Beware of Frosting

With temperatures in many parts of the UK falling below freezing this week, Sainsbury's Car Insurance is warning motorists to be on their guard against 'frosting' car crime.

This is where opportunist thieves take advantage of drivers who leave their cars unattended whilst warming up the engine, and steal the car.

Extrapolated research for Sainsbury's Finance revealed that between 2002 and 2007 as many as 333,000 households claimed to have been victims of 'frosting', an average of 66,000 a year*.

Joanne Mallon, Sainsbury's Car Insurance Manager, said: "Motorists must take care not to leave their vehicles vulnerable to opportunist thieves. When it's freezing outside it can be tempting to leave the engine running to speed up the defrosting process while you nip back inside to finish getting ready. But this could have terrible consequences and you may find that you're not insured against it."


(* 959 people were interviewed by GfK NOP between 14th and 16th December 2007. The research identified that 1% of people stated that they had been a victim of frosting car crime in the last five years, which divided by the 24.9 million households in the UK, represents 333,147 households, which on an average annual basis for the past five years, equals 66,629 households.