Crime Alert: Car Theft
 

A 2007 guidebook on Spain (not Fodor's) notes that when driving south into Andalusia and the Costa del Sol, and especially in Seville, Cordoba and Granada, that it's not unusual for a car to be broken into while tourists are enjoying lunch in a restaurant.

We will take all the regular precautions, i.e. no valuables in the car, our packs out of site in the trunk.

But how else can we minimize the hassle factor of someone breaking into our trunk and taking our back pack of cloths?

What have others renting a car done? What has been your experience with this in June - July?

I certainly do not want to be having to watch the car every time we stop in a small town to walk around, eat, etc.

Thanks!

To my knowledge jdbs there is no way to 100% protect your car from getting broken into anymore than there is at home. Have everything in the trunk like you said you are going to do. Do not leave anything inside the car to indicate you are a tourist such as maps etc.

It is not just southern Spain that has this problem. For example even Italians in Italy have this worry. Most of my friends there have a type of radio in their car that they remove when parking their car. When they can they like to park their car with the trunk up against something but that is not usually possible.

Don't leave anything in the car that will devestate you if you have it stolen such as your camera, jewelry, travel documents etc.

With luck you might be able to park where you can keep an eye on your car from the restaurant but I sure wouldn't count on it.

Just do the best that you can. No doubt you will be fine. Crime takes place everywhere and yet most of us are not victims of crime.

just be careful where you park, leave nothing in sight and hope for the best.

invariably you get some silly advice here around prominently displaying some assumed staple of a local within the car (half eaten baguette in france, local newspaper, etc)...don't bother with this. this is just another thing to be stolen. anyway, hire cars are clearly marked as such in spain so there is no getting around looking like a tourist.

in spain, if it ain't nailed down, it will be stolen.

As soon as the thief breaks into the car the clock is ticking for him.

A bicycle cable lock is good but only 1m long.
A *small* linked chain and small lock is better esp for backpacks.
Lock them to say the trunk hinge or something like that and leave the packs open so they won't be cut open (remember tic..tic..tic..:) ).

This way they can just rummage thru your clothes looking for valuables and finding none just leave the worthless (to them) stuff behind.

Otherwise they would just grab the packs, take-off and search them later. Regards, Walter

I've said this many times before, but I'm convinced that very often when a car's trunk is broken into, it's because the people parked it then stood there and put things into the trunk, or rummaged to take something out, or otherwise sent signals saying "hey, look at us, we're about to leave our car with a trunk packed with goodies". That happens here at the beach many times daily!

Yes, becoming a target does depend a lot on the rental company you choose to rent from, despite what some here have mentioned. A rental car from Europcar looks like any other family car on the street or in the parking lot. It's true that some of the less expensive rental companies mark their cars for advertising purposes, but who in their right mind would rent a car from them. It's an open invitation.

Some reasonable advice when renting a car, at least in Spain and France, is to keep everything out of sight when parking. Park with the trunk of the car backed up against the wall (inside a parking garage). Placing a local or regional newspaper tossed in the back seat does work on city streets, but it will depend on the neighborhood. And keep the car clean if you're traveling around the countryside. Nothing gives a tourist away like a dirty car parked on a city street, or in a parking lot. It’s really easy to use the automatic car washes that seem to be everywhere. 4 euros and you’ve got yourself a nice new car to cruise around in.

When parking in most large cities, you should use one of the secured parking garages. Most have attendants and it gives you one more level of security.

jdbs3 mentioned small towns. Does Spain have secured parking garages in small towns I wonder.

Patrick, your comment was interesting to me and something I hadn't thought about. But you reminded me that I see the same thing when out of town people come to the large outlet complex in my city. They do a lot of shopping, take the bags back to their car and put them carefully in the trunk. And than walk off to do more shopping. I have no idea how many people have their cars broken into but I know our PD has even mailed a flyer to each residence here warning about car breakins so I would imagine they has been more than a few. Maybe they should insist the outlet stores have the flyers on their cash register counters to warn the visitors although that wouldn't look good for business.

Italy has as a terrible reputation for car breakins but I have never had a problem, knock on wood.

Another crime prevention tip: never read a map while parked, with your doors unlocked. You would be amazed how quickly a guy on the back of a motorscooter can open the passenger door and snatch a purse on the floor of the front seat. Don't ask me how I know.

I'm all for taking precautions but I'm a bit suspicious of the guidebook.

Is it JUST while "tourists" are having lunch that this event occurs?

"Not unusual" but , of course, they don't say "usually" or "often" or however many times this has actually occurred.

Again, I think it is wise to be prudent and if you had read this same thing in SEVERAL sources it would have much more credibility IMO.

robert...i'm not talking about large adverts on hire cars. i've used europcar in spain many times and their cars are marked (as are most hire cars in europe). this marking usually takes the form of a small sticker with the logo or (at the very least) a bar code sticker.

it's amazing how many people talk about trunks/boots in a european car like it is a compartment that locks independently of the rest of the car. your chance of getting a hire car with a boot that is inaccessible from the passenger compartment is slim to none. the vast majority of cars will have a hatch that is easily accessed from the car. it will be covered, however so you can hide your stuff in there. but parking against a wall, etc does no good if you can get into the passenger compartment and lift the cardboard cover to the boot. most break-ins in europe happen like this.

<<< Nothing gives a tourist away like a dirty car parked on a city street, or in a parking lot. >>>

???

Why can't you just take your packs into the restaurant with you?