As sad as this is to say, there are a few people in this world that have no problem with stealing the possessions of others. One of the most prolific theft crimes of them all is the theft of vehicles, whether by an individual or part of an organized crime group. It’s not just high-value cars that target either, it can be any and every car, which probes one key question – what’s the best way to prevent this from happening to you? In this short post, we’d like to share five key tips on how you can reduce the risk of your vehicle being targeted and stolen.
Key Fob in ‘Sleep Mode’
These days, you don’t always need a key to drive a car. This is common knowledge for most, but this doesn’t deter criminals from attempting theft – far from it. However, if your car does use a fob instead of a key, you actually have a bit of an advantage. You can simply put it in ‘sleep mode, which is something that can be done with a transponder key. In fact, this is why you’ll often hear people state that a transponder car key is the safest and even the best way to stop someone racing off with your car in the middle of the night. If you’re a little unsure of how this works, let us put your mind at ease. Basically, by setting the transponder in this mode, it simply won’t work, even if it is stolen and used to try and start the car. Of course, if the thief actually manages to steal your key or fob, whatever is used to start your car, this serves very well as the last line of defense.
Steering Wheel Lock
This one might seem a little obvious, but it’s still a method that many don’t use to prevent car theft, which is just staggering. If you think from the criminal’s perspective, should they see a steering wheel lock in the car, not only do they need to steal the key or fob for the car, but they also need to steal the key for this lock too. Effectively, this provides a two-layer line of defense, and it will make a potential thief far less likely to try and steal your car, primarily because it will be more difficult to steal. After all, prevention is frequently preferable to reaction, and the key to success is to stop the crime before it happens.
Kill Switch
For those of you that are a little more ‘high-tech’, so to speak, there is a cool little device known as a kill switch for vehicles these days. This is a device that you can actually pick up online for less than $100, and basically, it works by disengaging the fuel or electric drive system that your car operates with. Of course, if this gets disengaged, your vehicle won’t be going anywhere, and you can activate the kill switch by simply entering a code. If you purchase one of the more advanced devices, you can receive notifications if your vehicle is moving without you being there, which would indicate that a thief is stealing your vehicle.
Tinted Windows
Speaking of prevention being better than the cure, if you don’t feel particularly comfortable with any of the more advanced devices stopping vehicle theft, you could go down this avenue. To truly understand the benefit of this, you need to think of what a car thief tends to do before they actually try and complete the act of stealing a car. Normally, they will do a scouting test and check out which cars might be easier to steal in their target region. However, if you have some heavy tinting on your windows, they won’t even be able to see inside the car in the first place. This means they can’t see what kind of theft prevention devices you have inside the car and therefore makes them unable to get an idea of how easy or not your car might be to steal.
GPS Tracker
Last but not least, a GPS tracker is something that has worked very well for thousands of car drivers around the globe. If you have a GPS tracker in the car, of course, you can see where your vehicle is at all times. So if it was to be stolen, you could track the thief every step of the way, and therefore alert authorities and catch them in no time.
Final Thoughts
Since the beginning of the year, the number of car thefts has increased steeply in many cities across the nation. And unfortunately, these patterns are predicted to continue to rise, according to new research from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Now is the time to secure your vehicle and make sure that you do not become these criminals’ next victim.