Cost of vehicle crime goes up, despite fall in numbers

The figures were highlighted by Thatcham - the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre - in its latest research bulletin. The report revealed that since 1995 vehicle crime incidents had been reduced by as much as 60%, but the cost of insurance claims had increased.

Thatcham said the fall in the number of crimes was mainly down the introduction by manufacturers of more standard security features - such as immobilisers, alarms, vehicle marking, deadlocks and secure key replacement procedures.

However, vehicle crime remained a big problem, with the most recent Government figures showing there were still around 1.7 million vehicle related thefts in England and Wales each year. Around 1.2 million (70%) of these thefts were "from" vehicles.

Common methods

While the number of vehicle crimes continued to fall year on year, their cumulative value had actually risen since 1996, according to Thatcham.

The number of motor theft claims had fallen by around 7% since 1996, but the cost of such claims had gone up from a little over £400 million to nearer £500 million.

The report suggested this was because more high-value cars were now being targeted by criminals and because recovery rates for stolen vehicles continued to decline year-on-year.

Vehicle owners needed to be aware of the strategies and techniques used by "professional" or "career" criminals, said the report, which highlighted some of the more common methods used. These included; breaking into premises to steal keys; looking for vehicles with keys still in the ignition; buying cars using false identities; staged accidents and car-jacking.

Older vehicles were also more vulnerable to theft, according to Thatcham. Almost half (47%) stolen in England and Wales, were over ten years old it said.

'Asking for trouble'

Norwich Union's motor risk manager, Bill Pownall, suggested that owners of high-value vehicles considered fitting them with a Thatcham approved 'category 5' security system.

"These systems operate after a theft has taken place, by using vehicle location technology and remote immobilisation to recover the vehicle quickly," explained Bill.

He added that when it came to preventing thefts from vehicles, motorists needed to be more aware of the dangers.

"You only need to stroll through a car park to see that some people are almost inviting criminals to steal from them. Leaving jackets, bags, cash, tools, shopping or other items on display in vehicles is just asking for trouble!"