As you might have heard over the weekend, 192 wheels and tires were stolen from 48 new cars at a Georgetown TX dealer. The theft is valued at a loss of $100,000 for the dealership and police have no information on potential suspects. You can read the news articles here and here.
Why would a group of people (we’re assuming it’s a group of people because the theft was too big for one person to do alone) steal the wheels and tires from 48 new cars? Well, we know there’s a big market for “cheap” wheels and the price of tires has risen dramatically with the increase of petroleum price. But the more important question is HOW did these people achieve this? And, if they were able to do this to 48 cars in a few hours without anyone noticing, how vulnerable am I that this could happen to me?
Although there’s no app for that, there is a solution: wheel locks. Wheel locks protect your wheels and tires from getting stolen. As you know, wheels don’t have alarm systems and they can’t be tracked – once they’re gone, there’s no way of recovering them. Wheel locks prevent this from happening by locking your wheels and tires in place and serving as a security sign (like security system signs on front yards). It also protects you from having to spend $600 on a new set of tires.
At Howdy Honda, we put wheel locks on every vehicle – we want to protect you from having to spend a significant amount of money on new tires and protect ourselves from being in a situation like the dealer in Georgetown. So while wheel locks might seem like added “stuff;” there is a real, useful and smart reason why we do it: safety. It’s much better to spend a little bit extra now, than have to unnecessarily spend 5x, 6x, 7x more on a new set of tires later.
And just like any other Honda accessory, the factory wheel locks are made with a superior quality alloy (which is better than what you’ll find in Pep Boys or any other automotive shop) and they are covered for 3-years/36k miles.
Honda factory wheel locks cost about $60 here at Howdy and you can stop by the dealership to buy them or order Honda parts online.
