JLR-owned brand continues its battle against a wave of car crime hitting luxury cars

As soaring crime levels have left some owners struggling to find affordable cover for their Range Rovers, JLR has relaunched an in-house insurance scheme. 

“Customers of luxury cars and other luxury items are experiencing an increase in thefts due to organised criminal activity,” a JLR spokesperson said. ““The desirability of our luxury vehicles, coupled with concerns around thefts, has recently led to challenges in obtaining insurance cover for some clients.” 

While we’ve heard plenty of anecdotal evidence about Range Rovers becoming ‘uninsurable’ due to rising costs of premiums, JLR says it has issued insurance quotes to more than 4,000 drivers since October, with premiums averaging less than £200 per month.

• UK car thefts hit an all-time high with keyless car tech to blame

Back in November, JLR announced a £10m investment in vehicle security upgrades designed to help address the problem of keyless thefts. Vehicle crime figures have been soaring as gangs target expensive luxury models to sell abroad, or strip cars for parts to feed a lucrative black market for spares that developed as part of the post-pandemic production shortages. As a response to the crimewave, the company says that more than 70,000 of its products – including Defenders, Discoveries, Range Rovers and Jaguars built since 2018 – have received upgrades to their security systems said to elevate anti-theft measures to the level of current products.

And while DVLA data released last year showed Range Rovers of all years near the top of the 2022 stolen vehicles table with over 5,500 thefts (up 47 per cent on 2021), the company points to UK police data which it says demonstrates how effectively the brand is fighting back.

Since January last year, JLR says the data shows just nine of the 12,200 new Range Rovers registered for the road in the period have been stolen, while just 13 of the 13,400 Range Rover Sport models have been snatched by thieves.

Want the latest car news in your inbox? Sign up to the free Auto Express email newsletter…

Source: Read Full Article