Car theft has risen by 50 per cent in five years, with criminals using high-tech gadgets to steal keyless vehicles.
TOBY WALNE enters the shady world of car crime to discover how easy it is to steal a vehicle in a matter of seconds, and what can be done to beat the crooks...
Six seconds. Just enough time to reach for the TV remote control and change channels. But also sufficient time – as I discovered last week – to break into a swanky new £65,000 Range Rover and drive off into the distance (with the owner's consent for this experiment, I hasten to add).
Child's play: Toby Walne with the cheap devices that allowed him to 'steal' the car
Apart from a bit of fumbling by the car door, it was soon open thanks to my son Harrison standing by a window ledge with the disc – picking up the signal from my keys two metres inside the home. The blue box then ensured the motor started like magic. Within moments, my foot was on the accelerator and I was away.
The most recent Home Office figures reveal that vehicle theft has rocketed by 50 per cent over five years, with experts saying many cars are being stolen in this way. The Government claims that 56,000 vehicles are stolen in the UK each year, though experts say the true figure could be more like 100,000.
The cost to the insurance industry of car thefts has doubled in five years to reach £413million last year. Top of the range BMW, Mercedes and Range Rover models are among the most popular targets – stolen to order and shipped abroad or sent to 'chop shops' to be broken up into parts that are sold to traders or on auction websites.
With less than 1 per cent of thefts resulting in a conviction, it appears that the crooks are getting away with this crime.
All credit to: www.thisismoney.co.uk
See original blog post here:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8630527/Car-theft-risen-50-five-years-vehicle-safe.html
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