After Renault Clio Rear Banks EITHER Catalytic pots From Toyota Prius, it is another component that has attracted thieves lately: hybrid car batteries, these “beloved” of the French automotive market in recent months. Flights have multiplied for more than a year, notes A Parisian articlethat evokes cases in series recently in the Yvelines.
Problem: Thieves bake, often “bad”, vehicles to recover the battery, which is usually under a seat in the front, below the rear seat or at the trunk level. Often with quite large damage to interested owners.
The operation would only take “a few minutes,” summarizes Argus. After breaking the custodian window on the back, thugs can unlock the vehicle. They just have to dismantle the bank or access the compartment under the trunk, unscrew the battery and disconnect it to be able to seize it.
Unlike 100% electric cars, with batteries that are often very heavy and complicated to extract, this remains much simpler in hybrid models, especially in light or non -rechargeable hybridization. Therefore, the weight would be about 50 kg, compared to 300 kg for a rechargeable hybrid and up to 700 kg for an electric car.
A Salado Bill for Victims
With the increase in power Hybrid in new car salesThieves have options to find new objectives. In this context, the demand for this essential component is also important: thieves can easily resell batteries in the black market or through classified ads, between 300 and 900 euros per unit.
For the victims, the vehicle can no longer be used without its battery and, therefore, it must be repaired, with a fairly salty invoice, sometimes around 1,000 euros. A deductible to 475 euros and 10% of the amount of repairs, limited to 981 euros, details the owner of a recently stripped Toyota SUV T-HR of its battery.
Insurance still allows us to limit costs, when it knows that the new battery can be billed between 2,000 and 3,000 euros, with delivery times for several months, and that operations to rebuild the electrical wiring of the vehicle are still long and, therefore, quite expensive.
It is also difficult to protect against this risk: among the main options that are offered, there are antifler bolts to ensure battery. The application in relation to the vehicle can also make it quickly alerted in case of a crime.
The professionals are not saved either: in November 2023, two concessions had been attacked by thieves in Brittany, they pointed out an article by France 3 Morbihan. With dozens of shattered hybrid vehicles to extract the batteries and an estimated damage at almost 100,000 euros for each of the robberies.
Source: BFM TV
