FAQ - How Can I Protect My Car From Vandalism?

This question deserves its own blog if only because we have been hearing it from so many customers throughout all the decades that Spytech has been in business.  The best answer is to capture the act on video, along with the perpatrator's face, for future legal procedings.  There are many ways to accomplish this, mostly based on where the vehicle is parked, and what is around it.

Not again!

Ideally the whole parking spot should be covered from above so that nothing can happen around the vehicle without being in view of the camera.  This type of setup is usually done by the building management and may not have much to do with the vehicle owner.  In such a situation, the vehicle owner should really discuss the parking security conditions with the building management or parking lot owner, before deciding to do anything on their own.  If the owner of the vehicle also owns the building or parking space, then it is quite simple to add a surveillance camera in the garage, or somewhere around the driveway to protect the vehicle 24 hours a day.  This could be accomplished with any surveillance camera.  The customer would choose between indoor or outdoor, night vision or not, wired or wireless, or whatever other type of camera may be appropriate for the location.  They would probably hire a professional installer to finish the job.

Of course, it's all fairly simple when the vehicle is in an "ideal" location.  Most customers have some kind of vandalism that is happening where there is no access to video surveillance.  Either the lot has no cameras, or they park on the street, or there is just no way to position any cameras around the vehicle for whatever reason.  This leaves the customer in a difficult situation of placing a camera inside the vehicle.  They would have to guess which window to point the camera out of to capture the best footage possible.  They would have to position the camera inside the vehicle where it can see the vandal clearly while not being noticed.  They would be limited to battery power since a vehicle won't provide endless electricity like a building would.

The current best solution is the Power Bank Camera.   This camera looks like a simple battery for charging a phone so it would not look out of place in a vehicle.  The battery life is long enough to cover a work day or overnight on one charge.  The resolution is HD 720P so the picture quality should be good enough to identify anyone who approaches the vehicle.  Motion activation conserves memory for long recording times.  Time and date stamp is helpful for using the video footage to document your evidence.

There are drawbacks in using this camera.  The Power Bank Camera is made for indoor use so it should probably be not be left in a vehicle during the coldest nights and hottest days.  This model has no night vision, so it can only be used for daytime or well lit parking situations.  Battery life is probably only going to cover one day at a time, so a customer won't be able to leave it in their vehicle for long term parking, since daily charging is required.  The biggest problem is guessing which window the camera needs to be pointed at.  Hopefully the customer can predict the correct angle of approach or at least pick a side that is more likely to be vandalized.  Some customers in the past have even bought multiple cameras to cover a wider area.

Despite all the usual limitations that have existed with vehicle video surveillance for over 20 years, the battery life of the Power Bank Camera is a major breakthrough that can't be ignored.