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Old 08-29-2014, 11:12 AM   #21
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Why not keep valuable items in the trunk of the tow vehicle? Lots of vehicles have alarms, locks etc.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:43 AM   #22
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Why not keep valuable items in the trunk of the tow vehicle? Lots of vehicles have alarms, locks etc.
Trunk?

I keep passports and such locked in the glove box. My cameras and laptop stay in an inconspicuous duffel bag in the back seat. For the most part, the trailer and it's contents will be locked, insured, and on their own. I'm not sure what a trailer safe would buy me.
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Old 08-29-2014, 12:27 PM   #23
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Sadly all this stuff does is slow people down or hopefully make them move onto a easier target. I must admit that it is the pasports that probalby concern me the most. The other stuff is just stuff that although a pain in the butt to replace can be replaced, being the wrong side of the border without a pasport is a real bad deal, not to mention the possibilities of what happens with it in the wrong hands.
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Old 08-29-2014, 01:31 PM   #24
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Trunk?
I keep passports and such locked in the glove box. My cameras and laptop stay in an inconspicuous duffel bag in the back seat. For the most part, the trailer and it's contents will be locked, insured, and on their own. I'm not sure what a trailer safe would buy me.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying here. Is the glove box more secure than the trunk? or is the inconspicuous duffel bag more secure than any of the above?
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Old 08-29-2014, 01:45 PM   #25
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I'm not quite sure what you're saying here. Is the glove box more secure than the trunk? or is the inconspicuous duffel bag more secure than any of the above?
No trunk on my Tacoma or in most tow vehicles, I would think.
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Old 08-29-2014, 01:52 PM   #26
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okay, is the glove box more secure than a duffel bag? I'm not arguing just wondering.
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Old 08-29-2014, 01:56 PM   #27
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If someone is going to somehow get the tows door open they most likely mean business.
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Old 08-29-2014, 03:30 PM   #28
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Trunk?

I keep passports and such locked in the glove box. .
Well a thief with a bit of spark plug insulator and screwdriver could probably have the passport in about 10 seconds. I'd rather go with a small hidden safe that would take a thief a lot longer to access.

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Old 08-29-2014, 03:36 PM   #29
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I'm not keen on having some twit break open my locked glove box. Probably cost more to fix than the contents are worth.
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Old 08-29-2014, 03:49 PM   #30
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A potential thief can only speculate about the contents of any enclosed compartment (they might break in to find nothing), while they are sure there is something in any visible container. That's an advantage, and the reason that police forces and insurance companies encourage people to put valuables away, such as in the trunk.

My hatchback cars have all had a removable cover over the area behind the seats. This isn't just for appearance, and it will clearly not prevent anyone from getting to cargo area contents once they are in the vehicle; it is there to hide any cargo so that thieves are not motivated to break into that vehicle to take what they can see.

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Trunk?

Many (okay, nearly all) of us tow with vehicles other than sedans or small hatchbacks, so we don't have a trunk or covered cargo area. On the other hand, there are usually small storage areas in which some things can be hidden... but rarely large enough for a laptop or SLR camera and gear. Maybe this is the best argument I've seen for towing with a Honda Ridgeline rather than more traditional pickups... it has that big enclosed box under the rear of the cargo floor.
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Old 08-29-2014, 03:57 PM   #31
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My hatchback cars have all had a removable cover over the area behind the seats. This isn't just for appearance, and it will clearly not prevent anyone from getting to cargo area contents once they are in the vehicle; it is there to hide any cargo so that thieves are not motivated to break into that vehicle to take what they can see.
That cover is the first thing I remove from the vehicle when I buy it. If it is closed, it is a sure-fire signal that there is something worth stealing underneath.
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Old 08-29-2014, 04:12 PM   #32
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but you still have your health
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Old 08-29-2014, 04:22 PM   #33
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That cover is the first thing I remove from the vehicle when I buy it. If it is closed, it is a sure-fire signal that there is something worth stealing underneath.
Really? Every trunk is closed, but they don't all have something in them. I have driven hundreds of thousands of kilometres in hatchbacks with the cover in place and nothing in the cargo area... for one thing, the stereo sounded better in some of our cars that way because the rear speaker backs were open to the cargo area.

I usually carry some stuff in my current hatchback - if only the reusable shopping bags - but don't use the cover, only because I usually have the dog crate in the car and the cover doesn't fit with the crate in there.

If you really don't have anything back there, it would be less tempting to a thief if the cover were left off, demonstrating that there is nothing there to take. On the same basis, I suppose that if one drives a sedan it should be parked with nothing in the trunk and the trunk lid left wide open.
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Old 08-29-2014, 06:43 PM   #34
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I'm betting more stuff has been stolen out of motor vehicles than all the RVs that have ever been on the road. A locked glove box is a sure sign "something" is in there. And a thief doesn't care how they get in. My 2000 Ford F-150 was broken into, they stuck a screwdriver in the door lock... and didn't get $30 worth of anything. Cost $518 to fix the lock (and electronics) and I had $500 deductible. I WAS NOT HAPPY
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Old 08-29-2014, 07:25 PM   #35
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A locked glove box is a sure sign "something" is in there. And a thief doesn't care how they get in. My 2000 Ford F-150 was broken into, they stuck a screwdriver in the door lock... and didn't get $30 worth of anything. Cost $518 to fix the lock (and electronics) ...
How does someone outside the car know the glovebox is locked?
If you mean that after they have already broken into the car, anything locked is a target for attack, then I agree. Don't lock it if it isn't actually worth protecting, but hide everything to reduce the chance that anyone breaks in at all.

We have a convertible and actually don't lock the doors at all - there's no point when the top is down, it invites getting the top slashed if the top is up... and the British door locks don't really work anyway. :
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Old 08-29-2014, 08:33 PM   #36
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How does someone outside the car know the glovebox is locked?
Duh Brian..

By the same token, if there's nothing visible that a thief would want, why even bother to lock the glove box if the vehicle is locked?
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Old 08-29-2014, 08:41 PM   #37
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I think it was my Ford Explorer that came with a valet key, so stuff in the trunk could be kept safe. Except, the vehicle had no trunk.
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Old 08-29-2014, 09:45 PM   #38
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Having spent 10 years as a cop (seems like a lifetime ago) I can tell you that the best way to prevent theft is to use some basic common sense -- like keeping doors locked when the vehicle is unattended, keeping the vehicle in plain sight, not leaving valuables in plain view -- nothing fancy. 9 times out of 10 when I responded to a theft call it turned out to be that the door of 'whatever' was left unlocked, or that valuables were left in plain sight, or there was some other easily preventable oversight.

I like safes and lock boxes - and I use them. But that doesn't mean I can leave my good judgement at home.
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Old 08-29-2014, 09:50 PM   #39
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Left the Ford Explorer unlocked one night. Next morning I could tell I'd been burgled because CDs were spread all over the driver seat and foot wells.
But, nothing was missing. My music was not to their taste.

And, one of our friends and neighbors never locks their house. They came home after a weekend away to find a DVD player on the entertainment center. They didn't own a DVD player.
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Old 08-29-2014, 10:00 PM   #40
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I think it was my Ford Explorer that came with a valet key, so stuff in the trunk could be kept safe. Except, the vehicle had no trunk.
Traditionally a valet key works the doors and ignition, so the valet can drive it, but not the trunk or glovebox, so they can't take things without breaking in. Did the Explorer have a lockable glovebox?

My van came with two regular (or master) keys and one valet key. The valet key works all the same locks, but it is not supposed to be possible to use it to make a copy... so it can more safely be entrusted to a valet. Do the Ford keys work that way?

Of course, the Ford arrangement coud just be stupid - it wouldn't be the first time :
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