According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), over 130,000 vehicles were stolen in England and Wales in 2022. Additional reporting says a car is stolen in the UK every 10 minutes. Various reasons can explain these high vehicle theft numbers, including vehicle theft technology being sold online, criminals becoming more daring and desperate, and the high cost of living.
Car thefts are happening from coast to coast, and vehicle thieves are not discriminating against the makes and models they steal. While things might seem grim looking at the available data, there are still things you can do to protect your vehicle from thieves.
Install a GPS Tracker
It has become common for thieves to hide a car close to where it was originally parked but not so far that it cannot be found. Why? They know many vehicles are now equipped with GPS trackers, which means driving it for more than a few meters or kilometres means the chances of them getting caught increases.
They then watch the vehicle for a day or two to see if the owner tracks it. If they do not, they drive it to a secondary location where they sell it or extract parts from it to sell on the secondary market.
While a GPS tracker for car will not stop it from being stolen, it can significantly increase the chances of recovery. You can track your vehicle easily to wherever the thief has hidden it and take it with you or involve the police so they can track the thieves down and arrest them.
GPS tracking systems work better alongside other vehicle technology solutions, such as dash cams. Thieves do not want to be caught on camera committing crimes, so they will typically avoid vehicles with visible dashcams on them. This means using a GPS tracker alongside a dash cam is a great way of increasing the security of your vehicles, stopping them from being stolen, and being able to recover them easily if stolen.
When shopping for a vehicle tracker, ensure it has a geofence feature. A geofence is a virtual boundary that encloses an area where the vehicle should not leave. If someone steals your car and tries to drive it out for the geofence zone, you will receive a notification and can start tracking it immediately.
Install an Alarm System
Just like a visible dash cam, an alarm system is a great deterrent against car thefts. Modern solutions come with technologies like motion sensors and remote control. They also provide smartphone notifications if anyone touches your car when it is locked.
You should also seriously consider alarm systems that make as much noise as the law allows. These alarms attract attention and deter thieves who do not want to deal with people looking at them and asking why they cannot turn the alarm off since it is a huge nuisance.
Protect Your Keys
If you own an older car, you should protect your car keys by keeping them away from windows and doors. You should also not lose sight of them, which often happens when people put their keys down when they need to use both hands.
Modern vehicles come with keyless access. Car thieves have become sophisticated and can now exploit keyless entry systems. Keyless cars are twice as likely to be stolen as ones that use traditional keys. Car owners can invest in signal-blocking pouches and boxes that stop thieves from intercepting keyless key fob signals.
If your vehicle provides the functionality, find out how to set the key fob to only emit a signal when you use it. Some keys emit signals continuously, providing a much wider window for thieves to intercept them. However, ones that only emit a signal when in use shorten this window so much that thieves do not have enough time to intercept the signal unless they time it properly.
Check Where You Park
Never assume that a parking spot is safe just because other people have parked nearby or it is located on a busy street. Car thieves do not care and will try to steal your car if you park in a dangerous area or one with little security regardless of other conditions being true.
You should never park an expensive or exotic car in an open area that does not have security. If there is a guard nearby, you might get away with parking it for a few minutes, but no more. Find designated parking spots with controlled entry and exit so you know your car is safer.
If you own a home with a driveway, park another car behind the more expensive one. Most car thieves are opportunists and do not want to draw attention to themselves. They are, therefore, less likely to bother moving one or two cars to get to the one they truly want.
However, realise this advice does not hold if you aren’t home for extended periods. If a car thief knows you will be away for a few days and you leave your car out in the open, they will try to steal it regardless of the barriers in front of it. In this situation, they know they have enough time to get away with it compared to how much time they would have if someone were home.
Park in Lit Areas At Night
Continuing from above, park your car in lit areas at night. According to Aviva, about four out of five of all cars are stolen at night. The cover of darkness provides an opportunity for thieves to take your car before anyone notices that it is not you who took it.
Protect your car by parking it in lit and secure areas if you park it away from home overnight. If you do not have a driveway, you should look for a parking spot with many surveillance cameras.
Take Advantage of Immobilisation Technology
One of the most successful ways of stopping car theft is using an ECU immobiliser. An immobiliser stops the car from starting, so it becomes much harder to steal. You can get a physical immobiliser or use one that comes with your GPS tracker.
For additional security, consider the ones that require a code for your car to start. Instead of a numerical code, these systems require that the driver presses several buttons in the right order before it starts. The sequence could be as simple as pressing the volume up button four times to more sophisticated sequences involving different buttons.
Protect Your OBD Port
Garages use the OBD port when diagnosing your vehicle by connecting a computer or other devices to read the diagnostic codes and logs. However, thieves can also plug a hacking device into this port and hack your car that way,
They can then turn your car alarm off or reprogram a key so it works with your car.
You can either block this port, create a dummy port or remove its fuse to protect yourself from this attack.
Cars are incredibly useful for getting around and living in modern work, which is why their theft can be devastating. Car owners have several options for protecting their vehicles from theft, from the fairly simple but sophisticated GPS trackers and dash cams to installing security systems that deter theft and alert them if an unauthorised party drives their car away.
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