Ruger LC9

 

I survived owning a very modified car in a very bad part of the dirty south for 4 years during college a long time ago. It was parked on every mean street in town at some point, and I think what saved me is having an alarm with a motion sensor. If someone bumped the car, it would chirp. I caught plenty of people messing with it by always keeping an ear out for that chirp, and never letting it get out of range of my hearing-- or accept the worst. If I needed to park it somewhere, like for a movie, I'd go to a "nicer" move theater in a different part of town. A bit of a drive, but worth it. I could hear it from my bedroom window too, and always tried to park on a busy street instead of a side street. If you are with a group of people, do not leave your car behind, even if that means driving by yourself and following people. Treat it like your cell phone, wallet, or pet, and you should do fine.

When it comes to the car itself, I'd put black steel hubcaps and not wash frequently. That's about as good as you're going to get there. If it's a Sport model, the black may work against you, since the body kit sort of sets off any changes made. If a base model, then I'd do it. No offense to anyone, but they look really cheap stock. haha

EDIT: PS- your best weapon is your mind, and not worrying so much about it. I may have sounded obsessive in that description, but to be honest, I just did what I could because it was easy to, and otherwise, just enjoyed life...until I would hear a chirp.

 

I have two awesome German Shepherds always there for us!!

 

 

Remove you Fit Emblems and replace with this:

 

New ideas:

1. Fill it completely to the brim with stuffed animals. Who wants to fuck with that?
2. Put a blow up doll in all the vacant seats, and visible creams and vaseline jars about.
3. Child Support Recovery Service sticker.

 

We'd ALL have been in jail. They were armed, too. Luckily, no shots fired. Being quicker on the draw was enough. And to be honest, I don't know if I'd do it again. I was calm as anything at the time, but when it was all over and I had gotten away, I got the shakes so bad I had to pull over and calm my nerves. Coming down off an adrenaline rush is brutal! Besides, I live in a better part of town now. Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department is much better at the "protect and serve" thing than the New Orleans Police Department!

To answer your question, at the time, it was a S&W Sigma in .40cal.

 

Modern aftermarket alarm systems such as the high-end Viper systems have a smart-phone interface. If someone sets off the alarm, it will notify your phone, as long as both you and the car are within range of cell service. Gives you a chance to call the law right away even if you're out of earshot of the car.

 

I've always gone with smearing a bunch of doodoo on the door handles and seats. Bad for dates... Horrible for thieves!

 

Actually, you probably could NOT easy fight towing or storage fees. Tow truck companies basically have a license to steal (at least in FL, I don't know if laws in other states are significantly different).

What happened to a co-worker:

Jake's 2008 F150 broke down on the side of the road. A cop pulled up behind him and a tow truck that happened to be passing by pulled up and said he could tow him. Jake declined because he had AAA (who would take about an hour to get there). The guy said he could tow him now for $75. Jake declined again and said he'd rather wait. The cop asked the truck driver if he would give him a courtesy tow to the parking lot across the street just to get him off the road. The driver said "of course officer" put the truck up on his flat bed and towed him to the parking lot. He then would not put the truck down saying he already did most the work he wanted a $20 tip. My friend refused and started calling the cops again. He said "come on man, I already did the work and got it up here, where are you going I'll do it for $40. Jake reluctantly agreed. He didn't have $40 exactly so when they got to the shop (only a few miles away) he had to get change. It took ten minutes to wait on the guy to come out and get change and when Jake returned with the $40 the driver said "well now since you made me wait it's $50!" Jake insisted he was giving him $40 like they agreed and not a dollar more. The driver said "well now you're really gonna pay", jumped in his truck and sped off. Jake showed up at the lot with the police. The driver (who happened to be the owner) refused to come out and handed an invoice for nearly $500 for itemized fees through the fence. The police could not do anything. Jake could try and take the guy to court, but in the mean time his truck would sit on the lot with $25/day storage added if he lost the case. He needed his truck back and the police advised him to try and negotiate and get his truck. Jake ended up giving the guy every cent he had on him, about $300.

Back on point, many of you say tinted windows. I have tint on all my cars because I like it, but tint (especially when coupled with nice rims or other visual upgrades) make your car a much larger target for thieves. They can't see inside so they assume you've got money and have some goodies hidden there.

A stock looking car with no tint and no valuables in sight is much less appealing

If you want to mod/tint, get a good active alarm system preferably with a two-way pager (mine is Viper and alerts my iPhone) or install some lights that make it appear you have an alarm

These are great but require install (blue matches lights in car too!)

This is an easier option and you can stick one in a cup holder or under the console

 

Does it have the handshaker anti-theft device? If its a manual, no one is going to steal it.

 

I do two things when I park on the street.

1. Turn the wheels into the curb until the steering wheel locks.

2. I made a black box with a flashing red led; I velcro it under the dash so only the flashing light shows.

Thats all; what else can you do except sleep in the car with a loaded gun . . . . . .

 

Last I heard, the Fit was nowhere near the top of the desireable car theft list.

 

From what I hear about the New Orleans Police, the guy might have been one of them