Does "looks" make your car more of a crime target ?

So far, all the mods I've got are driver-aid or performance related. At the moment -apart from the exhaust- from the outside my car looks 100% stock.

I've often thought:

"A Stillen front bumper & some Stillen/Toyota OEM Skirts would look v.nice."

But what I'm thinking is - does changing the look of the car make it more of a target for car crime ? Or doesn't it really matter ?

Are Supra's a target for car-crime irrespective of Stock looks or bodykits ..

The reason for the question is - I've done abit of searching - and the trend appears to be ... with:

Nice bodykit fitted, decent paint job, nice wheels

The car is more suseptable to vandalism.

Discuss.

a LOT of people get jealous mate, its something you have to deal with.

A decent alarm sometimes helps and gives you piece of mind but the long and short of it is you need to park somewhere secure and sensible.

Kitted up cars are always going to attract attention, both good AND bad.

But standard ones could me more of a target for criminals looking for specific things I guess...

I'm in the same place on this subject.

I'd really love a C/F bonnet, Stillen nose, other bits - but as a daily driver for me I'm really unsure about making the car stand out any more than it does.

Once you start making exterior changes it WILL attract more attention, people gawking at it, peering in the windows etc.

I'm not comfortable with this.

I guess it will make a car stand out more and therefore is more public to those who may want to target it.

But if someones going to do damage I dont think they'll care if its got a kit on or not.

But if someones going to do damage I dont think they'll care if its got a kit on or not.

Yes. Good point. Abit like theft - if a car thief wants your car .. then they'll find some way to take it - no matter what anti-theft devices installed.

Certainly - if the car has a radical nice paint job ... then imo - that's more of a target for it to be keyed.

I guess that's one of the advantages of having a red & "pink" car

Yeah I agree with what's been said so far. It stands out as it is, putting a wild kit on it will make it stand out even more. I should imagine there is a direct correlation with how likely it is to be vandalised in some way.

The only car I have had vandalised was, apart from being lowered and 17" wheels, looked standard, all the mods being performance related. They still made a proper mess of it but not the cars parked in front or behind it which were a lot newer if not better cars

The only subtle aftermarket bumper I can find - is the Stillen. Does anyone have any other suggestions ?

i had a dream this morning - someone had trashed my baby

i had a dream this morning - someone had trashed my baby

loving the new outfit Penguin!

I glanced out the window yesterday on my way out to work and was convinced that someone had dented my bonnet (jumped on during a drunken walk home, I'd surmised in my crazy mind)... then found it was just the way the light had reflected across the ridge bits... phew....

Maybe I should have post this in a thread entitled 'am I insane?'....

yeah the whole darthpenguin thing went on a little too long - i found a website with over 2000 designs (with the same pengiun) so now theres an outfit for every occasion you should see my evening dress

yeah as i was off to work this morning - i took a good look all round her to see if she was ok

the day someone lays a finger on my baby... it's going to be like Straw Dogs in our road... bear traps around her, me throwing boiling chip fat out the window at passers by... it will tip me over the edge!!

makes it more of a target me thinks

As much as I like the attention the car gets when I'm driving I live in fear as soon as I go to sleep and its parked up outside. I've come out of my house to see that someone had pissed up the side of it & dented it.

Really annoy's me that people find the need to do something like that. Whenever someone walks past my window and I always have a look, just to make sure

Price you pay though I suppose.

I dont want to jinx anything but mine has been alright so far, although I have had people kick the Supe as I have driven past and people park sooo close to it its scary!

You do see a lot of envy though!

I have had people kick the Supe as I have driven past

... Kick the feckers back!

My old orange car could never be described as modest or subtle. I parked it outside every night and drove it and parked it thousands of miles and never once had any damage or hassle.

... Kick the feckers back!

there were about 10 of them and they tried running after me after I swerved to run one of them over - what idiot chases after a 3 litre!!!

Ask Muffleman in a few weeks

mate of mine has a pegueot 406 coupe thingy which he loves to bits whilst waiting at some lights three lads walked past and one kicked his car pity they didnt look a bit harder cause hes a going down the gym on the wieghts three times a week kinda lad .he got out and beat the shit out of all three left them all lying on the floor lol i said you should have taken a picture .

Clarkey

i would worry myself shitless about parking the supe on the street at night, i am fortunate enough that mine is garaged every night and has a bad ass 7 stone alsation sleeping about 8 foot away in the house, i think from watching the local kids/idiots reactions if the car has been parked on the road during the day i would'nt say it would make much difference whether the car was stock or not, school kids take pics and ask lots of questions and the idiots (sober at this stage) look at it as well, the supe is just one of them cars that stands out on a street full of bland cars whether its stock or not, i suppose it all depends on the area you live in

I live in an area chock full of tasty motors. Two Bentley (one Conti and one Arnage) an Aston Vanquish, Ferrari something, top of the range Mercs, Beemer, Range Rovers etc etc.

Do you think anyone notices a ten year old Toyota?

I've *TOUCH WOOD!* haven't had any problems where i live, think a lot of the locals look out for it in fact. The scallies all sit on my front wall about a metre away from the supra, if i go outside they ask lots of Qs etc and are generally being ok. They get a bit loud which doesn't bother me, think if i got arsey with them about causin noise then the supra would get it.

I live in an area chock full of tasty motors. Two Bentley (one Conti and one Arnage) an Aston Vanquish, Ferrari something, top of the range Mercs, Beemer, Range Rovers etc etc.

 

Do you think anyone notices a ten year old Toyota?

you posh bugger lol, my streets full of mondeos and rovers (oop norf)

I ain't posh nor rich. Just prefer to live in an area to far from town for students to move into, too expensive for scumbags to move into and quite enough for me to get some sleep. Which I didn't get for about a year.