Jaguar Land Rover slashes drivers’ bills to ‘just £30’ – but the reason why has car owners terrified
JAGUAR Land Rover is slashing drivers’ bills to “just £30” – but the reason why has car owners terrified.
The car maker will cut the monthly cost of its in-house insurance cover by a whopping £150.
JLR has issued 37,500 quotes averaging £180 since launching the cover in October – so a typical bill could now be £30.
But there is a dark reason behind the discount – surging car thefts across the UK.
Last month The Sun revealed that one car is stolen every four months in Britain.
Thieves are using hi-tech robbery kits including computer-hacking devices, GPS jammers and drones to crack open luxury motors.
Organised crime groups can snatch a car in seconds without the need to smash a window or hotwire the ignition.
High-end cars like Jaguars and Range Rovers are especially prized by crooks – so insurance premiums for them are now soaring.
Some drivers have been slapped with insurance bills of up to £30,000 a year.
To offset the cost, JLR will pay £150 towards the monthly premium of eligible Range Rover drivers.
You must have bought a Range Rover or Range Rover Sport between May 1 and September 30 this year.
JLR’s UK boss Patrick McGillycuddy said: “We’re working hard to support our clients every step of the way.
“We are pleased to offer a further, bespoke insurance initiative.
“JLR has an ‘all-fronts’ strategy to tackle the negative impact organised criminality is having on clients, insurance premiums, and the insurance industry itself.
“Our efforts and investments include a raft of initiatives with police forces, port authorities, international law enforcement agencies and, of course, UK insurers.”
Thieves’ methods have become so sophisticated that police often have zero forensic evidence to follow up on.
The vehicles, which are broken up in “chop shops” or shipped overseas, appear to have simply vanished.
And the spike in car thefts has caused the price of car insurance to surge, with the average quote now a record £995 following a 58 per cent rise last year, according to price comparison site confused.com.
BRAKE AND ENTER
More than 130,000 motors were reported stolen last year, according to the Drivers Instructors Association, meaning 15 per hour.
This is almost double the 72,000 that were stolen in 2022.
The latest tech used by criminals includes GPS jammers that prevent owners and security firms finding out where the vehicle is taken.
Key code-grabbing kits allow gangs to hack electronic key fobs remotely.
Relay attack devices let them hack the smart key systems used on many luxury motors so they can unlock the doors and turn on the engine before driving away.
“CAN injections” — the latest gadget that can be bought on the dark web — give thieves the power to hack into a car’s central control network without needing a key.
Gangs are even using drones to scout neighbourhoods for the specific car models they have been tasked with stealing.
And perpetrators have been seen wearing high-vis jackets to fool onlookers while carrying out the brazen thefts.