Defending your car--commonsense to hi-tech
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2002-10-28
Think that eight-year-old Ford in your driveway is safe from car thieves? Think again. There's been a major shift in auto theft statistics over the past decade, and in today's auto theft world it's becoming easier to make off with older cars than new ones. In fact, if your vehicle is eight years old or more, it's more likely to be stolen than if you drive a new vehicle, according to a recently released Canadian insurance industry study.
The auto theft business is huge. In America a car is stolen every 27 seconds, according to one estimate, and the most stolen car in 2001 was the Honda Accord, followed by the Toyota Camry and Acura Integra. In Britain, almost 1000 cars are stolen each day--360,000 stolen last year and only a 50% recovery rate. What's new is that security devices on new cars are making stealing them a very high-risk option for thieves. What with tracking devices, silent alarms, immobilization technologies and more, thieves are turning to older vehicles for reasons most car owners might not think about � the value of their parts is much greater than the value of the whole. In fact, if a typical auto were purchased part by part, the total cost could amount to anywhere from three to five times the cost of purchasing the car whole.
Auto thieves are resourceful, but you can protect your vehicle, says the Illinois-based National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). " Professional thieves can steal any car, but make them work for yours," the Bureau says. It recommends "Layered Protection" ranging from common sense precautions (such as not leaving your keys in the ignition and watching where you park) to basic anti-theft measures such as warning devices and steering wheel locks, and on to the latest in tracking devices and immobilization technology. "The number of layers your vehicle needs varies depending on your vehicle and geographic location," says the NICB. "Your budget and personal preferences should determine which anti-theft device is best for you." If you want to go the whole hog you might look at something like I-mob, a new system recently introduced in Europe (and heading for North America) which has just about every hi-tech protection conceivable in its arsenal. Using GSM-based cell-phone technology, i-mob enables two-way communication with the vehicle at all times. It includes GPS tracking so that the location of the vehicle can be called up at any time. It also allows the owner to immobilize the vehicle remotely if necessary, and to talk to occupants if that will help.
The latter feature could be critically important if the vehicle crashes. If this does happen, the i-mob system automatically dials up a preprogrammed emergency number � a possible life saver if the collision is serious.
If an i-mob-equipped vehicle is stolen the device picks up the movement and contacts the owner. It also covers some scenarios that are becoming increasingly frequent as life gets tougher for car thieves: carjackings, breaking into owners' houses and stealing keys, and even using a lifting device to scoop the vehicle right out of the owner's driveway.
With i-mob, car jacking victims have a concealed "panic button" at their disposal. Hit the button and i-mob automatically contacts a preprogrammed phone number on your behalf. Stolen car keys? -- i-mob calls you on your home phone number (or the monitoring center if you wish) as soon as the vehicle starts moving. If your car is being lifted or towed away, i-mob lets you know.
With this kind of technology in your vehicle there will obviously be other potential uses for it: the GPS feature can be linked to mapping and navigation, for example, or the tracking capability could be used to monitor vehicle use (monitor your teen's driving, perhaps?).
Of course I-mob isn't cheap. In the UK, the price, including installation and setting up personal codes, is 970 pounds (about U.S. $1,500). There are also some additional mobile phone use charges and an annual $55 fee to cover auto association charges if the vehicle needs to be retrieved.
However, the plus side includes possible insurance discounts in addition to the obvious security benefits the technology provides.
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