How a thief picks a car
Thieves pick a car without modern theft protection, parked where they can work undisturbed. They mostly go round large car parks, building garages and car parks at hospitals, shopping centres, stadiums and schools. They pick places near the motorway, so they can get away fast.
Some thieves drive busy streets, spot a car that suits them and follow it until it stops or parks.
Thieves take a stolen car apart for parts or change its chassis number and sell it, in Serbia or abroad. In Belgrade only every second stolen car is found. More about which cars are stolen most
The police advise you to protect your car with mechanical protection, such as a steering wheel or gearstick lock, or electronic protection, such as an immobiliser and an alarm. Which protection helps depends on how the thief steals.
1. The key left in the car or the engine running
This is the most common theft. According to the Ministry of the Interior, from January to August 2023 more than half of the cars stolen in Belgrade were driven away because the key was left in the ignition.
The driver stops for a moment, at a kiosk, bakery, pharmacy or school, and leaves the key in the car or the engine running. The thief gets in and drives off. He does not have to get past any protection. Thieves wait patiently for such a chance.
Comprehensive insurance can refuse to pay for such a theft. More about insurance and theft
Protection: switch off the engine, take the key and lock the car even when you step out briefly. When you carry the immobiliser fob separately from the key, a thief cannot start a switched-off engine even with the key left in the car.
2. The bump and carjacking
Thieves follow your car and lightly hit it, as if it were a small crash. You get out to look at the damage, and the engine stays running. A second thief gets behind the wheel and drives off.
Thieves also take cars by force, sometimes at gunpoint. This happens in a car park, in a garage, on a dark street or while you wait at traffic lights.
Protection: if the bump looks deliberate, stay in the car and lock the doors. Call the police on 192 or drive to a place with light and people. If the thief threatens you, do not argue and do not fight. Get out and call 192 straight away. After that, GPS tracking shows where the car is.
3. A scanner records the remote signal
A scanner is a device that records the remote signal. While you lock the car, a thief nearby records the signal. When you leave, he plays the recorded signal back and unlocks the car or switches off the alarm.
Protection: an alarm whose remote exchanges a code with the alarm at every press. Such alarms are made precisely against scanners. If the thief still opens the door, an immobiliser stops the engine from starting without your fob. More about alarm installation
4. A jammer stops the car from locking
A jammer is a device that keeps the signal of your key from reaching the car. You press the button and walk away, and the car stays unlocked. The thief then gets into the car. This happens most in the car parks of large shopping centres.
Inside the car the thief also gets to the OBD port, the place under the steering wheel where diagnostics plug in. Through it he can make a new key.
Protection: after locking, check that the indicators flashed, or pull the door handle. If the car does not lock, someone may be jamming the signal. Comprehensive insurance can refuse to pay for the theft of an unlocked car. An immobiliser stops the engine from starting even when the thief gets into an unlocked car. More about the immobiliser
5. Keyless theft: the thief relays the key signal
A keyless key opens and starts the car without taking it out of your pocket. Thieves work in pairs. One catches the signal of your key and the other carries it to the car, so the car unlocks and starts as if you were there. The device for this is cheap and easy to get.
Protection: a key pouch and an immobiliser. The pouch blocks the key signal. The immobiliser stops the engine from starting without your fob, even if the thief does catch the signal. More about keyless theft
6. Through the OBD port the thief makes a new key
The thief gets into the car, plugs a device into the OBD port under the steering wheel and makes a new key in a few minutes. He does not need your key.
Through the same port a mechanic reads faults and makes new keys, and a thief can buy the same device. The port is in the same place on every car of the same model, so the thief knows exactly where to look.
Protection: OBD port relocation, an electronic blocker on the port or a lock on the port. An immobiliser stops the engine from starting even when the thief makes a new key. More about theft through OBD
7. The headlight attack goes through the light wiring
The thief removes part of the bumper and connects a device to the wiring of the front light. The device sends the car a false message that the key is there, so the car unlocks and starts. The device is hidden in a case that looks like an ordinary speaker.
The best-known examples are the Toyota RAV4, Land Cruiser and Lexus, but models of other makes can be stolen this way too.
Take a moved bumper or an unplugged headlight without a crash seriously. The owner of one RAV4 had his headlight unplugged twice before the thieves drove the car away.
Protection: an add-on immobiliser or an alarm that blocks the ignition. OBD protection does not help here, because the attack does not go through the OBD port. More about the headlight attack
8. The thief gets hold of your key
A car is easiest to steal with the real key. Thieves take it in a break-in at a flat, house or weekend house, or pull it out of a pocket or bag. That way they drive off even a car from a garage.
A key can also be copied while it is with someone else, for example when you leave the car for washing or repair.
Protection: an immobiliser. A thief with your key cannot start the engine without the fob, so do not keep the fob with the key. When you leave the car at a garage, turn on service mode and keep the fob and code with you.
Keep the spare key at home, never in the car. Comprehensive insurance can refuse to pay for a theft if you lost the key or it was stolen before, and you did not change the locks. A lost key is deleted from the car. After that it no longer starts the engine. More about a lost key
9. The car taken away on a tow truck
The thief does not even have to start the engine. He lifts the car onto a tow truck and drives it away. In New Belgrade in 2025, according to the owner, a tow truck drove into a building garage this way: the security guards were told the car had broken down.
Protection: GPS tracking tells you as soon as someone lifts or tows the parked car and shows where it is. Thieves sometimes jam the GPS signal, and better devices recognise the jamming and tell you. An alarm goes off when someone moves the car. More about GPS tracking
No single protection stops every way
Which protection helps depends on how the car is stolen
- Scanner, jammer, keyless, a new key through OBD, the headlight attack, a stolen key: an immobiliser, because the engine will not start without your fob.
- Engine already running, the bump and carjacking, a tow truck: GPS, which shows where the car is.
That is why we combine protection by car. With the immobiliser goes OBD protection. For a keyless key add a pouch. For a car that stays outside at night take an alarm that alerts your phone. For an expensive car add GPS as well. More about theft protection
