An attempt was made to steal your car, but it was unsuccessful. Yet, this should serve as a warning that something like this can happen again. Thus, to protect your car from another auto theft attempt, here are a few things that you should do.
File a police report
The first and most important thing to do when you realize that someone tried to break in and steal your car is to file a report at your local police department. This is important for 2 reasons.
Firstly, the police should be made aware that such criminal activities are taking place in their area. This will make them put in more effort to stop these crimes from happening again.
Besides, the police can try and find the person responsible for all this by investigating the case. They can also acquire CCTV footage from any cameras around the crime scene and analyze them to find the culprit.
Secondly, the police report will be needed when you go to claim your insurance. They ask for the police complaint as proof that the crime did indeed take place.
Assess the damage
The thief may have failed to steal your vehicle, but they did put in their best efforts. And in that process, they ended up causing quite the damage to your car. For breaking into the car, the thief is likely to target two areas -- the door locks, and the windows.
To keep things subtle, they’ll try to break the door locks first. If that plan fails, their secondary entry point is through the windows. If they do manage to get in, they’ll then try to start the car. And to do that, they might end up damaging the dashboard as well as the steering wheel and ignition switch.
You should take note of all the damages done to your car during the break-in. This will help you out when you approach your insurance provider. It’ll also help you realize which areas of your car need repairs.
Contact your insurance provider
Take the police complaint you had filed earlier, along with the damage report you’ve made, and head over to your insurance provider. Usually, they’ll provide a minimum compensation for the attempted break-in. Although it may not be much, it’ll still be enough to cover the damage repair costs.
Note: Your insurance may or may not cover attempted auto theft. The policies vary from company to company, and so do the benefits. So before you head over to your insurance provider, make sure you’ve had a good look at their policies.
Change the locks
Take your car to an auto locksmith and get the locks repaired or changed. Experienced locksmiths, like the ones at Auto Locks Ltd, will take only a couple of hours to get things mended. If the lock is beyond repair, they’ll carefully take out the broken bits and pieces, and replace the entire lock with a new one.
Apart from the door locks, they should also take a close look at the ignition switch, in case the thief tried to break that as well.
Find a different parking spot
Lightning may not strike twice at the same spot, but car thieves do. If a thief tried to break into your car, it’s better to switch to a new parking spot. Most car thieves target a specific area to steal cars. And if they attempted to steal yours, that means that your parking spot or neighborhood is in a thief’s target zone.
Hence, you should consider switching to a different parking location. It would be even better if you could keep the car locked in your garage, especially when you’re at home, and during the night. If you’re on the move, you should try to find a spot inside a secured car park.
Make sure the GPS tracker is working
Most cars these days have a GPS tracker installed in them. These trackers can help you track your car if it gets stolen. Check whether or not the GPS tracker in your car is working properly before putting your faith in it. You can do so manually, or by using a smartphone app. The same app can then be used to keep track of your car no matter where it is.
Install the GPS tracker in a place such that it can’t be found easily. Usually, the trackers are attached to the dashboard. However, from there, the thief can easily see it, and get rid of it. Thus, it should be attached somewhere else, like the wheel wells, floor mats, under the seats, or anywhere else that’ll do a good job at hiding it.
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