What does Thatcham approved mean for your car?

Short answer: Thatcham approved means a security product has been tested and certified by Thatcham Research, the insurance industry’s research centre, to a specific category: Category 1 for an alarm and immobiliser, Category 2 for an immobiliser, and S5 or S7 for trackers. Approval is to a category rather than a general badge, and it does not guarantee your insurer will recognise it, so check which category your policy names.

“Thatcham approved” turns up on insurance forms, product boxes and policy schedules, usually with no explanation. It is a reasonable thing to ask what it means before you answer a question about it or pay for something because of it.

Here is the plain version, for alarms, immobilisers and trackers.

Who Thatcham are

Thatcham Research is a not-for-profit organisation set up by the motor insurance industry in 1969, and it is still funded mainly by insurers. It does a lot of work on vehicle safety and repair. The part that matters here is that it tests aftermarket security products and the security systems car manufacturers fit, and certifies the ones that meet its standards.

Insurers lean on that work because they do not want to assess every alarm and immobiliser on the market themselves. When a policy says “Thatcham approved”, it is pointing at Thatcham’s scheme rather than at any particular brand.

What “Thatcham approved” actually means

Thatcham now calls the scheme Thatcham Security Certification, which is why approved products carry a certificate number starting TSC. A product that holds one has been assessed against Thatcham’s criteria for its category and met them. Certifications are reviewed periodically for as long as the product holds one.

Two things it does not mean are worth knowing.

It is not one single standard. A product is approved to a category, and the categories do quite different jobs. An approved tracker and an approved immobiliser are not interchangeable.

It is not a promise from your insurer. Thatcham say plainly that certification does not guarantee insurer recognition. Thatcham categorise the product. Your insurer decides which categories they accept, and what, if anything, they do about it on the premium. Only they can tell you that part.

The categories you are likely to meet

These are the ones that apply to cars and vans.

Category 1: alarm and immobiliser. A combined system that stops the car being driven and warns when somebody gets in or interferes with it. To qualify, the alarm has to detect the doors, bonnet and boot being opened, the ignition being used and movement inside the car, and it needs a siren with its own backup power. When people search for a “Thatcham approved alarm”, this is usually what they mean.

Category 2: electronic immobiliser. Stops the car being driven, with no alarm. It must set itself without you doing anything, and it has to block either two separate systems the car needs to run, or one control unit with a coded check.

Category 2-1: alarm upgrade. An alarm on its own, designed to be added to a car that already has a Category 2 immobiliser. Together they give Category 1 status. It is not meant to be fitted without that immobiliser underneath it.

Category 4: wheel locking devices. Locking wheel nuts and similar.

Categories S5 and S7: tracking. These are about getting a stolen car back rather than stopping it being taken. Both are monitored around the clock. S7 is asset location. S5 adds driver identification, so the system knows whether an authorised driver is present when the vehicle moves. Despite the numbering, S5 is the higher specification. We have written up what insurers mean when they ask for a Thatcham tracker and what a Cat S5 tracker is in more detail.

You will sometimes see a suffix on a certificate. The Pandora Microbot, for example, is approved to Thatcham CAT 2e, certificate TSC741. It sits in the immobiliser family. Thatcham’s public category list does not explain the suffix separately, so rather than guess, we would say: if your policy names a category, send us the exact wording and we will check it against the certificate.

Why a siren makes such a difference

The siren is often the line between approved and not approved for an alarm.

Take two systems we fit. The Pandora Smart Pro is Thatcham approved, and the siren supplied with it is a large part of why. The Pandora Smart below it has the same app and tracking, but does not come with a siren, and it is not Thatcham approved. If your insurer has not asked for an approved alarm, the Smart may be all you need. If they have, it is the Smart Pro you should be looking at.

What “factory fitted Thatcham approved alarm” means on an insurance form

This question confuses more people than any other, because it is asking two things at once.

Factory fitted means the system was put in by the car manufacturer when the car was built, as opposed to added later by an installer.

Thatcham approved means that manufacturer’s system appears on Thatcham’s list of approved original equipment systems. Thatcham publish that list separately from the aftermarket one, broken down by make and model, and it uses the same categories.

So the question is really: did your car leave the factory with an alarm, or alarm and immobiliser, that Thatcham have certified? Plenty of cars have an immobiliser from the factory without having a certified alarm, so do not assume yes.

To answer it honestly:

1. Check the handbook or the original specification. Some options were only fitted on certain trims or as an extra.
2. Look the car up on Thatcham’s original equipment listing (linked below), by make and model.
3. If you are still unsure, ask a franchised dealer with the registration, or tell your insurer you do not know rather than guessing.

If you have had an alarm fitted since, that is not factory fitted. Most forms ask about aftermarket security separately, and you should answer that question instead.

How to check whether a product is approved

Thatcham run a public search of certified aftermarket products on their security certifications page, where you can filter by vehicle type, product type and manufacturer. Manufacturer-fitted systems are listed separately, linked from their Thatcham Security Certification page.

A couple of things help. Insurers are asked to match the exact product name and certificate, so “a Pandora” is not enough, the model matters. And keep the paperwork from installation. If an insurer asks what is fitted, the certificate number answers it quickly.

Where the Ghost fits in

The Autowatch Ghost III is a very good immobiliser, but Autowatch do not state a Thatcham category for it, so we never claim one. Many insurers will still record it, and we have covered how insurers treat the Ghost separately.

If your policy specifically asks for a Thatcham approved immobiliser, the Microbot does the same broad job and holds an approval. We have compared the two side by side.

Approved product, approved installer

One more distinction, because the two get mixed up. Thatcham certify the equipment. Securacar are TASSA approved installers, and TASSA approves the people doing the fitting rather than the product. Some insurers care about both: what was fitted, and who fitted it.

What to do next

Find the exact words your insurer uses, in the policy schedule or the underwriter’s email rather than a summary. Then send them to us with the make, model and year of the car. We will tell you plainly whether one of our Pandora alarms, immobilisers or Thatcham trackers meets it, and if nothing we fit does, we will say so.