The Essex towns of Romford and Ilford have been named as the UK’s worst places for car theft, with Birmingham coming in a close third.
Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, is the safest place to keep a car, alongside Jersey and neighbouring Guernsey, which reported no car thefts last year according to an analysis by the comparison website Moneysupermarket.
It examined 5m car insurance enquiries over the year to June and found that drivers in Essex faced the highest risk of car theft, with a reported rate of 13.5 per 1,000 in Romford, followed by 13 in Ilford.
Gangs are known to have targeted Essex in the past because of the large numbers of high-end cars owned in the area made infamous by the TV programme The Only Way is Essex.
Birmingham had a claims rate of 9.5 – considerably higher than the West Midlands as a whole, which sits at 6.1. Halifax came in fourth with a rate of 8.6, followed by Liverpool at 8.2 and Southend, also in Essex, at 8.1.
Kirkwall, Dumfries, Inverness and Perth all had tiny theft rates, making Scotland the safest area in the UK, the analysis found.
Kevin Pratt, a consumer affairs expert at Moneysupermarket, said: “When it comes to car thieves, it turns out that the only way is Essex, as the county has three of the UK’s car theft hotspots.
“Make sure your vehicle is protected with the right insurance, but prevention is always better than cure. No matter where you are in the UK, it’s important to defend your property against planned and opportunistic theft, whether of the vehicle itself or belongings left inside.”
He said east London was in seventh pace in the rankings, with a car theft rate of 7.2 per 1,000 capita – significantly higher than London as a whole, which sits at 6.1. Bromley in Kent, Bradford, and Stockport experienced the same theft rates as east London.
Truro in Cornwall and Exeter in Devon were rated as the two safest places in England to leave a car.
Those aged 30-49 are the most likely to report their car stolen, while drivers under 19 face the least risk as they drive the least attractive cars to thieves.
The company advises the owners of cars with the latest key-less entry systems to consider old-school devices such as a steering lock. It also says owners should avoid leaving keys near their front door where they can be easily grabbed by an opportunist thief.
