Reducing the likelyhood of smash and grabs... (Madison: apartment, insurance)
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Vehicle smash and grabs are a big problem in large cities. Police advise to remove from sight anything that might attract a thief, or better yet, remove anything valuable from your car and take it with you. Here's the problem, what do you do when you take all necessary precautions, but you still end up having your car smashed into on a repeated basis? Would you ever resort to just leaving your car unlocked so that thieves can freely check the contents of your vehicle? At least this way you avoid getting your window smashed and not having to shell out $100+ for a replacement. Too drastic a measure?
Vehicle smash and grabs are a big problem in large cities. Police advise to remove from sight anything that might attract a thief, or better yet, remove anything valuable from your car and take it with you. Here's the problem, what do you do when you take all necessary precautions, but you still end up having your car smashed into on a repeated basis? Would you ever resort to just leaving your car unlocked so that thieves can freely check the contents of your vehicle? At least this way you avoid getting your window smashed and not having to shell out $100+ for a replacement. Too drastic a measure?
Thanks
Stick a pit-bull infected with rabies in the back seat. Just watch your hands when you shove em in there.
Vehicle smash and grabs are a big problem in large cities. Police advise to remove from sight anything that might attract a thief, or better yet, remove anything valuable from your car and take it with you. Here's the problem, what do you do when you take all necessary precautions, but you still end up having your car smashed into on a repeated basis? Would you ever resort to just leaving your car unlocked so that thieves can freely check the contents of your vehicle? At least this way you avoid getting your window smashed and not having to shell out $100+ for a replacement. Too drastic a measure?
Thanks
But if you leave the car door unlocked, wouldn't that invite a car thief to not steal the contents of the car, but actually steal the car itself? A car thief probably wouldn't break the car window GTA4 style then open the car door to steal the car, but if it were unlocked they can open it right up then hotwire it then drive off. No car thief wants to break a car window because that'd attract attention to them as they drive off in it.
It seems like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. I think it's still better to lock the car.
In my opinion, the only thing you can do is try not to park in poor neighborhoods, nor live in them, and make sure you have a newer vehicle that has an alarm.
My father's two vehicles were stolen in the same poor neighborhood, in the south, at least a decade apart, and they were old vehicles that didn't have alarms. He'd always locked them and didn't leave any valuables inside, but this didn't matter- The theives still broke in with tools. I don't think they'd smashed any windows to break in. The police found the vehicles stripped of the stereos, and T.V. and video game system that was built into the old van.
The first vehicle was stolen outside our apartment. After that, my father put a red and black bar onto the steering wheel, which is supposed to prevent theives from driving the vehicle. I'd imagine that they're still sold at auto stores.
I think it's rotten that the theives decided to steal my father's old cars. He couldn't afford a new vehicle at the time and was the only driver in our household. It didn't help my parent's relationship.
Luckily, and ironically, even though my father still works in the same, poor neighborhood, his new car hasn't been stolen.
In my opinion, the only thing you can do is try not to park in poor neighborhoods, nor live in them, and make sure you have a newer vehicle that has an alarm.
My father's two vehicles were stolen in the same poor neighborhood, at least a decade apart, and they were old vehicles that didn't have alarms. He'd always locked them and didn't leave any valuables inside, but this didn't matter- The theives still broke in with tools. I don't think they'd smashed any windows to break in. The police found the vehicles stripped of the stereos, and T.V. and video game system that was built into the old van.
After the first vehicle was stolen, my father put a red and black bar onto the steering wheel, which is supposed to prevent theives from driving the vehicle. I'd imagine that they're still sold at auto stores.
I think it's rotten that the theives decided to steal my father's old cars. He couldn't afford a new vehicle at the time, was the only driver in our household, and it didn't help my parent's relationship.
Luckily, even though my father still works in the same, poor neighborhood, his new car hasn't been stolen.
I don't know what "poor neighborhoods" have to with this.In my "poor" Bronx neighborhood this isn't a significant problem.My friends who live in decidedly not "poor " neighborhoods in other parts of the city have their cars broken into constantly.
My neighborhood isn't poor at all, but there have been a couple instances where I have walked and seen a row of cars with the back window bashed in. Once was right after Irene, where I think a thief just took advantage knowing people weren't around/outside.
I have a convertible, so the door lock ain't going to do squat, except get my top cut. The car is left open and empty. I've had stuff stolen from it when I left it there (a case of Coke once -- the soda, not the powder, a calculator) but that's it. Usually when I take the car in I park in a garage, though.
It really depends much on the car, parking situation, and to some degree neighborhood, but the degree to which a street is busy, in my experience. I have never had a window smashed, or anything stolen from a vehicle when I parked on the street, with the caveat that I also do not tend to leave a car on the street for too long, and check on it at least daily if there is a reason why I have to leave it out of a garage. I have had property damage from vandals, though, including having a mirror smashed and knocked off the vehicle (on the sidewalk side - so it wasn't a passing car) on Madison Avenue in the mid-80s, which is hardly a dangerous area.
Then again, I have known people who have had cars smashed, including the neighbor of a relative of mine that I know whose car I was walking past on a busy street at about 7pm one winter evening with the alarm sounding. His passenger window was smashed, and I went over to their building and had the doorman call him to come down to the car. He had parked it on the street about ten minutes before I was passing, and was going out again in twenty minutes, but left a rather expensive leather jacket on the passenger's seat. It was a crime of opportunity, nothing more, and a late-model Audi with interior sensor alarm did little to prevent the window being smashed and jacket stolen. I think he was more upset about the jacket than the window, probably because he was kicking himself for forgetting it on the seat.
Generally, it is best to garage a car, especially if it is newer, and/or in pristine condition because the roads are hard on cars in the city, with the worst -- absolute worst -- offenders being those who do not know how to properly park or gauge spacial relationships and proceed to smash into your car as some sort of bumper guide.
An alarm and Lo-Jack are good deterrents, but if you are dealing with a professional thief who wants your car, there is little that can be done when it is in a vulnerable location, such as a city street. A commercial garage is also insured, and if your car is missing while in their care, i.e., stolen, there are areas of redress that you would not have on the street. However, even with a garaged car, I would limit the amount of property left in the car. I do not, for example, leave quarters in the car, even in the glove compartment, but keep them in a tote bag that always leaves the car with me when it is parked for the evening. At a daily garage, I will keep the bag locked in the trunk and give the attendant a valet key, but I do not provide a means of opportunity for anything to be missing from the vehicle, even if the garage only has the valet key when the vehicle is parked for a longer term, since it's not impossible to clone keys. I also remove my EZ Pass and vehicle documentation: registration, insurance card, etc. from the car. I don't even leave a cell phone charger exposed when the car is parked on the street, which may be why I have not had too many problems, but if the opportunity presents itself, i.e., there is something of interest, you never know what may happen to the vehicle, so it's best to think carefully and deliberately when leaving the car, so as to minimize any potential exposure when parking.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
I don't know what "poor neighborhoods" have to with this.In my "poor" Bronx neighborhood this isn't a significant problem.My friends who live in decidedly not "poor " neighborhoods in other parts of the city have their cars broken into constantly.
It actually happens more often in the nicer parts of the city.
I don't know a heck of a lot about cars, but don't they have something where you can remove the car radio/dvd/satellite thingy and take it with you so if someone breaks into your car they've wasted their time? Or at least they used to have that for car tape decks. Wow, I'm getting old.
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