AVCIS advise motorists to follow these guidelines to prevent their vehicles from being targeted by criminals:
Don't let your vehicle be next!
- Ensure that car keys are not left in sight within your house: thieves often fish keys through letterboxes and open windows
- If you have a garage, store your car there whenever possible
- With the summer months approaching, people often leave doors and windows open: ensure your keys aren’t easily accessible for opportunist thieves, but equally do not hide them and put yourself at risk of harm from a determined thief
- Lock your car whenever you leave it. Even if you are simply unloading the car, make sure that you remove the keys and lock the vehicle. If your car is stolen through these means if often invalidates your insurance
Almost 9,000 vehicles across the UK were stolen in just 36 days at the beginning of 2011, reports the Association of Chief Police Officers Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (AVCIS).
This new data illustrates that 50 per cent of thefts were made when a vehicle was left at the owner’s home address or close by, including 17.6 per cent through the burglary of properties to obtain car keys.
A third were stolen when vehicles were away from the home and four per cent of crimes during the 36 day sample were made by opportunist thieves, where keys were left in or within easy reach of the vehicle. Shockingly, this would mean that annually 3,400 thefts could be easily prevented through heightened awareness.
For more information on vehicle crime and AVCIS visit www.avcis.police.uk .
Did you know most motor policies will not give you a courtesy vehicle if you vehicle is stolen and it can take up to a month for an insurer to settle a theft claim and this can be a big problem if you are self employed and don’t have a replacement vehicle to use for work.
We can offer an insurance product which gives a replacement vehicle following a theft or total loss claim for 14 days or 28 days starting from an annual premium of £20.00.
For more information give us a ring on 01937 544784.
