John Simpson, Crime Correspondent Motor insurance payouts rose by almost 30 per cent to a record high last year as gangs targeted keyless locks in a resurgence of car crime. The rise of “relay attacks”, through which thieves use a device to boost the signal from the car to trick it into unlocking, led to payouts of more than £1 million a day, the insurance trade body said yesterday. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that an average of one vehicle theft claim was made every six minutes. The cost of vehicle thefts and robberies from cars surged by 29 per cent last year to a record high of £376 million. The number of claims, 56,000, was a 12 per cent increase on 2017. Car manufacturers have come… Want to read more? Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month. Theresa May’s deal may not be dead, but it’s killing us Facebook bans white nationalism posts
The cost of car thefts and robberies rose to a record £376m ($492m) in 2018, a 29% YoY increase, driven by a rise in so-called relay attacks involving keyless vehicles, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Relay attacks use devices to boost the signal sent from a car to a key, fooling the vehicle into unlocking and starting. ABI said the practice led to £1m in daily payouts. Automotive safety group Thatcham Research said 10 out of six new cars with keyless systems had no security to prevent relay attacks.