How can I protect my car from being stolen?
Here are Confused.com’s top tips to help protect your car from being stolen:
• Lock your vehicle – it sounds obvious but double checking that your car is locked could save you time and money. Also, your car insurance policy may not pay out if your car was left unlocked when it was stolen.
• Invest in multiple layers of security – having a steering wheel lock or handbrake lock helps to secure your car and act as a visual deterrent for thieves.
• If you have keyless entry software, invest in a Faraday pouch to help protect your car against keyless hackers.
• Park somewhere secure. If you don’t have secure parking, aim for a well-lit street.
For more ways to secure your car, and for answers to more common car security questions, take a look at our guide on protecting your car from theft.

Prevent keyless theft and get a Faraday pouch
Keyless entry and start is a convenient feature now on many cars.
While often helpful, keyless entry has a gaping drawback – it can make it easy for car thieves to take off with your car.
Often working in pairs, car criminals do this by hijacking a car key’s radio signal, sending it to a nearby transmitter handled by an accomplice.
This acts as the ‘key’, letting them open your car up, start the engine and drive it away, possibly to be stripped for spare parts. This method is known as keyless entry car theft.
Luckily a Faraday pouch helps protect you from keyless entry car theft. Most of these have signal-blocking stitching that helps to block out any radio interference.
It comes as a small hold-all and you simply put your key fob inside.

Invest in a steering wheel lock
A tough, brightly-coloured metal lock clamped across your steering wheel is a strong visual deterrent for many car thieves – though not for the most determined.
While some wheel locks do look a bit on the heavy-handed side, most owners feel their highly-visible presence is worth it for the peace of mind.
If you buy a wheel lock, make sure it doesn’t lean too heavily on the horn or nearby indicator stalk.
Also check that it doesn’t scratch the steering wheel or get in the way of automatic gearbox paddle shifters, if you have them fitted.
Good wheel locks can be expensive, but their chunky, robust presence is hard to ignore.

Hang onto your electric vehicle (EV) charging cables
If you drive an EV, be mindful of the security of your electric charging cables. Any cables left outside your house, for example, may be vulnerable to theft.
Electric vehicle cable theft is on the rise as the kit is increasingly desired by scrap metal thieves. And, massively increasing electric vehicle sales means it’s a growing trend.
Some electric car charging cables aren’t easily stolen. But some charging stations rely on EV drivers to use their own cables – and it’s easy to leave these unattended.
Typically a standard Type 2 BP Chargemaster cable retails around £150 and is widely used across many marques, including Audi, BMW, Peugeot and VW.
If you have a garage, try and keep all your charging kit inside it. It’s best not to over-advertise this increasingly targeted and expensive equipment.

Consider a car tracker
A GPS tracker could be an inexpensive way of pinpointing exactly where your car is.
Many of us already use GPS satellite technology when using our phones – Google Maps, for example. But you can fit GPS car trackers discreetly to a vehicle, often with a simple adhesive patch.
Some trackers rely on their own long-life battery while others can be wired up to your car’s on-board diagnostics (OBD) port.
Almost all cars made after 1996 have an OBD, and you can set them up using your own SIM card.
There’s plenty of flexibility and choice. Some start from as little as £50, or even less.
A VHF system is also an option – though it tends to be a bit more expensive.
The VHF advantage is that it can track your vehicle down even if it’s been hidden underground, or in a hard-to-find, isolated shipping container.
There’s also another hard-to-argue-with advantage – a Thatcham-approved VHF tracker could also lower your car insurance costs.
The cost of car trackers can vary depending on the manufacturer. You might be able to buy the device with a one off payment, for others you might have to pay a monthly fee via a subscription service.
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