Uk Drivers Love Their Cars but Few Take Precautions

202/03

3 17 December 2003

OPEN DOOR TO CAR THIEVES

UK DRIVERS LOVE THEIR CARS BUT FEW TAKE PRECAUTIONS

One in ten people admit they don’t lock their car doors, even though they dread the thought of anyone breaking in, according to new research1 by Lloyds TSB loans. The research explores the relationships drivers have with their vehicles and the steps they take to protect them.

The staggering admission was just one of several findings from the survey which looked at the security measures people take to guard their cars. Only half of all drivers questioned said they had an alarm fitted and only four in ten had taken the simple steps of using a steering lock or etching ID onto the glass.

Although young people are supposedly renowned for treasuring their cars, it is the younger generation which has the most lax attitude to security. Only a fifth have ID etching and less than half have fitted an immobiliser (46 per cent) or alarm (48 per cent). Women, in most instances, are worse offenders than men. Only forty per cent of women have fitted a steering lock compared to 49 per cent of men, and less than half have fitted an alarm, compared to almost two thirds of men.

Attitudes to security vary across the country. People in the South West appear to be the least security conscious, with one in five regularly leaving their car doors unlocked. Londoners mirrored the national average, with one in ten admitting they didn’t take the most basic precaution of locking their car. The security conscious Scots made the most effort with only one in twenty (4 per cent) leaving their cars unlocked.

The research also explored drivers’ perceptions of the most dangerous places to leave cars. Interestingly, only one in twenty per cent cited their street or driveway as an unsafe place, despite figures which show that over a third of car crime takes place on the street outside the victim's home and over a quarter occurs in semi-private parking areas, such as driveways2. Only a third feared for their cars when parked on the high street. …/more

OPEN DOOR TO CAR THIEVES…/2

UK DRIVERS LOVE THEIR CARS BUT FEW TAKE PRECAUTIONS

The revelations of Britain’s laid back attitudes to car security come as a surprise, given that the survey also found that almost three quarters of drivers said they’d feel angry, upset and a sense that their privacy had been invaded, if their car was broken into.

Tony Gibbons, Lloyds TSB personal loans, said: “These findings really shed new light on the car buying public. We know from our figures that most people have invested huge sums in their cars, with the average loan for a car being around £8,000. So it’s surprising that so many car owners are leaving these expensive purchases as open targets for thieves. It goes without saying that we should all keep our cars secure. Locking the doors should be the bare minimum.”

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Notes to Editors:

1Research conducted by Tickbox.net, on behalf of Lloyds TSB personal loans. Sample size, 1933.

2 www.homeoffice.go.uk

· The security survey is the second phase of research on the UK population’s relationship with cars. The first stage looked at the bonds people develop with their vehicles.

For further information:

Emile Abu-Shakra

Lloyds TSB Press Office