You know, a friend of mine recently bought a car anti-theft device. Actually, when I say "device," I'm giving him too much credit, because all he really bought were a couple of stickers that said, "Warning! This car protected by a Radio Shack alarm system!" No actual alarm system, just the stickers.
Now, I find this a little unusual. Not because he bought just the stickers -- that kinda makes sense. But Radio Shack? I mean, if you're gonna bluff and give yourself an imaginary alarm system, why not make it one that will actually deter thieves? Okay, so I might be a little prejudiced against Radio Shack, since it's more difficult buying batteries there than it is getting a bank loan ("Okay, could you fill out this form... and this one... and I'll need two references... and the name of a former employer..."), but I never really equated Radio Shack with high quality.
The only deterrent a Radio Shack alarm system would provide is the off-chance that instead of malfunctioning and letting you steal the car, it'll malfunction and blow the whole darn thing up. Heck, you're better off putting on stickers that say, "Warning! This car contains a Radio Shack stereo! Go steal something that works." Protecting your car with a Radio Shack alarm is the same in my book as protecting your house with a sign that says, "Beware of one of them little yapping furball dogs without any teeth!"
Which, incidentally, I have. At my parents house (which I still consider home, because I would feel way too old if I started calling it "The place where I grew up" or anything), we have a Yorkshire Terrier. A Yorkshire Terrier, for those of you who don't know, is only slightly larger than your average hamster, which, by the way, I also had, but that's another story. Let's just say that it lived three months and spent most of its time on this earth biting me and my friends (And drawing blood in the process). But anyway, I was talking about my Yorkshire Terrier which was normally not much of a threat to potential burglars unless that burglar happens to be a field mouse.
However, a few years back, she lost most of her front teeth, leaving her even less of a threat than before. Heck, even the field mice weren't afraid of our house anymore. In fact, several of them tried to cart away our TV. They would have gotten away with it, too, except for the fact that our TV, being many times larger and heavier than your average field mouse, smooshed them.
But I can see that I've gotten off the subject here. I was talking about auto theft, which is of major importance to me, seeing as how I own a car and live in a city and every once in a while, when I actually find parking, I have to leave it alone. Granted, this hasn't happened yet, since I've never actually found parking [my mailing address is "The grey Pontiac that's circling around for a parking space"], but in theory it's something I need to worry about.
Some of my friends have the Club. And on the surface, the Club might seem like a good anti-theft device. But when you think about it, it really doesn't prevent anybody from stealing your car. It just prevents them from turning very far. So if you happen to live on a really straight road, this could be a problem. On the other hand, I suppose catching the thief would be much easier ("Which way did he go?" "Uhh.... straight, I guess.")
Actually, the anti-theft device I use is very effective: When I park, I simply park next to a car that is much nicer than mine (Yeah, I know I said I never found parking, but that was exaggeration for the purpose of humor, you damned literalist). Then again, I suppose a thief wouldn't want to steal my car, because it has Massachusetts plates and they would have to get it registered in California. I looked into the price of this. Do you know how much it would cost to get my car registered altogether? $4029. Yes, you heard me right, that's not a typo... oh, wait... that is a typo. I meant to say $429. But that's still a hell of a lot of money. It turns out $300 of that is the "smog impact fee," which essentially means that I'm paying in advance for all the pollution my car is going to bring into California. $300 for smog pollution? Heck, for that amount of money, I'm just gonna cram my tailpipe full of Marlboroughs. I mean if I'm gonna pay for that much pollution, I might as well get my money's worth.