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9 Ways to Keep Your Car Safe on the Road
Ed Hewitt
Ed Hewitt commenced traveling with his family at the age of ten and has since visited dozens of countries on six continents. He wrote for IndependentTraveler.com for more than twenty years, producing hundreds of columns on travel and suggesting his expertise on radio and television. He is now a regular contributor to SmarterTravel.
An avid surfer and rower, Ed has written about and photographed rowing competitions around the world, including the last five Olympic Games.
He’s passing his love of travel on to the next generation; his 10-year-old son has flown some 200,000 miles already.
Travelers put their cars to almost every use imaginable: as a place to eat meals, hide things, take shelter from the elements and even live (on a tour to Pamplona several years ago, the smallest boy in our traveling party slept in the trunk).
Since your car can be almost your home away from home while traveling, you will want to take some precautions to protect it and the things inwards it. Ideally, you wouldn’t leave anything valuable at all in your car, but the reality of travel is that your car is going to serve as much like a safe deposit box or luggage storage closet as transportation — especially during the day when you’re inbetween hotels. Read on for nine tips to help you protect your car and everything in it while traveling.
1. Stream and hide your stuff before you reach your destination.
By the time you pull into a hotel lot, valet queue, parking garage or any parking spot, everything you plan to leave in the car should already be well stowed and hidden. To pull into your spot, and then take your most valuable items and pack them in the trunk, is to broadcast to anyone within view exactly where to concentrate their attentions if they want to rip you off. The best treatment is to put your things in the trunk or other safe compartment before you even get into the car at the beginning of your journey.
Two. Unload your stuff away from your parking spaces as well.
Similarly, if you are planning to come back to the same parking area, you will want to take your stuff out of the car away from the lot if possible. If you open the trunk and take out all the good stuff each time you come back to your car, eventually someone will notice. Best case is to be able to pull over somewhere safe away from either your home base or destination, and get your stuff then.
Related:
Trio. Choose your parking space wisely.
When I lived in Manhattan, I found that a shift of a few feet in where you left your car overnight could make the difference inbetween your car being safe and your car being robbed. On one street in particular, there was a fire hydrant in the middle of the block, and all cars on one side of the No Parking Fire Zone were safe, and most cars on the other side were robbed on a regular basis. It had everything to do with sightlines; the catches sight of beyond the fire hydrant could not be seen by folks in the foyers or lobbies of any of the local buildings. Out of look, out of safety.
Here are my recommendations for your best parking catches sight of when traveling:
A) In airport lots, I recommend parking in view of the exit toll booths or parking office if possible, or just as well within view of a shuttle pickup location or kiosk. The enhanced foot traffic and eyeball count will discourage potential thieves. Well-lit areas are next best; most airport lots have surveillance cameras in place, so making it lighter for an attendant to see your car on a grainy camera will help.
B) Park “trunk out.” If you are storing items in your trunk, you will want to point the trunk out into the lot aisle, where more people can see anyone attempting to break in. Don’t give thieves the chance to use your car as cover while tearing you off.
C) When parking on the street, attempt to park within glance of a busy store or hotel entrance, under a street lamp, near a busy corner or out in the open away from things that might provide shelter to a thief (like thick or low-hanging trees). The busier the street, the better.
Four. When in doubt, use a parking garage.
Parking on the street is the most vulnerable place to be, so if you are awkward with your street parking options, by all means use a parking garage instead. Albeit you are safer in a parking garage, that does not mean that you are invulnerable; certainly enough travelers get ripped off by garage personnel everywhere. Eliminate or lock up any indeed jummy items — GPS units, accessories for your cell phone or MP3 player, a liberate E-ZPass apparatus — in order to liquidate temptation. All of the same precautions above apply; no matter where you park, make it as difficult and uninspiring to potential thieves as possible.
Five. Self park when you can.
Most attendant or valet parking garages are safe on the entire — but if you make it too effortless, the temptation to steal can be too superb for a person working at or near minimum wage.
Related:
6. Assume thieves want to steal your car.
It turns out that most thieves will attempt to steal a car outright rather than break into a car; if there is anything valuable inwards, they can take it and dump the vehicle, and certainly there is a market for hot cars as well. For this reason, parking your car in a well-lit place where there is likely to be some foot traffic is always a good idea. Similarly, visual cues that might deter a thief can be critical — even if they are just for showcase. Things like a steering wheel lock or a blinking alarm system light will inspire thieves to budge on to the next vehicle, even if you don’t have the alarm activated.
7. A neat car is less likely to get robbed.
A car that is packed with jackets or beach towels that show up to be covering items of value, or that has wires sticking out here and there suggesting that electronic devices may also be stowed, are much more likely to attract interest. If a potential thief sees nothing but car upholstery, he or she is less likely to be nosey about what might be hidden in the car.
8. Check for your valuables as soon as you come back to your car.
Notwithstanding our 2nd rule above, if you have any suspicions, you will want to make sure nothing was stolen before you pull out. If your car does get ripped off, you want to figure it out at or near the location it was robbed, in case you have to file a complaint. When surveying your vehicle, keep in mind that thieves know what to take — often items you won’t notice until you are long gone. For example, a common tactic is to take a camera out of a camera bag, but leave the bag behind; it looks like it was undisturbed so you won’t figure it out for hours or days.
9. Rent wisely.
When renting a car, keep the following tips in mind:
A) Rent models that are not lightly exposed or violated into, and that have a trunk big enough to store anything you need secured. A hip and lil’ convertible sounds like a excellent idea, but it could not be tighter to hide stuff, and lighter to break into.
B) The more modest and nondescript the rental model, the less likely to attract attention it is.
C) Don’t leave your rental contract in the car, as this document has just about all the information you will need if the car is stolen — and also all the information a thief will need to evade detection if he or she is stopped for any reason before you report the vehicle as stolen.
Reminisce that as a traveler or tourist, you are a mark. (For example, a Florida law requiring rental cars to display a special sticker was repealed a few years ago after it became clear that criminals were targeting tourists in rental vehicles.) Making the time and effort to take a few precautions with your vehicular home away from home can help ensure that you and all your stuff comeback home intact.
9 Ways to Keep Your Car Safe on the Road
Smarter Travel
Get Daily Travel Tips & Deals!
Get Daily Travel Tips & Deals!
Get Daily Travel Tips & Deals!
9 Ways to Keep Your Car Safe on the Road
Ed Hewitt
Ed Hewitt began traveling with his family at the age of ten and has since visited dozens of countries on six continents. He wrote for IndependentTraveler.com for more than twenty years, producing hundreds of columns on travel and suggesting his expertise on radio and television. He is now a regular contributor to SmarterTravel.
An avid surfer and rower, Ed has written about and photographed rowing competitions around the world, including the last five Olympic Games.
He’s passing his love of travel on to the next generation; his 10-year-old son has flown some 200,000 miles already.
Travelers put their cars to almost every use imaginable: as a place to eat meals, hide things, take shelter from the elements and even live (on a tour to Pamplona several years ago, the smallest fellow in our traveling party slept in the trunk).
Since your car can be almost your home away from home while traveling, you will want to take some precautions to protect it and the things inwards it. Ideally, you wouldn’t leave anything valuable at all in your car, but the reality of travel is that your car is going to serve as much like a safe deposit box or luggage storage closet as transportation — especially during the day when you’re inbetween hotels. Read on for nine tips to help you protect your car and everything in it while traveling.
1. Geyser and hide your stuff before you reach your destination.
By the time you pull into a hotel lot, valet queue, parking garage or any parking spot, everything you plan to leave in the car should already be well stowed and hidden. To pull into your spot, and then take your most valuable items and pack them in the trunk, is to broadcast to anyone within view exactly where to concentrate their attentions if they want to rip you off. The best treatment is to put your things in the trunk or other safe compartment before you even get into the car at the beginning of your tour.
Two. Unload your stuff away from your parking spaces as well.
Similarly, if you are planning to come back to the same parking area, you will want to take your stuff out of the car away from the lot if possible. If you open the trunk and take out all the good stuff each time you come back to your car, eventually someone will notice. Best case is to be able to pull over somewhere safe away from either your home base or destination, and get your stuff then.
Related:
Trio. Choose your parking space wisely.
When I lived in Manhattan, I found that a shift of a few feet in where you left your car overnight could make the difference inbetween your car being safe and your car being robbed. On one street in particular, there was a fire hydrant in the middle of the block, and all cars on one side of the No Parking Fire Zone were safe, and most cars on the other side were robbed on a regular basis. It had everything to do with sightlines; the catches sight of beyond the fire hydrant could not be seen by folks in the foyers or lobbies of any of the local buildings. Out of view, out of safety.
Here are my recommendations for your best parking catches sight of when traveling:
A) In airport lots, I recommend parking in view of the exit toll booths or parking office if possible, or just as well within view of a shuttle pickup location or kiosk. The enhanced foot traffic and eyeball count will discourage potential thieves. Well-lit areas are next best; most airport lots have surveillance cameras in place, so making it lighter for an attendant to see your car on a grainy camera will help.
B) Park “trunk out.” If you are storing items in your trunk, you will want to point the trunk out into the lot aisle, where more people can see anyone attempting to break in. Don’t give thieves the chance to use your car as cover while tearing you off.
C) When parking on the street, attempt to park within view of a busy store or hotel entrance, under a street lamp, near a busy corner or out in the open away from things that might provide shelter to a thief (like thick or low-hanging trees). The busier the street, the better.
Four. When in doubt, use a parking garage.
Parking on the street is the most vulnerable place to be, so if you are awkward with your street parking options, by all means use a parking garage instead. Albeit you are safer in a parking garage, that does not mean that you are invulnerable; certainly enough travelers get ripped off by garage personnel everywhere. Eliminate or lock up any truly succulent items — GPS units, accessories for your cell phone or MP3 player, a liberate E-ZPass apparatus — in order to liquidate temptation. All of the same precautions above apply; no matter where you park, make it as difficult and uninspiring to potential thieves as possible.
Five. Self park when you can.
Most attendant or valet parking garages are safe on the entire — but if you make it too effortless, the temptation to steal can be too superb for a person working at or near minimum wage.
Related:
6. Assume thieves want to steal your car.
It turns out that most thieves will attempt to steal a car outright rather than break into a car; if there is anything valuable inwards, they can take it and dump the vehicle, and certainly there is a market for hot cars as well. For this reason, parking your car in a well-lit place where there is likely to be some foot traffic is always a good idea. Similarly, visual cues that might deter a thief can be critical — even if they are just for display. Things like a steering wheel lock or a blinking alarm system light will inspire thieves to stir on to the next vehicle, even if you don’t have the alarm activated.
7. A neat car is less likely to get robbed.
A car that is packed with jackets or beach towels that show up to be covering items of value, or that has wires sticking out here and there suggesting that electronic devices may also be stowed, are much more likely to attract interest. If a potential thief sees nothing but car upholstery, he or she is less likely to be nosey about what might be hidden in the car.
8. Check for your valuables as soon as you comeback to your car.
Notwithstanding our 2nd rule above, if you have any suspicions, you will want to make sure nothing was stolen before you pull out. If your car does get ripped off, you want to figure it out at or near the location it was robbed, in case you have to file a complaint. When surveying your vehicle, keep in mind that thieves know what to take — often items you won’t notice until you are long gone. For example, a common tactic is to take a camera out of a camera bag, but leave the bag behind; it looks like it was undisturbed so you won’t figure it out for hours or days.
9. Rent wisely.
When renting a car, keep the following tips in mind:
A) Rent models that are not lightly exposed or violated into, and that have a trunk big enough to store anything you need secured. A hip and little convertible sounds like a superb idea, but it could not be tighter to hide stuff, and lighter to break into.
B) The more modest and nondescript the rental model, the less likely to attract attention it is.
C) Don’t leave your rental contract in the car, as this document has just about all the information you will need if the car is stolen — and also all the information a thief will need to evade detection if he or she is stopped for any reason before you report the vehicle as stolen.
Reminisce that as a traveler or tourist, you are a mark. (For example, a Florida law requiring rental cars to display a special sticker was repealed a few years ago after it became clear that criminals were targeting tourists in rental vehicles.) Making the time and effort to take a few precautions with your vehicular home away from home can help ensure that you and all your stuff comeback home intact.
