Hawaii Tourist Advice: Lock Your Car Doors
Posted on Tue, Mar 18, 2008 by Sheila
It’s so easy to get distracted by the beautiful scenery in Hawaii, but you do need to keep your wits about you, even in paradise. Here are some tips to keep your valuables protected:
- Be sure that you always lock your rental car and hide valuables completely out of sight. Don’t leave anything in sight that would tempt someone to break into the car.
- Many rental cars have alarm systems, so make sure you activate the alarm as you leave the car.
- Try to leave as many valuables as possible locked away in the safe of your hotel room or condo, if you have one. If I don’t have a safe available, I’ll lock valuables in my luggage.
- One little trick I do is that I try to hide maps and guidebooks if I’m going to be leaving the car for several minutes. I try not to make it too obvious that I’m a tourist.
- Take your valuables with you.
Please don’t get me wrong, there’s not going to be a thief perched and ready to pounce on you at every corner. That’s not the case at all! Hawaii is really no different from any other tourist destination in that it has it’s own issues with opportunistic thieves. Just be careful, even when the scenery distracts you.
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Pull over shortly BEFORE you arrive at the attraction and put your valuables in the trunk, then proceeded to the parking lot. Never, Ever let people watch you park the car, open the trunk, place your purse, camera, laptop, camcorder and other valuables in the trunk and then walk towards the entrance of the ½ day hiking trail, boat ride or whatever. (Always hide your stuff before you get to the parking lot, not after)
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Thanks, Dave, for that wise addition. If you can, it’s smart to plan ahead like that. Sometimes it’s not always possible, so we just try to be as discreet about it as possible.
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I just had a mainland customer last week who told me that they were on their honeymoon last month on the Big Island and pulled over to take a picture of the beach. When they got back a few minutes later, someone had cut the tarp to their rental jeep and stolen all of their things. They had to spend the rest of the day at the Hilo police station instead of going to see the Volcano as planned.
I felt so bad for her I included several extra free gifts with her order and a nice note so she wouldn’t feel badly about the other people that live here.
And remember, opportunistic thieves don’t care if you are a tourist or local, so take precautions.
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HVG – Thank you for adding a timely example of why protecting your valuables is so important. I feel so bad for your customer, but I know she’ll be thrilled to get the extra goodies in her package. Your products are awesome!
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ok. thanks for the info guys i’ll keep that in mind, for when i go to hawaii i do not want to be in danger. you’re a star
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This post is timeless. I just ran into some tourists that had their window broken in their rental car. Not a very good idea to leave your wallet sitting on top of your laptop in the back of your car, completely visible. Isn’t that common sense?
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Whenever my partner and I travel the islands, we get a rental and try to keep it as empty as possible (take everything including rental agreements and receipts, anything with personal information) and LEAVE THE DOORS UNLOCKED. This keeps any potential thieves from busting the windows out which sometimes causes more headache and hassle.
At times we will have junk in there that inevitably ends up accumulating, however, we always take anything of value with us.
Mahalo!
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sheila Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Thanks, Erin, for adding your strategy.
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