AA warns motorists to keep keys safe

According to the AA, the most likely way that your car is going to get stolen these days is if the thief gets hold of your car keys.

The announcement was made by Edmund King, the president of the AA, at the conference of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators. He also highlighted a number of facts about car crime, including:

• car crime overall has dropped by 66% since the middle of the 1990s
• during 2007 and 2008, nearly 1.5 million vehicles were reported stolen
• car crime is responsible for 13% of all crime in the UK

But the most startling fact that he brought to light was that over the last year, 15,700 cars were stolen following the theft of the owner’s keys during a burglary, which represents a 15% rise. On top of that, another 2,900 cars were stolen after the owners had their keys stolen from their person.

Despite cars having improved security systems, if the keys are stolen then the security system will be of little use.
It has prompted the AA to warn people that this is the most likely way that they will lose their car to theft, and that special care should be taken of their car keys at all times. This includes when they are at home, because keys are the “weakest link” in the car crime chain and thieves are now actively looking for car keys when they break into a house.

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