Why Your Next Car’s Theft Risk Now Comes With Its Own Rating

• Thatcham Research now grades every new car’s theft risk on a five-band scale from Superior to Unacceptable, built around how well it resists keyless entry attacks.
• The rating sits inside a wider Vehicle Risk Rating system that also scores every car from 1 to 99 for damage, repair cost, safety and security combined.
• The new Crime and Policing Act 2026 gives police fresh powers over the relay devices and key-cloning tools used to steal keyless cars.

Your new car’s crash safety rating has a security twin now

Drivers have checked Euro NCAP crash ratings for years before choosing a new car. Thatcham Research, the industry body insurers rely on to assess theft and repair risk, has built an equivalent for security: a five-band rating running Superior, Good, Basic, Poor and Unacceptable, designed specifically to show how well a car resists the keyless entry attacks that now drive most car theft in Britain.

The rating sits inside a bigger project called Vehicle Risk Rating, which Thatcham describes as the only independent measure bringing damage, repair cost, safety, security and performance together into a single score out of 99. A higher VRR number means a higher real-world risk. Insurers already use elements of Thatcham’s ratings to help set premiums, so a car’s security band can move the price of cover as well as its resale value.

Why keyless cars pushed Thatcham to act

The rating system exists over one specific vulnerability: relay theft. A keyless car listens for its matching fob within a short range and unlocks automatically. Thieves working in pairs use signal-boosting devices, some sold online for under fifty pounds, to relay that signal from a fob sitting on a hallway table to a car parked on the driveway outside, tricking it into unlocking and starting in under a minute without ever touching the key.

Thatcham’s own testing found that, years of warnings later, keyless vulnerability remains an issue across a significant share of new cars on sale today. Some manufacturers have added motion-sensing fobs that go to sleep when left still, or ultra-wideband technology that measures the precise distance between key and car rather than just detecting a signal, and those models tend to score in the higher Superior and Good bands. Cars still relying on older, simpler keyless systems are the ones landing in the Poor and Unacceptable categories.

What the five bands actually mean for a buyer

A Superior or Good rating means the car has built-in defences against relay attacks and other common theft methods without needing aftermarket help. Basic covers cars with reasonable security that still leaves some gaps a determined thief could exploit. Poor and Unacceptable mark cars that Thatcham’s own testers were able to unlock, start and drive away using known keyless attack methods without triggering an alarm.

Insurers do not treat every band the same way at renewal. A car in the lower bands can carry a higher premium purely on its security profile, independent of the driver’s own record, and some insurers now ask directly whether a keyless car has aftermarket security fitted before quoting a price. Resale value can move too, as a well-informed private buyer or trade-in valuer checking a model’s theft record may factor a weak rating into their offer.

New police powers arrive alongside the rating

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 gives officers stronger powers to seize and prosecute the possession of signal relay devices, key programming tools and cloning equipment, closing a gap that previously let some of this equipment circulate legally on the grounds that it also has legitimate diagnostic uses. Thatcham has welcomed the new law but says legislation alone will not close the gap: manufacturers still need to keep improving keyless security at the design stage, and it argues more coordination is needed between car makers, insurers and police to keep pace with a criminal trade that adapts fast to each new defence.

The scale of the theft problem behind the new rating

Police recorded vehicle theft figures have climbed for several years running, with keyless relay attacks and cloned key fobs cited repeatedly as a driver of the increase, above all in urban areas where high-value SUVs and family cars sit on driveways within a few metres of the street. Recovery rates for stolen vehicles have fallen at the same time, with only a small share of stolen cars found and returned to their owners, a pattern insurers say is linked directly to keyless theft methods that leave a car running and drivable within seconds rather than requiring a tow truck or flatbed that police stand a better chance of intercepting.

Against that backdrop, the Vehicle Risk Rating gives insurers, fleet buyers and ordinary drivers a single reference point that did not exist in this form before. Previously, a driver comparing two similar cars had little way of knowing which one carried a materially higher theft risk beyond word of mouth or after-the-fact insurance quotes. The new rating puts that information up front, at the point of choosing a car rather than after paying for a policy.

How to check your own car, or one you are about to buy

Thatcham publishes its security ratings and a list of certified aftermarket security products on its own website, and a buyer can check a specific model’s band before signing anything. Ask a dealer directly for the car’s Thatcham security category as part of any negotiation, in the same way you might ask for its Euro NCAP crash score, and treat a Poor or Unacceptable rating as a cost to budget for rather than a reason to walk away automatically, as a Thatcham Category 1 aftermarket alarm and immobiliser can meaningfully close the gap.

For a keyless car you already own, a signal-blocking Faraday pouch for the fob remains a cheap first step, though cheaper pouches have failed independent tests in the past, so it pays to buy a properly certified one. Parking where a car is visible from the house, fitting a visible steering wheel lock as a deterrent, and asking a dealer whether a software update is available to add motion-sensing to an older fob are all worth doing regardless of which security band the car falls into, as Thatcham’s own data shows even Superior-rated cars are not immune to every method thieves try.

The Association of British Insurers has previously pressed manufacturers to fit stronger keyless defences as standard rather than leaving buyers to add aftermarket protection themselves, arguing that security should be judged with the same seriousness as crash safety when a new model reaches showrooms. The Vehicle Risk Rating gives that argument a concrete measure for the first time, turning a debate that has run for years among manufacturers and insurers into a rating any buyer can look up before they hand over a deposit.

Sources:

• Thatcham Research: Vehicle Risk Rating
• eDriving: Thatcham introduces security ratings addressing keyless concerns
• Trend Tracker: Thatcham updates security ratings on keyless vulnerability