This chic village is in the top six for most car burglaries, what about you? | Car

“The number of burglaries starts to rise in October and the peak occurs in November,” explains Menno Dijcks, car insurance expert at comparison site Independer. If we compare it with the national average, other popular months for car thieves are October (+18.9 percent) and September (+8.9 percent). The months with the fewest car burglaries on average are April (-16.1 percent) and May (-12.8 percent).

The leader is therefore November, when there are even one fifth more burglaries than average. Thieves like the dark, you would think based on these figures. And so the Dutch police advise you to park your car in as bright a place as possible. “If you do that, others can also see when someone is breaking in,” says a spokesperson for the police force in The Hague. “In a dark place, burglars can go about their business unnoticed.”

But British research shows the exact opposite. Parking your car under the light of a lamppost, for example, actually increases the risk of burglary and theft, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. ‘Opportunistic’ thieves in particular would find it more difficult to see whether there is anything in the car in darker places.

The research found that thefts from vehicles fell by 44 percent when street lights were turned off between midnight and 5 a.m. Instead, car thefts and burglaries increased on adjacent streets, which remained lit all night. According to the research, it is more difficult for thieves to determine whether they can ‘work’ safely in the dark. It would also be more difficult for them to remove parts without light.

“Car burglaries are annoying, especially because your insurer will only pay out if you have WA Plus or All Risk insurance,” says Menno Dijcks. “With third party liability insurance alone you are not eligible for compensation. Many people know this If you don’t, you will then be faced with a nasty surprise. If you live in an area where many burglaries occur, it may be wise to adjust your insurance,” says Menno Dijcks.

This year up to and including October, a car has already been broken into 35,380 times. This is an increase of 715 incidents compared to the same period last year. In a number of municipalities the number has even more than doubled compared to the same period last year, such as IJsselstein (+172 percent), Goirle (+146 percent), Gouda (+128 percent), Meierijstad (+121 percent), Assen (+106 percent), Laren (+103 percent) and Waddinxveen (+100 percent).

And then the figures for November – the car theft month par excellence – and December have to be added. In this study we looked at municipalities with a total of more than fifty car burglaries. “The increase in the number of car burglaries can have an effect on the premiums you pay for car insurance,” explains Menno Dijcks of Independer. “These can be different per city and even neighborhood. Because if the risk of theft has increased, the insurer wants to cover this risk and that means a higher premium. But there is also some good news: claiming damage due to burglary or theft does not ensure that you fall back into claim-free years.”