Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Tips for Avoiding Car Break-Ins

Vandalism occurs more often than we would like, and is a common day to day activity in our communities. Having your car broken into is an opportunity that vandals are seeking. If you car looks easy to break into, then it will likely be targeted by a break-in. Vandals look for easy targets, expensive merchandise, and an opportunity to steal from others for their personal gain. You will often see signs in parking lots warning of break-ins and stating that the property managers are not responsible for lost or stolen goods. Here are some tips to avoid your car or truck being broken into by a vandal.

The first tip, which is also the most practical, is to lock your car doors at all times. Some people may feel comfortable while at work or at home to leave their car unlocked. However, this is one of the first sign that a thief will look for. It is easy on some vehicles to tell if the doors are locked or not. Even while you are driving, you should lock the doors because some thieves can high jack your car to steal it. A lot of thieves will bypass a car if it is locked because they do not want to run the risk of being seen trying to unlock the vehicle or break the windows.

The next tip is to park in well lit, high trafficked or policed areas. A lot of vandals will not commit their crimes where they can be easily seen or identified. It can be very obvious if someone is breaking into a car because they will either have to break a window or spend minutes figuring out a way to unlock the doors. If there are a lot of people or police officers patrolling the area, most criminals will not risk being caught and will avoid stealing items from your vehicle.

You may not realize that you do this, but a lot of people leave bags or expensive items visible in their car either on the dashboard or on the car seats. This is another sign that vandals will look for when targeting a car to break into. Often after returning from the mall or while parking at work or school, you leave shopping bags or clothes and even sunglasses in your car. This will make your vehicle a target for stealing. You should put all items left in your car, including sunglasses and empty bags, in the trunk of your vehicle or locked in the glove compartment. You should not leave anything out.

If your vehicle has a removable face stereo system, you should remove the face plate and bring it inside with you. Stereo thieves will often break into your car to steal a stereo system knowing that you have taken off the face plate and hid it somewhere in your car. If you take the face plate of the stereo inside with you, you may avoid having the whole system stolen from you. You may have your car broken into, but they will most likely not steal the stereo without the operating face plate.

You can also purchase a car security system as an extra measure of safety to avoid a break in. Older models can be easy to break into and are often targeted by vandals. If a thief sees a security system in your car, they will most likely skip over it because they do not want to draw attention to themselves by a loud warning signal.

About the Author: Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgeable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable Austin used cars and is known as one of the best used cars austin dealers. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com.

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