When you’re on a long road trip, your car is almost like your home: you spend many hours in there, you eat and store your belongings there, which means you have to take special care for your safety, bearing in mind that you’ll be outdoors and visiting places you don’t frequent.
These are some tips to take into account for your next road trip to avoid inconveniences with your safety.
Keep and hide your things before arriving at your destination: This way you will avoid being seen and attract attention when you are getting out of the vehicle.
Be careful before unloading things from the car: If you spend several days in a parking lot and you have a routine in which you ride or take things out of the car, it won’t be long before someone notices, be discreet and try to go unnoticed.
Choose your parking place well and if you have doubts, use a garage: If you don’t find a place that seems safe to you, opt for a garage, it is preferable to pay a little rather than take an unnecessary risk.
Don’t leave things in plain sight: There are things that you should always have in the car, like tools, Emergency Kits or Roadside Assistance, and you may also want to keep some of your personal belongings, if any, you should make sure to hide them well, so that they are not easily seen from outside the car, and not leave them covered with bedspreads or things that attract attention.
As soon as you get back in the car, make sure everything is in order: If your car does get ripped off, you want to figure it out at or near the location it was robbed, in case you have to file a complaint. When surveying your vehicle, keep in mind that thieves know what to take – often items you won’t notice until you are long gone. For example, a common tactic is to take a camera out of a camera bag, but leave the bag behind; it looks like it was undisturbed so you won’t figure it out for hours or days.
It’s important you also remember to go through all the required road security checks before you take the road, you can see the most important here.