AUTO INSURANCE ARTICLE

Useful Tips on How to Protect Your Car from Theft

By: james_writer

It will take around 60 seconds for you to finish reading this article. That doesn’t seem like a long period of time, but while you are browsing through this article, two automobiles will already have been stolen.

Yes it is true. Statistics shows that a there is car theft about every 27 seconds in the United States. Try adding it up and you’ll get a whopping 1.2 million stolen vehicles in a year. And that math gets even worse if you consider the costs of these cars. Actually, vehicle theft is the United State’s leading property crime, that costs an estimated $7.8 billion each year.

And now you might be asking, who pays for these crimes? Whether your car is stolen or not, everyone, not just you, pay the price for car theft. You and the people around you, be it your coworkers or your neighbors, are all victims because you higher insurance rates due to auto theft. According to the studies conducted by the Insurance Information Institute, about one-third of a typical comprehensive auto insurance premium covers auto theft claims.

If you try to do your math again and add it all up, you pay hundreds of extra dollars in your insurance premiums each year because of this crime. Now, here are some useful tips to protect your car from theft and eventually reduce rate of car theft:

Just Use Your Common Sense

This is by far the easiest list of things you can do to protect your car from theft which will not cost you a single cent.

Keep your doors locked

Don’t leave your keys on the ignition

Make sure your windows are completely closed

Park in well-lit and secured areas

Install Visible or Audible Device

You must be often annoyed by car alarms when they go off, but the good new here is: so do the car thieves. Car thieves generally avoid cars with alarms or anti-carnapping devices! So better get one or more of the following auto protections systems for your vehicle.

Audible alarm system

Steering wheel locks

Steering column collar

Theft deterrent decals

Wheel locks

Window etching

Have a Vehicle Immobilizer

Thieves are good at “hotwiring” a vehicle and this can bypass your ignition. But by installing one of the following vehicle immobilizer systems, you can definitely put the heat on these car thieves:

Use smart keys with computer chips that should be present to start off a car

Fuse cut-offs

Starter, ignition and fuel disablers

Tracking Systems

Tracking systems are today’s most useful devices to protect your car from theft. These tracking systems transmit a signal to the police or any monitoring service when your car is reported stolen. If your car is stolen and has a tracking system, it will be recovered faster and with a lot less damage. So better put your vehicle under the radar screen by installing one of the common tracking systems out there in the market.