All-time high increase in keyless car thefts in the UK

Tracker Network (UK) Ltd is a company that provides vehicle systems used for recovering stolen vehicles in the UK, and its stolen vehicle systems operate in all 52 police forces in UK. Tracker’s tracking solution combines GSM, VHF and GPS which available localisation of stolen vehicles almost anywhere, even when hidden underground, in a garage or a shipping container. The combination of utilizing different frequency bands also makes its units more resilient to GPS/GSM jamming. The covert Tracker-transmitter is hidden somewhere in a vehicle, and together with Tracker’s “Tracker Mesh Network” service, vehicles equipped with a Tracker-transmitter can forward the information of a stolen vehicle fitted with the same technology. This enables a wide network of listening vehicles that collectively help to localize a stolen vehicle.

The Tracker company has recently revealed analysis of their latest theft data recorded. Accordingly, there was a 93 % annual increase in keyless car thefts in the UK, which is so far an all-time high. The report also indicates that so-called relay attacks was accounted for (also) 93 % of the recorded thefts in 2020, which is a 27 % increase over the last 5 years. Further, the report states that more cars were stolen and recovered in London than any other region across the UK in 2020. That might not has come as a surprise though, as London accounts for as many recoveries as the next seven regions in the top ten, combined.

In the UK national Covid-19 lockdown in spring of 2020 an overall reduction in general crime figures was measured. However, once the restrictions were lifted, vehicle theft was shoot up again. For example, in July 2020 stolen recovery figures were up 50 % compared to April and May at lockdown.  
Finally, Tracker’s report provides that, in the top of most stolen and recovered vehicles are: Range Rover Sport, BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz C Class.

Written by Joakim Rosell