Tips For Improving Your Car Security

By Author: Foster Carr
Total Articles: 30
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The past ten years have seen a dramatic reduction in car crime. The rising cost of car ownership has reduced the demand for used cars, and advances in car security technology have made it much more difficult to steal a vehicle and get away with it.

Due to the widespread adoption of engine immobiliser systems, it has become a lot harder to steal cars outright, leading to a reduction in joyriding incidents, but professional car thieves have taken to removing valuable, and relatively accessible items from cars such as satellite navigation systems, number plates, and catalytic converters instead.

The precious metals that are used to make catalytic converters are worth a lot of money in their own right, and there is little you can do to prevent them from being stolen other than storing your car somewhere secure when you are not driving it, or hooking the unit up to a tamper-resistant alarm system.

You might not think that having your number plates stolen is that much of a big deal, but if those plates are then put on a vehicle that is used to commit other crimes, or driving offences, then you will be held responsible, ...
... unless you had reported your loss to the police and DVLA immediately.

Keep all traces of your sat nav system out of sight when you are not in the vehicle, as even if you have taken the main console indoors with you, the suction pads, holder, or even the traces left by the suction pads may lead a thief to believe that there is a valuable sat nav device hiding in your glove compartment and break in anyway.

Fitting security devices to your car is a highly effective preventative measure against car theft. While over three quarters of cars have some kind of immobiliser, less than a third of all of the stolen cars are recovered by police are fitted with such a device.

As a general rule, the older a car is, the easier it is to steal. Cars built before 1996 are considered as being a very high theft risk, whereas cars built after 1999 are considered to be a very low theft risk, and this is mainly due to the widespread adoption of immobilisers and other technologies.

However, professional thieves will go to extra lengths to steal valuable cars, such as burglary and pickpocketing, so if you have an expensive car, you should be extra careful about where you leave your keys.

Kwik Fit Insurance can offer some great deals on car insurance especially for mature drivers and drivers with full no-claims bonus.