How to guard against vehicle theft


In some parts of the country, the risk of your vehicle being stolen is high. As a result, all auto insurance companies reward you with discounts for comprehensive cover when you take preventive measures. What then should you do to reduce the risk your vehicle disappears? For a proper answer to this answer, you need to ask your current insurer or those who give you auto insurance quotes for details of their discounts. In principle savings are available for measures taken under two different headings:



  1. Warning devices
    What you might call the first level of protection comes from telling the potential thief and the neighborhood that your vehicle is not going to be easy to steal. We start with noise. If an alarm goes off when some tries to open the door or start the engine without the proper key, the amateur thief is deterred. Even the professional may be put off if it is not going to be easy to disable the alarm. No one wants to drive a vehicle through the streets with the alarm sounding. Then there are the passive deterrents. If you have fitted locks to the steering wheel or brake pedal, or etched the VIN on to the windows, this will deter the casual thief or the professional who was looking for an vehicle easy to sell on.

  2. Immobilizing and tracking devices
    These prevent thieves from getting through your ignition system or has a separate switch for allowing the gas to flow. Even if someone does get the vehicle into motion, a GPS tracker will allow the police to recover the vehicle – assuming the thieves do not find and disable the transmitter.


Send details of all preventive measures to your auto insurance company and prove you are eligible for discounts. Then it’s just a case of common sense. Always remember to take the keys out of the ignition and lock the door when you leave your vehicle. Whenever possible, always park where there’s a reasonable level of foot traffic and the area is well-lit. Visibility is a deterrent to potential thieves.