A mechanic has taken to TikTok to claim he has found something in the glovebox of a car that shouldn’t be there. Such was his concern about what he found that he warned his followers and viewers not to do the same in their cars.
TikTok user and mechanic @theclawboss posted a video that now has around 260,000 views at the time of writing. The discovery came while the car was with him at his workshop and he was just doing some work on it, but he was surprised by what he had found.
“I found something in the glovebox that I shouldn’t have found… This customer inside their car has their title,” he said in the opening part of the video. Keeping documents for cars in gloveboxes is nothing new, as many of us probably keep the registration and manual inside them.
But this mechanic was concerned. He warned people that they should not be keeping the title in their cars, and urged anyone who did have it in there to immediately go and take it out. The mechanic was clearly worried and wanted to explain the severity of the situation.
Why You Shouldn’t Keep Your Title in Your Car
@theclawbossLeaving your title in your glovebox is a bad idea!♬ Vlog Video work Fashionable BGM(847726) – Tsuyoshi_san
The mechanic explained why we should not keep a title in our car, and the reasoning seemed simple. “If a car thief steals your car with the title inside, they can just sign their name and steal your car,” he said. He does acknowledge, however, that he does not know the full ins and outs of the law, and that there could be loopholes within that framework.
However, he does ask the question of whether someone does get hold of your car’s title and signs it over to themselves; what do you do then? Thankfully, the solution seems pretty clear-cut. “Don’t leave your car’s title in your car. It’s not a good idea. You’re giving car thieves ammunition,” said the mechanic. According to Motor1, the mechanic told them that in New Jersey, all that needs to be done is to sign the title and hand it to the next buyer.
In other states, there is more to it, so you would have to get the title notarized. But for New Jersey, it seems it is surprisingly easy to get the title handed over, which means, in theory, your car could be stolen quite easily if you left the title in the glovebox. On that basis, it really is not worth the risk of keeping it inside the car. Keep it safe inside the house, with other vehicle documents, where nobody but you can get to it.
How Dangerous Is It To Leave a Title in a Car Glovebox?
A glovebox is a common place to leave vehicle documents. Things such as the manual, the car registration, insurance documents, or even the service history. Some of us may leave things like CDs in there if our car is older, or even items like a tire pressure gauge and flashlight in case of an emergency. But this TikTok mechanic is not alone in his views, as Carfax also says to keep the title of a car in a secure location, be it at home or perhaps in a safe deposit box.
If you want a copy to keep in your car, one way to do this is with a photograph. Simply take a photo of it and store it on your phone, something you can do with other documents as well. But that also carries risks, in case your phone is stolen or misplaced. So what is the solution? We think it is, as the mechanic said. Don’t leave it in your car; follow the advice from Carfax and keep it at home.