Security How to Keep Your Car Safe

10th Apr 2019

As a nation, we love our cars. They are an extension of our personality; a passion, or even a member of the family. However, like many nice things in life, premium cars are often a target for thieves.

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to protect yourself, and ensure your pride and joy is kept safe, along with items you may store in your car too. Discover below our top tips for keeping your car in the right hands!

Some tips are of the common sense variety, but some may just inspire you...

Use a Garage

Seems obvious, but these days how many of us actually use our garage for our car? And not the endless amount of junk we just store that we have accumulated over the years.

Performance and premium cars are of course going to attract attention, which is always nice, unless you go for something of a sleeper. For example a BMW M4 in black is much more inconspicuous than one in 'Signal Green'. Either way, at night, keeping them out of sight and away from prying eyes should be an easy deterrent.

Keep Keys Out of Sight

So many people leave doors unlocked and keys in plain sight. This makes it ridiculously easy for opportunists to grab your keys and scarper within seconds.

By keeping them out of sight, it again acts as another deterrent. I guess the message here, like the first point is just don't make it easy for criminals to pounce. Having a secure place for your keys is a great idea, amonst other easy ways to keep your vehicle safe.

Get Ahead of the Game

Technology within the automotive world has moved on quite considerably, within the last decade. Features such as key-less entry all make starting and driving a car much easier and convenient. However, with evolving technology, criminal activity also evolves with it.

Unfortunately, car theft is actually possible without the keys, especially with new cars that use a key-less entry system. This is because thieves can use items such as a relay amplifier, along with a relay transmitter to pick up a signal from your key-less entry car key without the need for the actual key, and therefore can be off in a matter of seconds. But, you can take steps to prevent this happening. Keep keys away from doors and windows. Place keys in metal tins to block signals, or signal-blocking pouches. Team these with other physical measures and it will be more likely to deter thieves.

Physical Measures

But what are these physical measures we mentioned previously?

Installing a driveway post is a good deterrent. These are usually made from steel and can simply retract into the ground simply, for when you need access to the car.

Then there are steering wheel locks and wheel clamps. These may seem old fashioned, but will deter many thieves, as it's another thing to get around. Team these with a garage and and it makes for a secure location for your car.

Privacy

In this day and age, every man and his dog (literally) is on Instagram. Along with Facebook, Twitter, the list goes on. And some of us share our lives with many complete strangers, and of course details of our cars. This is fine, as the car community love an arty 'Insta' shot, but sometimes sharing locations, especially if you own a 'nice' car can sometime attract unwanted attention. Just be careful about what details you are happy with sharing...

CCTV

The more deterrents the better. CCTV can be useful, especially if you want to keep an eye on things if you're away from your car. Or if you need to identify any possible weaknesses if someone was to actually try and steal your pride and joy. With many areas of the UK covered in CCTV already, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on your investment when possible too.

At the end of the day, with anything in life, if you appreciate it, you look after it. Hopefully you may find some of these tips useful in keeping your pride and joy in safe hands.