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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Is A Steering Wheel Lock Worth it?

By Lowden Clarke


The common steering wheel lock; a fantastically cumbersome, spectacularly ugly thing that pretty much smashes through the car window with its presence while you walk besides it in the streets, looking to it's overprotective owner.

You can picture him, the 70 year old guy who nosily peeks behind the curtains to see what the next door neighbours are doing with the trash. It's quite a dull subject, but we thing the humble steering wheel lock is worthy of your attention.

But why? Well because people want to protect their cars. Did you know that in the USA, nearly $9 Billion's worth of vehicles were stolen last year?! To put that into perspective, if car theft was a business, it would be on a par with MacDonald's in terms of revenue!

In the United Kingdom, 50 cars are stolen every minute! That's nearly one every second! So it's worth taken a little time out to consider how we can protect our vehicles.

If you're thinking "But my car is only worth a few hundred dollars", then think again. Criminals can actually get nearly 4 times more cash from taking the car apart and selling on the parts than they can with it as a whole.

Consequently we have to do our very best prevent our vehicle becoming such an appealing opportunity for thieves.

We need to start taking the common steering wheel lock a little more seriously and consider its role in your arsenal of anti theft car devices.

The Deterrent Factor

How many times have you heard someone tell you that if a thief really wants your car, they'll take it? Well there may be some truth to that, but it doesn't mean a lock isn't a good idea.

That's not really the issue though. A thief is making constant judgements over whether breaking into a car is worth the time and effort and ultimately risk of going to jail.

If a car thief sees a steering wheel lock on your car, they may very well be able to overcome it. But why would they bother? If you were a criminal, surely you'd rather walk a couple of paces past it and steal the car without a lock on it.

A Financial No Brainer

I hated mathematics as a kid, however I m definitely slowly coming round. Part of that is because of listening to obscure probabilities and admiring the people who work the whole thing out. For instance the probability of any man between 24 and 45yrs old never having had a sexual partner is just 2.8%. I blather.

So let's apply some mathematics to the question of whether you should invest in a steering wheel lock or not. The average price tag on a new car is just over $30,000. With a decent steering wheel lock costing around $60, you can protect your car for roughly 0.19% of its cost!

To add to the allure of a good steering wheel lock, many insurance companies will actually offer discounts for those using anti theft car devices such as these.

So to answer your question, yes, I regularly use a steering wheel lock.




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