Several apartment blocks and at least two retirement village complexes were targeted in a spree last weekend.

One retirement home in Lyons had 17 cars broken into in a secure basement carpark early Sunday, the thieves undeterred by CCTV cameras.

The national manager of the home, who did not want to be named, said the thieves - a man and a woman - were captured on the security footage which had been passed on to police.

"The CCTV was obviously not a deterrent. They looked straight in the camera," he said.

The manager said the break-ins happened about 2am on Sunday and it appeared the thieves had snuck into the complex when a resident had opened the main garage door as there was no sign of a physical break-in.

It was not known how long the thieves had been inside the carpark before they started smashing the cars, possibly entering at a much earlier time and lying in wait.

"It is worrying, really worrying," the manager said.

It was not the only location affected, with reports vehicles at apartments in Woden and Kingston were also broken into over the weekend.

O'Brien Glass was asked to confirm a tip to The Canberra Times that the business was dealing with hundreds of requests to replace windows smashed by thieves last weekend.

While its Fyshwick customer service manager Jamie Cummins said that could be the case, the figures were collated in Sydney. The figures were ultimately not released, despite requests to head office.

Mr Cummins said the business had been flat-out dealing with vehicle break-ins across Canberra for the last two or three months, including last weekend.

"We've had to push jobs to the end of next week to fit them in," he said.

Other break-ins have happened on the street during the day. A tradesman working in Kingston said this week he had $5000 worth of tools stolen from a locked trailer during the day as he worked on a house in Leichhardt Street.

Insurance companies did not see a major jump in claims in Canberra last weekend. NRMA had only five claims and Suncorp had nine claims for non-accident or theft claims for vehicles.

A spokesman for Suncorp said it was possible the amount of damage or theft was below the excess and people had decided not to claim.

ACT Policing did arrest a 19-year-old Kambah man after he was allegedly caught breaking into cars in Calwell early Sunday after another person noticed him and rang the police.

Cold temperatures did not appear to deter thieves, with the man arrested on Sunday riding a bike as he committed the alleged break-ins.

Tuggeranong Station Sergeant Jo Cameron said police needed the help of the community to combat car break-ins because it was difficult to catch thieves red-handed.

"Unfortunately we have to put [the community's calls] in our priority system and I know sometimes people contact police and we can't respond that promptly and we don't have that same luck on our side, if I can put it that way, but this time we did," she said.

"The assistance of the community is what allows us to be there at the right time to intercept that crime, particularly at night.

"People know what's normal in their street and if they see abnormal, if they see suspicious, contacting us can absolutely reap rewards. [What's stolen] may be small in value but it's not small in terms of pain and suffering. It invades the peace and serenity of your street."

Sergeant Cameron urged people to park their cars in the most secure location possible - and to lock them.

"[Thieves] are taking a range of things, from change left in the centre console right up to high-end electrical items. IPads, wallets, keys, thousands of dollars of tradesmen's equipment," she said.

"Your vehicle is not a secure place to be leaving these things. It's about secure as leaving it in your letterbox."

Meanwhile, ACT Policing is labouring under stretched resources. It was unable to provide figures on reports of car break-ins from the weekend because it now needed two weeks notice to access statistics. It was still working to spread the message, especially on social media, for people to lock their cars.