Published at 12:01AM, October 27 2014
High-end motor insurers are refusing to insure new Range Rovers in London after a series of thefts. In what could be a serious blow to Jaguar Land Rover, which makes the cars, underwriters are understood to be declining to insure Range Rovers unless the owners have underground or secure parking.
The problem has grown so rapidly in the past three months that insurers and insurance brokers have asked to meet Jaguar Land Rover to discuss the issue.
Thieves are targeting vehicles with “keyless” ignition systems as they have found a way to bypass the security using a hand-held electronic device that can be bought on eBay.
Thatcham Research, the motor insurers’ automotive research centre, said that between January and July this year, 294 Range Rover Evoque and Sport vehicles were stolen in London. During the same period, 63 BMW X5s, a rival to the Range Rover, were taken.
Keith Dowley, a commercial property adviser, who bought a Range Rover this month after his previous one was stolen from outside his house in southwest London, said that he was refused cover from AIG because he did not have underground parking. Mr Dowley said: “How many people living in London have that type of parking?”
He said that when he contacted Range Rover, he was told it was an issue he had to resolve. “I had to tell them, ‘No, this is your problem, I have just bought a £100,000 car from you, if I can’t get insurance, I can’t drive it, and if I can’t drive it, I don’t want it’.”
He secured cover from another insurer, after agreeing to transfer all his business to them, including his house insurance.
James Wasdell, co-founder of Quantum Underwriting, said: “If you are an owner of a ‘street parked’ Range Rover [in London], even with the most sophisticated tracker, nine out of ten insurers will now say no. However, we have been able to find a solution by combining the use of physical protection [for the car] and advising clients to insure all their assets with one insurer.”
Ashley Cole, of Aqua Underwriting, said it had recently paid out on four stolen Range Rovers. “With new business, unless there is underground parking or some form of secure parking and a category 5 tracker installed we will not insure Range Rovers,” he said.
A spokesman for AIG said that it may request additional security measures such as private garaging or the installation of mechanically movable bollards.
A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said the criminal re-programming of remote-entry keys was an industry-wide problem, adding: “Our line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with relevant insurance bodies. Nevertheless we are taking this issue very seriously and our engineering teams are actively working in collaboration with insurance bodies and police forces to solve this continuously evolving problem. This has already resulted in a number of prosecutions.” 2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

Wow. Let's hope JLR find a resolution pretty quick. I feel a recall coming on....

Prob no worse than any other new car, but as it's an aspirational product, of course more get stolen than X5's.

 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

IMHO it is worse than any other model, look at the numbers compared to the X5.

Typical JLR............A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said: ‘Our line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with relevant insurance bodies



Is this just sport and ewok or is my ff at risk?

This is a story being covered by watchdog this week... So may find more info then

Same issue on newer BMWs a few years ago...
Would like to think that JLR took note of that?
Perhaps the thieves, well more likely ,their electronic box of tricks just got smarter ....

Back to steering wheel locks?! Alcohol and eBay is never a good mix

2006 4.2 Supercharged, Java Black

any 'keyless' start vehicle is likely to be hacked...kinda glad i have the old fashioned key type ignition.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Call me a heretic but unfortunately electronics in vehicles promise much but deliver little of tangible benefit. Manufacturers buy packaged modules which are designed by third parties so we buy a vehicle with a piecemeal approach rather than a more integrated holistic approach.
LR systems and the poor discrimination between ecu's serves to ensure that few of these vehicles will survive to become collectible classics. All too often a single problem throws up error codes galore which are meaningless and masks efforts to logically and systematically diagnose and eradicate faults.
Many of the systems are more about style over function and the more gizmos that are thrown at the cars the bigger the problems further down the road and the shorter the economic lifespan of these cars. Rehab is for quitters!!!

RR 2007 3.6 TDV8 Java Black *
RR 2007 3.6 TDV8 Zermatt silver *
RR 2000 P38 4.6 Met red *
Mercedes 300TE 4-Matic *
Jaguar 420 (1969) *
Nissan 300Z
Citroen XM 2.5TD X 6
Bentley Continental R
Hydrocon Highlander
Hydrocon Hamilton
Hydrocon Huntly
Am told the ones with a * are to be offered for sale! 😳

Departed
LR 1992 110 2.5TD
RR 2000 Holland & Holland 4.6 LPG
RR 4.2 Supercharged with LPG, Vogue SE 2007 Buckingham Blue
RR 2002 4.4 V8 Zambesi Silver

Interestingly enough as a pice of news it made it here last night , but since more BMW and Mercedes are sold here than JLR products the emphasis was more towards luxury cars in general , journalist always have a personal agenda  2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

Hi

Land Rover is aware of a rise in the number of thefts of Land Rover products. The current Land Rover line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with the relevant insurance bodies, nevertheless the company has taken this issue very seriously and our engineering teams have been working in collaboration with insurance bodies and police forces to fully understand the attack risks facing Land Rover models. It is however important to remember that this is an industry-wide issue and not specific to Land Rover vehicles only.

We have released a number of security updates in the last 12 months and have further updates due this year. We are continually updating and improving our security systems to ensure we stay ahead of the criminals and the industry-wide problem which the motor industry in general is tackling on a daily basis.

Regards

Ryan Please note although Land Rover will try to assist you with your issue, we are unable to provide any technical advice. This account is available between 0900 and 17:00 hours Monday – Friday. Outside of this time if you require assistance, please drop us a Private Message and we'll get back to you.

Why just not have a microchipped key then you have two barriers, ultimately as an owner who was just going to replace mine by ordering in the next month this is to be put on hold, great motors but if uninsureable i'm not going to buy one to sit on the drive and admire. Wake up you just cant't blarney your customers.

As the owner of a keyed vehicle, I think I would now be very reluctant to "downgrade" to a later keyless vehicle.

That is unless LR have a program to retro fit a solution to all those vehicles that are becoming difficult to insure

I think they may not retro fit all vehicles because of wording like "Our line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with relevant insurance bodies" used in press releases.

We met the requirements - not our fault if the requirements are crap. Howard
____________________________________________________
2002 4.4 V8 LPG Tartarini
Have RSW AllComms in Cheshire J17 M6 - happy to help.
*Gone: Classic Vogue SE Auto V8 3.9

The Watchdog Craig mentioned is on tonight if you fancy a peek.....

 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

It's rather ironic that JLR gets mentioned for having "easy to steal" high tech Range Rovers. They are also famous for their "easy to steal" low tech Defenders.

Really, if they want it, they will get it.

Iirc the bmw issue was different and just a few models were affected due to a design flaw...

I think the crux of this situation is the industry wide cluelessness of encryption keys used in the vehicles software. I do wonder how random they are or even how strong an algorithm they use.. Probably not very is the answer to both those queries but I guess I'm still in JLR's bad books after that Sport issue... 😜 FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.