If you choose 2, how do you plan to get to work to pay your insurance premiums, which are going to skyrocket after your claim? It cannot be assumed you live in an area with good public transit, or that your job is accessible by that method.
That doesn’t really happen.
article on insurance increases
Rates increase much less after a comprehensive claim than an accident claim. Like 3% instead of 30%.
In Ontario a theft claim would fall under the comprehensive coverage and not cause an increase in premium. The chances of theft for any particular vehicle is baked into the annual premium of the car to begin with.
And, my insurance coverage would give me a rental car in the meantime.
In any case, I personally will not tolerate being victimized because of a criminal’s circumstances, especially when many of those circumstances could have been avoided had they not become criminals in the first place.
To actually be told to make myself an easy victim in the hope that I will not be even further victimized is beyond the pale as far as I’m concerned. I’m astounded that law enforcement would make such a statement and, as far as I’m concerned, that statement is an admission that they cannot do their job. The only recourse is for citizens to do it for them.
Friend who grew up near a prison claims that everyone in his town left keys in ignition and cars unlocked. Theory was that if someone escaped and came looking for a car, better they just get it than come in the house. No idea whether true or not but it’s a nice bit of (maybe) logic!
How is it you know the guy is there for the car?
In the UK, where the law on attacking a home invader is similar to the Canadian law, there are three main scenarios for car theft:
-
Cars with hands-free entry are vulnerable to a signal booster if the keys are within range. Once in the car, the thieves use the OBD port to override the security and drive off.
-
Thieves break into a house while the owners are absent, find the keys, load their valuables into the homeowner’s car and drive off with it.
-
The thief intercepts and spoofs the signal from the key when you lock the car in a public place.
Home invasions are pretty rare here, even though the risk of being shot is minimal.
I don’t, maybe he’s in my house to make an MLT, you know, Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato, when the mutton is nice and lean…
Back to the topic, you don’t know what he’s there for, does that suddenly make a gunfight the better choice? The suggestion was to arrange your key storage so that this increasingly popular crime does not end in violence. We had posters disagree, and say that the right answer is to get in a gunfight with the thief so that you can kill them in your foyer.
While that may sound like righteous justice, the thief was taking a thing, not a life. We have altogether too many people willing to trade lives for things.
If that’s how someone chooses to protect themselves, that’s fine. It’s not what I’d do, but people are free to make their own decisions. For me, the idea that I should make it easier on someone to steal from me after they’ve invaded my home is ridiculous. I don’t fantasize about hurting people, I get enough of that playing Dungeons & Dragons, and I certainly don’t want to be hurt, but I am willing to fight someone if they invade my home. Are we so adverse to conflict that it’s preferable to cower in our own homes in the hopes that someone won’t hurt us?
Willingness is different than eagerness. Let’s say you have a home alarm system to protect you in case of a break in while you’re asleep. Is it setup to quietly wake you so you can arm yourself and take down the robber, or is it setup to start blaring and chase the guy away?
I’ll take the second way, because I don’t want to meet this person, they’re already a criminal, they don’t want to get caught, and I’m not interested in getting in the way if they’re leaving. I could knock the guy out with one punch and be out WAY more money from a broken hand than I would have lost by just handing him the key instead.
And how do you know he is there to take a thing? A home invasion can easily become a rape and murder.
I also prefer the second option. But for me this isn’t about money. I’d rather spend $1,000 on an emergency room visit to treat a broken hand than sit idle, allowing someone to violate my home.
I agree with your alarm choice, but the idea of handing over your key is unrealistic. You have no idea what they want when they come into your house. You may give up your key and they still want your daughter.
Your choices consist of fighting, running, or being a victim. The latter places your fate in the hands of criminals.
The best security in Canada: Get a dog, Thieves hate houses with dogs.
If he broke in with plans for murder or rape or torture, I’m going to be happy if he sees the keys and changes his mind and decides to steal my car instead.
You’re not going to know for sure until he tries to murder, rape, or torture someone though. Hell, maybe he was just there for the car but decides that since he went through the trouble of breaking in he might as well get a piece of ass too.
If I took this seriously, I might sell my car and buy an older used one that was less worth stealing than my neighbors’ cars.
From “The Night the Bed Fell” (a chapter in My Life and Hard Times) by James Thurber.
Then there was Aunt Sarah Shoaf, who never went to bed at night without the fear that a burglar was going to get in and blow chloroform under her door through a tube. To avert this calamity—for she was in greater dread of anesthetics than of losing her household goods—she always piled her money, silverware, and other valuables in a neat stack just outside her bedroom, with a note reading: “This is all I have. Please take it and do not use your chloroform, as this is all I have.”
I don’t know. I also don’t know if he’s armed, if he’s especially violent, or if he brought a friend along. 10 times out of 10 I’d rather he leave before I find out any of those things.
It’s like if you had a dangerous wild animal in your house, if the door is open, give it a chance to GTFO on its own. You don’t actually need to grab a weapon and run down the stairs to kill it or chase it away, you’re just putting yourself in more danger.
Canada sounds seriously messed up if you can’t defend yourself by whatever means inside your home.