Figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS) show that 40% of British drivers have been the victims of motor crime at some point.
Older models are stolen, mainly by teenage joy riders, because they are easier to steal! They have less security features like alarms or immobilisers but a brick through the window does the job whether it’s a beat up Morris Marina of the latest Beamer – albeit there’s less chance of an alarm going off with the Marina!
You’d expect that newer and more luxury end models would be stolen to strip down for parts (usually very expensive if original from a main dealer) and the same survey certainly seems to suggest that’s the case. These top end marques are stripped for parts which are sold over the internet and the larger components are sold as scrap. However, these more modern and executive models also tend to be much harder to break into. You can’t just use the old bent wire coat hanger trick with these more upmarket executive saloons! If your car is really that desirable and might be “stolen to order” then it’s far more likely that the thieves will be “professional” and will most probably case your home to steal the keys, making it seem like a burglary rather than car theft.
As recently as December 2010 five members of just such a car key burglary and vehicle ringing gang were sentenced to a total of nearly nine years in prison. They were caught after the theft of prestige vehicles such as Mercedes and BMWs in and around London, the Home Counties and Essex. The gang trousered around £400,000 in the space of 18 months from their lucrative illegal ringing business. They checked Cypriot car sale websites for cars that had legitimately been exported to Cyprus. Many of those cars visible on the website still had UK number plates, so the gang copied them to give their stolen cars a new identity.
Aside from being wary of any car for sale well under the market price and always ensuring that you carry out a ‘used car check’ before you buy it, the only other advice in the survey seems to be don’t own one of these: Ford Fiesta, Escort, Focus or Mondeo, Vauxhall Astra, Corsa or Vectra or a Volkswagen Golf. These all feature in the list of the top 10 most commonly stolen vehicles (although unsurprisingly they also happen to be among the top 10 most commonly owned). The likelihood of theft is certainly one factor that insurers will take into account when they set your premiums, but that depends more on the area in which you intend to keep the car rather than the make of car itself. Where you park your vehicle overnight can have a big impact on insurance costs, especially if you live in a postcode where thefts from and of cars is high. Using a garage or a driveway rather than parking in the street could help you save money.
More important in keeping premiums down is ensuring your vehicle is fitted with an alarm and immobiliser that is recognised by your insurer. New models generally come with these factory-fitted, but you should consider retro-fitting them to an older car.
For extra peace of mind, look at the various GPS tracking systems on the market as well. If you do have to make a claim, you’ll have to pay any compulsory and voluntary excess (normally a few hundred pounds) and of course you will lose any no-claims bonus you have built up which will mean higher premiums in future. However, if you’ve taken all the measures above and don’t leave valuables on show in your vehicle, you have at least removed temptation and that’s probably the most effective crime prevention measure there is!
Image by: neoliminal
