Motorists are being warned of a new type of vehicle theft. According to this article published in the US Sun, car theft has moved on from relay-theft to reach new levels of sophistication. Devices sold online for around £1000 are used that enable thieves to steal luxury cars. By exposing parts of the car from the outside, they are able to gain access to the car’s central nervous system. Hackers then connect the device and then it connects to the engine, transmission and brakes, allowing the vehicle to be driven away in around 90 seconds. Devices are tailored towards specific models which means that you will see a spike in certain makes of car being stolen, for example, at the time of writing the article, (Dec 2022), Lexus models were common targets in London.
As usual, advice is to use a steering lock. This makes it very difficult for thieves to drive your car away. We also advice another layer of security. A Find It Stop It GPS Auto Track & Stop Solution not only serves as a GPS tracker which will allow you to locate your vehicle if it is taken but also it has the added functionality of remote engine switch off. If the vehicle is travelling less than 12mph, or is stationary then you can use the engine stop command via the app. This again will make it very difficult for thieves to continue with their journey.