Keeping yourself from becoming a potential victim of a car theft isn’t a difficult job and it needn’t cost a lot of money or time or effort.  Simple precautions can save you a lot of money and headaches by reducing your chances of property loss, as well as maintaining affordable auto insurance rates. For the most part, it’s a lot of “d’oh” information, but all of it is important enough to bear repeating.

Lock it up. Turn off your car, roll up your windows, close your sunroof, take your keys out of the ignition and put them in your pocket or purse, get out of the car and lock it up tight.

Stow it. All of those things that can be removed from your car and which are of any value should be stowed in your trunk or hidden in the back of your car.  “Out of sight, out of mind,” should be your watchwords.  And bear in mind, what you consider not “valuable” to you may be important to a thief.  Yes, maybe you can afford to lose a pair of Carrera sunglasses, but is it worth having to replace the car window and the sunglasses just because you were too “busy” to put them away?  One thing that you shouldn’t hide is a spare car key; thieves know all about the “good” places to hide  them on your car.

Turn it off. If you get out of the car for only a few minutes – whether to dash to the ATM or close the garage door – you still need to turn your car off and remove the keys from the ignition.  How long do you think it takes for an attentive thief to slide into the driver’s seat?  Not long.  The excuse, “but I only left the car running for a few minutes” is nothing but lame.

Park it right. If you’ve got access to a private garage or attended lot, they should be your first choice.  After that, your car will be fair game unless you take a few other precautions, such as parking in areas that are well-lit and well-traveled.  If you have a driveway in which you park, park it the proper direction to make it difficult to tow.  For example, if you’ve got rear wheel drive then you should back into your drive way; if the car is equipped with front wheel drive pull in directly.  Always apply your parking brake.  It makes the car that much more difficult for a thief to tow away.

Don’t share your key. If you have to give a key to a valet parking attendant, give him the door and ignition keys only.  Access to any other keys (coupled with the mistake of leaving your registration in the car) could spell potential disaster.  After getting your car back from the attendant, it’s worth a quick once-over to make sure nothing is missing.  Also, remind your teenage driver not to “lend” his keys, or give a copy, to a friend.

Don’t make it easy. Car theft deterrents of any sort are better than no deterrent at all.  The goal is to make it difficult and time consuming to drive your car away.  Deterrents come in all shapes and forms, from simple such as audible alarms and devices that lock your steering column, foot pedals, gear shift or tires to car immobilizers to tracking systems.  Whichever deterrent you use, make sure that you enable it when you get out of the car.

Protect yourself in case a loss does occur. After all is said and done, it’s not difficult for you to dramatically reduce your chances of car theft.  However, no method of protection is fullproof, which is why you do need to make sure you have sufficient car insurance to cover any potential losses.  Be sure to understand what auto coverage you need and what specifically your insurance policy covers.  Then comparison shop online for the best deal from a respected insurer.