New Law For Car Theft Tech
A new UK law is pending that makes it illegal to possess electronic devices that bounce a key fob signal to the vehicle enabling thieves to steal the car. Vehicles and their sum of parts are valuable items. Most stolen vehicles are either cloned, used for criminal activity, shipped abroad or stripped for parts satisfying demands such as converting crash damaged vehicles into purchasable chariots. There is a large market for second-hand parts and many parts end up for sale on online market places and auction sites.
The wholly or dismantled vehicles, usually luxury and sports models shipped abroad are harder to trace and require collaboration with other countries’ police forces. Organized gangs manage the flow of these vehicles. The selected vehicles for cloning match legitimate cars in existence by changing their plates and the use of fake documents.
Some vehicles used in criminal activity are usually eventually destroyed to hide any trace of evidence. Burnt out cars are still a thing.
The use of technology in crime has replaced previous manual methods employed by thieves. Previously when owners either left the keys hanging up, in a key bowl or just on a sideboard in view of the front door, they keys could be stolen by thieves by way of “fishing” through the front door letter box with a rod and hook. The current trend is use of purchasable tech devices to remotely start the vehicle without entering the owner’s property for the keys.
Security
Manual security in the form of steering locks come in a bar type format and others fully cover the steering wheel. Some of the bar types that span the steering wheel can be compromised by cutting a chunk out of the steering wheel and removing the bar. The better proven deterrents are the devices that totally cover the steering wheel. These generally prove too much time wasting hassle for thieves, so once spotted they tend to move onto another opportunity.
Placing your key fobs into faraday pouches block the emitting signal that unlocks the car. These are an easy cost effective fix. They foil the thieves attempting to capture any signal to the car outside the house.
The Police advise it’s best not to take the keys to bed with you – this can result in the criminals confronting you and this could get nasty. The car is just a replaceable lump of metal at the end of the day which is not as valuable as your life. Therefore leave the keys downstairs.
Security using technology includes the use of a tracking device on your vehicle. These GPS enabled devices can be purchased for as little as £60 for a basic tracker you can fit yourself, with a tracking app and an additional nominal subscription fee to access the activity and data. More advanced trackers can be professionally fitted with advanced monitoring and alerts.
A neighbour of mine was targeted last year. Their Audi S3 was the desire of an early morning visit from three thieves. They broke into the house through the kitchen window at the rear looking for the keys. The keys were upstairs. The lady of the house heard noises and got out of bed and without thinking confronted two men and chased them downstairs. They had ventured upstairs to locate the keys. The gentleman of the abode then awoke too and ran out of the house after them. Luckily in some respect, they fled and got away without the car.
It’s a shame if you are in a fortunate position to purchase or lease an expensive luxury SUV or sports car. These unfortunately are targets for thieves so thinking about where you leave your car should be on your radar. Insurance premiums are also affected. There was a period last year when it was almost impossible to insure a Range Rover due to the theft figures.
Vehicle theft has always been around and evolves accordingly with the change in security methods used on the vehicles. Security technology will get better but ironically its probably the manual security devices deployed that will foil the thieves. When the new law comes in, time will tell if car crime recedes. For the moment, do what you can to secure your car.
