I've heard of a couple of instances recently where 964 Targa's were targeted for the theft of their targa roofs. The windows were smashed and the roofs removed.
If the annoyance caused wasn't enough, the cost of replacing the roof can be extremely expensive - I'm told the factory list price is £13,000! Even a 2nd hand roof can cost £5,000 and up.
I've been thinking about the best way to deter this type of theft.
Never leaving the handles in the car when it's parked up, and getting some window stickers made up to advertise this, might ward off the opportunistic thief, but not a knowledgeble pro.
There are electronic tagging solutions, but might be of no use if the roof is destined to be packed off to a market like China, say. The same thing would be true of etching the VIN number onto the frame, or writing it on a piece of the frame that's out of site when the roof is on the car.
Inspired by articles about the increasing reversion to the good old-fashioned anti-theft solutions like steering wheel locks - http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/95031/steering-wheel-locks-2016-group-test - I've been wondering about locking the roof frame to another part of the car. The steering wheel is my initial thought - it would be easier to loop some thick chain through it and is relatively close to the roof. There are even some small holes in the frame which might help with attaching somethink like some chain to the frame. This also has the advantage of not requiring any further advertising to act as a deterrent and works as well when in the rest of Europe as it does in the UK.
Has anyone been down this road already and have some advice on how to secure the roof in the way I'm thinking of, or even an alternative solution to preventing the nightmare of your targa roof being stolen?
Thanks
If the annoyance caused wasn't enough, the cost of replacing the roof can be extremely expensive - I'm told the factory list price is £13,000! Even a 2nd hand roof can cost £5,000 and up.
I've been thinking about the best way to deter this type of theft.
Never leaving the handles in the car when it's parked up, and getting some window stickers made up to advertise this, might ward off the opportunistic thief, but not a knowledgeble pro.
There are electronic tagging solutions, but might be of no use if the roof is destined to be packed off to a market like China, say. The same thing would be true of etching the VIN number onto the frame, or writing it on a piece of the frame that's out of site when the roof is on the car.
Inspired by articles about the increasing reversion to the good old-fashioned anti-theft solutions like steering wheel locks - http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/95031/steering-wheel-locks-2016-group-test - I've been wondering about locking the roof frame to another part of the car. The steering wheel is my initial thought - it would be easier to loop some thick chain through it and is relatively close to the roof. There are even some small holes in the frame which might help with attaching somethink like some chain to the frame. This also has the advantage of not requiring any further advertising to act as a deterrent and works as well when in the rest of Europe as it does in the UK.
Has anyone been down this road already and have some advice on how to secure the roof in the way I'm thinking of, or even an alternative solution to preventing the nightmare of your targa roof being stolen?
Thanks
