To steal a car a generation ago meant a bit of muscle and a tool or two. In fact, in 1992 alone, UK vehicle crime spiked and thieves stole 620,000 vehicles from our roads. Over time, car security has increased but the fight against car thieves is far from done.
Home Office figures show car theft has doubled since 2014 and motor theft insurance payouts were at their highest in seven years at the start of 2019, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Covering the cost
The ABI says insurers settled around £108 million—or £1.2 million a day—in claims in the first three months of the year; an increase of 22% on the same period last year. This works out as a payout every eight minutes. Insurers paid out on a huge 16,000 claims from January to March 2019, compared to 14,000 in 2018.
The cost of vehicle repairs, meanwhile, was £1.2 billion—the highest quarterly figure since the ABI started to collect this data in 2013—which the ABI puts down to higher costs for parts and technology.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported a nine per cent increase in motor vehicle theft offences in 2018 compared to 2017, with police recording 113,037 ‘theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle’ crimes. That’s one vehicle reported stolen every five minutes. The total number of vehicle-related crimes also increased during 2018 by two per cent with 463,497 logged incidents.
Despite a rise in insurance payouts, the ABI reports the average price for motor insurance is £466—the lowest it’s been since 2017. The ABI thinks impending reforms to the Civil Liability Act legislation—aimed at reducing fraudulent whiplash claims—is part of the reason.
The legislation doesn’t come into force until April 2020 but insurers say they’re already reducing premiums because they’re expecting lower payouts.
Dangerously convenient
The ABI said part of the blame for the increase in car insurance payouts is the rise in keyless vehicle crime—also known as ‘relay theft/attack’, where, the Master Locksmiths Association say; thieves can get into a car via a relay attack in just 20 seconds.
Campaigners and politicians are now appealing to car companies to improve security, particularly in keyless cars, which have the convenient feature of letting you open and start your car without the need to take your key out of your pocket or bag.
Thatcham Research, which carries out research and testing for vehicle safety and security systems, developed the New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA) to assess brand-new vehicles and influence insurance group ratings.
This year is the first time that Thatcham Research has made public their results.
Laurenz Gerger, Policy Adviser for Motor Insurance at the ABI, said:
“Making these assessments public should spur motor manufacturers to take swift action to tackle this high-tech vulnerability.
“Meantime, consumers deserve to know how secure their cars are so they can take the necessary steps to reduce the likelihood that they become victims of crime.”
Thatcham Research gave five of the 11 models released in 2019 a ‘Poor’ security rating because their keyless entry/ignition, made them susceptible to relay theft.
Models that scored low on security:
Ford Mondeo
Hyundai Nexo
Kia ProCeed
Lexus UX
Toyota Corolla Hybrid
Without the keyless feature, Thatcham Research rated the overall security features as ‘Good’.
Richard Billyeald, Chief Technical Officer at Thatcham Research, said:
“Our calculations suggest that one per cent of all cars on the road today have keyless entry systems, but this technology is trickling down from the premium sector to more affordable cars.
“Until recently, all keyless systems used the exact same technology, so they were all vulnerable.
“Manufacturers are already working on new systems. A few new models already have set-ups that aren’t vulnerable to relay attacks. The functionality is the same, but they cannot be fooled by relay devices.”
Don’t get fobbed off
Thieves of keyless vehicles often work in pairs who buy a relay amplifier and a relay transmitter online.
Next, the pair targets a vehicle parked outside a house and, using the devices, can detect whether the car features keyless entry/ignition.
One criminal holds the transmitter near the car to capture the signal meant for the keyless fob. The other crook stands by the house with the amplifier to relay that signal to your fob. If the fob is close enough to the amplifier, the amplifier can detect, boost, and send the signal to the transmitter which acts as a key to your car. Police say the vehicles often get stripped to their parts, which the thieves then sell.
Apart from making sure you have locked your car, you can reduce the risk of it getting stolen by parking in a well-lit area and, once indoors, keeping your keyless fob away from windows or external doors. You can also keep your fob in a signal-blocking container—but test it by putting the key inside the container, then stand by your vehicle to make sure it doesn’t unlock. If your fob allows—switch off the signal. Check your manual or ask your dealer if it’s possible to disable the system.
If you want to go further with your security measures, you could buy a steering wheel lock, or even a wheel clamp to prevent thieves from driving away. Often the ‘hassle factor’ of these items are enough to cause criminals to sidestep your car. Fitting a tracker to your vehicle is another thing to consider.
Has anybody ever stolen your car? What do you think about keyless vehicles? Let us know in the comments.
90% of all car thefts are stolen by car key burglary, your house is burgled and your car stolen.
What British insurers don’t want you to know is that most pro car theft is caused by them. They sell writeoffs as repairable with no thought of where the parts to fix then will come from. Nearly all Cat S salvage has a repair that cones to more than the car is worth and insurers still sell them as fixable.
The proof is in the pudding two thirds of all stolen vehicles are never recovered. Most end up in chop shops, chopshops operate to supply parts for damaged cars
I concur with Peter’s comments and can also add that would-be car thieves also target cars at home addresses by looking through door letterbox’s to see if they can spot a set of keys hanging up near the door on lying on a table or sideboard nearby, they then use either a hook or a small magnet attached on to an extendable rod to reach in via the letterbox to steal the keys which probably have a house key and car keys attached.
You can obviously guess what happens next…
The answer to that problem is to hang up a key for a different car, made by the same manufacturer.
Better still I put my keys in my handbag which sits in the bedroom. My house is very old(1870) so does not have the conventional entrance like many new houses. My husband puts his in a dish in a unit in the living room .
should ‘professional’ car thieves want YOUR car they’ll get it even if it means breaking into your house. someone near me had their upvc door blow lamped open to allow access to the keys hidden in the house.
mine are in the kitchen, with the garage door key, ready to stop any intruders going through the house searching for them.
NO idea what that will achieve.
The issue being that we (the customers) want to pay the lowest amount possible for our insurance, and one way for the insurers to offset the amount they pay out (and thus offer a lower premium) is to sell any salvage
A large proportion of written off vehicles shouldn’t be written off. It’s often down to the high prices charged by approved repairers who have a more or less captive customer base – insurers are not going to shop around for every repair quotation. It’s perfectly feasible to repair such vehicles with legitimate, normally priced parts.
£150 for a wing mirror £2500 for the wing? Car book worth £1200 nothing else wrong – Car written off despite being in very good condition with only 26000 on clock full service history. No available parts for under £1900. Perhaps Insurers shoud run their own repair garages at reasonable prices and put the overchargers out of business? _ Ah nope then think of those who supply charge back to the insurers and those that provide administration claim services to you from the insurers all legally despite it being a point of law to minimise costs not maximise them – this seems to apply only to the poor motorist and not the Companies themselves – perhaps again we should be looking at our laws?
I had my beautiful Alfa T-spark “written off” by my insurers after being forced off the road, because they said it would be too expensive to GET A NEW WHEEL MADE to match the others. I said, 12-yr-old car, get one from a breakers yard. They said no, it had to be a new part because of their rules! After 6 weeks of hire car before they came to this decision, I bought the car back from them and got a replacement wheel, with good tyre, VAT and delivery, for £80 through my local (Alfa friendly) garage. I reckon the insurers had paid out upwards of £3k by that stage, because they refused to source an old wheel for an old car (which is still going strong, by the way) – that’s one reason why insurance is so expensive!
They did you a favour, I’ve had 2 free cars an a motorbike because of this stupidly. I had a BMW 525 back in 99, was petrol bombed in a riot but the interior was the only damage, they took it to main dealer who named an priced every screw and part even if it was re usable. 12k was the result. On a 18k car. Only had it for 3 month, so asked an got paid out 18k minus 250 quid scrap value. Got a new leather interior for 350 quid, every part an in a nicer colour than I had. Drove for another 8 years an got a 2k part ex. Bargin.
MY DAUGHTERS CAR WAS WRITTEN OFF BEING SO BADLY DAMAGED IN THAT THE FRONT END WAS ALMOST RIPPED OFF BY THE IMPACT. ACOUPLE OF YEARS LATER I SAW HER CAR ON THE FORECOURT OF A CHEAP CAR SALES LOT WITH A COMPLETE NEW FRONT WITH A POOR RESPRAY SHOWING PAINT WORK FROM A DONOR CAR. A DEFINATE CASE OF CUT AND SHUT.
Cheap tip. If you leave your car exposed e.g. on drive , maybe when you go on holidays then wrap your key fob in kitchen foil. I find this blocks the signal and costs almost nothing.
Or maybe have a favourite biscuit tin with hinged lid for dumping keys in? Anything that encases the fob in metal sounds like a good idea.
Better to take your key with you surely.
But if going away higher risk of losing expensive key on beach when you did not need it with you
Duh! so you take your keys onto the beach, what a dumb idea, if you must take them away with you most hotels have either room safes or one at reception. But you have still left one at home, the spare that you dropped in a drawer somewhere that a determined thief will easily find. There are far more secure places at home, and not the fake bean tin in the food cupboard…
Double wrap in foil inside a biscuit tin and put in hotel’s safe. Don’t take safe to beach
If the car is still at home and the key is with you then surely the foil is not needed.
As you suggest plus – Placed in a small tin, also helps…….
Leave your keys in the Fridge
And a lot of good that does the battery in the key fob, worse still putting them in the freezer..
Or the Microwave (which is a Faraday cage so perfect for shielding the key’s signal) – just don’t forget it’s in there of course 🙂
A police officer actually told me to do this!
Faraday cages work based on the wavelength of the radiation. Microwaves are significantly shorter than radio waves, otherwise you’d be able to cook yourself (cook, not anything rude!) with your keyfob, also microwave ovens are designed to keep electromagnetic radiation in, not out.
Daft ideas…freezer and microwave for keys. One will cause condensation when you bring it into room temperature possibly knackering the electronics and the other fries the electronics if another member of the family uses the microwave and doesn’t notice the keys. Stick to a Faraday cage device and carrying the keys on outings.
Or simply just invest in a decent safe that’s secured to the home and leave key’s in there with your other valuables wile you’re alway?
They’ll rip the safe out of your wardrobe and take it with them. The only safe that will work is one bolted to a concrete floor but that requires quite a bit of work to install.
Absolutely do NOT leave your car keys at home when you are out/away – if someone breaks into your home you are then gifting them a means of carting your belonging away! Carry keys with you, and overnight, have then in the room you sleep in, NOT on a hook by the front door!
Good suggestion. I will try that. Thanks.
Try using a metal tin to block the signal, it’s much quicker and stops any opportunist taking your car!
Recently acquired new Volvo CX40 which is my first keyless go car.
Sorry but I see more negatives than positives in Keyless technology.
Give me my key and fob back lot less hassle.
D Mc
The British suffer from mild paranoia when it comes to crime; you should therefore allow for a degree of exaggeration. If you keep your fob in your pocket and, when at home, don’t sit too near the front door unless you can see your car, you’ll probably be OK
But the point of keyless systems is surely convenience? If you have the inconvenience of worrying more about your car and having to take special precautions to protect it, that kind of defeats the point.
I agree with D McRitchie, all things considered, keyless systems are pointless. The fob is at least as large as a traditional key, and the benefit as far as I can see is simply not having to press a button or insert a key into an ignition lock. Like those things are really arduous. The flip side being that cars are back to being as easy to steal as they were in the early 90s.
Can afford a new car but can’t get its name right…
What an unpleasantly judgemental post – you have no idea of the OP’s circumstances and what lead them to the purchase.
With all the recent publicity on keyles insecurities, I am surprised that anyone would buy a keyless entry car. Am I right to also distrust those systems where the keyfob has a button press to open the door?
No
Unfortunately you don’t get a choice with a lot of models.
Why have a keyless system at all? Is it that much to press a button? You have to open the door yourself anyway. I recently had a Renault as a rental that although locked on exit it still required you to press of a button on the fob to open the vehicle.
Had keyless ignition for 5 years
No problems and really useful, especially with shopping
When I heard about theft I bought tin of travel sweets
Keys live in tin when at home
£1.99 not exactly breaking the bank!!
(And enjoyed the sweets)
Best deterrent for key-less fob entry is put your keys in a tin box with a lid. It completely blocked out any signal from the keys to prevent nasty repeater devices. My Range rover Discovery sport is already one of the better secure ones, and will only open the door from about a metre away, but I checked to see if it would activate the door when the keys were in a tin box I was holding, and completely passed the test and did not open the door even with the tin against the door handle.
Best to check out your own vehicle with a similar test to be sure of how well this works, but so far 100% success. To make it easy I decided to make our own “Faraday cage” by lining the key draw, bottom, top and all four sides to secure keys overnight.
How did you press the key fob button when it was inside a tin box with a lid?
One assumes keyless entry – just pull the handle and door opens as long as fob is in range
Which bit of “Keyless Entry” did you miss?
Buy one or two of these
Signal Blocking Car Key Pouch by Attenuo – Pocket-Sized Faraday cage – Essential Security for keyless Entry Cars
anything from £4 to £12 depending where you shop. Put the keys inside when in the car and it goes no further cause it can’t find the signal It has an A*** rating by my standards
Yes. I agree bought 2 of these for my car (which only has keyless entry), they work perfectly and the pouches are discreet. Good tips from above about putting keys in a safe or other secure place when not at home a lot.
I too bought two Faraday type key pouches for my car fob (£5 for two from eBay). They were an absolute bargain, and were worth every penny, as they DO block the signal perfectly.
I would recommend them to anyone who owns a car with keyless entry.
Use one pouch for your car fob, and the other for your spare fob.
(I’ve also resurrected and use my old steering wheel/disc lock as a visual deterrent.)
When you go away, leave the keys in your Microwave oven. That’s a superb Faraday cage. Just don’t turn it on with them in there.
Keyless technology could be made safe as a factory fit system. The car’s CPU can easily measure the signal travel time between fob and receiver in the car. If the signal time is longer than expected – which it would be if a range extender was used – the car just does not open.
The technology exists and is dirt cheap to implement.
It is just car manufacturer’s resistence that is in the way.
No good: The amplifier makes the keys appear closer. Technology developed in WW2 re German beam systems.
We had our BMW x3 stolen using the keyless entry theft.
BMW couldn’t care less and refused to contact all owners at risk to explain the issue and give a solution (ie all you need is an £8 pouch to Block the signal.)
If you have had your BMW stolen, please please write to the head of uk customer services and ask why they are not addressing this issue – Trystan.Lakin@bmw.co.uk
I will never buy a BMW again
You have gone up in my estimation.
Or fit a good old fashioned alarm.
Or a crooklok, old fashioned l know but they work and take longer to bypass
George
Sadly this is incorrect. A crooklok can be easily kicked off – as I discovered (in 1987) when my Ford Escort was stolen.
BMW have already resolved the issue.
They now come with “jiggle keys”
The key has a movement sensor built in and if the key stays still for 2 minutes it turns off the signal until the key is moved again.
I want my Austin Allegro back!! Firstly, it would have none of this techno wizardry and who’d want to steal it anyway? Seriously, though, it’s about time car manufacturers got this issue sorted. I first encountered keyless entry ten years ago on a hired Nissan Altima in Canada. What worries me though is when they find a solution which, no doubt, will be a software upgrade, will they just apply it to new vehicles or will they roll it out to existing vehicles like my 2014 Auris. Incidentally, my keyless entry is switched off and I also use a steering wheel lock and a Faraday back at home. Am I paranoid. Yes, of course I am.
Thatcham need to get with the times too! I’ve installed an Autowatch Ghost II Immobilisor however as it’s not on the Thatcham register you don’t get any insurance discounts. Currently the only way to steel a car with one is tow it away so if manufactures fitted them we would see a drop in car thefts!
Rumour has it that Ghost II had now been hacked and is crackable by thieves 🙁
Transporter…
I watched a documentary based in the US where GM placed trackers in all SUV’S. Once stolen it gives the tracker company complete control of the car. So if the police are chasing it or hot on its heels, the tracker company can flash the indicators to let police know its the correct car, and, when its safe they can cut the power to the car bringing it to stop. This is also basically how most if not all trackers work. I have always had one and cant fault it. The cost varies to have one fitted, then you pay about £200 per year to maintain the subscription which is 54p a day. Personally i think all new cars should be automatically fitted with one.
Police? What are these? Never seen anything / anyone like that round here.
Why just SUVs?
The system has been available in america for a long time now, usually called Lo Jacking.
In UK as Outsmart the Thief
You think the police in the UK have time to search for your car?
These are a available in UK from Outsmart The Thief – about £600 supplied and fitted plus £360 for 5 years monitoring. Lots of extra bits, not just being able to remotely stop vehicle.
If it’s so easy WHY does my Toyota cost £350 for a replacement keyless key!!! I liked it, very convenient, but now would never buy another keyless… 🙁
William
Take battery out of fob when you go away
Don’t buy a car with a keyless fob. Sounds sensible to me.
Or one without a proper spare wheel and tyre.
Technology for the sake of it, what’s wrong with a proper lock and key
A big screwdriver.
And add to it a a secret switch in series with the ignition. Better still, several of them.
I believe Jag XE rate at the far better end for security for this type of crime. Being a Goody 2 Shoes however I still keep my keys in the house away from outer walls etc.
For credit card protection from scanners police told me wrapping them in kitchen foil works as a screen. Maybe also work for Key fobs if it is preferred to leave them in a favourite yet maybe not normally secure spot in the house confines?
Expert advice welcome here.
Try getting a SAAB, they are harder to break into than a Rolls Royce and the ignition key hole is attached to the gear box locking the car in reverse. So if you ever see a SAAB going backwards very fast you know its been stolen.
A small ‘faraday bag’ is cheap and easy to find – some insurers/ brokers give them away.
I bought a pair of so called Faraday Pouches on Ebay. I put my car key in one of the pouches and walked up to the car with the key inside the pouch and in my pocket. The car still unlocked so the pouches went straight back for a refund.
My pouch has two pockets, one protects the key and the other one doesn’t. Just move the key to the unprotected pocket when you want to get into the car and leave it there while you are driving. I didn’t notice this when I first tested the pouch and thought it didn’t work. I wonder if you bought the same type as me.
Barry, I think you could be right.
My Faraday pouches, which I too bought off eBay, work the same way as yours.
The lined pocket is the one that protects the car fob. (I have my house keys attached to and in the unprotected pocket)
It’s also worth noting that if you put your fob back into the protected pocket of the pouch AFTER you’ve started up your car, the engine will continue to run with no problem – UNTIL either the boot or a car door is opened. Then the engine will just switch off.
After being warned about a man scanning cars that were driving into supermarket car parks a few months back (he’s since been arrested for it) I do this regularly now.
Mr Bean got it in one, remove the steering wheel
Keys have been used to open cars for generations. Why does industry strive to make the modern generation more lazy than they already are? The love of money is the answer and greed is a terrible thing. If their invention is not good enough, then go back to the simple key
It’s called progress you ludite.
There is a simple answer to keyless relay theft and burglars stealing keys and I had the system in my Citroen XM many years ago. A simple number pad mounted on the top of the transmission tunnel or elsewhere convenient, the car then will not start until the PIN has been entered. If the system is really sophisticated, you could have an additional number to enter if you are forced by a thief, which starts the car and then shuts it down, locks the doors and sounds the alarm when the thief is a few miles down the road, assuming he let you out before making off with your car, it could get him knicked as well!!
I remember how unreliable those Citroen keypads were.
It shud be impossible to steal a car, it shud b law that you protect your car at all times. 625000 thefts in one year shows that Police are inneffective. Gov needs to start a war on car thieves. Do it now!!
shud be impossible to steal a car, it shud b law that you protect your car at all times. 625000 thefts in one year shows that Police are inneffective. Gov needs to start a war on car thieves. Do it now!!
I have an Aston Martin DB9 which needs to have its key inserted in to the aperture in the dash, and then pressed home after the start up procedures have finished. Wouldn’t this idea be better than normal keys or keyless systems ? Both of our other cars, the new micra and Tiguan, have standard keys with remote opening, 1) because its £500 ish cheaper and 2) because of the security risk as discussed.
Surely though, the next level of car security must be biometric, it’s on our phones so why not in our cars?
The person who down voted this comment is clearly jealous..
When I drove to Manchester airport to go to Spain, I also took our spare set just in case they got lost. Good job really, as our bag got nicked at Barca airport with one set of keys in it. Meant that we could still get home and get in the house when we returned. Be aware that many travel insurers do not cover car keys, as we found out to our cost.
I have 2 Renault cars and both have keyless entry. The 2014 model has a deadlock button on the fob that disables the keyless entry. The keyless entry on the 2018 model does not have this feature and so I have to keep it in a Faraday pouch to block the signal. So much for progress!
If more people who had a garage kept their cars in it, then it would make it more difficult for thieves.
Indeed. But back in the real world, where we peasants live…..
My car always resides in the garage, it has to my electric car charging point is in there, but I have always kept my previous petrol/diesel cars in the garage, as well as security you never have to scrape windows in the morning or clear snow off or even demist and the car stays cleaner. Now I know what you are saying that a lot of people are not fortunate enough to have a garage or even off road parking but of the large number who do have a garage many of them still prefer to fill their garage with junk and leave their valuable car outside, does not make sense, aren’t garden sheds made for storing rubbish? Back to key-less entry, I would not entertain the idea of having a car with it, as someone previously commented they have more downsides that benefits.
I wonder how many people have a garage and tell their insurance company that they park their car in it overnight to save money on their annual premium then, because it’s full of junk or just not big enough for their car, they don’t.
It actually puts your insurance up if you park in a drive or in a garage. A lot people are claiming on their insurance because they are catching the walls
Not sure about the leg ality of this suggestion, but what about a system that locks all doors, closes all windows, and disables ignition and internal door and wind ow controls?
Roy deal
I put my key fob in a child’s tin pencil box very easy and safe small and does not take a lot of room up
My wife’s car was stolen from the drive when parked within 3 paces of the front door.
Car design is far too complicated w.r.t. security.
Most stolen vehicles are taken on impulse. I would like to see future designs that could readily have an impact to prevent this.
The drivers seat back rest should have the capability of being tilted forward to lean on the steering wheel and locked in that position. It should possible to locate the locking arrangements such that access to them would be difficult to mechanically force this access. and still maintain ease of opening by the driver conventionally with a bog standard fob key.
I cant understand the mentality of car manufacturers. They spend millions on developing keyless entry and ignition systems for the 21st century, then tell you the best way to protect your (usually) expensive car from being stolen is to use 19th century technology, ie, put the keys in a metal box or a Faraday cage. That’s just passing the buck on to someone else. We have to carry a fob around with us for a keyless start car anyway, so we can just as easily carry a key instead. Are we so lazy we can’t be bothered to insert a key into an ignition switch for the car to start.
My 10 year old Mercedes has an ignition key coded to the car, so unless this is actually in the ignition, the car will not start. The only way to steal my car is for the thief to have the ignition key, and to get that, they have to break into my home. I know this can happen, but at least it makes it harder for them
I am completely agree with you, are people so lazy they can
t use a key to open & start the car, modern society is getting so lazy, soon people will expect someone else to wipe their backsides as its too much trouble to do it themselves.Put the keys in a Faraday cage inside the house. Sorted
When you buy a keyless car, why can’t the manufacturer provide a pouch which will block the signal, the insurance companies will acknowledge this & if your car is stolen because you did not use it then they could turn round & say hard luck, its an easy thing to do & becomes habitual.
Thatcham need to get their facts correct! Ford haven’t released any Mondeos in 2019. They have stopped making them. there may be one or two still available in showrooms but they were not released in 2019
I have the new mitsubishi shogun sport the retailer told me the keyless entry can’t be turned off unlike the jeep I had. I keep the keys in a sweet tin without hinges as I tried a sweet tin with hinges but it was no good the signal must have leaked out of the very small gaps on the hinges. Also what happens when you lock the car at a car park etc. Could two people with scanning gear be able to steal the car as you walk past one of them. In case of that scenario I have a smaller tin I can use. A bit over the top but better safe than sorry. A friend of mine and his family keep all their keyless entry keys in the bread bin.
We’ve had 3 cars (all Renault’s) with keyless entry – it’s splendid. The card is slim enough to fit in my wallet and I don’t need to trouble myself with keys… In a few years it will be via your phone or fingerprint. I’m not paranoid enough to leave my keys in a tin – but I do live in a low crime area. Plus – I’d rather a scumbag steal my car ‘remotely’ – than break into my house! That said I hope someone does nick by peice of cr*p car!
But WHY should you have to do all this just to stop your car being stolen, this in my book is not progress.
Until the police take car theft and robbery seriously and adequately investigate the crime in order to catch criminals and prosecute them this will continue to rise. It is no coincidence the rates have risen so much when the police have now chosen to only investigate crimes of violence or crimes that are not covered by insurance! Disgraceful.
Agree, but your presentation rather indicates that you put property before people. No doubt you didn’t Intend to do that.
A colleague of mine when I was work (now retired) collected Allegros! Here is his chance to ‘coin’ it!
So my Fiesta ST was stolen. I had locked it and keep the keys in a Faraday bag. I also had a Thatcham Approved Disklok on. They cut through this with an angle grinder in the street in daylight. Ford totally uninterested and still selling keyless cars. They want the customer to pay for upgrade to keys only available on certain models. Manufacturers need to up their game – no wonder less and less new cars being sold in 2019. The Government need to employ more police (they actually got rid of the dedicated car theft teams (thanks Teresa May). The general answer is you are insured. It should not be down to the consumer to have to pay even more money for extra theft deterrents on top of the costly price of a new car. Manufacturers dictate that we want some really unnecessary extras but ignore the security aspects. Not impressed.
I bought a brand-new Seat Ibiza 1.0 SE Technology in January this year. Prior to taking ownership, I decided to pay an extra couple of hundred quid to have a Tracker Thatcham-approved device fitted to it. Some people may think that I’ve wasted that money, fitting a Tracker to a “sh**ty little 1 litre car”, but I’m only protecting my £15,500 “investment”. I would say that it’s a false-economy not to have a tracking device fitted.
Ford have put motion detection on their keyless system and rncouragingly they are offering to exchange old technology keys for new ones at a discounted rate.
All manufacturers should do the same. Having a key pouch is NOT a convenient answer. I have one and use it but it is a pain. All keys should be able to be switched off too.
I left my new spare key in the safe until I needed it. When I went to use it the battery needed to be repelced . Thus no usage and I have to pay to replace the battery.
Pretty poor I’d say.
Don’t take your fobs to the dealer for new batteries.
I paid £8 at the Dealership when my fob ‘died’, thinking they would need to re-code the fob. No. The guy just put a new battery in and that was that.
Next time my fob died I bought a pack of batteries and replaced the battery myself. (YouTube via Google will show you how to undo your fob if you are unsure.)
It cost me £4 and I still have a spare battery for next time..
David, thank you for mentioning the Ford motion detection enhancement on their keyldss system. I had not heard about this before.
I’ll call into the Dealership this week to see about having this done.
Again, thank you!
It seems that technology is hell bent on making it easier for the thieves nowadays. Keyless cars, online banking etc. And wait till we have driverless cars, how they expect you to stay alert so you can take over is beyond me, you’ll be asleep with nothing to do.
get an alarm with Advanced Driver Recognition chip.
I worry that if a key was dropped or stolen while a car is in a car park the thief would be able to click to see while car flashed its lights at them. The old key that needed to be put in a lock was better.