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Every option is fitted by an approved installer. Choose one to see the exact devices.
Immobilisers only for
Hidden engine block. Nothing to see, nothing to record.
CAN BUS Immobiliser
LockCar CAN-IMMO
£299.00
LOCKCAR CAN-IMMO Immobiliser NO PIN • NO START Advanced CAN Bus Vehicle Immobiliser with Mobile APP
App + Tag Immobiliser
LockCar IC3262 TAG Immobiliser
£199.00
A intelligent micro device that combines: 1 Immobiliser + Tag wireless ID + Mobile App. Can be installed on any form of transport. Supports 12/24V installation.
Immobilisers + Dashcams for
Block the theft and record what happens around the car.
Dashcam + Immobiliser + App
LockCar One – Free Fitting
£599.00 £900.00
LockCar ONE is a professional dash camera with 24/7 monitoring, SD recording, and smart immobiliser integration. Built for security, durability, and total control in the UK.
Dashcam + Immobiliser + App
Lockcar Duo Rh – Free Fitting
£599.00 £850.00
Local MCU system security. Power ON 24/7. Smart parking mode. Local car status, Immobilization, Local GPS Traking, Local Cameras Front + Driver. FREE UK INSTALLATION
4G Live Dashcams + Immobilisers for
Live view and alerts from anywhere, plus the engine block.
4G + Dashcam + Immobiliser + App
LockCar One Plus 4G- Free Fitting
£699.00 £1,000.00
LockCar One Plus is 4G remote access and intelligent immobiliser. Designed for modern threats, this advanced anti-theft system allows you to monitor and control your car from anywhere,…
4G + Dashcam + Immobiliser + App
Lockcar Duo Rh Plus 4G – Free Fitting
£899.00 £1,200.00
Remote access via 4g permanently. Power ON 24/7. Smart parking mode. Real-time car status, Immobilization, Real-time GPS Traking, Live Cameras Front + Driver. FREE UK INSTALLATION
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We come back with the theft method known for your model, what we would fit, the price with fitting, and the nearest slot to you. One message, no sales calls.
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Message us on WhatsAppCar key theft prevention in Birmingham
Almost every car stolen in Birmingham now leaves on its own wheels, started with something the thief made your car accept as a key. This page explains the four ways that happens, what you can change tonight for nothing, and where the free measures stop working.
Four ways your key gets used against you
Car key theft is a category, not a single crime. Two of the methods never involve touching your key at all. One involves stealing it from inside your house. One involves taking it from your hand. The prevention advice is different for each, which is why generic advice tends to disappoint.
What the four share is the ending. The car is satisfied that a genuine key is present, the factory immobiliser releases, and the engine starts. No forced ignition, no broken glass, nothing a neighbour would look twice at.
Terraced streets put your front door within a few metres of your car. Suburban driveways put the key near a front door that faces the car. Both layouts suit a relay attack. Quiet roads are not safer roads for vehicles, they are roads where nobody is outside to notice.
1. Relay attack, your key never moves
One person stands at your front door holding an amplifier. A second stands at the car with a relay unit. Your key answers the car from inside the hallway, the signal is carried out to the street, and the car unlocks and starts. Your key is exactly where you left it the next morning, which is why people often assume it cannot have been a key problem.
2. A new key written at the OBD port
Once inside the cabin, a programmer plugged into the diagnostic socket can write a fresh key to the vehicle in under a minute on many models. The car then treats that new key as genuine. Your original key is irrelevant to the theft and stays in your pocket.
3. Burglary for the key
A rising share of Birmingham vehicle thefts start as a break in through a door or window, where the only thing taken is the car key from a hook, a bowl or a kitchen worktop. The burglar is in and out in seconds because they are not searching the house, they are searching one surface.
4. Taken from your hand
Less common but the most frightening. Keys are taken at the driver’s door, at a petrol station, or from a driveway while the car is warming up. Nothing electronic is involved, so nothing electronic prevents it. What matters here is what the car does after the key is gone.
What to change tonight
Start here, before you spend money on anything. These four changes cost nothing, take one evening, and remove the easiest version of two of the four attacks above.
Move your keys away from the front of the house
Distance is the whole game in a relay attack. A key at the back of the house, upstairs, or in a metal tin in a middle room is far harder to reach than one on a hook by the door. This single change defeats a lot of opportunistic attempts.
Check whether your key can be switched off
Many keys made in the last few years go to sleep after a period of stillness, and some can be switched off manually with a button sequence. Look it up for your exact model in the handbook. If yours has the feature, use it every night.
Park so the car is awkward to remove
Nose in against a wall, tight against a second car, or with the least valuable vehicle blocking the drive. A thief who has started your car still has to drive it out. Thirty extra seconds of manoeuvring under a light is thirty seconds most will not spend.
Fix the lighting, not just the camera
A camera records a theft. A light interrupts one. Motion lighting over the driveway and a lit front path change the risk calculation while the person is still deciding. Keep the camera as well, since footage helps afterwards, but the light is the part that prevents.
None of this requires a product, an app or an appointment. If you do nothing else after reading this page, do these four.
The measures that only half work
Everything below is worth having. None of it is a complete answer, and the gaps are rarely explained when they are sold to you.
Faraday pouches
They genuinely block the relay attack while the key is inside, and they cost very little. Two weaknesses. They depend on a person remembering, every single night, forever. And they do nothing about OBD key programming, nothing about a burglary that takes the pouch as well, and nothing once the key is in a thief’s hand. Keep using one. Do not treat it as finished.
Steering and pedal locks
Highly visible, which is the point, and a real deterrent at the choosing stage. They are also slow to fit every night, which is why most people stop after a fortnight. A lock you did not put on tonight protects nothing.
Trackers
A tracker is a recovery tool, not a prevention tool. It tells you where the car went, which matters to your insurer and sometimes gets the vehicle back. It does not stop the engine starting, and organised teams scan for and remove trackers before the car goes anywhere permanent.
Alarms
An alarm reports a theft that is already in progress. On a keyless theft the doors are opened with what the car believes is your key, so on many vehicles the alarm never triggers at all.
Doorbell and driveway cameras
Excellent evidence, weak prevention. Most footage of a relay attack shows two people in gloves and hoods with their faces angled down. Useful for the insurance claim, rarely useful for identification.
A locked garage
The strongest free option by a distance, if you have one and actually use it. The problem is that most Birmingham housing does not come with one, and many garages that exist are full of everything except a car.
Which layer stops which attack
Read this table down the columns rather than across. No single row protects against everything, and that is the honest picture.
| Method | Faraday pouch | Tracker | Hidden immobiliser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relay attack from your hallway | ✓ Blocked while the key is inside it | ✗ Car still starts and drives | ✓ Engine start stays blocked |
| New key written at the OBD port | ✗ Your key is not involved | ✗ Car still starts and drives | ✓ The new key alone will not start it |
| Key stolen from inside the house | ✗ Often taken with the key | ✗ Car still starts and drives | ✓ The key alone is not enough |
| Key taken from your hand | ✗ No protection | ✗ Car still starts and drives | ✓ Anti hijack holds the vehicle |
| Finding the vehicle afterwards | ✗ No help | ✓ This is what it is for | Not applicable, prevention only |
| Depends on you remembering nightly | ✗ Yes, every night | ✓ No | ✓ No, it arms itself |
No security product is a guarantee. The realistic aim is to make your vehicle slower, noisier and less predictable than the one parked next to it, because organised theft is a business and time is the cost.
When the free measures are not enough
Every free measure on this page works on the outside of the problem. It hides the key, blocks the signal, or makes the car awkward. None of them change what happens if a thief succeeds in presenting the car with something it accepts as a key.
A hidden aftermarket immobiliser changes that last step. It is a second lock, wired out of sight inside the loom, with no keypad, no LED and nothing visible through the glass. It holds the engine start blocked until it recognises an authorisation that has nothing to do with your car key. A relayed signal cannot satisfy it. A newly programmed key cannot satisfy it. A stolen key cannot satisfy it.
This is worth considering if your car is on a driveway or a street overnight, if it is a make that gets targeted locally, or if you have already had an attempt. It is probably overkill if the car lives in a locked garage.
We fit two immobilisers and one combined system. Full prices, specifications and what each one does are on our car immobiliser fitting in Birmingham page, and every unit is listed in the LockCar immobiliser range.
Not sure what fits your make and model? Run the registration through the LockCar vehicle check before you enquire.
Your keys have already been taken
If the car is gone, report it to the police on 999 if the theft is happening now, or 101 if you have just discovered it, and tell your insurer the same day. If the keys are gone but the car is still there, the order below matters.
Move the car tonight
Whoever has the key knows where the car is. If you can put it somewhere else, on a friend’s drive, in a secure car park, anywhere off that address, do it before you do anything else.
Get the stolen key deleted, not just replaced
A replacement key does not cancel the old one. The vehicle has to have the missing key removed from its memory, which a dealer or an auto locksmith does. Ask specifically for deletion and get it in writing, because your insurer may ask.
Then add the layer that ignores keys
If the key that was taken cannot be deleted for any reason, or you simply want to stop worrying about it, an immobiliser that authorises on something other than the key removes the problem entirely.
Where we work in Birmingham
The advice above applies anywhere. If you decide you want a second layer fitted, our engineers come to you across the whole B postcode area and the surrounding boroughs.
Birmingham
City Centre, Jewellery Quarter, Edgbaston, Moseley, Harborne, Kings Heath, Selly Oak, Bournville, Northfield, Erdington, Aston, Handsworth, Yardley, Sheldon and Great Barr.
Solihull and Sutton
Solihull, Shirley, Knowle, Dorridge, Sutton Coldfield, Mere Green, Four Oaks, Walmley and Castle Bromwich.
Wider West Midlands
West Bromwich, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Halesowen, Stourbridge, Coventry, Tamworth and Redditch.
Who you are dealing with
Most of this page tells you how to spend nothing. That is deliberate, and it is also the reason to check who is telling you.
Rated 5.0 on Google
15 reviews at the time of writing, all from customers whose vehicles we have fitted. You can read every one of them, unedited, on our Google Business Profile.
A registered company
LockCar trades as a company registered in England and Wales, company number 14346129. Our terms of business are published in full in our terms and conditions.
Mobile only, on purpose
We have no public workshop. Every installation happens at your address, which means your car never sits overnight somewhere you cannot see it. Our registered office is administrative and is not open to customers.
Phone and WhatsApp +44 7300 98 90 91 · Email hello@lockcar.co.uk
Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 17:00. Closed Sunday.
Car key theft questions
How do I prevent car key theft in Birmingham?
Start with the free steps. Store keys away from the front of the house, switch the key off overnight if your model allows it, park so the car is awkward to remove, and light the driveway. Those four defeat the easiest version of a relay attack. They do not cover key cloning at the OBD port or a key stolen from inside the house, which is where a hidden immobiliser becomes the next step.
Does a Faraday pouch stop car key theft?
It stops a relay attack while the key is inside it, and it is cheap enough that everyone with a keyless car should own one. It does nothing about a key programmed at the diagnostic port, nothing if the pouch is stolen with the key during a burglary, and nothing once someone has taken the key from you. It also depends on you using it every single night.
Can a thief steal my car without my key at all?
Yes. Two of the four common methods never touch your key. A relay attack borrows the signal from a key sitting inside your house, and an OBD attack writes an entirely new key to the vehicle. In both cases your original key is still in the drawer the next morning, which is why the theft is often reported as a mystery.
Are keyless cars more likely to be stolen?
Keyless entry is the feature the relay attack exists to exploit, so a car that unlocks as you approach it is exposed to a method that a traditional key car is not. That said, the OBD method works on plenty of non keyless vehicles too, so this is not only a keyless problem.
Which cars get targeted most around Birmingham?
Patterns shift year to year and depend on what is easy to move on. Rather than guess for your vehicle, send us the registration and we will tell you what the known method is for that make and model, and whether it is one we see locally.
Should I keep my keys upstairs?
Upstairs and away from the front of the house is better than a hook by the door, because distance weakens the signal a relay attack has to carry. Bear in mind the trade off some people raise about wanting keys accessible in an emergency, and decide what suits your household.
Will my insurer reduce the premium if I fit an immobiliser?
Some do, many do not, and several ask specifically whether the system holds a particular accreditation. Ask your insurer what they require before you buy anything, from us or from anyone else. Getting this wrong is expensive at claim stage.
Does a tracker prevent theft?
No. A tracker is a recovery tool. It tells you where the vehicle went after it was taken, which genuinely helps with insurance and sometimes gets the car back. It does not prevent the engine from starting, and it should not be sold to you as prevention.
My car was broken into but not stolen. What now?
Treat it as a first visit rather than a failed one. Check whether anything was plugged into the diagnostic port, have the vehicle scanned for keys that should not be there, and get any unrecognised key deleted from the car’s memory. Cars are often revisited within a fortnight.
What do I do if my car keys are stolen?
Move the vehicle away from the address if you can, report it to the police, and tell your insurer. Then get the missing key deleted from the car, not simply replaced, because a replacement key does not cancel the stolen one. Ask for written confirmation of the deletion.
Is a hidden immobiliser worth it for an ordinary car?
Sometimes not, and we will say so. If your car lives in a locked garage, or it is a model nobody around here is taking, the free steps on this page may be all you need. If it sits on a driveway or a street overnight and it is on the target list, that is when it earns its money.
Can you come and look at my car in Birmingham?
Yes. Send your registration and postcode on WhatsApp to 07300 989091. You will get an answer about the known theft method for your vehicle and what we would recommend, including the option of doing nothing.
Ask before you spend anything
Send your registration and postcode. You get a straight answer about how your specific model is being taken, and what is actually worth doing about it.
