How do you protect yourself from Thieves?

Car thieves are everywhere and can strike at any time. Sure, some places are more dangerous than others. You would be crazy to park a stunning show car in the back streets of most city suburbs on a Saturday night.

The better the car, the greater the chances of it being stolen, but no car is completely safe. What can you do? Plenty, and it need not cost big bucks, so even a run around second car can be protected, don’t forget some people won’t even want to pay for a taxi.

First of all at the bottom end of the scale, you can fit a steering locking device. They go from your pedals or handbrake up to the steering wheels or they can fit just the steering wheel. The latter type is more effective since it is quite visible from the outside of the vehicle.

There are other deterrents that can be fitted to your pride and joy such as anti-theft locking plates. These stop thieves from being able to use a coat hanger to unlock your doors. Locking wheel nuts can also keep your mags on your cars and branding the windows makes it difficult for the thief to get rid of the car. You can also brand the inside of the wheel rims.

Then you start getting into the serious stuff which is ignition lock systems. They let you disable the ignition electronics of a car at the turn of a key, others reset themselves automatically. They can be fitted with an alarm system or fitted on their own. They are designed to stop anyone from starting the car, not make noise. They can also be fitted to cut out starter motor crank and all fuel supplies, or any other electrical component that will render the car undriveable. Once this kind of immobilisation system is fitted, it then becomes impossible for someone to steal unless entire wiring loom is stripped and the system removed. This would take someone with good auto electrical knowledge and tools a couple of hours. So what hope has some bum thief.

The other type of alarms that are available are the ones with sirens. They can be set off by a number of ways, Voltage drop, Motion sensor, Glass shattering sensor, Movement of car sensor. These alarms can be set up to switch on and off with your central locking, which can be hooked up to a remote key pad. You can also get your immobliser hooked up to this type of unit.

There are also stereo’s with detachable faces that have inbuilt alarms in them now. You simply remove the face, get out of the car, and when the car is opened up again, you have a small period of time to put the stereo face on, or the alarm will go off.

But overall the best way to prevent your car from being broken into or stolen is to not leave any valuables with in sight of the thief and don’t leave your car in high risk area. And if you hear of anyone or selling stolen parts, then you should not get involved or buy any of the parts, as attractive as they may be, you will only encourage it, and your car might be the next target.