Car key burglary is when someone breaks into your home with the specific intention of taking your car keys to then steal your car. This is known as a Hanoi theft, named after the police initiative, that tackles this sort of crime. This isn’t however the only way that your car keys are stolen.

With almost 90,000 vehicle thefts in England and Wales being reported in 2020 to 2021, it’s important that you consider how to keep your car, and car keys secure. Here we are going to cover some personal safety tips for your car keys.

1. What Should I Do If My Keys Are Stolen?
2. Be Wary Of Locksmith Scams
3. How To Keep Your Car Keys Secure
4. How To Keep Your Car Secure
5. Final Thoughts

What Should I Do If My Car Keys Are Stolen?

In the unfortunate incident that your car keys are stolen, what should you do? There are a number of things you should do in the unfortunate event that this happens. The most important thing to remember is to stay calm and not to panic.

Establish a Timeline of Events

Take some time to backtrack your steps and try to figure out if your car keys are stolen or misplaced. These few moments may save you going through the process of a police report and changing your locks if your keys are just in the jacket, you were wearing earlier in the day.

If your car or car keys are stolen because you left the keys in the ignition, its highly unlikely insurance companies will cover this as it will be classed as your fault. Stating otherwise to your insurance company is not recommended as this would committing fraud.

How Were Your Car Keys Stolen?

Were they stolen from your back pocket? Or were they taken in your handbag with your identification? This is going to establish how much risk you are at from having the thief steal your car from your home. If your car keys are stolen from your home it is more than likely the theif will return to steal your car at a later point.

Call the Police if Your Car Keys Are Stolen

If you believe your car keys are stolen rather than lost, call the police. This means that a report can be filed and hopefully retrieve your keys and put the area on alert for this sort of crime.

Contact Your Insurance Company

Some insurance companies will cover you if your car keys are stolen. they may offer key protection insurance as an addition to your policy, which is often more expensive. You will need to fill out a police report and get a crime reference number to make a claim with your insurer. Some companies will provide courtesy cars while your locks are being changed, but this sort of service is going to vary based on the provider and the coverage.

Call a Locksmith Immediately

Make sure they’re a reputable locksmith, most operate 24 hours but will charge more for out of hours service. Most insurance companies will provide this information for you, it is also worth noting dealerships can be contacted directly to help with this.

While you may feel like you don’t need to change your locks, it’s important to consider where and how your keys were stolen. If they were taken from your home, then the thief knows where you live and could come back for your car. The same applies to if your bag was stolen and had your identification in it as well.

Be Wary of Locksmith Scams

It’s important for your security to make sure you use a reputable locksmith in the event you do need to have your locks changed. The last thing you want is for them to keep a set of your keys or overcharge you for their service. Locksmith scams are more common than you would think, taking advantage of you while you are in the middle of an emergency and might not be thinking clearly.

While it’s easy to pick the first name that comes up when you’re searching online, consider checking with family and friends for a locksmith they have personally used. If that isn’t an option check review sites and look for positive experience’s others have had.

If it seems cheap and too good to be true, it often is. As there is no set price that locksmiths charge it’s important you get as much information about the cost structure as possible. Discussing the price breakdown with your locksmith is going to charge you.

In most cases your insurance company will provide a specialist for you if your policy covers lost and stolen car keys.

We’d recommend using a locksmith that is approved by the Master Locksmiths Association as they are vetted, regularly inspected, and fully qualified. They’ll be able to help you in different situations, whether your car keys have been stolen, or you have lost your house keys.

How to Keep Your Car Keys Secure

Whether it’s a traditional key or a keyless fob, there are a lot of good practices out there that you can use to keep your car keys safe from being stolen. Here are some ways you can improve the security of your car keys.

Faraday Bags

These protect your keyless fobs and devices from exploits that are used in keyless car theft. They’re inexpensive and discreet. We would recommend investing in one for your keyless system. This applies to when you’re at home as well as when you’re travelling. These can be easily purchased from online retailers, but a lot of dealerships now sell them too.

Keep Your Car Keys Away From Letterboxes

While it might be a habit to keep your keys on a table by your door, you should keep them somewhere more secure. Anti-burglar letter boxes are a wise investment when it comes to improving your home security. Letterboxes with draught extractors are also going to limit what a burglar can see through your letterbox and prevent your car keys from being stolen.

Turn Off Your Car Key Fob

Most manufacturers have a way of turning off your car key fob when not in use to prevent keyless car theft. It may not always be as obvious as an off button, so it’s best to check online with the manufacturer or at a dealership to find out how to do this.

Use GPS Trackers on Your Car Keys

GPS trackers are far more common and cheaper than they used to be. Things like Apple Air Tags and Samsung Smart Tags are a great investment for your keys. They can be tracked through your smart phone so if you’re car keys are lost or stolen, you’ll know exactly where they are.

Keep Your Car Keys in a Safe 

This might seem obvious, but this is one of the best things you can do to keep not just your car keys from stolen, but your other valuables like passports, wallets and jewellery secure. Locking your important items away at night is going to make them much harder to be stolen when you’re asleep at night for example. There are plenty of different options out there to suit your budget and requirement, ranging from combination safes to biometric safes.

How to Keep Your Car Secure

In the event that your car keys are stolen, it is important that you have implemented measures to improve the security of your vehicle. There are some things you can do to reduce the risk of your vehicle also being stolen if your car keys have been stolen.

Don’t Leave Your Car Keys in the Ignition

This one seems really obvious but you’d be surprised how many people actually leave their car keys in the ignition. Nearly half of all burglaries are oppurtunistic, so don’t give criminals that oppurtunity with your car keys.

Invest in Home Security

Installing CCTV and other home security systems are going to be a great deterrent against thieves targeting your home to steal your car keys, and targetting your car itself. There are a lot of options available to suit your needs, even something as simple as a ring doorbell system is going to give you an extra level of protection.

Use a Dashboard Camera

Dash Cams are a common site these days, and for good reason. They footage captured can help establish what happened in a car accident. They can also be helpful when keeping your vehicle safe. Some models are motion detected and can be set to automatically back up any footage taken to cloud storage on another device. This is going to help identify anyone that is trying to steal your car, as well as provide a detterent.

Use a Steering Wheel Lock

Let’s say your car keys do get stolen, fitting your car with a steering wheel lock is going to provide an extra layer of deterrence and buy you time to figure out what has happened. It may be the extra step needed to give you time to get the locks changed. They’re readily available and very cost effective.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of different options out there when it comes to keeping your car keys safe, both for contactless key fobs and traditional sets of car keys.

It is good to evaluate the best method for protecting your car keys from theft and take into consideration the value of your car, the stress and inconvenience of experiencing your car keys being stolen. Some of these simple, low cost methods of improving your car key security are going to help prevent you having to deal with more expensive cost of having your car or car keys stolen.

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