Ben,

When you have the alarm installed, they will put a switch in the
slider and also on the back hatch. Depending on how much money you
want to spend, there are "perimeter" type alarms that will "chirp"
when someone gets within a few feet of the car to warn them not to
come closer. It might save you a window or two since a lot of break-
ins are smash and grab events. I de-installed my alarm after five
years of not living in SF just about two weekends ago. What a
spaghetti-fest of wires. Took me a half hour to get the siren out
from under the bumper they had hidden it so well. My solution was to
move out of the city so I wouldn't have to be thinking about
protecting everything I own 24/7. I realize that that's not possible
for everyone, but it sure changed my stress level.

My wife, when she was single, had her 1986 SAAB broken into 11 times
in 2 years out in front of her apartment in SF. We figured that most
of the time it was the same weasels coming back for something they
forgot and every time it happened she got a new and better stereo---
and---her insurance never went up!
On Aug 4, 2005, at 3:58 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 2005 15:58:24 -0700
> From:    Ben S <phlogiston420@GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: pin switch for sliding door
>
> per my other post of this morning (regarding my poor van being broken
> into twice in a week) i am looking to install an alarm.  do any vans
> come with a pin switch to detect the sliding door opening?  how about
> the rear door?  is there any place to order these from?
>
> thanks.
>
> Ben.
>