In car safe for laptop, valuables etc in 4wd

Sam

Absolutely nothing is 100% safe from the most determined thief.

So, working on that premise you have to work through your available options on a risk management basis.

(a) Leave all your valuables in a 3rd party secure facility - usually out of the question.

(b) Incorporate a secure safe in the framework of the vehicle. Locksmiths and/or security businesses can supply and install these type of devices to the quality and sophistication that your bank account can withstand.

(c) Or you can insure all your valuables and place them out of sight eg under the seat, in a glove box, in storage drawers, anywhere as long as they are out of sight; thus preventing spur of the moment temptation inspired 'smash and grabs' that are the majority of all thefts from motor vehicles.

(d) Same as (c) without the insurance factor.

Always remember, if you make it too hard for a determined thief to get whatever it is that they after, then they will most probably just steal the whole vehicle and move it to a location where they can extract the subject article at their leisure.

I therefore respectfully suggest that you only carry the bare necessities (valuable wise), insure them accordingly, ensure they are out of sight of prying eyes when left in the vehicle, ensure the vehicle itself is locked etc and forward plan for the possibility of a theft.

By this I mean , keep backups of your computer data on a Flash memory of some kind. Also do the same with photographs and ensure that you carry the aforementioned flash memory with you at all times.

You can always recover from a loss of hardware pretty quickly, however the software/data is another matter all together.

Regards

DD

Hi Sam,

As mentioned in the above reply, avoiding taking non-essential valuables in the first place is the optimal way to go........... in theory this sounds good, but as we know it practice it simply doesn't work.

Defiantly keep valuables out of sight to deter the opportunistic thief. Leaving things like GPS windscreen mounts, GPS units, charging cables in sight is just advertising what you have and asking for trouble. Tip: hide these things away before you get to where you are parking....... no point packing everything away in view of a potential thief. It'd be nice if we lived in a world without any of this.

Have you considered getting a good quality (e.g. all black wiring, decent brand) car alarm fitted? This may deter some thiefs, but you will never fend off the most determined...... This is where insurance, and backups of your important data (e.g. photos, journals, etc, etc) is not an option, but essential for you to cover yourself. Consider storing your data on both the laptop, but also making backups to things like USB flash drives with you can carry around with you, or hide in somewhere a thief is unlikely to look (i.e. don't store it in your laptop bag). You should have all important data stored so that if the laptop is stolen, or destroyed, you still have your data to use on a new computer.


Bunnings sell a car safe. It looks a bit like a small metal box with a wire cable attached. The picture on the box shows it being looped around a steering wheel. But if i were a thief and saw that i'd be thinking "they must have something worth stealing in that box". It's likely they'd try to destroy the steering wheel, box, or just steal the car and take it to somewhere they can get an angle grinder in.

Hope these suggestions can be of some use to you.

i store my lappy in an old camera suitcase ($50 cashies) . I had clark rubber cut foam to size and have taken lappy everywhere, even bush bashing with no problems.

Whilst it is not the most secure, i keep it hidden under heaps of junk. You could probably buy a metal box,(like the bunnings post) get clark to cut the foam and put lappy and camera in. I agree not to tie it to steering wheel. too visible and too much damage. put it on back floor with cable to lock under drivers seat then simply place a blanket over it.

Also don't let people see that you have it when camping.

I made up a box on the back seat that was bolted to the floor. It sat between our 2 girls. It had our camera and video camera in a hiiden compartment under it. The top had a spot for books and pencils. Anyone looking at it would think it was for the girls books and pencils.
Our laptop sat on a shelf in the back whick was hidden behind other stuff. It had a board sit in front of it so was hard to find without really looking. I also had a tool box bolted to the floor in the back which had recovery gear but could also hold valubles.

Josh

Quite often people get overboard on one hand and lax on the other with theft prevention.

#1...no theif ever stole something he did not know was there.

So the biggest and most effective risk reduction is concielment.

#2.... unless the theif is particularly determined making the item a bit more difficult to take will save your bacon, any atempt at securing something is better than none.

#3...theves hate noise.....an alarm system does not have to be complicated......a simple microswitch in the drivers seat and a screamer in the headrest can leave the theifs ears ringging and their feet running.

There are some funky security boxes on the market..in my opinion they are overpriced and may not suit your needs.
It surprising what you can achieve with a bit of hardware and some padlocks.

cheers

Thanks for the replies, I'll probably go with one of these as an extra deterrent if someone gets in the 4WD as I can use it for other forms of travelling also.

Pacsafe Travel 12L

Hideaway safes are an excellent storage box that are secured by a cradle mounted in a car, van or even at home, perfect for camera's, money, computers or firearms.
Cheers Craig.....