Overnighting in your car AFTER TSHTF

[Paul]

Good post NR.
I spent time traveling round the UK.
One thing I learnt was the best place to park overnight was on a well lit 24 hr active industrial estate with a simple card in the window saying "working nights in <nearby firms name with night lights on>". That and a yellow spinner lamp on the roof.

Until I learnt that trick, the plod would move me on from lay bys, and even proper car parks.
Dunno how they knew but banging on the window was the usual trick round 2am.
The countryside wasn't immune to interference either.
Park up off the road and local farmers got upset.

As for the lights, I used to have that cut out switch you mentioned on the brake lights. That and a simple card to slot over the instrument panel lights. Some of them pygmy bulbs light up your face a treat.
Don't forget condensation either.
A steamed up vehicle is a dead giveaway of occupancy in autumn.
My cure? Small PC CPU fan blowing out of a roof vent. Just enough to change the air. Negligible current pull and dead quiet.

Learnt those tricks working for a PI office. Them and 101 uses for an empty plastic bottle and plastic bags (Phew).

Cam-net on a vehicle never works for me. I can never seem to break up the basic shape enough. So I don't bother.
Not even Chrome gets the treatment as I've never stopped headlights from reflecting even the smallest of beams as does glass and shiny car panels.

Basically I'm a tree in a woods type of guy.
After all, plain sight in context is a lot better than "oooh look, someone new is there".