Listen: Car theft is on the rise

Vehicle theft is on the rise in the UK. After hitting their lowest numbers since 2002 in 2013, the number of vehicle theft offences recorded in England and Wales alone has risen year on year, with 114,660 reported in 2018/19.

Similarly, between January and October 2019, insurers noticed a 117% rise in claims relating to the theft of premium cars compared to the same period in 2018. Shockingly, there have been a total of 67,000 claims for premium car thefts in the last five years, meaning one is stolen every 38 minutes. The Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), however, estimate that the rate is higher still for standard cars, finding that one was stolen every nine minutes in 2019.

Concerningly, car theft remains relatively easy to achieve. 63% of vehicles are stolen during the working week, and tactics that may deter potential thieves are proving ineffective with over 40% of vehicles stolen from a semi-private area close to owners’ homes and 71% of premium cars are stolen from the owner’s home address.

What’s more, though keyless cars were initially deemed more resilient to theft, keyless car theft has nearly doubled since 2008 as criminals have become wise to the new technology, using electronic signal relays to mimic the signal from the vehicle’s key fob. Indeed, vehicle tracking experts estimate that over 90% of motorists are at risk of a so-called ‘relay attack’, while research found that it can take as little as ten seconds to steal a car using this method.

Aston spoke to Mike Briggs, expert on vehicle security systems for 35 years, president of IAATI UK and managing director at TASSA (Tracking and Aftermarket Security System Association) and Michal Tazky, founder of managment consulting and analytics company I2R and is currently doing business development for it’s client Vampire Security to discuss more about car theft.

Photo by Olav Tvedt on Unsplash