MANASSAS, Va. — Do you have your vehicle’s windows etched with your VIN?
If you don’t, police said your car is an easy target for thieves. That’s why police in Manassas on Saturday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will provide free window etching for vehicles at a Walmart store on Libearia Avenue.
Here’s more about the free service in a press release:
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Etching is one of the most effective means available to deter auto theft. Etching is a fast, safe and simple process of having a vehicle’s VIN engraved onto windows using a chemical solution.
Typically, VIN etching takes less than fifteen minutes and it causes no damage to the vehicle. Once the VIN has been etched on all the windows, a thief must strip and replace every piece of glass on the car in order to profit off the sale of the stolen vehicle or its parts. Doing so is a time-consuming and expensive feat. This deters many thieves from stealing VIN-etched vehicles.
Motorcycle owners will be given special VIN stickers to put on different parts of their bikes.
City officials citing statistics from Virginia’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program note 76 percent of all vehicle thefts in Virginia are reported in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater areas. The number of thefts also rise during warmer months and on weekends.
In Manassas, 60 vehicles were stolen in 2012 – down from an all-time high in 1998 when 177 cars were taken, according to a press release.
The last time Manassas police held an etching event, a total of 74 vehicle owners participated.
