How to Avoid Car Theft

Theft is most often a crime of opportunity - if your car looks easy to break into or steal, thieves will be drawn to it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• J-bars
• Steering Wheel Locks
• Automotive Security Systerms
• Car Stereo With Removable Face

1. Park your car in an area that is well-lit and near lots of people.

2. Keep the windows rolled up and the car locked, even if it's parked at your own house.

3. Keep valuables in your car hidden. Consider buying a removable stereo face to keep in your trunk or carry with you.

4. Consider buying a visible mechanical locking device to lock the steering wheel, and/or an auto theft alarm system.

5. Install locking lug nuts to prevent your custom wheels or externally mounted spare tire from being stolen.

6. Keep in mind when purchasing a new car that some makes and models have a higher incidence of theft than others.

7. Keep your car registration and insurance card with you instead of in the glove compartment so that thieves cannot produce these documents if stopped by police.

8. Disconnect either the battery or the coil wire from the distributor cap if you have to leave your car unattended for an extended period of time. Car thieves will often not have the time or the desire to diagnose why the car won't start.

9. Take your ignition keys to a locksmith or car dealer to remove the key number, which thieves can use to have the keys duplicated (jot down the number for your records first).

10. Etch the vehicle identification number (VIN) onto the doors and fenders of your car with an electric engraver for extra protection. This helps to discourage professional car thieves, who will have to remove the markings to resell the car.

Tips & Warnings

• Record the VIN in your personal records.
• These suggestions follow the recommendations of the FBI, the National Crime Prevention Institute and the Maryland Community Crime Prevention Institute.

on 9/10/2006 Case your parking lot and park smart, lock the steering wheel, curb tires hard left or right, adopt this habit. A car alarm and your own personal kill switch and different set locknuts for wheels. Remember, thieves steal what's fresh and popular in under 3 minutes. Bentley or Aston Martin owners are not worried about auto theft - they are protected.

on 2/16/2006 Connect one end of a wire with the negative terminal of the coil and earth the other end of the wire (by connecting with any nut on the car body). In between, install a switch. Place this switch at any convenient location. Flip the switch when leaving the car. It won't start.

on 11/22/2005 I personally make the car as hard to steal as possible when my car is in public (e.g. when I go to downtown LA; one of my friends had his truck stolen right before his eyes). It takes a while, but -
1. I have a customized car.
2. I have the time to unravel everything, but time is everything to a thief, and this'll take him many minutes to undo everything (I read that thieves would give up after 3 minutes).

Before you do this, find out where the locking point(s) of your steering wheel is; it's usually at a 45-90 degree angle to the right side, upside-down, or even every 45 degrees (in my '91 Buick). To find it, pull the steering to the mentioned angle and remove the key, then wiggle the steering around, repeating at a different angle if needed until you feel it "click and lock" into place. NOTE: If it takes effort to turn the keys, rock the steering from side to side (may need some force) until the key can be turned. Do not force the key itself. To start the "maze", turn your steering wheel to face the curb before you turn off the ignition, then set your parking brake (good practice to do even with auto transmission anyway. It's not a kickstand). Put a sunshade on the front window (even in indoor parking), then get out of the car, then tilt adjusting steering column as far down as it'll go. Then, move the seat forward and take the seat belt, pull it to the limit and loop it around the bottom of the steering wheel once, then buckle it up and tilt the seat forward. NOTE: If the seat belts don't reach far enough, ignore this step.

Another tip is to get a flashing LED to make your car look like you have a custom alarm (even if you have a stock alarm or none at all), or even go as far as to go to a dealership and get small decals of big-name alarms and place them near front door handles (e.g. Clifford, Python, CodeAlarm just to name a few). Usually they have a blue LED and are hard to defeat, while stock alarms can usually be disabled in seconds, so that's another thing that'll discourage some thieves.

on 11/22/2005 The Canadian Automobile Association has an interesting CAT Label program. If you don't normally travel between 1 - 5 AM and someone steals your car from your driveway, and a p[lice officer happens to see the CAT label in a non-residential zone, then the vehicle is treated as a suspect vehicle and the owner is advised.

I just found this over the WEB today. Hope it helps.

on 11/22/2005 If you leave your keys in your car and a thief takes the keys and not the car, pull the coil wire and take out the ignition fuse. This happened to me. As soon as I noticed my keys weren't in the ignition, I did this and stopped my car from being stolen.