How to protect your car: the most stolen time of year in Spain is coming.

Summer is consolidating as the busiest season for car theft networks in Spain. During the months of July, August, and September 2024, 8,568 cars were stolen, making it the quarter with the most thefts of last year and exceeding the quarterly average by 4%. This seasonal trend is not new, with similar figures in the summers of 2023 (2%), 2022 (4%), and 2021 (6%).

Crime rates did not affect the entire country equally. The Balearic Islands topped the list in 2024, recording a 38% increase in robberies during this period, followed by La Rioja (+13%) and Murcia (+11%). In contrast, regions such as Castilla y León (-31%), Aragón (-28%), and Castilla La Mancha (-16%) saw a decrease in these types of crimes.

Vehicle theft is a constant concern, but taking certain precautions can make all the difference. Although there's no foolproof formula, a combination of security measures and common sense is the best defense.

Gregoire Destre, Coyote's Country Manager in Spain, explains that "the summer season is more attractive to organized crime networks, which have traditionally chosen to operate in more touristy areas. Not only in the Balearic Islands and Murcia, but also in Catalonia and Andalusia, we have observed a consistent increase in summer robberies since 2021."

Protecting vehicles against theft has become a challenge today due to the emergence of sophisticated techniques that exploit vulnerabilities in electronic systems. These include relay attacks and OBD theft, methods that illustrate the increasing difficulty of protecting cars against theft.

The relay attack takes advantage of the convenience of keyless entry and start systems. Thieves use devices to intercept and amplify the signal emitted by the car key, even if it is inside the owner's home. This amplified signal is retransmitted to the vehicle, tricking it into unlocking and starting the car, all without the need to pick locks or activate alarms. The greatest risk lies in the speed and lack of visible damage, which makes early theft detection difficult. The most susceptible vehicles are those equipped with keyless entry and start systems, an increasingly common feature in recent models.

On the other hand, OBD theft focuses on the accessibility of the On-Board Diagnostic port on the vast majority of today's vehicles. This port, designed to facilitate maintenance and repair, can be used by criminals to connect devices that program new keys or disable the car's original security systems. Once the system is tampered with, the vehicle can be started and stolen in a matter of seconds. The main risk is the inherent vulnerability of the physical connection and the ability to override electronic protections.

"In 9 out of 10 cases, vehicles are stolen without breaking and entering using electronic methods and are therefore quickly recovered in good condition by our teams in the field," says Gregoire.

In response to the growing vulnerability of today's cars, Coyote offers Coyote Secure, a post-theft location and recovery service designed to recover stolen vehicles in less than 48 hours. Gregoire Destre explains, "Today, it's difficult to prevent thefts, despite all the technology incorporated into vehicles. Rapid vehicle recovery using autonomous and hidden devices makes it possible to effectively combat this phenomenon and significantly reduce the number of accidents caused by vehicle theft."