A free event in Niles on Wednesday is intended to deter would-be car thieves and help reduce the number of stolen vehicles.

AAA East Central is providing Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Etching.

How it works: Technicians administer an acid-based solution in a customized stencil to permanently “etch” a vehicle’s VIN on all of its windows. The solution lightly marks the top layers of glass but does not weaken the windows.

AAA Spokesperson Jim Garrity says law enforcement tells them this process makes a vehicle less likely to be targeted for theft because 'professional car thieves' know to look at for the sketching.

"They know when they take that to a chop shop they are going to have to change out all of the windows in the car because they are going to have to change the vehicles VIN number so that it never turns up in the system as stolen," explained Garrity. "The problem is those windows can get very expensive, we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of dollars. To the point where if a thief comes across a vehicle that has been VIN etched, and they know what they're looking at, they are going to move along."

The free event takes places Wednesday, Sept. 1st from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the AAA Niles Branch Office
937 Youngstown Warren Rd., Niles, OH.

Watch video to see how the process works.