Skeeter

Damn there are some serious dirtbags no matter where you live it seems. I live in a VERY isolated area up in the hills above the Berkeley campus. One road leads up, very narrow, twisty, and dead-ends at the top. Nice views, and that brings people up on hikes, dog walking, etc. But it also seems to bring a bad element. I have maybe five or ten cars a day drive past my house. No garage, so I cover the E55 with a nice cover I bought three or so years back.

Some punk stole it Monday night. I heard a thump but by the time I scrambled out of bed, grabbed my spotlight and suitable personal defense accessory, there was nobody around. But the car cover was gone.

NFW I'm going to pass a cable under the car to lock the damn thing on every night; hard enough to motivate to cover it at all. Someone needs to make a cover with a flap that effectively 'locks' it to your trunk (flap inserts into trunk and flares out, made of tough nylon or kevlar).

But that aside, any recs for a good, reasonably priced outdoor cover? I'm under trees (no sap though) and without a cover the car is a mess after two days.

Thanks in advance, sorry for the rant. My home-built 8 camera recording/surveillance system goes up soon. Two cameras with 100' of night range, optimized for license plate acquisition will be up on the street. Computer built, half the cameras bought. Just need to get off my *** and do the install.

Looks like they tried to twist off my hood ornament, but couldn't get it off. No other damage to the car, so thank god for that.
Skeeter

Rock

Wow.......... 50 views and not a single word of commiseration or empathy regarding this upsetting incidence of thievery.

Not worth getting too upset. Spend $35 at Wal-mart and get a new one. If your really want to screw with those punks the next time, glue it to your car.

Fr33kn63

yeah that sucks...gotta remmeber to use the locking cable. I had a nice cover for my P-car and always made sure to lock it. Somoene tried to steal it once but couldnt get it off cause of my lock.
Sorry to hear...GL with your security. Show us some pics when done

jrcart

I think a good custom cover is a few more bucks than $35...and I'm pretty sure they don't sell E55 covers at Wal-Mart.

People will steal ANYTHING, people are mean azzholes, I'm glad to hear they did not do any major damage to the car.

My advice, put in some motion sensing exterior lights, thieves hate light. I have motion sensing light all around my exterior, even the fancy fixtures affixed to the house are motion sensors. I have watched that show on A&E or Discovery where the hire the real life criminal to break into your house or business to see how secure it is and every one of them say motion sensing lights are a HUGE deterant, even more so than an alarm system in some cases.

Rock

Classic Accessories PolyPro III Deluxe Car Cover, Grey
$29.98 - $38.88

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Agreed. People will steal anything, so my advice was to buy a cheap cover to keep the dirt off. If it gets stolen, at least there is no big expense involved. The glue recommendation was optional.

sick430

wow bro sorry to hear about the cover. i am going to start locking my covering.

CWW

I always would go with the OEM mercedes one. Yes, it's a rip-off, but it's also built way better than the wal-mart type ones, and will last 10 times longer. The fit is also excellent.

They come with a strap that goes under the car for locking them, too.

sack5000

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Have you ever considered building a garage? Prolly not that expensive and a great hideout for your beast. Still use the car cover to keep dust off it.

MARK CUMMINS

I have several covers That I Use and when I need a Outside cover I Use One WITH The License Plate Info SPRAY PAINTED on the front/rear /sides

Its so Ugly no one will steal it

Thericker

This is the ULTIMATE SOLUTION (Just need someone to replicate/Market/sell some of these covers) I'd pay $500+ for (1)
http://www.bofunk.com/video/2352/car_disguise.html

Side note: It is pure sacrilege to be disguising that POS KIA in the video, I think they should make an option for the KIA brand car to be the actual FAKE Disguised car cover, hiding my Mercedes

Rock

That reminds me about some information I recently ran across regarding Vodka. Hopefully, we have some Vodka lovers in this thread.

"The Best Vodka", as well as other unrelated marketed items, is sometimes all about the name and not really about the product.

The Emperor's New Vodka or ...

a Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted.

La Revue du Vin de France, the leading wine and spirits publication in France, recently sampled 25 of the world's leading Vodka brands and Sobieski dominated the tasting,
scoring the highest of all the Vodkas sampled
(16.5 points out of 20 - an exceptional score!).
Here are just a few brands Sobieski beat-

Sobieski - 16.5 points

Grey Goose - 15 points

Belvedere - 14 points

Stolichnaya - 13 points

Ciroc - 12.5 points

Smirnoff - 11 points


Absolut - 8 points
I am convinced the two greatest scams of the last decade are boutique bottled waters and luxury Vodka, with Vodka essentially being the spirit world's version of water, where its chief attributes are a neutral character and the ability to mix easily with other ingredients and fade into the background. In fact, the last thing you want a Vodka to do is have any distinct flavors. It's fine if there is a pleasant and faint scent of ethereal flavors, but any obvious notes are considered flaws. So why then are people paying lots of hard-earned cash on what is essentially the simplest of products?






In a word:
MARKETING

Put this odorless, flavorless spirit in a beautiful frosted glass bottle, have it made in France, advertise the heck out of it and charge an incredible price and, before you know it, you have created a sensation. The genius is that the stuff is made EXACTLY like all other Vodkas - at a huge industrial distillery - and is made for EXACTLY the same cost as the “cheap stuff,” only the marketer is slick enough to dress it up and create mystique around his new “Ultra-premium” Vodka. These marketers must have been have read Hans Christian Andersen's “The Emperor's New Clothes” and created their business plan with it in mind.

Now to be sure, most of these “Ultra-premium” are quite good, clean and well made - BUT SO ARE DOZENS OF OTHER VODKAS SELLING FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE! And we recently found what is easily the world's greatest Vodka bargain! Sobieski Vodka is not a new Vodka, in fact it is the leading brand in Poland, but it's recently decided to tackle the Vodka market in the U.S. They know their Vodka is as good as the pretty-boy Vodkas gobbling up consumers' discretionary income and have decided to do something about it. They have been entering Sobieski in many competitions and for review by the leading publications and have been routinely stealing the limelight from all those big name brands.

In fact they recently received a gold medal and 95 points
by the International Review of Spirits.

~ Efrain Madrigal, Wine Director








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95 points, Beverage Tasting Institute/ International Review of Spirits
Regular Price: $10.99
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HAHA BYE

they displayed that same thing when they tricked all those people into eating pizza hut pasta at a fine restaurant in nyc...*******s lol

CWW

I'm definitely a vodka lover. And I agree with you, the whole luxury vodka thing has pretty much come and gone now. My current fav is actually "Iceberg", which is some cheap-o canadian stuff, but it beats the socks off most high-end choices.

But you have to admit, back in the late 90's the pretenseous (or however u spell it) vodkas really did serve a purpose, by opening an opportunity for some great mid-priced manufacturers to come to market. Back then, you could choose between some nasty crap in a 2-gallon plastic jug, or you could go with absolut/smirnoff/etc. When the Belvedere/Grey Goose kick hit, it opened up a whole market that we wouldn't have now otherwise.

But as to car covers, I've tried plenty of them, and the mercedes ones really are better than the generics. I'd be the first one to want to pay 1/2 the price if I could could get the same quality, but I have been unable to find anything that comes close to the fit and length of use I get out of the OEM covers. Sometimes cheaper is just as good, and sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

siswati

Skeeter, before you lock your car cover, I would suggest that you dont. Buy a cheap cover and cosnider it disposable. If someone is set on taking your expensive car cover, and you foil them with a lock, there are times when frustration will **** the thief off so much that he might take a kick at a door panel or worse.

I lived in South Africa unitl 1993, had relatively nice cars and parked them outside. Audio systems were easy pickings for thieves, so they would smash the windows, jimmy the doors, or even cut out the window rubber and remove the windows. I had several cars expensively damaged over the years by a-holes stealing $100 tape decks. So after the fourth break in, I started to leave my car doors all unlocked, but with the alarm on and with motion activated lights around the house. I woke up several times to the alarm and the car doors open, but no damage.

Would suggest that its not worth pissing off a thief for a $29 car cover - just my $0.02

rahulanand1130

you should just put the car cover over a bear, so next time if they try taking it it doesnt end so well.

bigben320e

Sorry for the loss! It's just a car cover though, glad nothing else was damaged.

People will steal anything, anywhere, anytime. There a lot of thieving idiots all over.

starbrite

That's the truth. My wife and I were at a Buffet lasst week and after we sat down and ordereed the beverages, we went up to the food tables. When we got back to the table someone had taken my silverware and napkin !

Tymah123

For those of you who like vodka try this one Khortitsya. I was a big Goose fan until I realized that it gives me a bad hangover. So 3 years ago I went to Ukraine and this vodka was the latest craze there. We were drinking it for a week straight and when I came back home I had to wait 6 months before they started importing it into the US. I now buy it in cases and put all my friends up on it, they love it!! And for $15 per 0.75 it's a damn good price too. Just make sure you guys get the "Platinum" variety, not Gold or Silver, those suck. They sell a case to me of 12 bottles for $14/bottle, bought a fresh one last week. Here's how it looks: http://www.khortytsa.com/2/en/growth...ining-200.html

In Ukraine the bottle of Khortisya Platinum was like $2.50! No wonder people from all walks of life there drink non-stop!!

PS. Sorry about your cover being ripped off, people suck.

Skeeter

OK, off to the stealership to buy a factory cover. Damn would it be cool to cover a bear with it, hilarious though rahulanand1130... Or a dozens angry badgers. Those things are mean. OR a horde of angry hornets, pissed as hell and waiting to unleash on whoever pulls the cover. Might be some SLIGHT legal / logistical problems, but it's nice to dream.

Someone should make an 'alarm' car cover. Someone tries to take it off before you 'disarm' it, it makes noise. Yes, more noise is a bad thing, but it would scarcely false as it would have to be moved substantially off the car before sounding. An impedance kinda thing. Hard to believe that 1) nobody sells this type of cover, or 2) nobody sells a cover that pre-stencils your license plate over every square inch of the cover. On BOTH sides.

I'll set up video monitoring and see what little punk fishes I catch. One night vision cam at the cars, one night vision cam recording every license plate that drives by. Since my road is a loop with no second outlet, I should try to talk someone at the bottom of the hill to let me install a license plate camera down at the bottom, where they all come up. A crime occurs, bingo, cars all captured on hard drive.

I live in a scary dark and isolated area. No way you'd get up here on foot to steal sh*t. Of course, Berkeley/Oakland PD are useless, regardless of evidence... Had a residential burglary a year back, did the ENTIRE investigation myself (they tried to use checks to pay a $8k utility bill, an obvious grow operation, etc.). I was a District Attorney for years and put together a better police report than the 99% of the reports I had to piece through, and the police did NOTHING. Didn't follow up on a single lead, issue a single subpoena, nothing. Sickening to have to mail off a freaking $15k property tax check with no kids in school, no street sweeping in my area, and not even a vague attempt at law enforcement, fire, or any community service in my area. Drives me crazy...

Alright, guys, enough of the angry home owner routine, I'll let it go... Thanks for letting me vent you guys are the best. Saves me time on the psychiatrist's couch

Skeeter

DFW01E55

My thoughts as well.

Add Bose speakers to the list of hype vs. substance.

E55BKS

I would take a stencil and paint "This car cover was stolen from ..........." on each side of the cover, if they steal it they can't use it unless the paint over what you have written and then it's easy to spot, I bet the guy who has it lives within five miles of your house. Just my .02