Tips from Used Car Advisor

Car Advisor Tamotsu Todoroki

Hi, this is Tamotsu Todoroki. I am a car advisor of PicknBuy24.com.
I write an online column every week to take care of your vehicle. My column is all about something useful and practical for your vehicle. Please have a look once to keep your car in good condition.

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5 Effective Ways to Protect Cars from Theft - Vol.28

Exercise mental alertness and remember the basic precautions

The best ways to protect your car from theft will include the owner's being careful about it. None of the warning and preventive devices are going to be of any use if the owner himself neglects the basic precautionary measures he needs to do. For instance, sometimes people leave the key in the ignition because they are only going to be gone for a few seconds. They don't realize that a thief will need only just as many seconds to get in the car and drive away in it.

Keep your doors locked even when driving. Cars are stolen by thieves as well as by carjackers or people who hop in through the unlocked door, poke a gun at hour head and tell you to get down off the driver's seat so they can run away with it. Most cases of carjackers occur in secluded residential areas where people sit in their cars with unlocked doors. A few instances of carjacking occurs in open roads. In this respect, beware of hitchhikers.

Don't display valuables in your car

Sometimes, thieves will be tempted to steal you car if they see things of value in it. So never leave your digital cameras, cell phones and laptops lying down in plain sight of passers by. Lock them up in the glove compartment of take them with you. In this respect, it might be better to have dark tints on your windows that people can't see through. But as to how deterrent this will be will all depend on the mentality of the thieves. Some thieves will lose interest with dark tinted cars, while others will just take it mean that there are valuables in the car.

Install silent alarms that send signals remotely to you

While car alarms may not necessarily prevent car thefts, they can help make it less encouraging for thieves to do so especially if your car is parked in a place where a lot of people can see it. However, car thefts have occurred in spite of noise alarms. For one, the thieves themselves are able to turn off the alarm. For another, you may not always be in hearing distance of your car alarm. The best way is not to rely on noise alarms. Instead, have an alarm installed which will electronically inform you wherever you are within a designated radius from the car if someone is attempting to open it. This way, you even have better chances of deterring the thief.

Install preventive devices

Make starting up your car a complicated routine so that thieves won't be able to get it running simply by connecting wires. There are some devices that power from being generated or fuel from flowing unless a secret switch is turned on. When having these devices installed, it is best to have them done by someone who is familiar with the modus operandi of car thieves. In this way he can camouflage your control devices well. These devices include kill switches, fuel cutoffs and smart keys among others.

Install devices that will make recovering your car easy

Install a tracking device in the car that sends signals to a GPS system. In this way, you can still recover your car after it was stolen. Statistics indicate that cars with tracking devices are more easily found. The devices are virtually undetectable, being so small. Therefore, even if the thieves were to look for it, there would be little chance they would find it.

When securing your car from theft, you have to invest in the best anti-burglar equipment. The anti-theft devices included in the car when you buy it are too well known by thieves to be effective.