So, you are tired of getting your car keyed or vandalized by random people and want to have a solution for that, right? Let's see how to catch someone messing with your car.
Well, unfortunately, there's no perfect solution for everything, but there are some things you can do, so let's take a look on how to catch a car vandal.
Can I use car cameras to catch vandals ?
I'm afraid the answer to that is not that simple, sometimes you can use a dash camera to solve the problem, but other times it's not effective at all.
There are a lot of different factors to consider, such as:
- What the vandal is doing.
- The place your car is parked at.
- The light that is available where your car is parked.
- Where the cameras is pointed to.
- The angle the camera can capture the image.
- The camera quality (resolution, minimum illumination, etc)
- Etc.
Imagine a situation where you have the dash cam pointing to the front of the car but somebody is keying the back of the car, nothing will be recorded.
So, dash cam cameras can't help that much to prevent your car to be keyed but can be very helpful to recorded somebody breaking into the car.
How to catch someone messing with your car
There are different ways to catch a person that is vandalizing your car, all depends on where your car is parked and the cameras you have available for the job.
In some situations, you have more control and can use your own cameras, but some other occasions you just can't. I will discuss those scenarios, just keep reading...
Let's divide the situation in different scenarios:
1. Car parked in a public place
In a situation like that, I recommend you to park the car in a place where some cameras are available or there are a lot of people around, that can help to intimidate the vandal, especially if there are some "CCTV cameras signs" around.
In this scenario you don't have much control, the cameras in the place don't belong to you and there's no guarantee they are really working and have quality enough to identify a thief or vandal. But at least you can increase the chances of not having your car damaged, or have some evidence to work with later.
Usually, the cameras available in the public places are own by the local authorities, so in case something helps the police can have some recorded footage.
Sometimes the cameras are owned by a local store or something like that, in that case, is more difficult to have some evidence later, since they are private, just be aware of that when parking your car and look for a place with public cameras.
2. Car parked outside your house or apartment
OK, now you have a little bit more control since you can install some security cameras to monitor your own vehicle to catch a car vandal.
Using an IP camera is the easiest solution for this case, especially if you can use a wireless camera and avoid too much cabling.
If you live in a house and your car is parked outside, just install an outdoor waterproof IP camera that can be easily monitored and send alerts to your mobile.
I know, it's an old car in this picture, but everybody loves cars and people shouldn't be around keying or vandalizing cars, Don't you agree ? 🙂
There are a lot of wireless cameras in the market with different price tags, but if you really want a fast, easy and inexpensive solution, I recommend you to take a look at the Wyze Cam. I have a review about this camera just right here in the blog.
You can also use a dash cam camera pointed to the interior of the car, just in case you want to capture some different angles when the vandal looks inside the car or breaks into it to steal something.
There's also an affordable solution for this case, you can just take a look at the Amazon store and look for this car dash cam.
Conclusion
You can use a simple solution such as car dash camera or wireless camera to catch the vandal is keying or damaging your car, but aware that nothing is guaranteed and sometimes you just can't have the evidence you need or it's too late to do something even when the camera recorded a footage.
Sometimes is frustrating to have the evidence but don't find the vandal 🙁
I hope this article can help you at least to protect your car.
Please share this information with your friends.