MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -
Over ten thousand cars are stolen in Alabama every year. This afternoon, AAA is offering a unique theft deterrent service called VIN etching and the service will be free to anyone interested.
When a car thief steals a car, the thief will either try to break it down to sell it for parts or change the VIN number and sell it whole.
VIN etching makes stealing a car more trouble than it's worth because it puts the car's VIN on each window of your car, the front, sides and back windshield.
Clay Ingram of AAA Alabama explains, "this process will discourage both of those practices because, to sell it as a whole, they would have to change out the glass all the way around it, and that's just more trouble to them than it's worth. Plus, if they see that the VIN number is on the glass, they will assume that it's on other pieces of the car as well, so they won't want to break it down for the parts. You hate to wish it on someone else, but typically, they'll just skip that car and move on to the next one, that maybe doesn't have that done."
Research shows that VIN etched vehicles have a 64% lower theft rate than non-etched cars. And if they are stolen, VIN etched vehicles have an 85% higher chance of being recovered.
This afternoon from 1 until 5 p.m., AAA will be hosting a VIN etching event in the parking lot of their building located at the corner of Bell and Vaughn Roads in Montgomery.
Some car dealerships charge as much as $150 for the service, but AAA is offering the service free of charge. No appointment is necessary, simply show up.
Ingram says, "the process itself takes about ten to fifteen minutes, and typically we don't have long lines of people waiting to get it done. Of course, that can happen, but hopefully it won't. So we get you in and out pretty quickly. It's a free service; one of our public service programs, so it doesn't cost anything. You don't have to be a AAA member and you don't have to sign up for anything. It's literally no strings attached. It's just one of our community service things that we want to do to help reduce car thefts and make it safer for everyone."
R. B. and Helen Vines got VIN etching on their car and had this to say about the process, "I think it went very quick. We came into AAA to get our plans and directions on making a trip to Branson and this was free. I think it will help if someone steals our car while we're gone. Hopefully not!"
Some insurance companies offer a discount to customers who have this service performed on their car.
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