Car Navigation Systems and Identity Theft

You may not think much of it, but car navigation systems and identity theft play hand in hand.  Simply put, one contributes to the other.  The new car navigation systems mounted in your car are a life saver when you are lost in the middle of nowhere, need to make a hands free phone call, or listen to your MP3s.  Many standard car makers are joining the band wagon by installing built in navigation systems, where only luxury car companies like BMW, Mercedes, & Lexus had these devices as upgrades a few years back.

Car navigation systems, like many electronic devices, have built in or portable storage to keep track of the preloaded maps, addresses, phone numbers, and even voice recorded notes.  This is all great if you keep your least sensitive information stored on these systems.  However, there are some that load their life’s history, present, and future on these systems as the dependence for comfort overrides fear of identity theft.

If you are selling your car and it has a car navigation system make sure to purge all information from the electronic device.  This includes your favorite pizza place.  You don’t want people to find you there if something goes wrong with the car, right?   This way you will rest assured that your identity is well protected and no one is going to call your family by mistake while they learn to set up the car navigation system.