You must have heard the story of people who have parked their cars, and in less than five minutes, such cars are gone without a trace. This can be the story of anyone who has a car, as there are many people actively hunting for cars to steal.
The good news is that there are some proven things that car owners can do to prevent their cars from being taken away by criminals. In this article, we will share some of the things you must do immediately to save your car.
Ways to Stop Your Car From Getting Stolen
1. Always Lock Your Car
One of the simplest ways to prevent your car from being stolen is to always lock it, even when you are at home in your compound. A significant number of cars are stolen because the owners either forget to lock them or believe that the cars are safe because they are at home, or because they feel they will return immediately.
2. Do not leave your car keys in the car
One of the most important and yet trivial ways of preventing your car from getting stolen is to never leave the car key in the car. There are many people who forget their car keys in the car, a perfect target for criminals.
Coupled with this, do not step away from your car when the car is still running or the ignition is on. A lot can happen in the split seconds.
3. Get a steering wheel lock or a pedal lock
Car thieves prefer cars that are not stressful for them to steal. When you make use of physical locks such as steering wheel locks and pedal locks, they prefer to stay away and look for cars that will require less effort to do away with.
4. Use a GPS Tracker
A GPS tracker is very important for all car users. While it doesn’t prevent the car from being stolen, it makes it possible for the car to be recovered after it is stolen. It is important to find real-time GPS trackers that offer mobile alerts.
5. Install a kill switch
Installing a kill switch makes it very difficult for your car to be stolen because it disables parts of your car’s electrical system, which may be the fuel pump or ignition. Unless one can figure this out, they may be unable to get the cars started and moved.
6. Keep your car security details private
Regardless of the security features you have on your car, keep them confidential and avoid boasting about them, as this may only draw the attention of those who may want to steal the car. Apart from that, keep your location and movements private and off social media to avoid disclosing your location to those who may be targeting your car.
7. Get a Quality Car Alarm System
A good car alarm system is one of the first things every car owner should get. A good system will alert you when there is motion around your car, door tampering, or glass breakage. Even when you are not close by and the alert system goes on, it will force the intended car thief to flee.
8. Disable Keyless Entry
If you are in a location where car theft is a constant phenomenon, you may want to disable your car’s keyless entry so that before anyone can open or gain entry to your car, they need to have a physical key. This will reduce the vulnerability of signal relay attacks that allow car thieves to intercept key fobs’ signals and use them to unlock and start the car.
See Also: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Car on Hire Purchase
9. Use Window Tint or Shades
Using tints or shades in your car is not allowed in some parts of Nigeria, including Abuja. However, there are many other states that allow for it. Making use of this can help keep thieves away because they cannot easily figure out whether you are in the car or not. Secondly, with tint, people do not get to see the valuables in your car, which easily attracts criminals.
10. Park in a Secure
Above everything else, park your car in a secure and well-lit location. Thieves usually target cars that are parked in isolated places, and so parking your car in a secure location with CCTV, if possible, may serve to deter some thieves.
