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Reply ID 87851

The advice for a long time has been not to leave car keys near the front door. Manily so that they can't be pulled through the letter box but also judging by this if they force the door it is best if they are not too handy!

Reply ID 87872

Depending on what car you have, the advice can be to leave your keys by the front door, not so they can be grabbed through the letterbox but near enough that if they break in, they can get them. If it is a 'desirable'* car then they can break in specifically for the keys. If you keep them too well hidden, the thieves may take the easy option and wake you up and threaten you/your family for their whereabouts. Sorry to hear of another burglary, it would devastate me. Not just the theft but the intrusion as well. *definition of desirable is up for debate but I doubt anyone will break in just for an old mondeo (which I have, bless)

Reply ID 87875

I heard that most of these types of thefts are where the car is on a driveway so it is obvious that the keys are inside the house where the car is parked. Cars parked on the street could belong to someone from any number of properties......so a thief targeting a specific vehicle will naturally not want to break into numerous properties in search of the keys.

Reply ID 87876

This is terrible to hear. Thank goodness I have an undesirable car!

Reply ID 87877

hmm i wonder if that makes sense to make the keys "available"-ish. As long as ur insurance company doesnt realise you should be ok - because if you have a desirable car then you'll also have a tracker, so it'll be easy to get it back. Given the perceived risk of violence if they break in and wake u up, it seems a reasonable solution! perhaps another solution is better doors and alarms!

Reply ID 87878

quote:

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Originally posted by Kateg28
Depending on what car you have, the advice can be to leave your keys by the front door, not so they can be grabbed through the letterbox but near enough that if they break in, they can get them. If it is a 'desirable'* car then they can break in specifically for the keys. If you keep them too well hidden, the thieves may take the easy option and wake you up and threaten you/your family for their whereabouts.

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Reply ID 87879

As I said, the advice 'can' be to leave your keys by the front door, easy for a thief to grab. If it is a general burglary I would think it is better to hide the keys, then they will ignore the car and just get in and out but if you have a desirable car (and by that I would mean the c.75k plus cars ) then they are often stolen to order and they WILL get those keys. Either by easy reach or by waking the family. I know which one I would prefer. The easy alternative is just to have a completely undesirable car then no one is interested at all.

Reply ID 87948

If you can afford a 75k car, you can afford a burglar alarm.

Reply ID 87955

And a garage and a large dog and a nice pair of 12 gauge shotguns.

Reply ID 88116

I've been burgled twice. All they got was my CD player and all my music. Which meant a lot to me but was worth almost nothing financially. Poor bastards must have had trouble selling my obscure recordings. The police said they couldn't do anything. I found out who did it though. Since then I've found that being skint and letting the house go to pieces has been an excellent deterrent. It's quite possible that I've been burgled and haven't noticed. They may have had to have counselling to deal with the disappointment.