Jaguar Land Rover announces £1 million fund after drivers get £10,000 car insurance quotes

Jaguar Land Rover will invest more than £1 MILLION to support UK police to fight car thefts. The car maker, which is based in Birmingham and Solihull, will move to provide police forces “with additional dedicated resources to respond to vehicle thefts across the country”.

JLR chief executive, Adrian Mardell, called on ministers to increase spending on policing after the Range Rover maker was hit by a wave of thefts of its luxury vehicles. The Jaguar Land Rover UK managing director, Patrick McGillycuddy, said: “We are constantly developing our systems and security features and through our close collaboration with police, we stay ahead of any emerging methods and quickly deploy anti-theft measures.

“This additional investment, coupled with our other ongoing and proactive action, shows our commitment to supporting the authorities in having a tangible impact on combating this issue in the UK.” It comes after Meryl Cabellos told BBC News that the cost of insuring his car increased from £2,000 to £4,000 last year, before receiving a best quote of £10,000 this year.

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“We’ve been Range Rover customers for many years, and it really feels as though we’re being priced out now,” Cabellos said. “We’re just really disappointed. We loved the car but because of the insurance the experience of owning it went downhill so quick.”

The new money, JLR says, will be used to support several police forces “with additional dedicated resources to respond to vehicle thefts across the country”. It will also help pay for a new national policing unit to gather intelligence on vehicle thefts, and increased police activity at the ports used by criminal gangs to ship cars abroad.

Data from the Police National Computer showing that since January 2022 only 0.2 per cent of new Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports have been stolen.