Car Theft

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Take a look at the top 10 cars that are being taken due to key theft, carjacking and smash-and-grab raids.

1. BMW 3 Series An area of growing concern is the increasing number of cars being stolen with the aid of the owners' keys. Thatcham, the insurance industry's research and testing centre, estimates that up to 80% of vehicle thefts are now carried out in this way.	2. VW Golf Mk4 One of the most worrying findings in our survey is that nearly one-third of drivers leaves their car keys on a table or hook within 10 feet of an external door. That makes them easy pickings for car thieves, whether the criminals are trying to 'fish' keys through the letterbox using wire hooks, or simply breaking in to the house to track down the keys for the car parked outside.	3. Mercedes CLK Ian Elliot, vehicle crime liaison officer for the Metropolitan Police, said that the Met estimates about 8% of burglaries are carried out purely to steal car keys. 'Organised car theft is on the up,' he said. 'With modern cars, these guys know they need the keys to drive away.'
4. Vauxhall Corsa The top 10 car keys most targeted by burglars in London last year reveal a surprising pattern. It's perhaps expected to see the BMW 3 Series and X5 or Mercedes CLK in there, but who would think the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta would attract the attention of organised gangs? The theme linking these cars is that they're always in demand with used car buyers and therefore easy to sell on quickly through classified ads.	5. Ford Focus The mandatory fitting of immobilisers to all cars sold from 1998 onwards has helped slash car crime and hit Government targets, but the knock-on effect is a steady growth in key theft.	6. BMW X5 Carjacking, where the driver is forced to hand over their car to attackers, is currently impossible to quantify using Government data. Fortunately, none of the respondents in our national survey had been carjacked in the past year, so it seems that the problem is still relatively rare. However, if your car is stolen with the keys in it, you may find yourself in a grey area with insurers.
7. Ford Fiesta The Insurance Ombudsman, which deals with complaints, told us that most insurers exclude claims for theft if the keys are left in, or on, the vehicle. You would be covered if you were forcibly evicted from your car by a thief, but possibly not if you've stepped away from the car momentarily and left the keys inside.	8. VW Polo Leaving your keys in the car when filling up with fuel, for example, will get short shrift from most insurers, and yet it is still all too common.	9. Peugeot 206
<< Back	10. Vauxhall Astra	Source: Tiscali.Motoring