Warning issued to Mayo motorists over keyless car thefts

OUTsurance, Ireland’s newest car insurance provider, is urging Mayo motorists to take extra precautions to avoid keyless car thefts following warnings about the trend issued by gardaí.

The warning follows new CSO motor theft statistics published today, which showed a 25% year-on-year increase in Mayo from 24 to 30.

Nationally, the figures showed an annual decrease of 8%, from 7,895 to 7,260 – significantly ahead of the pre-pandemic figure of 4,746 recorded in 2019.

Keyless car thefts, also known as ‘relay theft’, involves criminals using technology to replicate the electronic signal of a vehicle’s remote locking and keyless ignition systems to simply gain the ability to unlock and, in the case of keyless ignition, start a vehicle.

This tricks the car into believing the key is present, with thieves able to drive off within minutes.

Another technique involves using signal jammers, where motorists attempting to lock their car with a click of their fob have their attempt foiled by criminals using equipment to block the wireless technology.

In the UK, the manipulation of a signal from a remote locking device was involved in 40% of all vehicle thefts, with a hotspot in London where signal jammers were estimated to be involved in 60% of such crimes.