Auto Crime
Prevention
- The
single most important factor in deterring auto crimes is being
selective in where you park your car. Park in well lighted and
well populated areas.
- Lock
your car. It may seem obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many
people forget.
-
Traffic flow is important. You want to park your car in the areas
with high vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
- Car
alarms, can be useful, but are often ignored.
- Have
a kill switch installed and use a club-type device to protect your
car, in addition to your alarm.
-
Steering column sleeves are helpful in preventing car theft where
cracking the column is necessary.
-
Tinted windows provide extra coverage for thieves who break into
cars to steal radios, air bags, or the car itself. Avoid heavily
tinted windows.
- Keep
you car free of ALL items. Clothes, jackets, bags, boxes, sporting
equipment and other items frequently left in cars, attract a
thief's attention.
-
Thieves will break into a car to look into boxes or bags, in order
to see if they contain anything of value. Even if it contains
nothing, you may be left with a broken window or door lock.
- Have
your vehicle identification number etched in your car's glass.
This deters theft. Re-tagging a stolen vehicle is too expensive if
all the windows need to be replaced.
- Any
one of the above methods is no guarantee that your car will never
be stolen or broken into. However, using as many of these devices
as possible, makes a "car shopper" more likely to pass up your
vehicle.