Are you leaving your car open to being stolen? You might be putting your car at risk without even realising. While car theft continues to decline year on year, there is still a big business for stolen cars and parts in the UK and overseas. But there are a few things you can do to help prevent your car from being nicked. And one of those is not owning a Range Rover…
Tracker’s Top Ten Most Stolen & Recovered Cars
Last year, the most popular car among thieves was the Range Rover Sport, which topped the poll that is riddled with 4x4s. They are definitely the hot ticket item in the stolen car business. Every year, Tracker, the UK’s leading stolen vehicle recovery specialist, releases a top ten of tasty cars that thieves love to steal.
Top ten cars most frequently stolen:
1. Range Rover Sport
2. BMW X5
3. Range Rover Vogue
4. Mercedes Benz C220
5. BMW 3 Series
6. Mercedes Benz C63
7. BMW 5 Series
8. Audi RS4
9. Range Rover Autobiography
10. Audi Q7
Protecting Your Car
While car theft has reduced year on year, you should still remain vigilant and security-conscious. Here are a few things you can do to keep your car safe.
Lock Your Car
This tip is the most obvious and yet still people all over the country just pop into the shop, don’t bother locking their car and return to find that someone’s driven off with it. If you get out of your car, lock it. If you lock your car with a key fob, just check that your car has actually locked. The last thing you want to find out if your car is stolen is that if you’d bothered to lock it, you could have prevented it from being stolen in the first place.
Park Safely
There are some places that are rough enough that you know not to park your car in them. But car theft can take place anywhere. When parking, keep your car in a well-lit area around other cars. More cars means more witnesses and fewer opportunity for car thieves to steal your car without being seen. If you’re driving to the pub or a restaurant, try and park somewhere where you can see your car from inside.
Don’t Present A Juicy Opportunity
Stealing a car is a risk vs. reward situation. Do the benefits of snatching this car outweigh the risks of being caught? You can discourage theft by reducing the potential rewards to thieves. Don’t leave valuables in your car overnight or in plain sight. This includes sat-navs. The last thing you want to do is give a thief a cherry on top to their crime in the form of a laptop.
Keyless Theft
Thanks to advances in technology, you can’t just smash a window and fiddle around with a couple of wires under the dashboard to nick a car. However, thieves are using more sophisticated tools than half bricks and screwdrivers.
Car manufacturers are fighting a running battle with tech-savvy criminals overcoming the security weaknesses of the popular “keyless go” systems in many modern cars. This feature may be funky and a tiny time saver, but you might want to think twice about opting for keyless entry if you’re interested in security.
There’s a highly profitable global market for used car parts and stolen cars. Cars are also commonly stolen by organised criminals to carry out other crimes. But take comfort from the fact that, overall, car theft is far less common today than it was ten years ago, and opportunist theft in particular is increasingly rare.
Just make sure your car is locked!