Parking: Head-in or Back-in

[Guest frasier]

I have been told that it is advisable to park head-in and have the wheels turned to one side. This is to prevent your car from being illegally towed (aka stolen).

But I believe that this applies more to front-wheel drive cars, as the front wheels would be locked when in "P" mode.

What about rear-wheel drive cars like ours?

Based on the above logic, isn't it safer for us to park back-in?

[Guest Sareve]

Is it very common for cars to get stolen here? I'm pretty sure mercs have some sort of anti theft system and they can be tracked by gps if stolen.

[Guest m1122]

Merc front "chin" is quite low and if you park head-in think 50% of the time will hit the kerb.

[Guest angela]

I have been told that it is advisable to park head-in and have the wheels turned to one side. This is to prevent your car from being illegally towed (aka stolen).

But I believe that this applies more to front-wheel drive cars, as the front wheels would be locked when in "P" mode.

What about rear-wheel drive cars like ours?

Based on the above logic, isn't it safer for us to park back-in?

your reasoning is correct AFAIK, by parking rear-in you make it more difficult for them to tow your car. yet some theives would bother to just tow it, ruining the transmission at the same time, redering the car near useless till the transmission is changed.

by turning your wheels to one side, it will also help (both head-in and rear-in) as all modern cars have the steering lock which kicks in when the key isnt in the ignition and will prevent the car from being towed away easily.

all this methods can be counted nowadays by the more professional thieves if they decide to lift your entire car up, and tow it away on a flatbed.

just my 2cents.

[Guest angela]

Sareve ]

Is it very common for cars to get stolen here? I' wrote:

singapore wayyy to safe to have ur car stolen or broken into.. of course you could still be unlucky. i guess JB is the place you have to be careful of.

most of our merc anti theft system is simple - no key, car wont start. with the remote key, duplication is impossible, codes are unique to each make and model. it can only be ordered from germany (what i heard from SE).

tracked by GPS, you need firstly to have the command system installed. further more, i believe you need the "SOS" or "Emergency" button feature in your car, which will be automatically activated in the event of an accident. you have to pay a annual fee to have this gps tracking feature operated by mercedes, even then, i think only the high end more expensive models will get the option. this option is called teleaid. read more at the link provided.

http://www.mbusa.com/care/client-care/teleaid.do

Merc front "chin" is quite low and if you park head-in think 50% of the time will hit the kerb.

i'm quite heavy and always scratch the bottom front of the car w203 c180 when i park head in.

used the w220 s280 before, and i loved the fact that airmatic could lift up the car several cm so that i wouldnt hit the curb. only problem is that after i locked the car door, the car would lower itself again, which ruins the fact that i raised it so that it wouldn't hit the curb..

solution - just park with yea boot out a little..

[Guest Sareve]

I think it's always better to park back in, I used to park front in back when I just got my license and I always scraped the underside of the front of the car, plus the sensors don't really detect very well if the curb's JUST low enough to scrape your car.

[Guest jenvid]

Last post for the night.

Parked either way also no use. Pro car thief use high tech IR code generator to unlock car. They usually just drive off you car after unlocking. Towing is too much of a work.

My fren lost his Estima at Desaru. Park his car at the hotel carpark near lobby. When to check in, come out to take luggage. Car gone already. No way tow truck could have come into action.

My wife once drove to Holiday plaza(abt 10yrs ago), left the credit card on dashboard & went shopping. Come back, car was reparked at another lot but credit card missing. Car was installed with all the state of the art stinger alarm & stuff.

I once left my car key in the car boot & got myself lock out. It took the guys abt 1 min to unlock the car using the inside door handle.