RIYADH: With at least 50 to 60 cars stolen each month in Riyadh and many car rental offices robbed, car owners, rental companies and car insurers have called on the police to increase patrols and give priority to recovering stolen vehicles.

“Incidents of carjackings and burglary of car rental offices are increasing alarmingly,” said Al-Zain Awadh El-Karim, credit and collection manager of Avis-Hala Rent-A-Car.

“The main office of Avis-Hala in the Sulemaniya district of Riyadh was broken into by some thieves. It was really surprising how did these hooligans manage to enter the main office by breaking the front door?” said El-Karim.

The office of another car rental company — near a signal on a very busy Riyadh street — was vandalized last night.

“I am really amazed to hear that thieves entered that office and managed to break open the office safe,” an employee of a car company said.

He added that he is now trying to convince his company’s management to install surveillance cameras at all its offices in the city. “Three of our offices have been vandalized and ransacked in the last three weeks,” said the man, adding that the police have not been able to resolve any of these cases. “The police arrested an African national, but he was released after a few days.”

“It is further astonishing that most of the suspects or attackers aren’t just car thieves,” said Hassan Al-Kabir, sales manager of another company that lost two cars recently. “Many thieves are in possession of guns and drugs,” he said, adding that sometimes when vehicles are difficult to steal because of advanced technology, the thieves vandalize offices and take away cash.

In another incident, S.M. Kamal, a Pakistani executive, lost a new Lumina car a few days ago. “I got out of the car with my keys inside. All of a sudden two youths entered it and sped away,” said Kamal. “Insurance companies are not obliged to make payments when cars are stolen due to owners leaving their keys inside, or not securing doors and windows properly,” said Kamal, who said he is struggling to secure payment for his car.

Harish Pura, a car expert, said drivers should not entice thieves to come and steal their vehicles. “For instance, leaving a window open of a parked car — even a little bit — is like flashing a neon sign asking someone to steal it,” said Pura.

The summer months have seen an increase in car thefts in Riyadh.