Car Theft Is On The Rise – Be Vigilant
2020-05-06
By: Denise Koslowsky
While you’ve been busy staying safer-at-home car thieves have been busy stealing cars. From January to March car thefts are up 57.4% over last year in Westchester County. In April alone, there have been 69 cars stolen. That is a shocking 94.3% increase!
To Keep Your Car Safe From Thieves By Taking These Precautions:
- Be sure to close all your windows. By all means, don’t make it easy on would be thieves. An open window is an invitation to steal your car or take your belongings.
- Double check to be sure you have locked the doors. Thieves are taking advantage of open doors to either take the vehicle or check them for cash, credit cards, electronics and sunglasses that they steal.
- Don’t leave your keys or key fob in the car. Thieves are less likely to break a window to take the car if there are no keys left behind.
- Remove all your valuables from the car when you exit the vehicle. If doors are left unlocked or windows are left open, any valuable you leave in the car are fair game.
- If you have an alarm, please be sure to activate it. It is an easy step to forgo, especially if you feel your car is parked safely in your driveway, but an alarm going off will help to scare off a thief.
- If you are leaving your car parked, be sure it is in a well lit area. Thieves are more likely to go after a car that is parked on a dark side street than a well lit parking lot.
- If you are not parking your car in the garage, do not keep your garage door openers in the car. If your automobile is stolen then the person who took it now has access into your home.
- Don’t leave the car unattended while it is running. Even just to run inside to pick up your take out. When auto theft is up, the risk simply isn’t worth the time saved.
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