car security

worried123

Hi,  Could anybody recommend anything to catch the person/people who are continually keying my car parked in the road outside of my house please.  This problem has been going on intermittently for about 5 years.  It is mostly right along the pavement side (we all park half on pavement and half on road here).  The last incident was so bad that that I have had to make an insurance claim and the quote for repair is almost £3,000 for accumulated damage.
Nobody else in the road is being affected....It seems that I am being targeted and I have got to catch whoever is doing this.  I assume that it is being done after dark - the key marks are there when i go to my car at the start of the day.
I do not have cctv - it would be difficult to have it positioned to capture my car as i have a hedge right along the front....my front door is at the side of my house, not facing the road where it is parked.  I am sometimes not able to park directly outside my house as well......I am also a bungalow so something couldnt be put too high up.
I asked in halfords today if they had anything - a dash cam perhaps that would run 24/7 and he said here was something that cost £700 and i didnt peruse it.....Obviously i do not want this to happen  again once my car is repaired etc but feel that it will....
Has anybody had a similar situation and found something them in the act - it would probably be dark although it is fairly well lit with street lamps outside
Many thanks

[Deleted User]

A camera that works 24 hours a day is going to be expensive. It's it within sight of your house? Home CCTV is much cheaper.

Herzlos

Something like a Blink Outdoors could be attached to something away from the house (it's wireless so would need to be within wifi range). It would record video and notify you when any motion is detected, so you may be able to catch them in the act.

Sadly I think unless you catch said neighbour damaging the car, you're not going to manage to get anything done.

A dash camera with a parking mode may do a similar thing, but if the damage is happening to the side it might not catch anything.

Can you park it somewhere better lit?

worried123

Thank you both.....To be honest, I dont have much of a clue about these things but was thinking that perhaps cctv on a pole in my front garden that was twistable to aim at the car wherever it was parked outside?  
(there is nowhere near me that has any different/better lighting and often i need to carry shopping or work items so dont really want to have to park somewhere else.  I will look at the blink outdoors that you mention....

cymruchris

You could get a real CCTV camera with Pan Tilt Zoom facility at a cost (and have someone install it). A POE PTZ from Hikvision is around £120 off the shelf, a basic POE network video recorder probably about £150 including a small hard drive, a length of network cable, a monitor, and a pole to mount the camera on. With a PTZ camera you could adjust it to wherever you parked your car on a nightly basis. 

Alanp

We have blink cameras, they are very good in low light and can be positioned discreetly as long as they are in WiFi range ( as per herzlos,s post)

Norman_Castle

Not sure of the legalities of filming directly onto the highway (or if I'd care) but could cameras be fitted in the hedge? With home cctv there's normally options for multiple cameras so you might as well use them. Some newer cameras work without ir light so may be smaller or small cameras could be used with a separate ir light.

worried123

Thank you all very much indeed.  I like the idea of the cctv on a pole etc - and hiding it in the hedge too....I am going to ask my brother in law to have a look at what you have sent and see if he can help me (helpless female and also a bit of a technophobe).  
many thanks

mobileron

Look at a wildlife camera £30 plus in amazon, mount it in the hedge,i presume it has a motion detector.

Astrozombies

The wildlife cam with motion sensor is best bet. A dash cam could be pointed out of the side window but they aren't particularly sensitive. I doubt it'd register someone keying your car.
  Someone here recently (I suspect) didn't like the fact I'd parked outside his house and he had to park a distance away and kindly relieved my car of its door mirror.
I checked the dash cam and it shows me walking off after parking it then it fired up again when I opened the door after the mirror had been found and reconnected. Didn't even pick up my mailing trying to get it back on.
Is set on sensitive. 

worried123

Many thanks about the wildlife cam.   I will look into that certainly.  there is a huge bt pole right next to where i park, outside my house, shame i cannot put a camera on that.  Sorry to hear about the wing mirror but I now am convinced that incar cameras are not the way to go with my problem....thanks again

best wishes to everyone.