Where I live no one would bother looking out of their window to see why a car alarm is going off. If it continued for a long time they might call the police and complain. If they knew you they might give you a call but by then you should be on your phone to the police.

Sounds good to me. If I was a burglar I would not want to mess with a house that has an alarm of any kind going off. We have outdoor motion censor lights in areas that might provide cover at night, have heard that is a deterrent as well.

I would use that except for I don't have a car alarm on my old car. DH has one so I will keep his keys beside me. Nothing wakes him up.

I've always thought that a great deterrent would be a wonderful spray of water. It works for animals anyway. Maybe it would work for the human kind of animal. A motion sensored watering system might work. I wonder if the water could have blue dye in it or yellow dye :-).

My car is parked too far away to trigger the alarm from inside the house. Also nieghbors too far away to be overly concerned even if it did go off. If they don't complain about my landlady's exceedingly yappy dog - who wakes me up frequently - they won't bother with the alarm either.

And we do have motion detecting liights around the house in 4 places.

Sorry, that's not such a good idea. Imagine a neighborhood where car alarms go off repeatedly night after night because residents are doing this because they've "heard something". No thanks.

Use outside lights - those with LED bulbs use little electricity. Motion detecting switches are good in some places, not in others - when it's windy or stormy, they'll be on and off all night. Get a dog. Sleep well. If you haven't had problems personally or in your neighborhood, there's no reason for alarm (pun intended).

When I bought this car, about 4 1/2 mos. ago, the owner showed me the features offered on the fob.

Apart from locking and unlocking, the only thing offered on mine is to unlock the door and start the motor. I used it once after purchase and don't remember about the lights - but it didn't get horn y!

ETA: Tried it today at the library: started the motor but didn't unlock; had to do that by fob or key. Small lights but no horn. _____

My phone is near the bed ... the keys/fob is on a dresser nearby. ,And I think I can pretty well assure/guarantee you that they'll be staying there.

ole joyfuellrd ... whose car is fairly easy on gas (more so than its owner?). Oh, right - we're talking "consunption", here: not "production".

At least the alarm going off will send an intruder away, they don't want anything drawing attention. They don't know whether your neighbors, or you, will come to check! Motion detector lights, inside and out, are good, too.

Around here, the biggest issue is people leaving their cars unlocked, in the driveway, with wallet, purse, or computer, even keys or fob, in the car. And the garage door opener, of course. That's trouble.

Sounds like a great idea and I especially like the idea of someone that's outside, carrying the keys in case they fall so the person inside the house can come and check on them.

The basic premise is to spook the Bad Guy so he will run away. The car alarm goes off and along with it, every dog within a two mile radius will start singing along. Good idea, I think.

"the biggest issue is people leaving their cars unlocked, in the driveway, with wallet, purse, or computer, even keys or fob, in the car."

Aren't these dumb practices the problem? If this is you or a neighbor, with a bit more common sense, the car alarm needn't be sounded in the middle of the night.

I have more cars than garage spaces so one stays outside. You're welcome to come along and get into it, I leave it unlocked. There's nothing in it. Duh.

The key fob for my car has always been somewhat finicky. Using it to help find the car in a parking lot almost never works, since it range is typically short enough that you can easily see the car before it will beep. And although it does have a "panic mode" I've never been able to intentionally trigger it, but I frequently trigger it accidentally by crouching down or climbing a ladder with my keys in my pocket. And then although it will trigger from a larger distance, it seems I have to go closer to the car for it to "hear" the cancel signal.

When I was working, we had a problem with ravens seeing and attacking their reflections in car windows and mirrors. They particularly liked the pickup i was driving at the time. I could see the truck in the parking lot from my office window and when they attacked the truck used the key fob to set off the alarm. It did a fine job of scaring the birds away, and after a few repeats, they learned to leave the truck alone, but not before they managed to pull the gasket out of the rear sliding window.

I have ADT security for my home. Come through my doors or windows at night and you'll get blasted with a piercing alarm. That's much more reassuring to me than my car alarm. I'm a pretty sound sleeper. Unless someone tried to kick in the door or break a window, waking up enough and fumbling around trying to press a button on my key fob isn't fast enough. A shrill piercing alarm would scare off someone before they can enter. Plus wake up the neighbors.

It's an idea worth considering. Won't necessarily work for everyone, everywhere, but it might be helpful for some.

edited to add: around here, I'd look out the window if my or my immediate neighbor's alarm went off. But there's a car a few houses up the street that 'goes off' periodically, at least during the day. Not sure if I'd hear it at night.

yeonassky - Our dog LOVES water - he thinks it is great fun to be sprayed. He gets upset when he sees people watering their lawns in the summer and he isn't sprayed. He is "different"!

I think it's a good plan. Might not work as intended but even having a weapon or mace may not work to save a life.

People are burglarized everywhere, people get hurt or worse..we do what we can to save ourselves and our loved ones. Sure doesn't take much effort to leave the keys within reach... good simple plan...just in case.

Elmer -- Wouldn't you have to spend time reporting your (unlocked) car stolen? What would your insurance agent say about that? Wouldn't police have to spend time looking for it? Do you leave it unlocked because you think it would not be damaged by a thief?

bpath -- We must both live in Chicago suburbs. I know that people in mine think we live under a golden dome of protection. There's no need to lock cars left outside overnight, or to remove valuables -- or garage door openers or house keys -- from them. Why lock your house or tell the cleaners not to hang your order on the front door knocker when YOU ARE NOT HOME?

There's little or no car break in or burglary activity in my area. It's an extra car and I have insurance (doesn't everyone?) so I have no concern about it. I understand others live in neighborhoods that are less safe but all the same, I wouldn't be happy hearing car alarms going off on my street on a regular basis and I can't imagine anyone else would either.

Thanks for posting that tip, it’s a good idea. Our neighbors probably wouldn’t call as well, but it makes sense that it could very easily scare the bejeepers out of the burglar!

It is probably different depending on your own insurance company but my old agent asked me once when our car was broken into if it was locked which I always did. After I replied that it had been he told me if it was not locked the insurance company would not pay any claims.

I haven't heard that before. In my case, there's nothing but the car itself to take since there's nothing inside.

I'll check with my agent and report back, it might be something important to be alert to.

I have heard the same thing about having the car locked for insurance purposes, which mine is always locked at night ,inside or out.

Elmer, I live in a neighborhood where house robberies are VERY rare. In fact, we had lived here 25 years without one, and even today, it's been 3 years since the last one.

But break-ins to cars left in driveways are constant. Some are locked, most are unlocked. Some people think the neighborhood is so safe they leave their keys in the car and then are surprised it's gone the next morning.

I rarely hear a car alarm go off, but I do have very good Marvin windows so it's kind of like "life on mute" in my house. But an unliked car is an invitation to find something in it worth stealing.

My car is German and is almost impossible to steal. it has alot of electronic things that keep it from being hotwired or put on a trailer, and any sort of bumping or moving it will set an alarm off.

Keeping my fob beside my bed is no good because the driveway is so far a way from the bedroom. I do lock the car though.

we have a house alarm too, and we always keep it set even if we are at home because there has been a number of breakins recently in our area.

I don't think that any of our vehicles have a remote set alarm but we do have an Australian Shepherd with super natural hearing and is hyper alert... He's all I need to let me know when something is amiss.

If you have proximity keys with radio frequency to your vehicles that will enables keyless entry just remember that thieves have the same ability you do. Car keys left out without RFDI protection make it easy for the thieves. If the keys are a distance from the vehicle a 50 dollar power amplifier which allows the the thieves to access that key fob at your bedside to unlock your vehicle.