According to an article from the Spanish newspaper 20minutos, placing a coin between the windshield and the wiper blade can be a technique used to distract drivers. When the driver approaches the vehicle, the coin may go unnoticed, but after entering or starting to drive, its movement catches attention, causing the owner to get out to check what happened. Usually it is a one or two euro coin that slides down the glass and ends up falling.
The moment of vulnerability occurs when the driver leaves the cabin to pick up or observe the object, leaving the engine running and the key inside the car. Under these conditions, someone nearby can take advantage of the owner's absence to enter the vehicle and drive away.
The article presents this practice as one of the possible techniques for stealing vehicles, but does not identify statistics, specific incidents, or police sources that confirm how often it occurs. The text itself acknowledges that finding a coin on the windshield does not, on its own, allow the conclusion that there is an attempted theft.
As a protective measure, the recommendation is that if you need to get out to check an object, the driver should first stop in a safe place, turn off the engine, take the key, and lock the car. According to the description, it is the driver leaving with the car ready to drive that creates the opportunity for the vehicle to be taken.
