GPS owners beware-theft is on the rise !!!!!

[V6 LVR]

Something as innocent as the mark of a suction cup on the windshield is the give away and often enough reason for the bastards to vandalize/break into your cars looking for your hidden Garmin/Tomtoms. It even made the papers here. They suggest cleaning the suction cup well to avoid leaving signs or marks. Also the empty GPS holder will draw attention. Lets protect our property the best we can!

[reprod]

What part of Florida? My parents live in Poinciana/Kissimmee area and they said that all this criminal activity is on the rise.

I live in Brooklyn, NY and it seems like our crime rates are actually giong down. Housing rates keep on going up and people from up here are moving down South because cost of living is cheaper. This could be partially attributed to the rising crime rates.

I just hope they dont start going after in dash OEM units.

[smeg]

I had my Garmin GPS stolen out of my wifes car (xB) in Burlington, MA. Stupidly, we had left it on the mount, as we were sitting in our office parking lot, and they have security cameras.

Fat lot of good security camera's do when your car is inbetween two monster SUVs. They poked through the window and nabbed it, the mount and the cable. Nothing else.

A security precaution we had taken, and everyone should take, make sure the "Home" button is NOT your actual house. Ours is the end of our street (accidentially, we're on a new development thats not in the maps yet).

Think it through - we had a garage door opener in there, that fortunately they hadn't taken. If they had, they could hit "Home" and let themselves in. Fortunately, even if they go "Home" now, they will have their choice of dozens of homes to try the opener on, as it only works on the drive.

[MrSo0h0o]

i hate hearing this rise in crime.. it always makes me wonder what makes someone stoop so low as to steal from another human being and not feel guilty about it.

[reprod]

^^^ Yeah I cant stand. I had to grow up with it as a kid. I grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. I had so many encounters with these idiots that I lost all patience for it.

I leave nothing visible in my car. I installed tint and I dont do any exterior mods except for rims. Anytime I am approaching home, I turn down my music, park and turn off my HIDs pretty quick. The best way is to not attract attention to yourself.

Sorry about the NAV and setting home to somewhere in your area is definetely the right thing to do.

[MrSo0h0o]

reprod, where in ny do u live now? im in queens-bayside/whitestone area

[Gellenole]

doh imma take it off of my car now =/ since i have the suction cup on the window. thanks for the heads up.

[pradeep_g]

Hope none of this is happening in South Central.

[reprod]

MrSo0h0o>> I still live in East New York, Brooklyn. Not too far from the Belt and N/S Conduit.

[desentrix]

You ought to be mindful of other people in general... There was an occurance where someone had their apartment broken into, some electronics and a safe (or lockbox?) stolen. Guy thought everything was fine. A couple days later, his car got stolen. Guess why--- his spare keys were in that safe.

[thapranksta]

That's a damn shame. I have an aftermarket in-dash unit and my windows are tinted. My GPS antenna is very visible on the dash in my front windshield. I like Florida a lot. I hope my next vacation isn't ruined.

[07XLE]

I had one stolen from our rental car when we stayed overnight in Philly last month, I'm sure it didn't help that the rental car had Maryland tags. The scumbags even stole my wife's bottle of perfume and my infant daughters stuffed aminal we hadn't even had a chance to give to her. Oh well, could have been worse, they could have taken my daughters car seat or worse yet the entire vehicle.

[reprod]

^^^ I drove out to Philly a few months ago. I wanted to park and do some site-seeing but everytime I thought about parking I always had people eyeing my car and since I grew up in all this stuff I know how to read body language. I refused to park anywhere where there wasnt surveillance. I just paid to park in a parking lot.

I am sure all of Philly isnt like this though just like how all of Brooklyn isnt bad. Locals always know when someone isnt from around the area. There is a difference between NYers and Philly'ers

[onsknht]

Originally Posted by smeg

A security precaution we had taken, and everyone should take, make sure the "Home" button is NOT your actual house.

FWIW - That's what the PIN option is for on these units, good ones will make you add a PIN to your home address, others you may need to activate it... That way if you get car jacked or someone steals your stuff they can't get "home" unless they know the PIN.

[w203]

Its common sense not to leave anything value or anything you want stolen out in the open.....

There will always be theft.