With a 25% year-on-year rise, UK car theft is big business and a handful of marques are particularly vulnerable. Here, the Windrush team lists the most commonly stolen brands and explains how secure car storage can prevent the worst from happening.
Over the past two decades, we’ve learnt that every Windrush client is different, from the time-poor enthusiasts who use our luxury car storage to take care of servicing and paperwork to the investors who take advantage of our HMRC Customs Bonded Warehouse status. Yet they all share a common priority, with security often at the top of the agenda when we welcome a client for the first time.
And, frankly, no wonder. Alarmingly, data released by the Office Of National Statistics over summer 2023 revealed a 24.9% year-on-year increase in stolen vehicles across England and Wales (130,389, up from 104,435). Meanwhile, AA Insurance Services added that theft of objects from vehicles was up 9.9% (with 212,900 reporting items stolen from their cars, relative to 193,647 the year before).
Gone in 60 seconds
It doesn’t take a data analyst to identify the marque most susceptible to vehicle theft. By far, the brand most commonly targeted by thieves is Land Rover (data reveals that of the 896,948 UK-registered Landies, 8,284 were reported stolen, equivalent to 924 thefts per 100,000). That suggests Land Rovers are almost three times more vulnerable than second-placed Mercedes-Benz (323 thefts per 100,000), and well above luxury brands BMW (290 per 100,000) and Audi (216 per 100,000).
Drill a little deeper into the data, meanwhile, and Land Rover also has the dubious honour of manufacturing six entries in the top 10 most targeted models (leading the pack is the Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic, of which around a staggering one in 50 are stolen).
When it comes to car theft, where you live in the UK and your cosmetic tastes may have a bearing, too, with black cars most likely to be stolen (18,000 in total) and the West Midlands the worst area for thefts (with 251 out of every 100,000 cars taken).
Defensive tactics
Modern car thieves have a wealth of techniques at their fingertips – from signal jamming to onboard diagnostics hacking – and as such there’s no surefire way of guaranteeing the safety of your street-parked vehicle. Realistically, your aim is to put the deterrents in place to persuade criminals there is an easier score elsewhere.
Some measures are good old-fashioned common sense: don’t leave valuables like phones and wallets on display and lock your car even when you pop across the forecourt to pay for petrol. Don’t discount devices such as a steering lock and a fold-up metal bollard for your driveway. Neither are impossible for a skilful thief to work around, of course, but both are significant obstacles and likely to move them along.
Use technology to your advantage, investing in a RFID-blocking wallet that stops thieves from accessing your car key signal then using it to create a clone. A vehicle tracker won’t do anything to stop the theft, of course, but the information at least gives the police a fighting chance of recovering the car should the worst happen.
The UK’s most secure car storage
Ultimately, the one cast-iron way to ensure your vehicle won’t join those doomy statistics is to enlist secure car storage – and keeping the vehicles entrusted to us safe is a vital element of Windrush’s service. Unlike our rivals, you’ll never find us hosting coffee mornings for strangers or posting about the vehicles in our care on social media. Quite the opposite: we keep the locations of our secure car storage in London and the Cotswolds top-secret until an enquirer becomes a trusted client.
And that’s just the first level of the UK’s most secure car storage solution. A carefully vetted staff, watertight premises and round-the-clock security can be taken as read. But with Windrush London’s new Drop Zone, we’ve pioneered a next-generation security system that combines safe-as-houses peace of mind with total flexibility. Often described as an air lock for cars – but far more stylish than that description implies – the Drop Zone lets clients drop or collect their vehicles outside of regular working hours, using a one-time passcode.
“The Drop Zone has twelve spaces that are accessible 24/7,” explains the London facility’s General Manager Alastair Main. “Because our clients often have quite high-powered jobs, you have to take into account that they won’t necessarily be able to come during opening hours, and they need to have the flexibility to collect outside of that. It works really well and it’s very popular, especially over the weekends in the summer. There’s discrete access – but no access into the main storage facility.”
The complete luxury car storage solution
Security is paramount, but Windrush’s luxury car storage solution goes far beyond. From a tailored long term maintenance programme that keeps your cherished vehicle shipshape for the duration of its stay, to paperwork, servicing, refurbs, shipping – and anything else you can imagine – our expert team handles it all, under one roof. Just let us know what you need and expect the answer to be ‘yes’.
Email the Windrush team to enquire about our London car storage services. We’re ready to help you on info@windrushcarstorage.co.uk
