Tips for improving your car security
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Posted On :
Jul-09-2009
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Article Word Count :
464
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The past ten years have seen a dramatic reduction in car crime.
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The past ten years have seen a dramatic reduction in car crime. The rising cost of car ownership has reduced the demand for used cars, and advances in car security technology have made it much more difficult to steal a vehicle and get away with it.
Most modern cars have engine immobilisers, making them very tricky to steal outright, and this has led to a massive reduction in the number of cars stolen for joyriding purposes. Professional car thieves have turned their attention away from stealing whole cars to stealing valuable, and easily accessible parts of cars, such as catalytic converters, sat nav systems, and number plates.
Catalytic converters are hugely valuable as spare parts or even as scrap, due to the fact that they are full of precious metals. By leaving your car parked in a secure area such as a lock up or a car park with CCTV, you can reduce the risk that someone will climb under your car and steal your catalytic converter.
If your number plates are stolen, and you do not report it immediately to the police and the DVLA, then any penalty points incurred by the new owner of your plates will end up on your license. If that vehicle is used for any other crimes, then you will be the one pulled in for them unless you had taken this step.
Due to the fact that satellite navigation equipment is valuable, and relatively easy to steal from an unattended vehicle, you should keep it out of sight from thieves when you are out of the vehicle for any length of time. It is important to remove the device, the cradle and suction pads, and clean off any marks left by the pads on your windscreen, as thieves may see the marks, or the pads themselves, as a sign that there may be a sat-nav unit hidden away in the glove compartment.
Fitting security devices to your car is a highly effective preventative measure against car theft. While over three quarters of cars have some kind of immobiliser, less than a third of all of the stolen cars are recovered by police are fitted with such a device.
As a general rule, the older a car is, the easier it is to steal. Cars built before 1996 are considered as being a very high theft risk, whereas cars built after 1999 are considered to be a very low theft risk, and this is mainly due to the widespread adoption of immobilisers and other technologies.
However, professional thieves will go to extra lengths to steal valuable cars, such as burglary and pickpocketing, so if you have an expensive car, you should be extra careful about where you leave your keys.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Tips for improving your car security _1646.aspx
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Author Resource :
Kwik Fit Insurance can offer some great deals on car insurance especially for mature drivers and drivers with full no-claims bonus.
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Keywords :
travel insurance,
Category :
Finance
:
Insurance
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