Heard of LoJack, the vehicle theft-recovery system? We got that today, for the new buggy.

It's a nice concept. If your car is stolen, you call the police and they activate the LoJack unit, which transmits a signal to tell them where your car is. Then they go get it. I imagine the device uses GPS, but it's apparently pretty small. When the LoJack people install it, as they came to the house to do today, they don't tell you where they put it. I suppose this tempers the desire to tamper with it, or just makes it so you cannot be forced to tell someone else where it is.

LoJack costs a few hundred bucks (one-time fee, no ongoing charges), but our insurance company offers 15% discount with it installed, so it will pay for itself in about three years. Plus, we own a little stock in the company, which has more than doubled in value in the last few years.

Further, of course, is the hasse it would save with buying a new car and dealing with insurance if ours was stolen and not recovered. The Honda dealers hip gave us a slight price break and better-than-usual parts replacement guarantee to go with it. Seems like a good deal overall, but of course we hope we never have to use it.