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kutv.com, 6th May 2007
If you think car thieves are only after entire vehicles, and that yours is completely safe... wait until you hear this: authorities say the hood of your car may be more attractive than the whole thing.
In what may come as a surprise to many Utahns, thieves are often very interested in the items you don't secure on your car. The hood, the trunk, the tires… the passenger seat. It's all fair game – and it's all going fast. Tyler Jones knows exactly how much of a surprise this concept can be.
“My mother came over… and said, ‘Hey, your wheels are gone,'” he said. “My wife was mad. I kind of laughed because I still couldn't believe it.”
For Tyler, it was an amusing – yet aggravating – sight. Thieves had stolen the wheels and tires from his car and left it supported by bricks they had removed from his garden.
Along with vehicles themselves, car parts are disappearing. Some wind up in “chop shops,” where the automobiles are stripped and sold for cash. In 2006, almost 8,000 vehicles were reported stolen in Utah. About 1,000 are still missing.
And you could become the next victim – in a flash.
Authorities who work the stolen car “beat” are pretty fast themselves. In fact, in a demonstration, they completely dismantled a vehicle in a matter of a few minutes.
In just 15 seconds, one wheel was already off. After about one minute, a door is removed. At one minute and 58 seconds, the trunk is toast – followed next by the seats and the hood. At last, the Honda has gone from car to carcass.
Total time: six minutes.
“That group of guys had never done that before,” said Lt. Curtis Stoddard of the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division. “That's how easy it was.”
Real thieves, he says, would have done it faster. “They could probably cut two or three minutes off that,” Stoddard said. There are precautions you can take to lessen the chances of being targeted by thieves.
An anti-theft device, like "the club" can deter criminals from getting away with your vehicle. The elongated device, which secures to the steering wheel, makes it difficult -- if not impossible -- for thieves to steer. A car alarm is another device police recommend for your security.
A brake pedal lock can also prevent thieves from getting away with your car. Essentially, it locks the brake pedal in place so that a potential thief cannot press the pedal down to the floor. In many vehicles, failure to press the brake pedal keeps the driver from putting the transmission in gear.
A lug nut lock is another method to keep thieves from stealing your wheels and tires. Just one luf nut lock is needed per tire to secure the wheel. Thieves would need a key to remove the lock.
Another security method to consider is etching your vehicle's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the windows of your car. Because it is difficult to remove VINs from glass, and because it is often difficult to benefit from a stolen car with the vehicle-specific numbers, thieves are likely to move onto another target.
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