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Car theft seems to be getting worse year after year, especially with newer cars becoming easier targets for organised thieves. A lot of drivers don’t really think about it until it happens close to home, but taking a few basic precautions can genuinely make a difference.
Your car is a significant investment — and for criminals, the value of a vehicle makes it a tantalising opportunity. With car theft methods and key cloning technologies getting ever-more advanced, it's perhaps unsurprising that buyers are accidentally purchasing stolen vehicles more often. It also means more stolen vehicles end up being passed around the used car market.
As such, protecting your car from theft is more important than ever. Luckily, these five tips will help reduce the risk and keep your vehicle safer.
The first tip today is the most obvious (and most effective). That said, it's something that may not be feasible for many drivers. Indeed, keeping your car indoors depends on whether you have garage access or not. If you do, be sure to use it.
Cars parked in garages or secure indoor spaces are generally much less likely to be targeted by thieves than vehicles left on the roadside overnight. Even parking on a driveway can help reduce risk compared to street parking.
If you haven't got a garage at home, renting one nearby could still be worth looking into. That said, there's not much point if it's miles away or a hassle to get to every day, so it's worth thinking about convenience as well as security.
Leaving your car unlocked increases the risk of theft significantly. However, if you're nipping inside for a minute before heading out, it can be tempting to leave the car open. After all, you're only going to be a moment, right?
Well, yes — but that's all the time it takes for a criminal to take advantage. And, of course, the risk gets even higher if you end up getting distracted. In short: for the sake of taking an extra moment to lock your car, you could significantly reduce your risk.
It's also worth double-checking that windows are fully closed and valuables aren't visible inside the vehicle. Opportunistic thieves often look for the easiest possible target.
A lot of modern cars now come with keyless entry, and while it definitely makes life easier, it has also created new opportunities for thieves. Many criminals now use relay theft devices to capture the signal from a key fob and gain access to vehicles surprisingly quickly.
By hijacking the fob's signal, criminals can unlock and gain access to your car in less than a minute. As such, it's integral to protect your car fobs. Signal-blocking pouches and Faraday key cases are among the best protections here.
Following typical key-protection techniques — like keeping keys away from doors and windows — will also help significantly. Some manufacturers also allow drivers to disable passive keyless entry overnight for extra protection.
Imagine you were a criminal. What would be your obvious target? The house with car keys left on the windowsill, of course.
Given this, don't make it obvious for thieves to target your vehicle. Keep keys hidden at all times; criminals are often surprisingly effective at getting hold of them when they're visible.
Likewise, avoid leaving sat navs, phones, wallets, or bags visible inside the vehicle itself. Even smaller valuables can encourage break-ins.
And, it should go without saying: never leave the car unlocked.
Often, obvious security systems can be enough to dissuade a criminal — or help you track down your car if not. With this in mind, investing in security and keeping it front and centre around your car can help significantly.
Systems such as motion-detecting lights, steering wheel locks, vehicle trackers, alarms, and CCTV are prime examples. A lot of thieves will simply move on if a car looks too difficult or risky to steal.
In many cases, visible anti-theft devices are enough to encourage thieves to move on to an easier target instead.
Protecting your car with today's key strategies is important; however, even this can only do so much. After all, if a criminal is dead-set on stealing your car, there's only so much you can do.
One thing you can control, though, is ensuring your next car isn't stolen before you buy it. Unfortunately, cloned and stolen vehicles do still make their way onto the used car market, which is why organisations like Action Fraud encourage buyers to carry out proper checks before purchasing a used vehicle privately.
By taking a minute to check the stolen status of a vehicle before you buy, you can ensure you don't inadvertently support the criminal trade. All you'll need is the car's number plate.
Simply enter it into a car history checking tool, which will quickly highlight any stolen status — along with a wealth of other information including outstanding finance, MOT history, mileage discrepancies, previous write-offs, and even the vehicle's service history to help verify the seller's authenticity.
Taking a few minutes to run a vehicle history check could potentially save you thousands of pounds and a major legal headache later on.