What is relay theft — and how do you stop it?

Relay theft exploits the fact that most keyless cars are constantly listening for their fob. Two thieves work as a pair: one stands near your house with a device that picks up the faint signal from the key sitting in your hallway, and relays it to a second device held against the car. The car is fooled into thinking the key is present, so it unlocks and starts. Your keys never leave the house, and there's no damage to show for it.

The vulnerable cars are the desirable ones — Range Rover, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and the like — because they're valuable and easy to move on. Standard alarms and steering locks don't help: by the time either matters, the car is already running.

A Faraday pouch for your keys blocks the signal and is worth using, but it relies on you remembering every single time. The permanent fix is an Autowatch Ghost immobiliser: because it locks the engine to a sequence only you know, a relayed or cloned key is useless — the car simply won't start. That's the difference between a habit and a defence.