Any tips on how to prevent vehicle theft?

[EagleRaptor]

In Texas where I live vehicle theft is out of control for late model trucks especially. (18,000+ vehicles in Dallas County 2023). Similar in Houston in Austin. I have known 5 people in the last year+ that have had their vehicles stolen( 2 F250s, F150, Sierra, Ram). The police are generally of no help and the trucks are in Mexico or a shop before they even come out for a report.

Mine has been broken into 3x already, but fortunately not stolen. I live in a relatively nice area and always garage it at home. I am also carrying too if I catch someone in the process, however its still left in parking lots of hotels, gyms, stores etc.. And they steal them in 1-2 mins

Are there some fuses I can pull when leaving overnight in a hotel for example? Or some aftermarket solutions for ford trucks I should look into? My gen 2 is in excellent shape, and I really dont want to have to replace it with the ever increasing MSRPs

Thanks for any tips

 

[jdholder]

Ravelco

 

[EagleRaptor]

Ravelco

Thanks, looks promising.

 

[MurderedOutSVT]

C4

 

[GCATX]

Get max insurance and sleep well. It seem that insurance is actually cheaper when you have max limits.

 

[EagleRaptor]

Get max insurance and sleep well. It seem that insurance is actually cheaper when you have max limits.

I am a firm believer in this as well, I have good coverage and low deductibles. However Insurance would probably pay out only around $40k give or take for mine, so I'd have a hard time finding one in similar condition at that price. SO trying to avoid if I can

 

[Zeusmotorworks]

Would be surprised how few vehicles are broken into in HEAVY foot traffic areas. Knock on wood, I'm more selective about how visible a parking spot is than how unlikely I'm to get a ding or scratch. Has served me well. Harder to steal something when people are trying to push you out of the way to get by.

 

[BBR]

Would be surprised how few vehicles are broken into in HEAVY foot traffic areas. Knock on wood, I'm more selective about how visible a parking spot is than how unlikely I'm to get a ding or scratch. Has served me well. Harder to steal something when people are trying to push you out of the way to get by.

^This has been my experience as well.

Another vote for ravelco too.

 

[EagleRaptor]

Would be surprised how few vehicles are broken into in HEAVY foot traffic areas. Knock on wood, I'm more selective about how visible a parking spot is than how unlikely I'm to get a ding or scratch. Has served me well. Harder to steal something when people are trying to push you out of the way to get by.

This is good advice. The 3x mine was broken into ( all 3 broken glass), they were not high traffic areas. Hotel, City park, Downtown parking garage FWIW

 

[smurfslayer]

For vehicle _theft_ the casual thief isn’t going to have access to tools necessary to boost a late Model Raptor with the fancy electronic key fobs. Now, the well funded; aka, cartel backed thief will, but we’ll come back to that.

The real issue is how easy the F series trucks from about ’10 - ’22 are to break into. Literally, pull the driver’s door handle, twist the lock cylinder with a pair of channel locks, and you’re in. It takes literally less than 5 seconds if you don’t know what you’re doing. Under 2 if you’re practiced. There are a few prevention measures you can employ to prevent this stuff
- disconnect the lock cylinder
- shield the lock cylinder
- block the mechanism with shields.

all of these have some sort of drawback. There’s no benefit to busting the glass on an F series because they’re so easy to bust into via the door handle. But, you can get security coating instead of tint that adds some very challenging film to overcome with the typical glass breaker. They can still drill through and try to boost with a wire, but that’s a bit more time consuming.

Nobody pays attention to alarms, but, with a good set of rear facing lights - we’re talking squadron pros - something that will really **** off drivers behind them, you can up fitter wire them and leave the up fitter on when you leave the truck. Most thieves won’t look.

Alarm and tracker. bonus with remote disable.

Anywhere Austin and southward is at risk of a cartel bounty. You’re only a few hours from Mexico and Urban TX police departments do only this for stolen vehicles:
1) what’s your vehicle info
2) here’s your case number, call your insurance.

that’s it. Sure the VIN is now in the stolen database, but they’ve got tags to use to get them past casual observers.

Now, if you want this kind of shít to slow down some, the next time you catch a cop running stationary radar, film them. Post it to the web and then hit up some local news sites. “How many vehicles were stolen while this clown is making the world safe for terrorists”? Because that’s exactly what they’re doing. About a year ago a buddy of mine got his car broken into, and luggage stolen right in front of 3 or 4 SAPD sitting on their áss outside a bar. Couldn’t have been ... 25 yards from the crime, with direct view. He had literally just returned from overseas, hadn’t even been home yet, they busted his window, popped the lock and grabbed his bags. SAPD has just given up. If it’s stolen, too bad, so sad. I’ve seen other urban PD’s around S/A do similar and THIS is why you’re paying 25% more on insurance. There is literally no disincentive.

So long as there is a bounty on trucks and the urban PD’s aren’t actually doing a thing about it, this trend will get worse.
Start being vocal about insurance, and vehicle theft to your local .gov. Regularly.