No one would insure our £105k Range Rover, so we had to sell it

[HousePriceTooHigh]

Another sign of broken britain? No police, everything getting nicked and now you cant even get your range rover insured

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-one-would-insure-our-105k-range-rover-so-we-had-to-sell-it-rmxjltl0c

 

Aadil and Fatima Nazir were braced for a price increase on the insurance for their Range Rover Sport SVR, but they didn’t expect to be told that the car was uninsurable.

The couple from Ilford in east London bought the nearly new car for £105,000 in September 2020 and paid £1,200 for fully comprehensive insurance in the first year. In 2021 their premiums went up to £1,436 and in 2022 they paid £3,781.

Aadil, 55, said that this year he did not get a renewal letter but he had a phone call from Covea in May to tell him that it would not renew his insurance and he needed to make alternative arrangements. When he asked why he was told that it was because “two Range Rovers are stolen every day and they had “had so many claims”.

 

Aadil, an IT project manager, checked the comparison website Confused.com and contacted several insurers including Direct Line and Land Rover’s own insurer but no company would insure his car.

He said: “I would have an uninsured car that’s more likely to be stolen than any other car on my driveway. I would have to either get rid of it or get it insured, and I couldn’t get it insured.” With little other option, the couple sold the car to a dealership for £67,000.

Luxury SUVs have become more popular since finance deals made it possible for drivers to buy cars worth £100,000 and more without having to find the money up front.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that 435,182 new SUVs were sold in the UK last year, up 75 per cent from the 248,003 sold in 2013. With demand rising, high-end carmakers such as Bentley and Rolls Royce have launched SUVs since 2015. Jaguar Land Rover, which makes Range Rovers, reported record revenue of £13.8 billion in the six months to September.

Stolen cars

Vehicle thefts per 100,000 people by police force area

0200550

 

 

 

 

 

Map: The Times and The Sunday Times • Source: Home Office

 

But as the number of expensive cars on the roads has gone up, and prices for second-hand cars have increased, thefts are at their highest in five years. The Home Office recorded 130,320 vehicle thefts in England and Wales in 2022-23, up 21 per cent on the year before. West Midlands Police, which covers Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, recorded the highest rate of stolen cars in England and Wales at 523 per 100,000 people.

Eight of the ten most frequently stolen car models in the year to February were Range Rovers and Lexus SUVs, according to the government’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The insurer Axa said that Land Rover thefts increased 80 per cent between 2021 and 2022.

Vehicle thefts

20,00040,00060,00080,000100,000120,000140,000

114,094

113,278

89,106

108,017

130,320

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

 

 

Chart: The Times and The Sunday Times • Source: Home Office

 

Accelerating costs

The average cost of insuring a Range Rover increased 102 per cent to £3,270 in the year to October, and insuring a Lexus went up 89 per cent to £1,999, Confused.com said. This compares to an average increase across all cars of 57 per cent.

In cities or postcodes where thefts are high, premiums can run to tens of thousands of pounds and you may not be able to get cover at all. Aviva, Covea and Wrisk (which, underwritten by LV, provides Land Rover’s in-house insurance) are among the firms that brokers and customers have said will no longer cover some SUVs.

The cost of insuring a Lexus went up by 89 per cent on average in the year to October

Covea, for example, said that some models of Range Rover were too risky for it to insure in London. Direct Line Group, which also includes Churchill and Privilege, said it has stopped offering insurance on Range Rovers for new customers but renewals could be possible, subject to customers’ circumstances. Aviva said that there were “some instances” where it could not cover Range Rovers, depending on where the car was kept.

• Why does electric car insurance cost so much?

Money entered the details of a 2018 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 SD V8 into Confused.com with a 45-year-old married male owner living in north London, with five years’ no claims, and a 25-year driving history. Four quotes were offered: the cheapest was £36,928 with an excess of £950 — not far off the £48,590 value of the car.

In central Birmingham the same details resulted in eight insurance quotes. The cheapest was £8,900 with an excess of £675. But insuring the same Range Rover and driver at an address in Thetford, Norfolk (which has one of the lowest rates of car theft at 61 per 100,000 people) returned 19 quotes. The cheapest was £1,660 with a £550 excess.

Confused said that the average amount for a 36 to 50-year-old driver to insure a Range Rover up to five years old was £5,535 in north London, £3,883 in Birmingham and £1,294 in Norfolk.

• ‘House fire cost us £26,000 because Direct Line said we were underinsured’

But some drivers are finding that there are conditions attached to their cover — if they can get it. “One client recently needed to buy a tracker system for their Range Rover to satisfy the insurance criteria, and they still faced a premium of £5,000. This is becoming more common,” said Alex Yip from ineedatracker, which sells car trackers and immobilisers.

Those struggling to find a quote could consider third-party only insurance, which covers damage you cause to other vehicles but not your own. It doesn’t tend to cover theft, either. It might help you get insurance, but might not save you much. The average third-party quote for a Range Rover in north London was £5,399, Confused said, not much cheaper than the overall £5,535 average.

While third-party insurance will mean that you can legally drive your car, you may want to consider extra security measures such as a tracker or immobiliser, keeping your car in a garage and your keys in a Faraday pouch, which is a small wallet that blocks the signals from remote devices to prevent keyless theft.

Hi-tech thefts

High-value parts, such as catalytic converters and laser headlights, can make these luxury cars a target, but their keyless technology makes them vulnerable. Keyless entry allows a car to be opened or the engine started if the key is nearby (usually within three metres).

David Pearce from Axa said: “For newer makes and models, keyless car theft is at an all-time high and shows no signs of slowing, especially for Lexus and Range Rover models.”

LV said that Lexus RX and NX models, both SUVs with keyless entry, accounted for 80 per cent of all Lexuses that its customers reported stolen last year.

• Thieves using new tech to steal cars from driveways in seconds

Thieves have used “relay attacks” where handheld radio devices extend the signal from key to car but many newer keys have technology to prevent this.

A newer technique is called controller area network (CAN) injection, where thieves cut into the car, often behind one of its headlamps, and send fake signals to tell the car that the key is present. A new criminal justice bill aims to crack down on the devices used to carry them out, which are often disguised as Bluetooth speakers. It will be an offence punishable by up to five years in prison to possess or supply them for the purpose of stealing cars.

Edited November 26, 2023 by HousePriceTooHigh

[nightowl]

If you can't insure it there's a risk your buyer can't either - if they are local to you at least. Given how much they apparently breakdown I'm not sure why they are so stealable🙄. 

[Sackboii]

3 minutes ago, nightowl said:

If you can't insure it there's a risk your buyer can't either - if they are local to you at least. Given how much they apparently breakdown I'm not sure why they are so stealable🙄. 

..because they are expensive to repair and thus get stolen for parts ?

[andrewwk]

this has got to be the most first world-y problem I have seen in a while.

[thewig]

"We sold our £105k Land rover for £67k."

 

Yeah... it's a £67k Land rover.

[TenYearToGetMyMoneyBack]

Maybe they should have bought a Tesla 🤒

Maybe the manufacturers should think more about security especially when adding dumb features like Keyless ignition.

I'm old enough to remember when the Ford Escort RS Cosworth became so expensive to insure that a years insurance cost more than a brand new one. That was what killed them off.

[MerchantNavy]

16 minutes ago, thewig said:

"We sold our £105k Land rover for £67k."

 

Yeah... it's a £67k Land rover.

£105k for nearly nearly new 🤔

[winkie]

1 hour ago, Sackboii said:

..because they are expensive to repair and thus get stolen for parts ?

The parts.......not easy to get hold of and not cheap?.

[MarkD]

1 hour ago, TenYearToGetMyMoneyBack said:

Maybe they should have bought a Tesla 🤒

Maybe the manufacturers should think more about security especially when adding dumb features like Keyless ignition.

I'm old enough to remember when the Ford Escort RS Cosworth became so expensive to insure that a years insurance cost more than a brand new one. That was what killed them off.

Takes 20-30 seconds to steal one apparently, and yes we've been here before. What are the manufacturers thinking? They've made their cars untouchable. Second hand range rovers are now buy one, get one free!!!

[nightowl]

2 hours ago, Sackboii said:

..because they are expensive to repair and thus get stolen for parts ?

Maybe. Surely dealers wouldn't use unofficially sourced parts would they? I'm assuming repairs to such a car aren't done by diy'ers looking online for bits.

[LetsBuild]

2 hours ago, thewig said:

"We sold our £105k Land rover for £67k."

 

Yeah... it's a £67k Land rover.

I bet it was bought with covid bouncebank loan money too.

[nothernsoul]

Some  mechanics might do cash in hand repairs on the side. Before lockdown a colleagues husband had a damaged engine on his range rover. I think he paid 5k cash in hand to somebody, so it does happen, to what extent I don't know.

[PeanutButter]

Watch the video.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12790145/amp/350-000-Rolls-Royce-GONE-30-seconds-Moment-key-car-thieves-steal-luxury-SUV-owners-driveway.html

 

Would YOU insure something that can be stolen so easily, to order? 

[Frankie Teardrop]

They get shoved in shipping containers at the docks and are shipped off to the middle-east and africa for spares. trackers dont work so well in shipping containers - they act as a faraday cage.
Just need a couple of cheap laptops and simple software/hardware to operate their keyless entry via a relay attack to spoof the car into believing the keyfob is nearby when its really in the house. The manufacturers love implementing security that is so easy to bypass as they sell more cars.

[PeanutButter]

Zero deterrent for theft.

Easy vehicles to steal.

= no insurance.

 

So just, buy a car that’s harder to steal. How people get 105k for a vehicle but can’t work this out is hilarious. 

[The Angry Capitalist]

If they are easy to steal then it makes sense.

They can't keep paying out £110,000 on a £2,000 policy.

I once had a Prius and the  catalytic converter got stolen which is very common on the model.

Had to pay £450 excess to get it replaced.

Drive a 20 year old petrol hatchback now.

It's great.

Don't have to worry about anyone stealing it.

Can scratch it and dent it etc.

No stress or worry.  Just an old and reliable car to get from A to B.

Cheap to insure too.

[Blobsy]

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of these kind of high end suv motors on the road. In the 80s/90s Range Rovers were few and far between on uk roads. Now they are everywhere in urban areas, a symptom of an image led society.

99% of them on tick of course.

A fool and his money easily parted. 
 

For me, the greatest aberration…the drop top Evoque!

[gerkin]

It looks like I need to become an IT project manager.. 100k for a nearly new car. Wtf ??

[A.steve]

1 hour ago, Frankie Teardrop said:

The manufacturers love implementing security that is so easy to bypass as they sell more cars.

I wonder how difficult it would be to provide an after market solution to this?

[Money Frugality]

https://www.instagram.com/car_crime_uk/
 

Loooooads of it caught on camera.. Believe there’s a Ferrari on there somewhere taken via the same method.

 

Side note a lot of Range Rover engines are trash except for the v8, 4.4 and sd4 (ford engine). Crank failures are common, lots of pipes bursting, auto gearboxes bad.. 

Couple that with me having to TELL the dealer to change the water pump with the cam belt and it’s no wonder why a lot of them combust. 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by Money Frugality

[Johnno1167]

Horrible vehicles .. ugly as sin with the aerodynamics of a breeze blocks. And the chavvy evoque, what were they thinking ! 

as a kid, always chuckled at the classic joke .. “what’s the difference between range rover and hedgehog ?””..

any guesses ?

[LetsBuild]

1 hour ago, gerkin said:

It looks like I need to become an IT project manager.. 100k for a nearly new car. Wtf ??

Like I said up top, you can almost guarantee he is self employed and got a nice £50k loan from Rishi, the timings are right on the money.

[Money Frugality]

18 minutes ago, Johnno1167 said:

Horrible vehicles .. ugly as sin with the aerodynamics of a breeze blocks. And the chavvy evoque, what were they thinking ! 

as a kid, always chuckled at the classic joke .. “what’s the difference between range rover and hedgehog ?””..

any guesses ?

 we’re not all pricks. Just most. 

Edited November 26, 2023 by Money Frugality

[hotblack42]

No one will miss the Range Rover. Tis a silly car.  Will be a vague memory like the Montego in c. 15 years.

[Armus]

They’ve already provided software updates to help combat this. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/range-rover-thefts