The Garage
Stolen
STEVE SILVA VOLUNTEER STAFF
Picture this: you wake up, and it’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining and the day is yours for the taking. You wander over to your bedroom window to gaze upon your four-wheeled beauty. That’s when it hits you like a ton of bricks: your precious baby is gone.
We’ve all been victimized by car thieves, or know someone who has. What follows is a look into the mind of a car thief, how they got about stealing your ride, and, most importantly, how to stop them. So if you’re a thief reading this right now, piss off. If you’re an innocent victim, read on.
This should go without saying, but a lot of people forget so I’m going to repeat it (hopefully drilling it into your brains). Whenever you leave your car unattended, lock it, don’t leave it running, and hide all of your valuables out of sight. Criminals do their best work in the shadows, so keep your car in a high trafficked, well-lit area.
Most people don’t bother to lock their cars when at home, but if you ask MPI, that’s when thieves are most likely to steal your ride (for that reason). Also, try to park your car inside a garage if possible. At the very least try to park it on your property, i.e. within a fenced-in area.
OK, now that you’ve protected your vehicle against the newbie thieves, it’s time to move onto defending against the seasoned veterans of car theft. I’ll start by discussing anti-theft devices. For one, get an alarm. It’s cheap insurance and yes a thief can disable one pretty quickly, but hopefully it will make enough noise to wake you up or at the very least draw some attention to the crime itself. You can now buy alarms with customizable sirens — you can record a personal voice message so that if you hear it going off, you know it’s your baby. An immobilizer is also a great weapon to have in your arsenal. Basic immobilizers cut off your fuel and spark so even if the thief manages to break in, they won’t be going anywhere. A Club is also an effective tool; it prevents your steering wheel from turning. Yes all of these devices can be defeated (even the immobilizers), but if a criminal breaks into your car and finds out it has an alarm, an immobilizer, and a Club, chances are they'll deem it not worth their time and move on.
You may think your ride is pretty sweet, but to a thief your car is worth more in pieces than as a whole. Many cars are stolen for parts, especially if you’ve got a heavily customized ride. Turbos, NOS, racing seats, etc. are all equipment that is heavily sought-after on the street. There is a way you can foil these thieves though: it’s called VIN etching. Your VIN number stands for vehicle identification number. It’s unique to your car, and serves as a social security number of sorts for your ride. If you have a heavily, or even slightly modified car, etch your VIN number on all parts of it. This means putting it on your tranny, engine parts, turbo intake seats, everything. Nothing puts off a thief more than finding out he’s just stolen (or is trying to steal) a VIN-etched car. A seasoned thief knows that stealing like this is career suicide.
When parking your ride, always park the drive wheels to the curb. Some thieves swoop in with a tow truck, jack up your drive wheels and take off. This move was pioneered by repo guys and has been readily adopted by thieves. Also, you should always put your car in gear, as well as pull the e-brake. Leaving your ride in neutral is dangerous; a thief can just cut the e-break cable running the bottom length of your ride and make off with it.
A lot of tuners now are going for the racing look and installing removable steering wheels. Look, just because you can take your steering wheel with you doesn’t mean you’re immune. A good thief will have a small wheel with a universal hub/ adapter assembly. Just remember, the removable steering wheels are meant for racing convenience and not to stop thieves (because it won’t, it’ll just make them laugh).
I can’t believe people still do this, but it always shocks me when people hide their spare set of keys in the wheel well. An ex-thief once told me that these were his favourite cars to steal because he just thought the owners were so stupid for doing so. A smart thief will always check your fenders, under and behind bumpers, and spare tire wells for a spare key. It makes their job much easier if all they have to do is unlock your doors and drive off. It’s much better to be locked out and have your boyfriend or girlfriend laugh at your ass because CAA had to show up, rather than witnessing you bawling your eyes out because your pride and joy has just been jacked.
These tips are meant to make it harder for a crook to steal your prized possession. There are no perfect antitheft devices in existence, and if a thief is stubborn and wants your ride bad enough, he’ll get it and there is very little you can do about it. But taking the aforementioned steps should deter them for the most part.
