As an insurer, we observe that SUVs are a particular target of thefts in Luxembourg (Land Rover / Range Rover, BMW, Alfa Romeo brands). In general, any high-end car may be the target of theft, either for spare parts or with the aim of reselling it abroad.

Furthermore, although it is difficult to obtain precise and reliable statistics on the number of vehicles stolen in Europe, a recent study published by British insurance comparison site Confused.com in the first quarter of 2022 revealed that the countries most at risk are Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden and France. 

Your cara may be broken into to steal the contents inside. Your car may also be taken to be resold or to sell its parts on the black market. There are also different ways of stealing your vehicle.  

What is carjacking?

Carjacking consists of stealing a vehicle by force or by threat. This generally happens when the driver is stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. Carjackers may use firearms, knives or other types of physical threat to force the driver to get out of the vehicle or hand over its keys.

What is mousejacking?

Mousejacking is a new theft technique without physical intrusion. It is a form of computer piracy that allows a car to be remotely controlled.
The thieves will use a computer device that sends radio signals to the computer system of the vehicle. They can:

• Jam the signal of the remote key of the cara and prevent it from being locked without the owner realising it. These wave jammers are sold online and are available for a few hundred euros, and are used for petty theft, to steal what is inside the car or certain parts.
• Reproduce the signal of the key. In this case, the thief will stand behind your front door and capture the signal from the key, which will very often be placed on a tray near the door. These key duplication systems are much more expensive and are generally used by organised gangs specialised in vehicle theft for resale of parts or export to countries in Eastern Europe or West Africa.

Mousejacking is a theft technique likely to increase in the next 2 to 3 years.

What is theft for spare parts?

Your car may be stolen to strip it and sell its parts on the black market. Indeed, some vehicle parts that are no longer produced are expensive. A car sold for spare parts can sometimes yield several times its initial value. These are often organised networks, which take the whole car, dismantle it and resell the spare parts. In this case, you can sometimes only recover the carcass of the car.

To protect your vehicle from theft, you can follow one or several of these tips:

• Park your car in a secure place, such as a closed garage
• Equip your car with an alarm: every minute counts, and an alarm can deter theft
• Use a steering wheel lock to immobilise the steering wheel of the car. This system may seem archaic, but as it does not have an electronic component, it will waste precious minutes for thieves and therefore discourage them. This will effectively prevent the theft of the car, but unfortunately not the theft of spare parts
• Keep your keys away from the front door of the house or place them in a special radio wave blocking case to prevent the signal from the key being picked up
• Equip your car with a GPS tracker
• Do not leave vehicle papers or any other important document in the glove box

In case of your car being stolen, you must:

• Report the theft to the competent authorities. If you are abroad, the report must be made in the country where the theft took place.
• Report the theft to your insurance company and send them the theft report documentation. 

If you have equipped your car with a GPS tracker, it may be possible to find it. Specifically, in the case of car theft with the aim of export, the thieves work in an organised manner and have established techniques for detecting GPS systems. For example, they will store the cars for one or two weeks to see if they are still emitting radio waves.

If you want to put the odds on your side, you must equip your car with an effective GPS tracker. Indeed, some trackers available on the market have proven their worth. They can be installed without power, meaning that they do not emit a signal permanently, but sporadically. These GPS devices are therefore more difficult to locate and continue to operate even if the battery is flat. For a subscription, some trackers even allow you to benefit from search teams who will collaborate with the police and the insurance company to geolocate your car.

As you can see, with current technology, thieves compete in their strategies. You must therefore think about protecting your vehicle, but also about insuring it, especially if it is a high-end vehicle.