CAR SECURITY ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

`Lock it or lose it`. It's a familiar cry that doesn't ring true any more, for if you lock it, the chances are that you still may lose it, particularly if the item in question is a brand new car.

Nearly a quarter of all crime involves theft of or from motor vehicles - and the figures, despite falling in recent years, are still alarming. As car security has improved the car thieves have become more determined and aggressive.

In recent years, the motor industry has belatedly woken up to the problem. Back in the Seventies, it didn't matter too much if you locked the keys in the car; a handy coat hanger would soon get you in. So then, we had better shielding around the door locks. And of course, the thieves worked out a way around them. So then it was car alarms. They didn't delay the light-fingered for very long either and even when they did, most passers-by just ignored them, so unreliable did many of the devices prove.

A more effective deterrent in recent times has been the vehicle immobiliser, a device incorporated into the vehicle's electrical system, which makes it impossible to `hot-wire` the car into starting. Early systems were operated with a separate key that you lost at your peril. Today, most of the major manufacturers have incorporated everything in one. Immobilisers are now standard on many new cars - though not all. Some come incorporated with alarms, while others ask extra for an additional audible deterrent. Ask in the showroom before you buy and walk away if the answers don't satisfy you.

Ideally, what you're looking for is a car with all three of the measures I've d...