There are various methods of prevention to reduce the likelihood of a vehicle getting stolen. These include physical barriers, which make the effort of stealing the vehicle more difficult. Some of these include:
-
Devices used to lock a part of the vehicle necessary in its operation, such as the steering wheel or brake pedal. A popular steering wheel lock is The Club.
-
Immobilisers, allowing the vehicle to start only if a key containing the correct chip is present in the ignition.
Chances of theft can also be reduced with various deterrents, which give the impression to the thief that s/he is more likely to get caught if the vehicle is stolen. These include:
-
Car alarm systems that are triggered if a breaking and entry into the vehicle occurs
-
microdot identification tags which allow individual parts of a vehicle to be identified
-
Killswitch circuits are designed to frustrate or slow down the efforts of a determined car thief. Killswitches are often located between crucial parts of the starting system, between the battery source and the coil, or the fuel pump. A car cannot start without first flipping these killswitches to closed position. Savvy car owners hide these killswitches in obscured areas, under the dashboard, beneath the seat, behind a chair, etc.
-
Signage on windows warning of the presence of other deterrents, sometimes in absence of the actual deterrents.
-
VIN etching
Recovery of stolen vehicles
Recovery rates for stolen vehicles vary, depending on the effort a jurisdiction's police department puts into recovery, and devices a vehicle has installed to assist in the process.
Police departments use various methods of recovering stolen vehicles, such as random checks of vehicles that come in front of a patrol unit, checks of all vehicles parked along a street or within a parking lot, or keeping a watchlist of all the vehicles reported stolen by their owners. Police departments also receive tips on the location of stolen vehicles through StolenCar.com or TWOC.co.uk in the United Kingdom.
In the UK, the DVLA provides information on the registration of vehicles to certain companies for consumer protection and anti-fraud purposes. The information may be added to by companies with details from the police, finance and insurance companies. Such companies are able to provide a car check online service for the public and motor trade.[1]
Vehicle tracking systems, such as LoJack, Automatic vehicle location, or Onstar may enable the location of the vehicle to be tracked by local law enforcement or a private company. Other security devices such as DotGuard microdots allow individual parts of a vehicle to also be identified and potentially returned.
All text of this article available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).