Burglar alarms

[ILoveAFullFridge]

Is there any point having an unmonitored burglar alarm?

[Giraffeski]

It's a deterrent surely, as a potential burglar wouldn't know if it was unmonitored?

[ILoveAFullFridge]

That's what I said. Dh's POV was that the running cost of owning an alarm is about 10 x more than the discount offered by insurance for having one.

Discussion triggered by Which magazine pointing out that insurers don't reduce or only minimally reduce premiums if you have an unmonitored burglar alarm.

I wonder how the service cost v insurance premium works out for a monitored alarm.

[Rockdoctor]

We were told (by the PCSO) that many burglars will take their chance if they see the alarm box on the house - but once they get into the house, they will soon know if the alarm is monitored or not (the company will call the home phone first if the alarm is activated), and they will grab what they can and exit pretty quickly.

Not sure that you get a huge reduction in premium even with a monitored alarm - maybe 10%? And if you forget to set the alarm then your insurance would be void anyway...

[ILoveAFullFridge]

Is there any point in having a burglar alarm at all, then?

[Rockdoctor]

We're constantly asking ourselves if it's worth it. Monitored alarms are expensive - we could afford ours when we moved in but circumstances have changed and it's a real drain now. With good neighbours, I would be tempted by an unmonitored alarm - ours has only gone off 3 times in the last 5 years (all false alarms). Having an alarm didn't help when some bastard broke into our shed and nicked all our bikes!

[LaCerbiatta]

But wouldn't an unmonitored alarm deter a burglar? Just because of the noise?

[timeforahaircut]

there is a middle ground - we have a newly installed unmonitored alarm and it can be set to phone any number we want if it's triggered. I plan to set it to call my mobile but if calling the home phone first makes burglars think it's a monitored alarm I might do that instead.

[arseholeamio]

Time - what make is that alarm?

[wonkylegs]

Our alarm would get neighbours calling the police (I know because it is being reinstalled right now and the neighbours came round when it triggered when they were disconnecting the old one.)
On our current insurance it's a requirement. No discount but no insurance without it. It doesn't have to be monitored though and ours isn't (except by the neighbours )
We've also got a separate alarm for the detached garage. Which would alert us if that was broken into.

[PigletJohn]

any alarm is better than none.

If your house has an alarm and next door doesn't, there is a good chance they will go next door.

Some people say it is useful to have an extra siren inside the house, but out of reach (e.g. on the landing ceiling) as they are very loud and stressful for anyone inside.

If the control panel of a DIY alarm is near the front door or within reach, it is possible an intruder may attack it before it has time to phone your three numbers. Out of sight in a wardrobe in your bedroom is good, you can probably get an extra keypad near the front door. Attacking the keypad will not stop the alarm working.

[phil007]

Hi
I run a burglar alarm company in South East London, I won't say the name of it or they won't publish this because they will say i'm advertising.
I've read a lot of questions on here about alarm systems and a friend suggested I answer a few of them so here gos.
In London for an average 2 up 2 down expect to pay around £700 and for this you should get a few motions sensors, a few door contacts a bellbox for the front of the house a dummy alarm for the back and a control panel with built-in siren and auto-dialer all wireless and installed in a few hours. Do not use company's that give you a really great system for £99 because they get all their money from the monthly contract you have to sign and after about 5 years this can cost up to £1,500, all a monitored alarm does is alert the alarm receiving center which is probably in Birmingham or Ireland and then they ring you and say your alarm is activating, it's best to have an auto-dialer which can call you or a few other people and say the same thing, DIY alarms will not work for long and the only thing the insurance companies all agree on is that you don't have to have an alarm but if you do then it must work otherwise it invalidates your insurance.
So if you do want an alarm installed just go on google and put in burglar alarm and your post code it will then give you a list of all your local installers, hope this has been of some help.
Phil