Do People Steal Dash Cams? The short answer is yes, it can and does happen. Thieves will take what is readily available and they will act upon an easy target. So, yes, there is always a possibility of someone stealing your dash cam or anything in your car that is readily visible.
I’m sure this is pretty obvious, but it is common sense to not leave your car unattended or unlocked at any point, period. However, you can protect your vehicle from such incidents and we do have certain things steps that you can try out to better protect yourself.
Let us look at a few things you should do to take care of the possessions inside your car from being stolen.
Do People Steal Dash Cams?
Like we mentioned earlier, there is a high possibility that the stealing of a dash cam can happen1. Dash cams can be expensive and even if your dash cam costs a lesser sum of money, it is still valuable and can easily be stolen and resold.
There are instances when the thief stole the camera with the intention to destroy it. Since Dash Cams record evidence of accidents or activity around the vehicle, the thief might want to get rid of the evidence and steal the Dash Cam to make sure there is little to no evidence. However, there isn’t anything to worry about if you are careful enough and take necessary precautions. Here are a few things you can do.
Ways to keep your Dash Cam Safe
You can finally look at the multiple ways and methods to try out with your vehicle to keep the dash cam safe. Make sure to read and go through them. It might take a little extra effort but in the end, it will save you money and your dash camera.
1. Get a Small Dash Cam
The first aspect to protect the dash camera is by simply buying a smaller Dash Cam that has all the features. Yes, it might cost a little more than regular dash cameras, but the often work just as good as any. Using a small portable dash camera will keep it away from the prying eyes of the thief and might not be the first thing they see.
Additionally, you can install a small rear camera on the back of the car as well that may help to record any additional suspicious behavior or capture them coming from the back of the vehicle and give you some additional video evidence.
2. Car Alarm System
Many vehicles already do have a car alarm system where any movement or suspicious activity might trigger the car alarm. You will be notified about the activity with a loud alarm and even some newer systems will send an alarm immediately on your smartphones. Moreover, upon hearing the loud attention drawing noise, the thieves might get scared and leave your car.
You might be thinking what if the thief is more professional and knows how to deactivate the alarm system. In such cases, even the overall process might take a few more minutes and the hope is that it will buy you enough time to take some sort of an action.
The entire alarm system isn’t only for those trying to steal the Dash Cam but also to save your car from being stolen in general. It does happen a lot especially in severe crime zones or areas and you might want to install an alarm system.
3. Use the Dash Cam Footage Itself
It might sound a little too obvious, remember one of the handy features called parking mode. Before your camera is being stolen, the Dash Cam with parking mode feature can start recording the thief in the process of breaking into your vehicle.
This type of dash cams are designed to make use of a battery backup and record footage during any impact whether small or big. Some of the more expensive ones can automatically upload the footage to the cloud or even send it to your smartphone, for immediate viewing.
4. Mount the Camera Properly
Again another simple and self evident tactic is to not store the camera in plain site. If the camera is in plain sight, it is more likely to draw the attention of anyone walking by.
Keeping with the local laws and rules in mind, you can mount the dash cam a little more hidden say behind the mirror on the windshield or closer to the dashboard. While you cannot completely hide it away but taking such things into consideration might help out.
5. Manage the Cables
Cables are often use to connect and set up the dash cam. Regardless if it is on the rear or the front of the car, take care of the cables and make the cable(s) stay hidden with proper strips installed or tucking them into various part of the vehicle. Take care that no wires are left hanging and all are properly placed.
Is it safe to leave dash cam in the car?
When we talk about whether or not an item can get stolen from the car it mostly is about what happens during the night. Yes, that is not to say thefts don’t happen during the day but the thefts during the night are more common. Well, as we had mentioned, the dash cam itself acts as a security camera and can be used to capture theft as well.
To make the decision on whether you should or should not leave the Dash Cam at night in your car depends solely on the Parking Mode feature of your dash cam. Simply, if you have the parking mode feature you can keep it in the vehicle with fewer doubts or else it is better to take into the house with you at the end of the day or make sure you have a security camera overlooking the area where you park our vehicle. The reason being that Dash Cams can easily record all the footage 24 hours a day with loop recording in action.
Even if the engines are off, the camera makes use of the battery to record footage when the motion senor is detected. Any sufficient impact on the car or collision while the car is parked can alarm the camera and the recording will start immediately. The recording is then saved and if your dash cam has wifi or internet connectivity, the footage on your phone will be transferred to the cloud or to your mobile device.
Final Verdict on Do People Steal Dash Cams
Hopefully, these few simple steps might keep your camera from being stolen. I personally use all of them and so far, they have worked out pretty well.
Other than the ones we have mentioned above, never ever leave out your keys or leave the car unlocked even for a while as you never know who might make the most of the opportunity.