Would you leave £300 in cash in your car overnight?

PaulB2005

I went away for the weekend and was amazed by the number of sat nav / camera detectors left on open view in cars in the hotel car park.

My Garmin i3 only cost £90 but i treat it like cash. It never stays in the car when I'm not there and certainly not on view.

I note that a lot of thefts listed here seem to be where the owner had left it in the car overnight or in a glove compartment. My question is this. If you had the cash value of your sat nav in ten pound notes, would have left that in your car? Even in the glove compartment. I'll bet most answers would be "No", so why leave hundreds of pounds worth of electrical goods? It annoys me a bit when people whine on about PIN Numbers and codes to lock the Sat Nav in the event of theft, but why add features that can add to the cost of the device when you can just remove it from the vehicle for free?

sherman · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:35 am Post subject:

well paul Im with you on this one.
some people are just plain stupid
and they are inviting the thief bet they leave their
christmas pressies on show also :D

Border_Collie · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:57 pm Post subject:

I was in a garage the other day, filling up, when I noticed the car at the next pump, with windows open and a Sat Nav stuck on the screen on the right hand side of the dash and the owner inside waiting in a queue to pay for his fuel. It would have taken me about 2 seconds to have a nice all in one TomTom.
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sherman · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject:

these morons just ask for trouble Stupid

Shiftcontrol · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 14, 2003 Posts: 26

Couldn't agree more.If you leave the mount in the car the scum bags will think HaHa GPS likely to be in glove box/under drivers seat.In the final limit we all pay in increased insurance premiums.

eddie986 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 26, 2005 Posts: 10

I had side windows put through on car after removing my satnav & mount, stereo etc from car. Didn't realise but faint ring left on windscreen from mount suction cup.
So clean windscreen
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lupos0_1 · Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject:

My god, you are all sympathetic aren't you. I bet nobody on this thread has ever left anything in their car (bag, coat, mobile and yes, sat nav).

To call people stupid because they have had their satnav stolen is outragious. I agree, people should be more careful with what is on view (or in the glove box) but consider the following:

When you leave the car do you follow this every time?

1. Turn off unit.
2. Take unit off mount & in bag / pocket
3. Take mount off window
4. Clean window
5. Empty glovebox and leave open (just in case)
6. Check under seat (you may have dropped 15p and will still get your window smashed)
7. Empty boot & leave note in the window to make sure everyone knows that the boot is empty.

And then, after you have got some petrol (only £2.00 worth mind as it is 1p cheaper three miles down the road) you have to put everything back again.

Rolling Eyes

You guys preach perfect practice yet I wonder how many follow the above steps.

I for one, always remove my satnav from the car. Yet I leave the suction mound in place. Guess I have been lucky so far??

Rant over 8O
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RDS · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2006 Posts: 242

Stupid possibly not, however ignoring all advice to the contrary is just plain foolish.

In my opinion anybody who leaves a GPS unit or mount on show when leaving their vehicle is, I'm afraid, asking for trouble.

I know it's a pretty poor reflection on the society we live in but unfortunately the current price for owning a satnav is the pain of having to always remove any trace of it when vacating your car.

As it can take less time to steal a satnav than to dismantle and pack one away the only safe advice is to always take your sat nav with you, no matter how short a time you're going to be away from your vehicle. If you don't someone else may well do.

lupos0_1 · Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:01 pm Post subject:

triafgg · Lifetime Member Joined: Sep 28, 2006 Posts: 1

I agree lupos0_1

I always remove anything from the car, even empty carrier bags, boxes etc to deter anyone breaking in just to have a look. BUT, one day I just forgot and left my Mio in the cradle outside the front door of PC World on a Sunday afternoon. The window was smashed and the Mio gone. I do not regard myself as stupid, or deserving to lose my device to an unemployed scumbag, I just simply forgot, which is something we all do from time to time.

FazerUK · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:36 am Post subject:

unemployed scumbag, is not nice, being from Liverpool I know loads that are scumbag, that steal and work also.
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lupos0_1 · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:38 pm Post subject:

nicchil · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 10, 2006 Posts: 20

Well I clear out the inside of my car, and got my side window smashed a few years ago one evening whilst in town - they did it to pinch the spare wheel, and was told this is quite common!!

That said I once did leave my mobile on the seat next to me (before I got a mount for it) overnight and it was still okay in the morning - was searching all over the house and then decided had to set off to work and lo' behold its there on the seat! Which is amazing since we often get scumbags walking down our street on the way home from the pub or just out to no good since we are between town centre and where they live.

Sorry to hear about it triafgg, but as you say it can just be dumb luck. Human nature often means no matter how diligent you normally are there will be times you are less so. All we can do is take as many precautions as possible and use common sense.

I went to a business launch in January just outside the town centre - the co-owners sister (a solicitor from Manchester) came and left her laptop on the passenger seat of her car that she'd parked in the dimly-lit street round the corner. It was stolen when she returned and those of us left at the party consoled her (though I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking she'd been stupid to leave it on display - that may be okay in her out-of-town suburb or monitored company-carpark, but not an innercity street!).

Its probably not fair to be unkind to people's misfortune, but often they may not believe it was their naivety. I learnt that no matter how clean you leave the inside of a car - if you park in a dimly lit secluded area, they may still take your wheel (I may be willing to carry all my electronics with me but taking the spare wheel isn't feasible)

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