Vehicle security from
£199
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- Free, no obligation
- Fitted, not posted
- 12 months hardware warranty
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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
PIN CODE Car Immobiliser LockCar CAN-IMMO – Free Fitting
£299.00 £350.00
PIN CODE to START – NO PIN. NO START – LOCKCAR CAN-IMMO Immobiliser – Smart Advanced CAN Bus Vehicle Immobiliser – entering the PIN CODE each startup
App + Tag Immobiliser
TAG FOB Car Immobiliser LockCar IC3262 TAG Immobiliser
£199.00 £250.00
TAG FOB KEY to START – NO FOB. NO START – LOCKCAR IC3262 Immobiliser – Smart Immobiliser – authorizes the car to start if it detects the fob…
Immobilisers + Dashcams for
Block the theft and record what happens around the car.
Dashcam + Immobiliser + App
Dashcam + Immobiliser LockCar One – Free Fitting
£450.00 £550.00
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
Dashcam + immobiliser Lockcar Duo Rh – Free Fitting
£550.00 £650.00
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
Dashcam + Immobiliser + Tracker LockCar One Plus 4G- Free Fitting
£499.00 £600.00
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
4G Daschcam + Immobiliser + Tracker Lockcar Duo Rh Plus 4G – Free Fitting
£699.00 £750.00
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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Message us on WhatsAppWhat to do if your car is stolen in the UK, step by step
This page tells you what to do if your car is stolen, in the order that protects your insurance claim, your private number plate and your tax refund. Every step here is free. Most people get at least one of them in the wrong order, and one mistake cannot be undone.
The first hour, and the mistake that costs people most
You walk out in the morning and the space on the drive is empty. The instinct is to ring everyone at once: the insurer, the dealer, the finance company, the DVLA. That instinct is understandable and slightly wrong. Nothing moves without a crime reference number, so the police come first. The DVLA comes last, and only once your insurer has paid.
The order matters most for anyone with a private registration. Tell the DVLA the car now belongs to your insurer before you have applied to keep the number, and the number goes with the car. There is no appeal route for that. It is the single most expensive administrative mistake on this page, and it takes a letter in the wrong envelope to make it.
Car theft is also not rare enough to treat as a freak event. DVLA figures obtained by What Car? recorded 61,343 vehicles reported stolen in 2024. Police teams, insurers and the DVLA deal with this every day, and each has a routine. Your job is to feed that routine the right information in the right order.
Two minutes of checks before you call anyone
Rule out the ordinary explanations first. It saves you an awkward call back and saves the call handler a wasted report.
- ✓ Has a partner, parent or grown up child borrowed it without mentioning it?
- ✓ Could you have left it on a different street, particularly after a late night or in an area you do not know well?
- ✓ Was it on a yellow line, a permit bay or a suspended bay? Councils and the police do tow vehicles. Ring the local council first. In London, the Met’s TRACE service can tell you whether a car has been removed.
- ✓ Are you behind on finance payments? A repossession agent can collect a car without knocking.
If none of those explain it, treat the car as stolen and work through the steps below.
Five steps, in order, that cost you nothing
These follow the official GOV.UK guidance, with the practical detail GOV.UK leaves out. Nothing here requires a paid service.
Report it to the police
Call 999 if the theft is happening now or you feel unsafe. Otherwise call 101, or use your force’s online reporting form, which is often quicker in the morning rush. Have the registration, make, model and colour ready, along with where it was parked and when you last saw it.
Mention any doorbell camera, CCTV or dashcam that may have caught the theft, and save the clip before the device overwrites it. Many doorbell cameras on free plans keep footage for a short time only. If the thieves left anything behind, leave it where it is and tell the officer. You will receive a crime reference number. Write it on paper as well as in your phone. The police tell the DVLA about the theft, and again if the car is found.
Call your insurer
Use the claims number in your policy documents and quote the crime reference number. Comprehensive and third party, fire and theft policies cover theft of the vehicle. Third party only policies do not.
Ask three questions on that first call and write down the answers: how long they wait before settling a theft claim, whether your policy includes a courtesy car for theft, and whether your no claims discount is protected. The waiting period exists in case the car turns up, and the length is set by your policy. Ask as well whether they want the whole V5C log book or only part of it, because that changes what you send the DVLA later.
Keep your private number plate
Skip this step if the car is on its original registration. If it carries a private number you want to keep, apply now, before anything goes to the DVLA about the insurer paying out.
According to GOV.UK, you can keep the number only if you reported the theft to the police and the car had a valid MOT and up to date vehicle tax when it was taken. The application is by post only and costs £80. Send form V317, the V5C log book (or the green new keeper slip with a completed V62), and the fee. You must apply within 2 years and 6 months of the DVLA being told about the theft. If the car is never found, you wait 6 months before the number can go on another vehicle.
Tell the DVLA once your insurer has paid
When the insurer settles, the car legally becomes theirs. Tell the DVLA online, or fill in the yellow sell, transfer or part exchange section of the V5C and post the perforated slip with a letter giving the date you accepted payment and the insurer’s details. The rest of the log book goes to the insurer.
If the insurer has asked for the whole V5C, write to the DVLA instead with the insurer’s details, the claim date, your registration, the make, model and colour, and your signature. Contact details and opening hours are on the DVLA contact page.
Check your vehicle tax refund
Once the DVLA records that you no longer own the car, the tax is cancelled, any Direct Debit stops, and a refund for the full months left is sent to the name and address on the log book. If you have moved since the V5C was issued, update the address or the cheque goes to your old house.
Kept a private plate? The refund is then not automatic. Ask the DVLA for form V33 and send it back with your crime reference number, as GOV.UK explains.
What the police, your insurer and the DVLA will not do for you
Knowing where each organisation stops helps you avoid waiting for a call that is never coming.
The police may not send an officer, particularly for an overnight theft with no witnesses. That is normal and does not mean the report is ignored. The car is flagged as stolen, and number plate recognition cameras will pick it up if it passes one on its original plates. Many stolen cars are moved onto false plates quickly, which is exactly why that flag alone often does not find them.
Your insurer pays the market value of the car on the day it was taken. If you paid over the odds, added expensive extras or owe more on finance than the car is worth, the gap is yours to cover unless you bought gap insurance. Tools and personal belongings inside the car are usually outside a motor policy, so check your home contents or tools cover and claim there separately.
The DVLA only records what it is told. It will not chase your insurer, retain your plate on your behalf, or send a refund to an address you no longer live at.
The manufacturer’s app may show a last known location, but connected services often need an active subscription, and thieves who target particular models know where the factory unit sits. Treat any location it shows as a lead for the police, and never go to recover a car yourself. Our guide on aftermarket trackers versus factory tracking covers the difference in detail.
If you find the car yourself, do not approach it or drive it away. Call 999 if you think the thieves are nearby, or 101 with your crime reference number if not. The police may want to examine it before anyone touches it.
If it turns up, and if it does not
If the car is recovered
The police contact you, and the car may be held for forensic examination first. Tell your insurer the same day. If they have already started settling, ask exactly how they want to proceed before you do anything with the vehicle.
Have it checked by a garage before you drive it. Cars stolen without the key have often had locks, ignition parts, trim or wiring disturbed, and some of that affects safety systems. Report every piece of damage to the insurer before arranging repairs. If repairs cost more than the car is worth, expect it to be written off and paid out at market value.
If you applied to keep a private plate and the car comes back, you can put the number on another vehicle straight away, as long as you apply before the recovered car is sold or scrapped.
If the car is not recovered
At the end of the waiting period your insurer makes an offer. Before you accept, compare it with cars for sale of the same make, model, year, mileage and condition on a site such as Auto Trader. Save three or four listings as screenshots.
If the offer is low, reply in writing with your evidence and ask for a review. If that fails, you can take an unresolved complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service once the insurer has issued its final response.
Once you accept and the money arrives, complete Step 4 with the DVLA. The car belongs to the insurer from that point, even if it is never found.
How your next car could be found, or kept on the drive
Once the claim is settled, most people start thinking about the replacement. This compares approaches rather than brands. Many owners combine two of them.
| Situation | Report and rely on police | Manufacturer app | Aftermarket GPS tracker | Hidden immobiliser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops a keyless relay theft | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ Reports after the event | ✓ Engine start blocked |
| Stops a newly programmed key | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ Reports after the event | ✓ The new key alone is not enough |
| Gives police a live location | ✗ Only camera sightings | Sometimes, if subscribed and not disabled | ✓ Its main purpose | ✗ No, unless combined with GPS |
| Helps if the car is lifted onto a lorry | Only by chance | Sometimes | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Cost | Free | Often a subscription after the first years | Hardware plus a subscription | From £199 fitted with LockCar |
Protecting the replacement car before its first night on the drive
This section is for readers whose next car is keyless, lives on the street or on an open drive, or is a model that keeps appearing in theft figures. For everyone else, the free measures in our car theft prevention guide may be enough: a tested signal blocking pouch, a sleeping key fob, keys away from the front door, and any free security update your dealer offers.
Most keyless thefts work by convincing the car that the genuine key is present, either by relaying the key’s signal from inside the house or by programming a new key through the diagnostic socket. A hidden immobiliser adds a second condition the car must meet before it starts, answered by something the thief does not have: a code, your phone or a separate tag.
LockCar CAN-IMMO reads two CAN bus lines plus the LIN bus and the ADC bus, and releases the engine only to a PIN entered on the car’s own buttons, the LockCar app, or an optional proximity tag. There is no keypad and no LED, so there is nothing obvious to find. Setup detail is in the CAN-IMMO guide and manual.
If you would rather the car simply release as you walk up with a tag, the LockCar IC3262 is £199 fitted. If recovery matters as much as prevention, the LockCar One Plus adds 4G GPS tracking and cameras to the immobiliser.
LockCar CAN-IMMO
Fitting included. Hidden CAN bus immobiliser with PIN to drive, app control and an optional tag.
- Two CAN bus lines, LIN bus and ADC bus
- PIN entered on the vehicle’s existing buttons
- App for Android and iPhone over Bluetooth
- Optional proximity tag for hands free release
- Service and valet mode for garage visits
- 12V and 24V, reprogrammable to your next vehicle
If the replacement car has a traditional metal key and no keyless entry, is worth less than the fitting price, and sleeps in a locked garage, spend the money elsewhere. If your insurer has made a specific tracker a condition of cover, fit what the policy asks for first and ask them how they treat an immobiliser before you book one.
Fitted at your address, before the new car settles in
If you are collecting a replacement, the best time to fit security is before it spends a night in the same spot the last car was taken from. We fit where the car already is, at home or at work.
West Midlands
Our busiest area. Prices and fitting details for the city are on the Birmingham immobiliser page.
Surrounding towns
Regular bookings in Sutton Coldfield and Walsall, plus Solihull, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Dudley.
Rest of the UK
Fitting is available nationwide. Send your postcode and registration and we will give you a realistic slot.
Who you are dealing with
This guide is written by the team that designs and fits LockCar immobilisers. We wrote it because customers often come to us the week after a theft, halfway through the paperwork, and the same questions come up every time.
Rated 5.0 on Google
Reviews from customers whose vehicles we have fitted. Read 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 and conditions are published in full.
Professional installation
Every unit is fitted by our own installers or trained partners. More in about LockCar.
Phone and WhatsApp +44 7300 98 90 91 · Email hello@lockcar.co.uk
Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 17:00. Closed Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
What to do if your car is stolen from outside your house?
Check it has not been towed, borrowed or repossessed, then report it to the police on 101, or 999 if the theft is still happening. Save any doorbell or CCTV footage, call your insurer with the crime reference number, and deal with a private plate before anything goes to the DVLA.
Do I need to tell the DVLA my car has been stolen?
The police tell the DVLA about the theft. You contact the DVLA yourself once your insurer pays out, to record that the car now belongs to them. If you have a private plate, apply to keep it before that.
How long does insurance take to pay out for a stolen car?
Insurers wait for a period set out in the policy in case the car is found, and only then make an offer. The length varies between insurers, so ask on your first call and check the policy wording rather than relying on a figure you have read online.
Can I keep my private number plate if my car is stolen?
Usually, if you reported the theft to the police and the car had a valid MOT and vehicle tax when it was taken. Apply by post with form V317 and the £80 fee before telling the DVLA the car has been sold to your insurer. If your situation is unusual, ring the DVLA and ask before you post anything.
Should I fit an immobiliser to my replacement car straight away?
Not always. If the new car has a traditional key, no keyless entry and sleeps in a garage, the free measures may be all you need, and the sensible choice is to do nothing more. If it is keyless and parked outside, ask your insurer how they treat aftermarket immobilisers, then decide.
Make the next car harder to take than the last one
Send the registration of your replacement car and your postcode. You get a price back from the engineer who will fit it.
