One of the most worrying trends for car drivers in recent years has been the staggering rise in the number of Sat Nav thefts. If you now find that you rely on one of these to get you anywhere you are going then you certainly won’t want to return to your car one day and find it gone. Even worse is the fact that your window will have been smashed in order for the criminal to have got hold of it.
Of course, as more of us have these useful devices so more thefts are likely to happen. After all, unscrupulous are always on the lookout for any sign of these tasty pieces of equipment being left unattended. Thankfully there are a few things you can do about it though, and here are a few of the best and simplest ones.
Be Careful Where You Leave It
When you get to your destination do you just leave your Sat Nav in full view of anyone who passes by? This isn’t a great idea, is it? If it is portable enough – and you have a big enough bag – you should think about taking it with you when you are locking up the car. Otherwise you could hide it out of sight in a place where a thief wouldn’t immediately think of looking; this means not in the glove box. You should also be wary of leaving anything else in view which would let people know that you use a Sat Nav in the car. This means tucking away cables, cleaning the sucker markers on the windscreen and not leaving out anything else which could give the game away. Even the film of condensation which can build up between the device and the windscreen can let a criminal know that you used a Sat Nav to get there.
Take the Usual Precautions
There is also the possibility that someone breaks into your car and then discovers your machine by accident. Perhaps they saw your car stereo or a bag sitting there inviting them to force the door open. Or maybe they didn’t need to force the door because you had left it open anyway. You need to take the sensible precautions which you always take when leaving your car on its own while you go away and do something. The first one is to choose your parking space well. Somewhere well lit and secure is best, and if you do this you will feel a lot happier about leaving it.
Use a Safe
One solution which you could look at is that offered by a small but sturdy safe fixed within the car. This gives you the double protection of putting your Sat Nav somewhere out of view and also leaving it in a box which thieves won’t be able to open or take away with them even if they find it. These don’t cost much money and could be a decent long term solution to the question of what to do with the device when you are leaving the car behind somewhere.