Jan 1st, 2010 by Ross Edwards
While you’re recovering from last night’s celebration, take a few seconds to make sure you remembered to lock your car. New Year’s day is the number one holiday for car thefts.
Autoblog speculates that the jump in car thefts on New Year’s comes from the almost universal intoxication of celebrators. That makes sense, considering that Labor Day and Halloween round out the top three, and all of those holidays are big partying nights. It’s not hard to imagine people forgetting to take their keys out of the ignition after a long night of partying.
AOL Autos has a list of tips that can help you keep yourself from being a victim of car theft. Most are pretty obvious (but easily overlooked) like not leaving your keys in the car while it’s running or never hiding a spare key in or on your car.
Another great tip for preventing car theft is to disconnect your battery if you leave your car somewhere for a long time. You might get funny looks in the airport parking lot, but car thieves are in a rush and most won’t hang around long enough to check out why the car isn’t starting.
Don’t think that just because you drive a jalopy you’re safe from theft. Most car thieves aren’t like the “Gone in 60 Seconds” type who steal Bentleys for wealthy foreigners. Most stolen cars end up stripped and sold in pieces, and the most stolen car in 2008 was the 1994 Honda Accord.
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