Did you know that California reportedly has the highest rate of car theft in the US? It may come as little surprise, but it can make it more difficult to find cheap California insurance. Thieves are driving up premiums by driving other people’s cars. Here are some things you can do to help put an end to California’s reign as the car theft capital of America.

There are two types of thieves to look out for – opportunistic thieves and professional thieves. Professional thieves generally use more sophisticated methods for stealing a car, and often strip stolen cars and sell their parts. Opportunistic thieves look for easy targets, whether they are cars with limited security systems, or cars made vulnerable due to their owners’ carelessness.

Preventing opportunistic theft requires little more than common sense. Never leave an unlocked or idling car unattended, never leave valuables in your car, and always try to park in well-lit, public areas.

Preventing premeditated theft is more of a challenge. It might help if you had state-of-the-art security devices such as immobilizers, and alarms that page you directly as soon as they go off. Speak to a security professional about how to best limit a thief’s ability to hot-wire your car.

There were 152,524 vehicles stolen in California in 2010, according to the Insurance Information Institute, so if you want to stop yourself being one of these statistics and get cheap California insurance, make sure you do your best to theft-proof your vehicle.

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