Unfortunately, it still happens regularly that cars are broken into or opened via Keyless Entry and things are stolen from the interior. You can also find your car on blocks if you have expensive wheels. With these tips you make it a lot more difficult for thieves.
1. Beware of Keyless Entry
The theft of cars with Keyless Entry are booming. According to experts, almost all cars from 2017 and older with such a system are easy to steal. The Internet is full of videos of criminals scanning the front door of a house for a signal from a car key. They can then clone or amplify this signal and pass it on to the car with another device, so that the doors open and they can drive away with it. The British company Thatcham Research has developed a test method to determine how sensitive new cars are to this approach. The majority of the cars tested are rated as ‘bad’.
A good way to prevent the signal from being picked up and cloned is to store your key (s) in a metal box. In this way, the signal stays with the key and cannot be received outside the home. There are even special boxes for the market, but a biscuit tin can in principle be sufficient.
2. Also aim the security camera at your car
You can hang a camera to protect your house against burglary. Pointing a camera at the public road or the house or garden of your neighbors is not allowed. But if you have a security camera, you can of course be a little creative when hanging it up. For example, Wouter Verkerk, the director of the Vehicle Crime Insurance Agency (VbV), tips: “If you have cameras at your house, point them (also) at your car.” Also place a sign near your house stating that there are security cameras in your house. Of course you can also do this if there is no camera or if you have a dummy camera in it, in which case a thief will quickly skip your house. .
3. Build in an alarm system
Many modern cars already have an alarm system by themselves, but even older cars that do not have that you can protect yourself with it. Simply by installing an alarm system. Make sure that you have a car alarm with the CCV quality mark (Center for Crime Prevention and Security). The CCV Vehicle Security Quality Mark guarantees the quality of the built-in security.
4. Lock bolts
Theft of wheels is quite easy to prevent, or at least made more difficult, by securing them with lock bolts. You tighten these bolts in the wheel just like normal wheel bolts, but there is one difference: a special wrench is required to loosen them again. Lock bolts are not very expensive. You can already buy a set of four for around € 20 to € 30. Once purchased? Then of course do not keep the key piece in your car.
5. Park your car in a lit place
“Please put your car inside,” is Verkerk’s advice to garage owners and private individuals. But what if you don’t have a garage? “Then I would put the car in a well-lit place.” Of course, car theft or stripping of a car mainly takes place when it is dark. The location can also make a difference. If there are several cars in a well-lit spot near a slightly busier point, thieves are more likely to leave that spot than a lonely car in a dark corner or side street. After all, the chance that someone has insight into this is smaller.