Careful Where You Park

Careful where you park! Statistics show a vehicle is stolen every 26.4 seconds in the U.S.  At least Eugene / Springfield isn’t that bad, however we are the car theft capital for Oregon and a vehicle is stolen every hour. In 2007 13,895 vehicles were stolen in Oregon with approximately ten arrests for every 100 thefts. With gas prices escalating, often the vehicle is simply stolen for a four wheel can of gas and will be found abandoned wherever they run out of fuel. The most likely vehicle to be stolen has been certain years of Honda Civic, Accord and Toyota Camry.

Not only are thieves stealing copper wiring and plumbing from vacant houses these days, they are now stealing the catalytic converters off cars parked on the street. Recently we have had many customers cars towed in with their vehicles catalytic converter sawn off. A used converter stolen from your vehicle can net a thief anywhere from $65.00 to several hundred dollars from scrap iron dealers. Replacement costs are anywhere between a couple hundred dollars up to a thousand or more on some more expensive vehicles.

California is currently trying to pass a law where a person selling scrap iron would have to have a thumb print taken before they could sell scrap iron. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

Park in well lit areas and use motion sensors on your house lights to help deter a thief. They will likely try an easier target if they have to try and work in a well lighted area.  A good quality steering wheel lock is also a good deterent against theft.

You know what they say about a pound of prevention …………………….

Mike