According to information obtained by RAC Insurance, there has been a big rise in the number of vehicle thefts here in England and also in Wales between 2013 and 2016. This may well have had some bearing on the increased cost of motor insurance that we have seen here in the UK.
Back in 2013 there were 65,783 vehicles that car thieves stole. This in itself is a significant figure yet by 2016 this figure had increased to 85,688. That equates to a rise in excess of 30% over a three-year period.
It is important that motorists should do whatever they can to prevent their cars being stolen. For instance, the likes of alarms, immobilizers and tracking devices should ideally be fitted to cars that do not have them as standard. By having those security features on your car could result in your motor insurance costing less than you thought.
Another factor that could help deter the car thief is where you park your car overnight. For instance, if you park it on the road outside your home then it is more likely to be stolen than if it were either parked on your drive or in your garage. You could use a steering wheel lock to put off a car thief.
The place where the most vehicles were stolen by thieves was in England’s capital city – London. There were 26,496 car thefts in 2016 that were referred to the local police. In second place was the West Midlands with 5,930 vehicles reported to the local police as being stolen. Back in 2013, there were 4,161 vehicles stolen in the West Midlands so there has been an increase of 43% in a period of three years.
One would have thought that car manufacturers could have made the vehicles that they build less susceptible to being broken into and stolen in comparison to a number of years ago.
Let us hope that the number of vehicles stolen reduces going forward as it would be preferable if we did not see motor insurance premiums continue to increase. We will continue to keep our readers updated with any other interesting statistics that come to our attention in the future.
