The plus side of your freshly-customized mini is that it is eye-catching, detailed, and clean. The down side of your beautiful ride is that it is eye-catching, detailed, and clean... to the wrong eyes sometimes, unfortunately.
Nomatter where you live and nomatter how hard you try to protect your mini from the elements and the hands of others, there always lies, in addition to accidents, the threat of vandalism and theft.
Can you prevent this vandalism and theft? No, unless your truck lives exclusively very protected on your private property. But, I believe there are precautionary steps you can take in deterring such events. After studying Criminology for four years, one broad point has become apparent: theft and vandalism are often opportunistic. More opportunity, more theft. Less opportunity, less theft. Keep in mind the following simple ideas in how to protect your frame dragger.
1. Don't park for extended periods of time where you have no business parking. Examples: business parking structures overnight, parking lots of buildings that are clearly not open, schools that are not in session, etc. I would even include airports. Basically, if you (general public) have no business there on that day and at that time, your ride has no business there. Your ride will stand out bigtime, screaming "unattended."
2. In your efforts to park away from other vehicles, don't get too far away. Don't completely isolate your vehicle. Activity in the proximity of your vehicle deters vandalism and theft. You are better off parking "right in the middle of it all" compared to completely separated. By this I mean park a few spaces away, but don't opt for the empty lot.
3. Along these same lines, try to avoid parking right next to shrubs, buildings, barricades, trash bins, etc. that "hide" your vehicle. You are protecting thieves by doing this.
4. Don't do 1-3 in combination with these following indicators: backing in, covering your dash, covering your ride, or other things that indicates that your vehicle will be there more than a few minutes. These things alone are fine. What I'm saying is this: don't cover your truck in a parking structure for 3 days over Christmas.
5. Mix it up as much as possible. Even if you park in the same lot, choose different spots. If your truck's home is a public parking lot, and you won't be driving for a while, MOVE it daily. CHECK on it daily. Remove ads and fliers, and for you mini truckers, re-adjust the height.
6. Insure your stuff! Insure! Insure! Insure!
Overall, make it your goal to minimize your risk for theft and vandalism by positioning your truck in a way that says, "This truck is being watched." Potential harm-doers will move on to something less challenging.