Tracking devices and theft

The theft of car keys from a house is one of the areas that continues to cause problems for car insurers. One of the irritants is that the police class this kind of theft as a burglary and not as car theft. Few cars currently have trackers installed as standard. Thatcham is working on a standard for trackers. Once more cars have these installed it will make car crime substantially easier to deal with.

A worrying side effect of better vehicle security has been the rise of car jacking as it is now harder to steal a vehicle the old fashioned way. This can be countered by laminating the glass in the car. This treatment costs around £400 and makes the glass in a car much more difficult to break. In the future some insurers such as Norwich Union are looking to give discounts where laminated glass is fitted.

Date - 15/09/2006