How important is Theft Protection Insurance on a rental car when traveling in the UK?
Beats me, but I've rented multiple dozens of cars in dozens of years all over Britain and never thought about it nor had one swiped.
The bigger question might be -- are you buying some kind of extra insurance package of which theft protection is a component instead of letting your credit card cover the whole mess?
Ed, you know I don't hire cars and I know you do - but isn't that insurance against theft of things in the car, not the car?
The OP's post says "..... Theft Protection ON a rental car..." so I understood it the same as Ed.
Maybe he'll clarify. I didn't quite understand anyway, but there is insurance for a stolen vehicle. My homeowners covers junk inside, I think.
I'm not overly worried about theft of cars but can't cite any statistics. It's also my understanding that your homeowners insurance protects your personal stuff, even on the road, but our advice still is not to leave anything valuable in a car, especially not visible. With most car rental, it's fairly easy to read the basics of what their insurance package includes, such as "CDW with deductible" and "Theft Protection with deductible." If you're using CDW coverage provided by your credit card, then read through it to know what it covers.