You asked
Please could you provide me with statistics for the number of cars reported stolen by the keyless car entry method over the past five years, covering the period of January 2013 to July 2018.
Is it possible to break down the statistics to highlight the following:
Car theft by keyless car entry broken down by day
Car theft by keyless car entry broken down by time of year (months or yearly quarter)
Car theft by keyless car entry broken down by region of the UK
Car theft by keyless car entry broken down by model of car targeted
Any other car theft methods similar/relating to the keyless car technique
Please could the information relate to figures for the whole of the UK.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry relating to the number of vehicle thefts by keyless car entry method from 2013 – 2018.
We draw on two main sources to measure crime levels and trends: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime. The CSEW is a household survey that asks people resident in households about their experiences of victimisation of crime. Police recorded crime are crimes that are recorded by the police.
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the information you have requested from either of these sources.
The CSEW asks respondents who have experienced a theft of a vehicle what type of key they use, which includes the option of a keyless car. However, this question was only introduced into the survey in April 2017 so we cannot provide data back to 2013.
Respondents are also asked what the method of entry to the car was. This doesn’t include the method used with a key as you can see from the survey question below:
“How did they get into the car/van? CODE UP TO TWO
Door was not locked
Window was left open
Offender forced lock
Offender broke window
Offender used a key
Forced open/broke/bent/prised open doors
Other”
We are unable to determine where respondents would have reported the offender using a relay transmitter to gain access to the car for this question. Using this method could fall under option 5 ‘Offender used a key’ or option 7 ‘Other’.
The number of respondents who have been a victim of car theft, where their car had keyless entry and the offender’s method of entry was a key or by other means, is too small to produce robust estimates. Therefore, we cannot provide you with any data on this.
Police recorded crime is collected and managed by the Home Office. We are unable to provide a breakdown of the nature of car thefts as we do not hold this information. The Home Office are contactable by e-mail at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk and may be able to help you further with your request.
Our data relate to England and Wales only. Crime statistics for Scotland are published by the Scottish Government, police recorded crime data for Northern Ireland are published by the PSNI and the Department of Justice (Northern Ireland).
If you would like any further information in the future, you can email CrimeStatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.