Do you lock your valuables in your car? Not safe enough: try this

When I drive out to the start of a long run or a track session, I do what most of us do: I stuff my wallet under the seat or a floor mat, lock the car and take off.

Well, that’s what I used to do, until Abby told me there’d been a spate of vehicle break-ins. Even worse, it turned out the thieves weren’t just after credit cards, cash and phones, but IDENTITY. With a wallet, driver’s, insurance docs, phone and all the rest of it they could do some serious damage.

Out here in Boulder there are times when I don’t even lock my front door; and most runners feel so safe that when they leave their cars they tuck the keys under a wheel arch, all on the “out of sight, out of mind” theory, I guess.

Abby’s news got me thinking – and with a bit of help from Google I found an answer. It’s the Travelsafe 100, made by Pacsafe.

At first glance this looks like it’s just a handy pouch with a lockable drawstring on it. Not at all; this little beaut is lined with “Exomesh”, which is a slashproof high-tensile stainless steel cage, and the drawstring is a high-tensile stainless steel cable with an ingenious way of locking the pouch tight shut with a padlock. Pacsafe have a stack of products – they seem to have started out by providing security for adventure travellers with Exomesh “cages” that wrap round an entire rucksack. So this is one of their smaller “safes”.

Nevertheless, as you’ll see from the pictures, it comfortably holds my wallet, camera, three or more CDs, keys, phone and Garmin. The Garmin is just there for effect; I never leave for a run without it! And the shoes don’t go in – they’re for a size comparison.

(Having said that, I HAD to try it – and actually a size 11 pair of Brooks T5 lightweight racers DO just about fit.)

The flexible safe fits under a car seat and with the cable looped round a metal seat strut, it’s not going anywhere and can’t be opened even if someone does break into the car. I figure that at $40 this is a good investment.

* www.pacsafe.com. This isn’t an advert: I found Pacsafe online and bought my own Travelsafe at a local store.