first time buying a honda last week. this morning i noticed 2 bolts on the ground near the rear of my car, i didn't think that much of it till i realized it was off my license plate holder. i told my coworker about it and he brought up that someone might have wanted to switch the plates and take my car for a ride. is there anything i could remove from my motor to make sure it won't start unless installed. something quick and easy? i had a friend with a del sol that had an h22 and he would remove some kind of plug to make sure it wouldn't be stolen. please help, this car was my first major purchase, i just financed it to help build my credit, i definitely don't need it stolen.

 

I think its more of a possibility they were after your tags/ plates more than your car

Edit* oh sorry , its called a kill switch and theres plenty of diy guides you just need to search, I havent seen a thread with anyone putting it in our gen cars, usually its morr of a neccessity for the older gens.

 

Out gen has an immobilizer. It won't start without the correctly coded key. Don't break or lose the key(s) you have 'cause it's about $100 to replace. I have heard of people disabling the immobilizer with a factory scan tool and starting it with a universal key (or a screwdriver) but, our gens aren't that popular. Chances are that they just want parts.

 

Yeah the 90's civics are the popular ones to rip off. People want aftermarket parts for them like crazy, so there good to steal and sell parts for. If your really THAT worried you can always disconnect the battery, or pull something that would start the car off and then just reconnect it when you want to drive it. If it's someone in a hurry they might panic and leave when it does not start after they did whatever they tried.

People steal plates to use them when they commit crimes, or have a unregistered vehicle etc.

 

There are ways to steal these cars, but it requires more work than it's worth, really. To put it plainly, most people won't even bother trying to steal a 7th gen Civic. (although it has happened)


Like z4nd suggested, they might have just been after your plates rather than the car.

It's like this: Let's say the car I'm driving is stolen, but it matches your car's year, model and color. Swap the plates, continue to drive stolen car to safe location for dismantling. The only way an officer would know the plates were stolen is 1.) They pulled me over and ran the VIN, or 2.) You called the police to report your plates stolen. That is, if you noticed that your plates had been changed. That could take hours, or even days, which is plenty of time to escape.


In other words, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it's of major concern to you, invest in an alarm system.

 

thanks guys, makes sense about the license plate thing. they must have not taken my plates because i'm still rolling around with the 2010 tags waiting for the new ones to come in.

 

take a box cutter to them when you get the new ones, highly doubtful that they will try to steal them when you cut it into 30 pieces

 

ya cut up the tags and it'll be less likely for them to steal it. Unless they wanted your whole license plate then it's pretty much likely they take it anyway. Our cars are pretty safe, just try to keep things on the DL i guess.

 

i see one more individual coming here asking for the radio code...
or maybe an idle problem...