Stolen car recovered within 45 minutes, intact and valeted

(16/10/2009)

Solicitor Jocelyn Wang's 2006 Daihatsu Charade was stolen from near her West London home after thieves somehow snatched her car keys. But within 45 minutes of reporting it missing, the car was spotted by Police who phoned to say they'd found it. And when Jocelyn got her car back, she found it had even been cleaned. "It was an amazing two hours from end-to-end. Somehow my keys were stolen when I parked near home, and I returned to an empty parking space," said Jocelyn.

"I thought that was the last I'd see of my car, because I'm told it would be easy to change its identity and sell on. I phoned the Police, started to think about how I'd get to work, what I might have left in the car, about getting a replacement car - the inconvenience would be massive.

"But I phoned the Coverbox stolen car helpline, and they clearly went immediately into action - in all honesty, I had no idea that the theft tracking system that comes with the insurance policy would be quite so effective, quite so fast. It was pretty obvious the thieves were caught out too. It was quite bizarre: they took my car, and the first thing they did was to clean it and remove all the rubbish. I was told this was because they were probably planning to sell it on to somebody who would give it a new identity.

"But they'd barely got more than a few streets away when they were tracked down by Police - and the Policeman stayed on the line even as he was running through the streets chasing the thieves. I got the car back intact, and cleaner than when it was taken."

Paul Stacy of Coverbox said: "Many people seem to believe theft tracking is only for expensive cars, but, in truth, people who own expensive cars can generally get into another set of wheels very easily. It's the theft of 'workaday' cars that cause the biggest problems - commuters, mums, grandparents looking after children - who don't have easy access to a replacement car.

"And that's where theft tracking really comes into its own. The system we use is proven technology and most vehicles reported as stolen are returned within 48 hours, many of them completely intact - and a surprising number cleaned and valeted."

Coverbox pay-as-you-drive insurance allows drivers to take out comprehensive cover that is paid for by the mile, with the price per mile varying according to the time of the day or night: off-peak, peak or "super-peak" times.

Over-23s are charged according to rush hour (Mon to Fri 730am - 930am & 430pm to 600pm excluding public holidays) or off-peak use, but under-23s are also subject to a "super-peak" charging structure: Friday, Saturday and Sunday 1100pm to 500am, and public holidays 1100pm to 500am.

All Coverbox policyholders get free theft tracking - which would be at least £200 more on top of a traditional insurance policy - in addition they have a personal website which enables them to see precisely how many miles they are driving, and what the cost of those miles is.

The technology behind Coverbox - provided by Cobra - means customers will also have
the additional peace of mind of theft tracking: in virtually all cases, Coverbox can track and locate the car if it is stolen.

Related topics:  Monitoring systems   Tagging vandalism and theft prevention 

Print version | Email to a friend | Related articles

Data breaches: Trends, costs and best practices gives you all the latest information on securing personal and corporate data, key recommendations for immediate action to improve data security, and how to respond to data breaches.

Other Security news and resources