Hoot Top Tens Car crimes

As the number of cars on UK roads continues to rise, so do the rate and variety of car crimes that are committed. The statistics may be depressing, but the crimes themselves are the subject of endless fascination for many quite law-abiding people.

Today, it's not just 'traditional' crimes like ram raiding and clocking that are paraded over the front pages of British newspapers - such American imports as carjacking and drive-by shooting have grown increasingly widespread, too.

Because we're a cheap online car insurance firm, the staff at Hoot have heard their fair share of car crime stories from claimants and other customers. Based on these, we've put together a top ten list of the worst crimes out there, with advice on how to avoid being a victim and lots of interesting little titbits to amuse your friends with later.

Of course, it'd be a 'crime' to visit the Hoot website without getting your hands on one of our cheap online car insurance quotes - so if you haven't done so already, make sure you get one once you've finished reading this article!

10. Cut and shut
Even when they've been written-off, crashed cars are usually only damaged on one side. A head-on collision, for instance, can bunch the bonnet up like a concertina but leave the rear of the car still looking like it did in the showroom.

'Cut and shut' is the process by which the good halves of these wrecks are married up and welded together - forming a mongrel car that looks like new. Be especially wary of these when buying second hand, as the vast majority make extremely unsafe cars to drive.

9. Ringing
A 'ringer' is a car, generally stolen, that's had its Vehicle Identification Number (or VIN) swapped with another so that it can be sold on without arousing suspicion. The replacement number is generally one taken from a wrecked car of the same model and year. Again, be on the look out for forged VINs when buying second hand.

8. Ram raiding
This is where criminals drive a car, again generally stolen, through the front windows of shops and other high street businesses as a means by which to gain entry and rob the place.

Stolen cars make short work of a plate glass window, but when more muscle is required - say for punching a hole through the concrete frontage of a bank - thieves have been known to 'borrow' heavy machinery from nearby construction sites and use that.

7. Smuggling
Cars and vans are frequently used to smuggle drugs and other contraband across national borders, and, even worse, for people trafficking. The ingenuity shown when secreting such things inside a car is incredible, as is the tenacity of stowaways who are prepared to lie for days in such cramped and dangerous places as engine compartments and undercarriages.

6. Clocking
Another common trick used to fool second hand car buyers, 'clocking' means winding back the numbers on a car's odometer to suggest a lower mileage.

It was hoped that the introduction of digital odometers in modern cars would bring an end to the practice, but sadly all that's really changed is the method of doing so - now clocking is done using a computer rather than a screwdriver.

5. Theft
Theft is still the most common car crime, and it's the starting point for many others like ram raiding or joyriding. Don't think that your car is immune to theft because it's old, cheap or in poor condition - an opportunist criminal can and will steal any vulnerable car that presents itself.

4. Carjacking
The theft of your car from a roadside or driveway is bad enough, but at least you don't have to watch it happen. Carjacking, on the other hand, is the terrifying practice of stealing your car while you're still sat in it, and incidents in the UK are on the rise.

It's an extremely hazardous crime, both for the victim and the criminal. Drivers who do not cooperate are often hurt by the carjacker, and both parties are at risk of being dragged under the moving wheels of the vehicle and run over.

3. Joy riding
One of the many car crimes which begins with a theft, joy riding is the most anarchic and possibly the most frustrating for its victims. Joy riders steal cars simply for the sake of the theft and the mad burnout which follows.

Strangely enough, however, joyriding does not constitute a theft under UK law. Because it's hard to prove that joyriders intend to keep hold of the cars they steal, courts are forced to prosecute them for the more minor offence of 'taking without consent' - or 'twocking', as it's more commonly known.

2. Drink driving
It continues to be a massive problem in the UK, in spite of anything the Department for Transport or road safety groups like RoSPA can do or say. Crashes which involve drink driving cause the death or serious injury of 3,000 people every year on UK roads - that's considerably more than the other nine items on this list put together.

1. Drive-by shooting
It's hard to believe that drive-by shooting, a crime most commonly identified with American ganglands, is now taking off against the backdrop of bleak British cul-de-sacs. However, even a casual glance at the UK papers will confirm this is the case.

The guns themselves are flooding into London and other major British cities, changing hands for next to nothing and giving rise to a proliferation of gun gangs which could rival America in the 1980s, if reports are to be believed.

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