Have you ever thought about your car being stolen?
Imagine you get ready for work, walk out your door, and your car is not where you parked it the day before. That’s a huge shock, and it happens more often than you think.
In 2019, German car owners searched for more than 33,000 cars, and over 16,000 were permanently stolen. This number equals about 45 stolen vehicles per day. While this number seems small, the economic damage caused by car thieves totaled a staggering 279 million euros. And that is just the amount in one of the 27 European member countries.
The economic damage is that high because thieves are active in big, anonymous cities, such as Berlin and Hamburg, and target expensive SUVs and limousines like the BMW X6, Land Rover Velar, Range Rover, Lexus NX, and Lexus GT86. Their favorites were cars from brands like Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. Those brands and car types represent the luxury segment, having the highest resell value on a secondary market.
While your car insurance might cover your loss partially, your car is gone. You could use mechanical products such as a steering wheel lock, park claw, or electronic products like an alarm system to prevent this from happening. However, once your car is stolen, only an installed tracking system usually increases your chances of getting the vehicle back.
If you now look at Europe, the number of car thefts sits above 500,000 per year, and the economic damage caused by thieves climbs to close to 10 billion euros. Although the number is falling due to more advanced technology, there are still too many thefts happening in our eyes. That’s why S4FE wants to help fight this problem.
