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Thieves Stealing Things From Your Car, Then Come Back For Seconds In Your Home: Police

High Point Police say thieves are breaking into cars, and stealing garage door openers. Then, they come back later and get into your house as well.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Since November, thieves have gotten into at least 150 cars in High Point. Many of them weren't locked.

By locking up your car though, you can also keep you house safe, too.

High Point Police say thieves are breaking into cars, and stealing garage door openers. Then, they come back later and get into your house as well.

We talked to one garage door installer who says thieves might be getting easier access to homes because homeowner are also not locking the door inside the garage.

"It's absolutely very common. People do feel when the Garage door is closed the house is secure. The garage door is down, the front door is locked, so they don't think about people being able to get inside the garage and subsequently inside the house," said Michelle Moss who works with Precision Garage Door Service.

So what should you do if you garage door opener is stolen?

Vacation Mode

Moss said the first thing you should if someone takes your garage door opener is engage "Vacation Mode." You will do this on the panel on the inside of the garage. Each system is a little different, so check your manual for exactly how. Either way, this should stop that garage door opener from working.

Reset Frequency

You can also reset the frequency to your garage door. Once again, check out your owner's manual. This will also make it so the stolen garage door opener can't communicate with your garage door. So again, it won't work.

Get A New One

After those defensive steps, you're still going to want to be able to use a garage door opener, so you will need to get a new one.

How To Stay Safe Before It Gets Stolen?

First of all, you should lock your doors. Most people's cars who are broken into were already unlocked.

Moss also says she tells people not to keep their garage door openers on their visors. If you put it in the console or glove box, it makes it much less obvious to grab.

There are manual locks for many garage doors, so if you're really worried you can engage one of those.

Plus, there are many different type of software for cars these days that actually allow your garage door opener to be plugged straight into the car. That way, no car garage door opener will be stolen.

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