A British insurance company has estimated that up to R102 million is lost a year through motorists leaving valuables in their gloveboxes. Some even admitted leaving spare car keys. What do you keep in yours?
A British insurance company has estimated that up to R102 million is lost a year through motorists leaving valuables in their gloveboxes. Some even admitted leaving spare car keys.
According to , Halifax Car Insurance (HCI) research shows that the contents of Britain’s gloveboxes are providing great items for car thieves.
The company estimates that claims for CDs and tapes stolen from cars each year could be costing the motor insurance industry up to R102 million a year. HCI also estimates that a further R51 million a year is claimed for stolen sunglasses, an item that 16 per cent of drivers admit to leaving in their glovebox.
Eleven per cent of car owners admit keeping their car logbook in the glovebox, which can provide an easy route to a swift sale for an opportunist thief. Furthermore, six per cent even admit to leaving personal items such as their driving licence or insurance details in their glovebox. Some drivers even confess to storing a spare set of car keys there. However, only one in 20 car owners say they keep a mobile phone in their glovebox.
The research also revealed that, while manufacturers boast of air-conditioning and compartments available in gloveboxes, the features motorists would most like are more space and a built in pen and paper. Although around a quarter of motorists did say they don’t need a glovebox at all.
“Contrary to many people’s expectations, a lock on the glovebox doesn’t really help – it simply makes for a more expensive claim to fix the damage caused by forcing the lock open. We want to encourage drivers to think carefully about what they leave in their cars and whether they are making life easy for an opportunist thief,” said Mike Pickard, head of underwriting at HCI. “We would love manufacturers to add ‘check your glovebox’ to the voice control system before drivers were able to leave the car!”
