Did you know that the comprehensive portion of your auto insurance policy covers the theft of your car? Remember though - what the big print giveth, the fine print taketh away.
Did you know
that the comprehensive portion of your auto insurance policy covers
the theft of your car? Remember though - what the big print giveth,
the fine print taketh away. This usually means escape clauses written
into a policy that don't require the company to pay if the auto theft
can be blamed, even in part, on the vehicle owner's negligence.
Assuming that
you have spent the few extra dollars to include comprehensive
protection and read the policy thoroughly, we will look at other
means to stop auto theft.
It may be a few
years old, the paint could use a rubbing out and the chrome isn't all
that bright, but it is your car and you don't want anyone messing
with it; let alone stealing it! There are a variety of tools used, to
frustrate a thief's attempts at auto theft, but thieves can be quite
inventive and persistent. There are gadgets and measures of a more
basic type, from the "Club" to wheel boots.
An automobile
is in fact very easy to protect from auto theft, if you know anything
about them. A car's engine needs several things, in order to run:
primarily air, fuel, ignition spark and compression. If the engine
will not run, it is unlikely that the thief will call a tow truck. He
will just move on to easier pickings.
Cutting off the
air to an engine is impractical and tough to cover up. There is
nothing you can do to affect the compression which is created by
internal engine parts. That does leave ignition spark and the fuel.
These two are quite enough to stop auto theft, whether you use both
or even just one of them.
Whatever method
you choose, it must be easily done and not easily observable. Your
efforts to protect your car will come to nothing if the thief just
undoes it after you leave your car. Let us first explore the fuel
delivery system.
In most
vehicles gasoline is moved from the fuel tank (usually in the rear of
a car) to the engine, by way of a steel fuel line, that runs the
length of the car. A simple valve can be plumbed into this fuel line
at any point along its length. If the handle of such a valve were on
the inside of the car; let's say in the driver's area, hidden by the
carpet; the fuel could easily be turned off without anyone noticing.
In a modern
fuel-injected automobile, interrupting the flow of gasoline will
allow the engine to turn over, but not start; not even a "pop".
Under the carpet is just one location, for a cutoff valve, which can
effectively stop auto theft, from inside the trunk or under the hood.
The next method
involves cutting off electrical power to the car's starting or
ignition system. A simple, single pole, toggle switch, wired into the
low voltage side of the starting or ignition system can prevent auto
theft by either not allowing the engine to turn over or if it turns
over, not permitting the ignition to be activated. A switch of this
type is easily hidden within the driver's reach, inside of the car's
passenger compartment.
Lastly a quick
disconnect can be placed in the engine compartment that isolates the
battery from the rest of the system and the engine won't even turn
over. If no other deterrent is put in place and the car must be
disabled simply swap the coil to distributor cap lead (mostly on
older cars) with any other ignition wire, just the cap ends of both.
This will look like normal ignition wiring but your car will not
start until the wires are put back in their correct places.
Over 3,000 cars
are stolen every day; let's hope that one or several of these little
tricks, used together, every time you leave your car, will keep you
from being the victim of auto theft.
Article Source: http://www.compensationsecrets.co.uk/.
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