First, thank you for looking out for your fellow FlyerTalk members.

FYI, the "home" button is not necessarily one's house. It could also be work or other important destination.

There is merit to what you say, but I suspect that when higher end cars (e.g., BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, etc.) with built-in GPS are stolen, the thieves are professional and have as their major interest the illegal acquisition of the vehicle. One nice additional plus on all of the above cars and several others is the ability to report the car stolen and have the GPS remotely activated to track the vehicle and report its movement to the police.

So, car thieves, feel free to bring my car back if I'm not here; there will be a warm welcome waiting for you.

I agree...............a really tough crowd currently frequents Travel Technology. I will continue to leave my insurance card and auto registration in the car along with the garage door opener but will relabel "home" to be labeled "office" on the GPS. That will confuse any street-wise perp.

MisterNice

I'm not worried. My address does not exist in the GPS as it is a new building. "Home" is the address opposite our building.

SmilingBoy.

This is a smart and sensible tip. People are way too uptight these days.

I know of someone who had her car stolen, the thieves looked up her home address on the registration, and drove to the house, used the garage door opener, and stole a bunch of stuff.

I photo-chop my registration and insurance cards to leave no address on it. It takes 10 seconds and is worth the peace of mind.

I vaguely recall a story from a couple of years ago where an amateur car thief was caught because he had input the intersection where his girlfriend lived in the GPS of the stolen car then left the car after his joyride was over.

A quick Google doesn't show up anything for this sort of double robbery. However, there are quite a few cases of the reverse: someone breaks into a house, takes the car keys and steals the car in the driveway.

Really, this seems to be a stretch. There are three adults in my house, all keeping different schedules. There's actually very few times no one is home at all, so getting my address off my registration or GPS isn't going to help. In fact, I wish they would drive it to my house. First thing I'd do after calling the police would be to tell my roommates. They could see the car pull into the driveway and call the cops.

Taking the car right to where it's most likely to be spotted as stolen isn't that bright, in my opinion.

Great tip. Use the nearest intersection. ^

There was a prog on BBC3 (in the UK) called "the real hustle" where they show scams, tricks and thefts, one of the presenters posed as a parking garage attandant and told the first customer that it was valet parking. This bloke then handed over his keys and the presenter did excatly this, put the satnav on and hit the home location, saying that he now knew where the bloke lived, and that he wasn't home. (They give the stuff back once they have let the victim discover that they have been ripped off, and then ask if they can show it).

Isn't this tip right up there with the old urban legend about gang members driving around at night with no lights and shooting anyone who flashed them as an initiation???

As a longtime urban dweller who has suffered more than my fair share of car break-ins, I learned a long time ago to never leave anything remotely valuable in my car.

And lots of Flyertalkers don't actually live in a society where you are obliged to have valid i.d. in your car at all times. My car has no such information, not even a dealer book; although it does usually have my house keys chucked in the front cubby. Excellent tip, ScottC, albeit maybe not as much use for the USA-centric folks

What about programming the address of the neighbour you hate the most?

A really resourceful car thief/home burglar could check with his contact at the DMV and get a home address from the license plate. I don't think this GPS thing represents a real threat.

On the other hand - I do keep my papers locked in the glove compartment and only give the "valet" key to parking attendants. It opens the doors and turns the ignition, but won't open the glove box or trunk.

Color me "mildly paranoid"

It's a good tip though I find it amusing that people would program home. Most of us know how to get home without a map

A better tip would be: don't leave it in the car. I know some of them are bulky but those who live in big cities know that you don't leave anything visible in your car or you will return to broken glass and missing property. Sadly many are lazy and learn the hard way.

The one thing we do leave visible is the infant seat. So far so good, though I don't want to temp fate

Interesting scenario...the thief of my car drives to my home to breakin...now I can call the cops, have them arrested and my car is now returned.

Removing mine would need major tools, as it's integrated.

I used to have the home address in it for when I was on long(er) trips and wanted my ETA (and the way home)...