a good reason not to keep dmv registration in car

[snafu]

I was parked in a 'waiting' zone at the mall to pick up a friend today. The local TV station crew were filming a guy in a 'Grinch' costume running up and down the lanes, opening, unlocked car doors. He particularly targeted rear doors/hatch and held up all sorts of bags, boxes, computer cases, etc.

It takes a nanosecond to lock your car doors!

[disneysteve]

I was parked in a 'waiting' zone at the mall to pick up a friend today. The local TV station crew were filming a guy in a 'Grinch' costume running up and down the lanes, opening, unlocked car doors. He particularly targeted rear doors/hatch and held up all sorts of bags, boxes, computer cases, etc.

It takes a nanosecond to lock your car doors!

People are stupid. Sorry, but if you leave your car unlocked at the mall and leave a bunch of valuables in the car, you might as well just put a big sign in the window that says ROB ME.

Years ago when I was a medical resident, one of the students came in all upset and crying that someone had broken into her car in the hospital parking lot and stolen her medical equipment, several hundred dollars worth of stuff. We all ran out with her to see the car. It was a Jeep with zippered sides. No locks. All you had to do to get in was pull up the zipper. It was kind of tough to feel sorry for her when she was dumb enough to leave all of that valuable stuff out in the open where a crook didn't even have to break anything to get to it.

I've also seen reports on TV about the high percentage of people who don't lock their doors, especially don't lock the door between their garage and their house, and have alarm systems but never turn them on. We always lock the door to the garage and we always set our alarm. So even if someone gets into our garage, they still can't get into the house easily or without triggering the alarm. And we always lock our car doors and hide any valuables. If we are out shopping and have bags we don't want to carry, I'll go put them in the car and then move the car to another location rather than just sticking bags in the trunk where someone could see me and then walking away.

[LizfromtheBronx]

I don't keep my registration in the car. In NY, we have a card along with a window sticker. The window sticker suffices for police.

I do park my car in a busy NYC attended garage 4 times a week. Obviously, I have to leave my keys, and tell them what time I'll be back. For this reason, I have one set of keys with a house key, and those stay in my bag. The other set is what stays with the car at the garage, and is just the car key. Seems kind of silly to me to hand over my car, with the insurance card with my address (haven't figured out how to get around keeping that in the car just yet), a set of keys and a timetable! Yes, someone else could be home, and thankfully my home isn't convenient to the garage, but still, it's an easy enough precaution to take.