Say yes to cheaper van, home and car insurance

Car security firm Auto Theft Merchandise has declared that although car theft numbers are down, the number of thefts from cars is on the increase because drivers were still leaving items of value on display.

Andy Mills, director of Auto Theft Merchandise and inventor of a number of security systems for cars, commented: "Theft of cars is becoming more complicated and is a specialist market; they are stolen to order. Theft of cars has gone down but theft from vehicles is on the up."

Mr Mills also commented that car alarms were no longer enough of a deterrent to opportunist thieves because everyone now ignores them.

His independent research, carried out while he was designing his latest weapon in the fight against car crime, found that two-thirds of motorists who had suffered at the hands of thieves hadn't bothered to report the incident because they believed the police couldn't do anything.

In addition, drivers who used their vehicles for work often resent paying extra for comprehensive insurance, which is often recommended to cover the expensive equipment they carry in their motors, according to Mr Mills.

"For commercial people, to insure the contents of a van normally works out dearer than insuring the van itself so people don't bother and buy security products instead," he added.

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