6 Tips that can help you prevent car theft!
Car theft is certainly nothing new. Especially when living in South Africa, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less horrible when it happens to you.
Walking out to find your driveway empty will leave a sinking feeling in your stomach, knowing that you have been the victim of car theft and robbed of one of your valuable possessions.
This happens every day in South Africa and while the exact statistics are difficult to know, experts estimate around 1.6 million stolen cars are on the road. Of all stolen vehicles, only around 60% are resold onto the local market and around 30% are exported to nearby African countries. While the remainder are broken down and sold as parts.
Is your car on the list of SA’s most stolen vehicles?
Keep reading for some tips on how to avoid being the victim of car theft!
1. Location
Certain places are just more dangerous than others. Where you choose to park will significantly influence the odds of being a victim of car theft or not. Obviously you don’t always have many options, but whenever possible try and park in a spot that is clearly visible to the public eye.
The more people that can see your car, the less likely it is that someone is going to have time to break into your car – without raising any suspicions. So just be aware of where you park and ask yourself how easy it would be to approach your vehicle without anyone seeing.
2. Car Security Systems
When you think of reducing your risk of car theft, you’d probably think that an audible car alarm would be the way to go. However, a study from the American Highway Loss Data Institute recently found that these audible car alarm systems had little no effect on car theft.
It seems that everyone is already so desensitized to hearing car alarms, that we no longer pay them any notice. However, this doesn’t make them useless – if your alarm system is setup to alert yourself or the authorities, then these systems are far more effective.
3. Get More High Tech
Tracking systems are highly accurate these days and can pinpoint the location of your car down to a few meters. So rather than preventing your vehicle from being stolen, these systems just make your car easy to find once it has.
Car thieves are aware of this, reducing the overall incentive they have to steal cars. Especially if they know your car is fitted with one of these devices.
4. Don’t leave anything in your car!
Leaving bags or containers in your car, that look as if they may have valuable items in them – is a surefire way to get your car broken into. Make sure you hide any bags away even if they are empty, as this may just provide enough incentive for a thief to break into the car.
You can even leave your cubby open, making it clear to any potential thieves that there is nothing of value in the car.
5. Physically check that your car doors are locked.
Central locking with a remote beeper is certainly convenient, but recently criminals have been taking advantage of this. As you walk away from your car and casually press the lock button, you simply assume that your vehicle will be locked. Car thieves rely on this and using a “jamming” device – the signal from your remote is blocked.
So your vehicle never receives the signal to lock the doors, allowing the thief to walk up to the car as if he owned it and steal any of your possessions and possibly the car itself.
6. Leave your windows slightly open.
Another tip, which makes breaking or smashing the windows of a vehicle far more difficult – is to leave the window slightly open.
By leaving a window just one or two centimetres open, it makes it much more difficult to break. This is due to the window being more flexible – allowing it to absorb impacts without shattering.
Be sure to read these car safety hacks compiled by Hippo. Not only will it make you a safer driver but it could prevent your car from getting stolen.
Source: Carinfo.co.za