The final countdown is on, December is upon us and the end of 2023 is now in sight. Sadly there is no Christmas cheer amongst the thieves around the country, who continue to steal vehicles and capitalise on the cold weather and dark nights. 

During November 2023, Global Telemetrics were responsible for the recovery of £4.1m vehicles. This takes the year’s total to £36.1 million so far, which is just £700k short of surpassing 2022’s final total, which during December has now been surpassed. November 2023, sees a continuation of a high valuation of vehicles recovered in November as 2022 also saw a recovery total above £4m. 

Novembers Facts and Figures 

For the second time this year, Range Rovers are not the out and out winner when it comes to a specific model recovered during the month. Whilst manufacturer wise Jaguar Land Rover vehicles were easily above the rest accounting for 46% of all vehicles recovered for the month, the Range Rover Vogue shared top spot for vehicle most recovered with the Ford Transit, as November saw an increase in van thefts across our protected vehicles. 

Other models recovered this month included: Multiple Lexus RX 450H, Audi Q7, Ford Fiesta ST-3 Turbo, Porsche Macan, Jeep Wrangler, Audi Q5, Kubota U17, Ford Chausson Welcome, Mercedes AMG GT R and something completely out of the usual in a Ferris wheel! 

Novembers Fastest Recovery

Just ten minutes is all it took for our customer to have their Porsche Macan recovered when it was stolen near Lincoln at the start of November. After a call to our SCC, our Stolen Vehicle Recovery Team informed local Repatriation Agents and police with the location. The Macan was found on false plates and recovered back to the owner. 

Novembers Most Interesting Recovery 

It’ll come as no surprise from reading the above paragraphs which recovery is about to be mentioned in this section. A recovery we definitely don’t see every day and a first for Global Telemetrics. One of our insurance customers reported that their Ferris Wheel, which was packed into a 3 trailer truck, had been stolen, and asked if we could get our ‘big wheels’ to the ground to recover the missing attraction located at Portsmouth Docks. In less than 50 minutes the ferris wheel was seized by our Repatriations Team and the police and able to be returned to the rightful owners. 

Hotspots

Theft locations this year have once again been dominated by our two biggest cities, London leads the way with 29% of all recoveries during November, Kensington and Chelsea being the most frequent borough for vehicles to be stolen this month. Birmingham and the West Midlands made up 20% of all recoveries for the month in second place with Glasgow was in third place with 11% of recoveries. 

Looking Forward

Winter is upon us and that means a common reasoning for thefts will once again creep in. Every year in the press and in our own experiences, we see many vehicles stolen during icy mornings or evenings where the vehicle has been left by the owners open with keys in the ignition engine running to warm up or defrost. This gives thieves an ample opportunity to slide in undetected and take the vehicle with minimum effort and disturbance. 

This example found in the Glasgow Times last December highlighted 3 examples in one week of this occurring. 

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/23178470.two-cars-stolen-defrosting-cops-issue-warning/

We have also seen this happen in Doncaster already this month which can be seen here –

Global Telemetrics released a video to promote awareness of this last year which can be found below: 

Do you warm your car up in winter before driving? Here is why you shouldn’t!