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By Elizabeth M. Hachet

It’s seven-thirty-five in the morning, and you’re about ready to drive to work. You’ve checked your pocket for your car keys, you’ve checked your pocket for your wallet.

You glance at your watch, and realize it’s eight o’clock. You grab your hot cup of coffee and fly out the door to where you parked your car last night, wondering how fast you can legally go so you can make it to your destination on time. You pull the car keys from your pocket and look up.

Then you realize one thing: Your car is gone.

Car theft happens every day, and it can happen to anyone at any time. Before you think it can’t happen to you, look at these shocking statistics: The FBI Uniform Crime Reports show that a car is stolen every 26.4 seconds in the US; the odds of your car being stolen are 1 in 207 – which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is. Western states had the largest car theft ranking, placing the car theft ranks at 36.8% out of all the US state; the South placed second at a still shocking 34.6%.

In the year 2006, 1,192,809 cars were stolen, leaving most of them with the hope of never recovering their cars again. Only 12.6% were recovered by arrests in the year 2006.

There are a few things you can do to make sure your car isn’t one of the ones snatched, like keeping the car doors locked and making sure there are no valuables in sight. Just that alone is not enough, as thieves can easily break into your car. If you think buying an old car will keep you safe from those pesky thieves, you’re wrong: the most common cars stolen are usually the older models.

So what is the easiest solution?

There are no easy, quick-to-be seen solutions. There are some preventative measures you can take, though: Always lock your car doors, don’t keep any valuable items in your car, and if you have the opportunity, park your car in a garage instead of on the street.

But what if the car does get stolen? What then? Is there any hope?

Police are great at investigations and tracking down items, but not everything gets found. A great solution to look into is GPS anti theft device. When you place a GPS on your car it can be tracked online and you will have a much easier time recovering it. Although GPS is not a solve-all, it makes it much easier for the police to be able to track down your vehicle and it can help solve the crime.

There is a true, but embarrassing story about valet parking. A man gave his car keys to the valet parking staff and asked them to park his car. When the man came back the next morning, his car was gone. The worst part was that it wasn’t even his car; it was his mother’s car. The valet staff searched all over the parking lot to no avail. The police searched for it as well, roaming the streets. When it was finally found a year later, the police came to this shocking conclusion: it was in the parking garage the whole time, much to everyone’s disbelief. If the man had put a GPS anti theft device on his car the entire incident could have most likely been avoided.

GPS is a great way to help solve auto theft. It can also deter a theft before it even happens. Furthermore, it will help the police track down your vehicle much faster because you will be able to track it’s every move from your computer. The reality is that many people become victims of auto theft, but few recover their vehicle in the same condition it was in, if at all due to the time lapse during the investigation and recovery period.