Do you have some sort of anti-theft device on your car? You don’t? You know that you should, especially since one car is stolen every 25 seconds. Last year, more than $6.5 billion worth of vehicles were stolen in America. That’s an awful lot of money. “It’s too expensive to get a good anti-theft system, [...]
A potential car thief always looks for a good reason to steal or break into a car; maybe you left some enticing packages in the back seat or a laptop or cell phone on the floor of the passenger side. A thief will typically make a quick reconnaissance of the car’s perimeter, looking for evidence [...]
Here’s you… you’re thinking, “It’s better than nothing” right? Wrong. It’s a total waste of your money. And more than a waste of your money, it just doesn’t work. Several surveys show that the response to a car alarm generally isn’t “Quick, call the police! Someone is breaking into the car!” It’s usually more like, [...]
Husband: I wish we’d never bought this stupid SUV. We just can’t afford this ridiculous payment any more. Not if we want to eat, anyway.
When you’re on vacation, do you leave all of your cares and woes behind? That’s what vacation is all about, after all. Rest and relaxation. Not worrying and fits of paranoia. But a little paranoia can be a good thing, because nothing is worse than a vacation gone wrong.
In this day and age, people are notoriously busy; we’re always multi-tasking, it seems. That’s not always a good thing, though, because multi-tasking also means that you’re not focusing on any particular thing. Case in point: You are going to the shopping mall; they’re having a great sale at your favorite store [...]
Whether it’s cheese or worms or a fully loaded new model car, once the trap is baited, you only have to wait patiently before a big one has been snagged. With that in mind, police in jurisdictions throughout the country are putting out bait cars to catch car thieves. And the ruse is [...]
A lot of charity organizations take donations of cars to help in their fund raising efforts. That’s really a wonderful win-win situation for the owner of a car that’s still drivable, but maybe not in the best shape, and certainly not worth going through all of the hassle of selling it the conventional way. [...]
It has been reported that nearly 40% of transponder owners don’t appropriately place their transponder on the windshield of their car. The reason for that is simple - owners are afraid that their transponder is going to be stolen, and the sad fact is that that is not an illogical concern. Transponder theft [...]
Pick-up trucks are quickly becoming the new “family” car. Many of the newer models are made with convenience and comfort as the primary considerations. It used to be that the number of bags of fertilizer which could be hauled around (i.e. the payload) was important; now it’s whether or not the pickup’s built-in [...]
A popular car parts website has reported that a tool, specifically designed for jimmying car doors, is out of stock. That, in and of itself, is not very worrying (and probably wonderful - profitable - news for the website owner). What is worrying, though, is that this particular item is this website’s most [...]
Pretty soon you can do more with your Apple iPod than just listen to your tunes. You’ll be able to use your iPod to start your car! Yup, you read that right. If your new car happens to be the new, soon-to-be produced Chrysler Peapod EV (who came up with that name, [...]
A car thief would surely have a heck of a time if he couldn’t find a way to open your car door. But every car comes with a door handle (or two or four); it’s as plain as the… well, you get the idea. Shaved door handles are not uncommon to the crowd [...]
It was recently reported that a 1970 Chevy Chevelle was stolen (for reasons known only to the car thief!!) from the premises of the owner (a Chevelle collector) in Palm Beach County, Florida. If the owner followed car theft protocols, he no doubt reported the stolen car to the local police department and called [...]
And that might be your fault. No? Do you remember growing up how you used to love to rub your hand over the hood ornament on the Rolls Royce owned by that crazy rich lady who lived down the street? Then she screamed at you out the window to get away from her car [...]
Those little magic wands that are attached to your key ring make life so simple, don’t they? A quick little wave and Poof! Your gas tank is full! Poof! Your craving for cheese covered nachos is satisfied! Poof! Your tires are rotated! Poof! Your car is cleaned and [...]
The transcript of an interview with one of Canada’s premier car thieves is chilling in its simplicity. The car thief, let’s call him, the “Car Thief,” told a reporter than in an average month he stole as many as 20 cars, and that the average profit on each one was $40,000. Let’s [...]
Have you taken a good look at your license plate lately? (Do you even know your license plate number?) Many states issue vehicle license plates when you register your car, and then require that you buy the stickers that you must place on it, indicating that your vehicle is properly registered with the [...]
Everything is not as it appears. When you read a sign that says, “Beware of Attack Dogs” do you rattle the gate just to see if a couple of curious canines are in attack mode? Do you grab hold of an electrical fence because you believe that the “High Voltage” sign was put [...]
We’ve come a long way from the days of the Club, the original steering wheel lock which has been mass-produced and duplicated umpteenth times. Yes, the Club is still around, in all its steel and chrome glory, but the sad truth is that a determined car thief can remove that Club in a matter [...]
Hopefully, it’s your driver’s license. Recently, it’s been learned that one particular website has access to everyone’s driver’s license. Unfortunately, it’s verifiably true. All of your driver’s license information - state of issuance, your picture, your home address, your date of birth, your license number - are available at no cost to [...]
A recent study from the German Insurance Company Federation shows that, among the top 15 cars stolen in the country, 11 of them are cars that have been around longer than a decade. Who cares about what happens in Germany, right? Wrong. It’s important because the same holds true here in the [...]
If you’ve had to buy new snow tires for your car recently, you know that they cost a pretty penny - actually a lot of pretty pennies - numbering in the thousands. It’s no wonder then that tire theft, specifically snow tire theft, is on the rise. As soon as people get word [...]
The owners of vintage or custom cars know that their baby is special. That’s why they spend so much money trying to acquire them. They love their baby. Each and every weekend, they can be seen polishing and spiffing the car up to its original beauty. They do all that work, [...]
It’s early morning, the sky is still black with night, and it’s bitterly cold outside - a skin numbing, bone freezing, teeth chattering kind of cold. And you’ve got to go to work. Those two cups of java have done little to warm your insides enough to compensate for the frigid temperatures on [...]
You don’t have to be elected to the Presidency of the United States in order to drive around in an armored vehicle. Nor do you have to be a celebrity, a besmirched investment trader, a Supreme Court Judge or even an American Idol judge, for that matter. You only have to be a [...]
A recent trawl through the internet revealed that there are a lot of people who have a lot of time on their hands. The number of innovative, novel, or just plain crazy ideas to protect a car from theft or vandalism was surprisingly high. Some will no doubt give you a good chuckle, [...]
Many people have never been lucky (or rich) enough to go on an overseas cruise. But it’s quite possible that their car, especially if it’s a highly coveted SUV, may be going on one in the not too distant future. Car theft, with the intent to ship the vehicle overseas, is becoming a growing trend. [...]
There is a company that has been in business for more than 32 years, and which boasts that they have had a 100% success rate for their vehicle anti-theft device. Sounds highly improbable, doesn’t it? Otherwise, everyone would surely have heard of the Ravelco. You never heard of it, either, right? Well, [...]
No matter how many security devices you’ve got installed inside or on your vehicle, they’re generally rendered useless if you leave the key to your car inside your car. Unfortunately, many car owners are making it a little too easy for the thief to accomplish his task; hiding a spare in a key box [...]
If you’ve done all you that you can to prevent your car from being stolen and it still happens, what next? Generally, you call your local law enforcement agency and hope for the best. Then you sit on tenterhooks until you get the official word, one way or another, about the disposition of your baby, [...]
Cars that can talk have been a television and movie staple for a long long time. You’re probably showing your age (i.e. old) if you can recall the 1960’s television series, My Mother the Car, but there have been more recent reincarnations of the talking car in the forms of Herbie the Love Bug and [...]
Every year, it seems, there is a new model car that is so blatantly unappealing that only a person with very poor eyesight or (very poor judgment) would consider buying it. The names of some car models are simply synonymous with butt ugly; just mention the name Ford Edsel, Yugo, AMC Pacer or Chevy [...]
The old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” should be foremost in your mind when you’re buying a new car from someone other than a “reputable” car dealer. In this day and age, simply put, it is just too easy to have the wool pulled over one’s eyes. [...]
Car cloning is what it’s called, and apparently it’s a lot easier to clone a car than you might think – no DNA involved, only VIN. It’s worse than regular car thievery, because in fact, there is more than one victim for each car that is cloned. The owner of the car that [...]
Monday Morning in the Office Parking Lot
Joe: (Joe notices Frank pulling up into the parking spot beside him.) Hey, Frank, is this your car? Wow! It’s gorgeous! It looks like something James Bond would drive.
Frank: Yeah, ain’t it a beaut? I got it last week. I know I didn’t need another [...]
You can’t even see it (unless you happen to carry a black light or a microscope in your back pocket, that is), but there is a new technology coming onto the market that can protect your car from theft. Thousands of transparent bytes of personal information are etched onto tiny (sand grain-sized) dots which [...]
No one likes to return to their car and find that it’s been immobilized with a boot. You know, those things that clamp to your tires and prevent you from driving away. Unfortunately, many jurisdictions use these devices to “persuade” a driver to pay their unpaid parking tickets. They’re also becoming steadily [...]
Face it, night time is the perfect time for stealing a car. Everyone else is sleeping, the roads are quiet and no one can see a thief jimmying the car window or hot wiring the ignition. And really, who’s to know if the driver is a car thief or simply a guy tossed [...]
Did you ever need to replace your car’s windshield after a pebble was thrown up at it? Flying at speeds of 60 mph, it’s hard to believe that a tiny little rock can cause so much damage, but it can. If you’ve got windshield coverage on your car’s auto policy, it’s not too [...]
Grand Theft Auto may be one of the best selling video games of all times, but there’s nothing funny about a stolen car in the non-cyber world. Unfortunately, where there are cars, there are car thieves, and where there are car thieves there are chop shops.
It’s like something out of an Ian Fleming novel… It’s an early Sunday morning, our hero touches his thumb to the sensor pad on the car door and the door unlocks. He enters, briefly touches another sensor pad mounted on the dash, gazes deeply into the rear view mirror for the retinal scan to verify [...]
Attention: Car thief
If you must (though I hope you’ll reconsider!), steal my stereo, steal my gas, steal my laptop that I careless left lying in full view. Please, feel free to steal the whole car (it runs best on Premium gasoline, by the way). But, please, don’t steal the car with me [...]
Whether or not you install a car security system depends on a lot of things, not the least of which is the amount of money you’ve got in your wallet. Regardless of how much it costs, though, if you own one of the 10 hot cars on the car thief hit parade, you might [...]
If you have a GPS tracking system installed on your car, then you would know. GPS or Global Positioning System uses several dozen earth-revolving satellites to help pinpoint a car’s location, using microwave signals. Data is collected and can be used passively or actively. Passive tracking means that the owner can access [...]
The truth is that most car thieves don’t waste their time trying to jimmy your lock like you see on TV. Just like any other “professional,” they recognize that time is money, so they’re just gonna bust your window in. A car thief, who knows his stuff, can drive your car away in [...]
The recent rise in the price of crude oil has resulted in the corresponding skyrocketing prices of gasoline. In turn, this has lead to an increase in the incidences of gasoline theft. It can happen in any number of ways, including not paying at the pump… oh yeah, they fill up their tank alright, but [...]
No car security system is foolproof. Each has it’s advantages and disadvantages. And for every type of system, there is a way around it, depending on the skill and sophistication of the would-be thieves. Here we list the major categories of car security systems as well as how they can be circumvented.