Most of you with a GPS system (handheld or in-car) will probably have your home address programmed in it.

Don't.

I've now read several reports that these systems are used when thieves steal the car and then just tell it to "go home". Most of the time if your car isn't home, neither are you, making it easier for them to break into your house as well and rob you. Especially if you have a garage door opener in the car....

Just for grins you should program the address of the closest local Police station.

Thats a good tip....a friend of mine has his programed with his home address.

Aren't the thieves about as likely to find someone home as not? I mean, there are a lot of multi-car families out there...

And why would a lost handheld suggest there was no one home anyway?

I'm not sure I agree with the premise.

So does this mean that you cannot your insurance or registration cards in the car? Often those have the address, and I know of people who have lost stuff this way as well.

Thief breaks into car, finds registration, assumes no one is home and travels to house (stealing garage door opener as well). This is a problem with or without nav.

In California, you are required to keep your registration with the vehicle and surrender it on demand (different debate) if a peace officer asks for it. If you didn't have it in the car, a thief would not know how to find your house.

Interesting, but narrow tip.

Let's see, folks could make their daily lives easier and keep their home address programmed into their GPS or they could get overly paranoid, inconvenience themselves and make things really tough for car thieves by requiring the thief look at the address on the registration or other papers in the car before using the GPS to drive to your house.

Folks could just as well use a nearby intersection to their office/residence or the address of a public place that is not too far away.

I thought it was a fairly sensible tip. Lots of people use "alternate" addresses for insurance and registration purposes anyway.

It wasn't something I was asking people to agree with. That is why I called it a TIP. You are free to do whatever you want, I honestly don't care.

In my case it was just one simple thing that would make it harder for thieves to track down my place. Paperwork in my car doesn't have my home address on it.

Our system always gets put in the trunk whenever we get out of the car.

No. You called it "an important tip." Anyway, this sort of analysis is what you get when you post in the "travel tech" forum. Consider:

- Per brentley, The vast majority of people list their home address on their insurance and car registration cards, left in their glove compartment.
- Car thieves could also be house thieves, but that takes planning and time.
- People drive cars because they don't live near work. I have this mental image of the crook pressing "home" only to find out their facing a killer commute to targeted house.
- As soon as you break into the car, the clock starts ticking. How long do you want to keep the car?
- Anyone entering your car illegally is probably more interested in either
A) Taking a thrill ride.
B) Turning the car into cash
C) Taking stuff (like the GPS) and turning it into cash.

I'd argue that the "important tip" ain't.

Wow, tough crowd.

I've edited the title so I don't upset anyone else tonight.

I think this is a good tip.

Arguing these points, this is exactly why if a car thief finds a gps in the car they might go and burgle a home. The GPS makes it easy for them to navigate there, which reduces the time factor.

With insurance cards and registrations, etc, that assumes the thief can be bothered to read a map. WIth GPS, just plug in Home, and away you go. Big difference in my opinion.

Thanks for the tip!

I dont keep my ins cards in my car. I keep them in my wallet. No one knows where I live if someone breaks into my car, and if my car is stolen, and is stopped by a police officer, there is no insurance cards in the vehicle. Now they could quickly figure out somthing is not right.