Q: My new car came with wheel locks. I understand why these became popular when fancy wheels were a new thing. Now, nearly every new car has alloy wheels. Since you have to carry the lock key in your car, a wheel thief would have to first ransack the car to find the key. Are these locks really useful anymore? How many wheel thieves are around these days?
J.B., Plymouth, Minnesota
A: Wheel and tire theft tops $1 million dollars a year, according to Geico. And it is not just bad actors who covet your wheels for their own cars. Wheels are easy to steal, usually taking less than 10 minutes. They are easy to sell and hard to track. Sorry, but I have not been able to get an accurate head count of wheel thieves.
