Protect your car

• immobiliser, to prevent the car from starting; the best way to stop someone driving away - a Government team has suggested that fitting older cars with immobilisers would prevent 60,000 offences a year
• alarm; make sure any potential thief knows your vehicle has one by displaying a sticker or flashing lights
• steering wheel lock; as with an immobiliser/alarm, remember to activate this every time you leave your car
• locking wheel nuts, an economical way to protect your vehicle; cars are often stolen and driven to a remote area just to steal the wheels
• windows, windscreens and headlamps etched with registration number or the digits of Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
• mark all car equipment with VIN number
• reinforced B-pillars, making them safe against entry with a crow bar
• fit security labels and marking items in the car with your post-code, using a special property marking pen, to help police return your property if it becomes lost or stolen
• tamper-proof tax disc holder, to deter thieves from taking the disc to sell security-coded, removable radio tracking device
  

Keys

However the improvements in car security mean that frustrated car thieves are turning their attention to stealing car keys - rather than tackling sophisticated security devices on vehicles.

The warning from the RAC Foundation comes in the wake of reports of this escalating trend from police forces across the UK and now accounts for a growing proportion of the 320,000 cars that are stolen each year. With modern vehicles kitted out with anti-theft devices, the acquisition of a car key and fob not only allows criminals easy access to the vehicle but can also alert them to its location when parked on a street or car park. For even when thieves don’t know exactly where a car is parked after stealing the keys, they often manage to find it by trawling the immediate area for the correct make and trying the remote door release or momentarily activating the alarm on the fob to identify the correct vehicle.

Some gangs around the country are now staging housebreakings in a deliberate attempt to get at car keys. In the past 2 years more than £40 million worth of cars have been stolen in the Home Counties following burglaries. In West Yorkshire, police have been urging drivers to take car keys to bed with them following the disappearance of 720 vehicles stolen between October and December last year after a spate of sneak in burglaries.

And three Liverpool teenagers were recently sentenced for their role in a series of “hooking” thefts – a crime first identified by the RAC Foundation four years ago - where wire, cane or fishing rods are fed through windows or letterboxes to retrieve keys hanging close by.

It is not just top end cars that are at risk, however, with many opportunist burglars now sneaking into porches, halls and kitchens in broad daylight to grab keys hanging on hooks near doors or break in by stealth during the night to deliberately seek out keys before driving off in the family saloon.

Handbags and pockets containing keys are easy pickings in public places too - while keys left briefly on shop counters, on tables in restaurants and bars and in the ignition of vehicles for short periods are all clear invitations to the wrong-doer.

How to keep your keys safe

• Treat car keys the same as you would cash or credit cars
• Make sure that they are in a secure place at home and at work
• Keep house doors locked at all times, thieves can sneak in while you are in another room for a short time.
• Ensure that car keys are not kept close to doors and windows – it maybe a handy aide memoir for you but a straight invitation to the criminal.
• Never leave keys in an unattended car – however short the time, even if you are just popping into a shop or to pay for petrol.
• Keep the car garaged and locked if possible.
• Never leave any form of identification, like your car registration, with your keys.
  

“It’s not rocket science to work out the motivation behind this trend”, said Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, “As cars have become harder to steal with their sophisticated immobilisers and security systems, so thieves have concentrated on the easy option – taking the keys. That little piece of metal and plastic is often the only thing between the criminal and your £20,000 investment. "

Perfect Parking

According to Davis-Knight, even with every possible anti-theft device fitted, and all valuables stowed away, a car can still be at risk if the driver parks in the wrong place: ‘When we park our cars, we assume they will be there when we get back. Unfortunately, for some drivers, this is not always the case. If you own a garage, make the most of it. Park your vehicle in it and lock it, rather than leaving it on the street. If not, park in a well-lit, open place, not one hidden from view or with obvious escape routes.’

When out and about, try and park in a car park that has been awarded ‘Secured Car Park’ status; such a car park will normally have good lighting, CCTV cameras, and security/car park attendants - in other words, crime prevention measures will have been put into place.

Summary of ideas for trying to avoid crime include:

• remove all goods from display or take them with you: remember, a thief will decide what is valuable or not. This includes obvious items such as cash/chequebooks/credit cards, mobile phones, cameras, handbags, briefcases, but also less obvious ones such as CDs, sports gear, vehicle documentation etc
• always lock car doors and boot, and wind up the windows and sun-roof if you are stuck in slow moving traffic - thieves can reach in, rob and retreat within seconds.
• retract your ariel to stop it being vandalized
• look after your car keys, and know where they are at all times
• remove your keys when you leave your vehicle, even if only for a minute; for example, do not keep the engine running while you are paying for petrol, or while nipping into the shop for a newspaper!
• have your windows etched with your registration number; all new vehicles should have their windows etched automatically.
• ensure you have a security-coded, removable radio.
• fit a steering wheel lock or an immobiliser; these products will make it harder for someone to drive your car away.
• make sure all property is post-coded with your house or flat number - this will help the police to return it to you if it is lost or stolen.
• when out and about, try and park in a car park that has been awarded ‘Secured Car Park’ status; such a car park will normally have good lighting, CCTV cameras, and security/car park attendants - in other words, crime prevention measures will have been put into place.
• buy a tamper-proof tax disc holder - this deters the thief from breaking in and selling the disc on.
• if you have a garage, make the most of it and park your vehicle in it rather than leaving it on the street.
• protect your wheels if they are expensive - fit locking wheel nuts and have them etched with your registration number.
• in addition, organisations such as Neighbourhood Watch suggest some ways of combatting/reducing crime: look out for neighbours’ cars and ensure they have adequate garage security; report suspicious activity to the police etc.

Stolen Cars

There is another side to car crime. It is possible to accidentally buy a stolen car. Davis-Knight said: ‘Car crime does not just affect the victim of a car theft. Once a car is stolen, any number of things could happen. One possibility is that it could resurface and be sold on without the buyer even realising that the car was once stolen.

‘There are a number of things motorists should watch out for when looking into buying a car. If any of these things happen, reconsider your position:’

• if they ask you which car you are interested in, as they may actually be traders posing as private sellers
• if the seller specifies a time to call a certain number that may be a mobile or a phone box; they may also put the same number in a few adverts
• if the seller insists on bringing the car to you instead of you going to them
• if the car’s engine, milometer, and VIN numbers show signs of being tampered with
• if the general standard of the car’s interior does not match the mileage if the documentation - MOT certificates and registration documents, including the V5 registration document – do not have the relevant watermarks, or match up with the car’s numbers, or include the name of the seller
  

‘This could be more than just a clerical inconvenience,’ Davis-Knight commented: ‘Someone that buys a stolen car could eventually find out that they do not own the car at all, and they could lose a lot of money as a result.’

There are a number of ways to avoid buying a stolen car. The history of the vehicle can be checked, for a small fee. Find out more at www.hpicheck.com or www.cardatacheck.co.uk