Theft and violence used to steal vans

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request to Nottinghamshire Police by the UK’s oldest specialist motor insurance loss adjuster, Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA), has revealed that 21.93% of stolen vehicles are taken by a burglary or robbery – that equates to over 28,500 vehicles a year nationwide.

Philip Swift, a former detective and now managing director of CMA, said:

This discovery, that more than one in five vehicles are taken with keys acquired by theft, force or threat of force, is important for both consumers and the insurance industry. For owners, it is a reminder that good old-fashioned precautions – like keeping house and van doors locked, hiding keys out of sight, and fitting trackers – are as valid as ever.

For insurers, it provides hard evidence that, despite the huge focus on sophisticated keyless techniques like relay attacks, many criminals are still using more rudimentary and opportunistic methods. These range from trying door handles on the off-chance, or swiping keys from a worktop, to targeting certain houses specifically for the vans on the drive, or nastier violent crimes. Unfortunately, with ever more constabularies failing to record the vehicle theft modus operandi (MO), quantifying the prevalence of various methods is increasingly difficult. Hats off to Nottinghamshire Police for their data collection diligence, although their process could be improved by logging ‘security compromise’ incidents. Sadly, delving deeper into the numbers only confirms that the UK vehicle crime picture is getting significantly worse.

The total number of vehicles stolen rose by 25% last year, to 130,389, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

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