Europcar has introduced a new security scheme to combat vehicle theft in the UK, whereby all customers are required to provide a thumbprint as an additional form of identification.
Following trials initiated by Essex Police at Stansted Airport in May 2006, customers wishing to hire a Europcar vehicle at any UK office will be asked to give their thumbprint, using an inkless gel, which will be stored until the car is returned. The thumbprint will then destroyed or returned to the customer, if requested.
The thumbprint will only be used if the vehicle is not returned on the specified date. Europcar will then make numerous attempts to contact the customer direct, but if it receives no response the thumbprint will then be passed on to the police.
During the trial period all 48,000 vehicles that were hired from Stansted were returned safely, compared with an average of 15 cars that went missing in the UK each month in 2006.
”Vehicle theft is becoming more problematic for us and the ever-increasing sophistication in producing false documentation has made it increasingly difficult for us to trace and recover vehicles that are not returned,” said Europcar operations and franchise director, David Alexander.
”We believe that the implementation of the thumbprint scheme across our network will be a significant deterrent against vehicle theft, and as the trial at Stansted has proved, it has been 100% successful.”