What To Do After an Auto Accident
Many victims of auto accidents allow their cars to be towed away to garages, impound lots, and junk yards without removing the letters, bills and insurance info that most of us have in our cars. Your sensitive information could be just lying on the floorboard of your car for anyone to get their hands on.
These days, everyone has become much more conscientious about identity theft. As a society, we are doing all we can to protect our sensitive personal information. Yet one very important area that people often forget about is auto accidents. Once your car is wrecked, it is taken to an auto repair shop or a junk yard. There, auto repairmen have full access to anything left inside the vehicle. Most victims never do think about retrieving important papers and personal stuff from their car.
An Augusta news station recently did a story where they went out to a junk yard and searched through the wrecked vehicles. They discovered information on 26 different individuals. The info included things like names, birth dates, and social security numbers. One person left a partially completed application for credit in their car.
When contacted, almost all of them said they assumed that someone would have cleaned out their automobile and removed all those sensitive documents. But even a year or so later, the personal papers of numerous individuals were still lying out in the open and accessible by anyone at the junkyard.
Most of the victims were shocked to learn these things. Surveys have found that many individuals don't realize the importance of cleaning out their car before it is taken to a repair shop or junk yard. The safest method of disposing of half-completed job and credit apps and other sensitive material is to simply have it shredded. These docs should never be left in your car when it will be out of your possession for any length of time.
If you know someone who has been in an accident, be sure to let them know how important it is to go out to the junk yard or garage and remove any sensitive, personal documents. If they are unable to do this because of injuries, then ask family or friends to do this for them. If you are planning to do this for a friend or loved one, take a small box or trash bag with you to the junk yard, garage, or impound lot.
Thoroughly search through the car and remove all papers, mail, bills and documents. Be sure to look through the glove box and retrieve the insurance information as well. This is just one more way we can all protect ourselves from the growing problem of identity theft.
These days, everyone has become much more conscientious about identity theft. As a society, we are doing all we can to protect our sensitive personal information. Yet one very important area that people often forget about is auto accidents. Once your car is wrecked, it is taken to an auto repair shop or a junk yard. There, auto repairmen have full access to anything left inside the vehicle. Most victims never do think about retrieving important papers and personal stuff from their car.
An Augusta news station recently did a story where they went out to a junk yard and searched through the wrecked vehicles. They discovered information on 26 different individuals. The info included things like names, birth dates, and social security numbers. One person left a partially completed application for credit in their car.
When contacted, almost all of them said they assumed that someone would have cleaned out their automobile and removed all those sensitive documents. But even a year or so later, the personal papers of numerous individuals were still lying out in the open and accessible by anyone at the junkyard.
Most of the victims were shocked to learn these things. Surveys have found that many individuals don't realize the importance of cleaning out their car before it is taken to a repair shop or junk yard. The safest method of disposing of half-completed job and credit apps and other sensitive material is to simply have it shredded. These docs should never be left in your car when it will be out of your possession for any length of time.
If you know someone who has been in an accident, be sure to let them know how important it is to go out to the junk yard or garage and remove any sensitive, personal documents. If they are unable to do this because of injuries, then ask family or friends to do this for them. If you are planning to do this for a friend or loved one, take a small box or trash bag with you to the junk yard, garage, or impound lot.
Thoroughly search through the car and remove all papers, mail, bills and documents. Be sure to look through the glove box and retrieve the insurance information as well. This is just one more way we can all protect ourselves from the growing problem of identity theft.
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