Car owners are making it too easy for opportunistic thieves by leaving personal items on show.
A Northern Advocate survey of 200 cars in a public Whangarei parking lot found that expensive items were left in plain view in 35 per cent of the vehicles.
In the carpark on Hatea Drive, the Northern Advocate peered through windows to find five portable music devices, two wallets, nine backpacks, one camera, one cellphone, a set of keys and sporting gear including a squash racquet, fishing rods, golf clubs, soccer balls and rugby-playing kit.
Plenty of clothes were left in cars, including running shoes and raincoats.
A leather satchel alongside a computer bag in the rear was left in a vehicle belonging to a government department.
Six cars had portable audio device cords inside that could arouse curiosity and may entice someone to break in to see if there was anything in the glovebox.
In 130 cars, nothing of value was on display. Vehicles with tinted windows were much harder to see through and proved a big deterrent. Five steering wheel locks were in place and a number of vehicles had car alarms.
This comes after an AA Insurance survey showed a third of people admitted to leaving personal possessions such as bags or CDs visible in cars.
AA Insurance surveyed 3708 Kiwi drivers, including 110 Northlanders aged 18-65 for the study.
Another third of those questioned said the possessions were visible from outside the car.
According to the New Zealand Police, theft from cars is the second highest recorded crime in the country.
There are on average more than 50,000 thefts annually from cars and this accounts for almost 12 per cent of total recorded crime in New Zealand.
Some 66 per cent of these thefts occurred when the car was parked on a public road, street, or public place.
Only one in five vehicles broken into on private property was locked.
In Northland last year, there were 899 thefts from cars, with only 83 cases resolved. The good news is it was the lowest figure in the last 10 years after a peak in 1999 of 1738 reports.
Whangarei community safety officer Constable Troy Netzler said that over the two weeks between July 6 and 19 there had been six reports of cars being broken into. Four of those were in one day and were parked at the Sky City Cinema carpark.
"Take your valuables with you. If you have to leave gear in the car put it in the boot out of sight," Mr Netzler said.
"Remove the temptation for thieves."
The AA Insurance survey asking what was taken in the most recent thefts found stereo equipment 16 per cent, handbag/wallet/purse 12 per cent, sunglasses 10 per cent, CDs, MP3 players and portable audio devices 10 per cent, clothing 9 per cent, sports equipment 6 per cent and mobile phone 5 per cent.
"Thieves will always go for the easiest, fastest option. If you leave valuable possessions visible in your car you're really just laying bait for thieves," said Martin Fox, AA Insurance deputy general manager.
He said Navmans and other GPS systems were popular targets.
Why theft from cars is too easy in Whangarei
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