4am Smash and Grab :o(

[Steve_Perry]

Well following on from Scott's experience half an hour ago was my turn. Just before 4am my driver's window was smashed and my Road Angel was stolen from the front dash. The car was parked on my drive and in a quiet neighbourhood, this is the first crime I've experienced in 7 years of living here.

I didn't hear the alarm go off as I am dead to the world when I sleep but one of my neighbours called to let me know at 4am. I've just been speaking with the boys in blue who came round fairly promptly, I'll now phone the insurance company to inform them [sigh] it's all hassle that I could do without. I'll also contact Blackspot to inform them that my unit has been stolen.

What a shite start to the w/e.

S.

 

[GrahamC230K]

That sucks! Sorry to hear that.

I am far to lazy. I Leave my Road Angel, 7" TFT and Alpine stereo face on the stereo when I park up.

Hopefully the insurance will get you some new glass promptly and the clean up will not be too bad. On the bright side you get to choose again whuch GPS camera device you now feel to be the best. B2 springs to mind.

Who are you insured with by the way?

There is a horror thread on a forum somewhere of a guy insured with eSure told them he had an RA and they refused to insure him until he gave written consent he would never drive with the RA in the car.

 

[marcos]

Sorry to hear about that Steve, you would think that parked up on your drive it might be safe.
As Graham says at least you can get a new model GPS camera device but it's just hassle no one needs

 

[sym]

Not you as well Steve !! Really sorry to hear that.

There was a time when my car looked like gadget city, and despite removing most things, I almost always used to leave the RA in at night. Having just got rid of my snooper too, all the other gadgets are now part of the car these days, fortunately ! Even with it garaged though, I'm still a light sleeper !

Hope you get it all sorted, and don't let it ruin your weekend.

S.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Hopefully the insurance will get you some new glass promptly and the clean up will not be too bad. On the bright side you get to choose again whuch GPS camera device you now feel to be the best. B2 springs to mind.

Clean up is hopefully won't be too bad but they have crowbared against the B pillar black trim in order to smash the driver window so I'm guessing that's not an easy part to get immediately

Who are you insured with by the way?

There is a horror thread on a forum somewhere of a guy insured with eSure told them he had an RA and they refused to insure him until he gave written consent he would never drive with the RA in the car.

Liverpool Victoria. That sounds crazy!

Sorry to hear about that Steve, you would think that parked up on your drive it might be safe.
As Graham says at least you can get a new model GPS camera device but it's just hassle no one needs

Thanks, as you say say, you don't expect trouble right on your own doorstep.

What really hacks me off is that I paid a lifetime subscription to Blackspot for the unit that's now been stolen. I presume they will not let me transfer that subscription to a replacement unit if I decide to buy from them again.

Oh well, off to vacuum the car and sweep the drive. Then I'll be driving the car to the central police station with scene of crime section to have the car dusted for prints. I'll then re contact the insurance to log the incident and get the window repaired. The number I called this morning at 4:15am was pretty useless, the guy just forwarded my call to Autoglass who never picked up the call.

*EDIT* Thanks Sym, the Road Angel was the only thing on display and the only item they went for. They completely ignored the contents of my centre arm rest otherwise I would be missing some £100 quid RayBan sunglasses. Also looks like my neighbour's garden birdbath has been vandalised too, upturned and smashed into 3 pieces I only just noticed that this morning. What with this and recent events in London I wonder what is the world coming too.

Needless to say my plans for today are out the window (no pun intendend).

F'ing thieving scum.

S.

 

[Will]

Sorry to hear about this Steve - On your own drive as well

I bet the scum involved have no real use for the RA, and to make matters worse, it will be probably be flogged off for £30 to some other scum

It's a shame Blackspot can't couldn't 'disable' the device the next time it is plugged in for updated

Oh well, hope the clean up operation is ok, and that the glass replacement isn't too stressfull.

Will

 

[pammy]

Feel for you chuck - that's awful. I know it's unlikely but I hope someone get's the *******s and treats them appropriately.

You never know -they might get some of the broken glass in their arm and it might too get infected and drop off

 

[Steve_Perry]

Thanks Will,

Blackspot will disable the device if the gits try to do an update but the trouble is that they probably have no idea that it requires updating so I'm guessing it'll never be synchronised again. That and Blackspot are closed on the weekends I've emailed them but I will call them on Monday.

*EDIT* Thanks Pammy

Anyways, I need to get off to the Cop Shop and MB bodywork repair, grr any other thief would have just smashed the glass, I'm blessed with eejits that have to damage the window frame too Not a happy bunny.

S.

 

[High-Lo]

Clean up is hopefully won't be too bad but they have crowbared against the B pillar black trim in order to smash the driver window so I'm guessing that's not an easy part to get immediately

Steve,

Really sorry to hear that Hope it all gets sorted out quickly.

Is your damaged B-Pillar trim like the one below (carbon effect)?

Regards,
Steve

 

[Steve_Perry]

Steve,

Really sorry to hear that Hope it all gets sorted out quickly.

Is your damaged B-Pillar trim like the one below (carbon effect)?

Regards,
Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks mate. Yep it's carbon effect B pillar trim as fitted to facelift W202 sports.

Be back later.

S.

 

[High-Lo]

Hi Steve,

Thanks mate. Yep it's carbon effect B pillar trim as fitted to facelift W202 sports.

Be back later.

S.

Steve,

I may have a brand new replacement for you. Part number below:

Part No: 202 690 37 87 Near Side and 202 690 38 87 Off Side

I think I have both sides for driver and passenger front doors. If they fit you can have them for nothing.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[scotth_uk]

Steve,

Feeling for you at the moment! :-(

I managed to control my rage, as the car was only leased. In your situation, I'd probably be a lot more upset. Fingers crossed that damage apart from the glass is minimal.

If you have the original serial number of the RA, you may be able to have it blackslisted on their servers....... And the subscription might be in with a chance of being transferred.

 

[grober]

laminated glass all round??

Is this another reason for manufacturers to start putting laminated glass in all windows to improve security. shouldnt cost that much! see this article http://www.auto-law.com/CM/PracticeAreaDescriptions/PracticeAreaDescriptions58.asp
the arguement against is ability to escape after a collision

 

[glojo]

Good morning Steve,
Everything that can be said, has been said, I am so sorry to hear about this.

Does this equipment actually 'speak' to the location where it gets the updates and does it have a unique signature? In other words is there any way your system can be tracked\located and the thieves bought to task?

Good luck with the replacement,
John

 

[RichardM]

Sorry to hear about that Steve, I'm also lazy and leave the RoadAngel on display when its on my drive (never do in shopping centre's etc). Think I'll hide it in future though.

Will the insurance company pay for a new RoadAngel? Or would you have to claim off your house insurance?

 

[smartbrabus]

Bad luck Steve. hope the scumbags rot in hell

Andy

 

[fuzzer]

damm sorry to hear that steve ...

ive never considered taking my B2 and Valantine 1 off the windscreen before when parked up Might from now on

 

[Steve_Perry]

@High-Lo,
Steve, Wow thanks mate that would be very much appreciated I've been to the MB bodyshop and they said they will replace the B pillar trims on both the driver's door and offside rear passenger door as they have been damaged. However when the car is repaired the black trims will be carbon fibre effect on the newly repaired side and old faded all black on the passenger near side

@Scott,
well I am majorly upset but I am not as angry as I thought I would be, tell the truth. The damage to the window frame underneath the B pillar trim although significant is easily repairable so I have been told by the MB bodyshop. I've re-read the manual for the Road Angel & it will be deactivated if the scum try to do an update either via modem or via internet. Trouble is I am guessing since they don't have the serial cable/240V mains power adaptor/software etc that my stolen unit will never be updated ever again, they'll just sell it on and whoever winds up with it will be using it with an ever ageing database. I hope you are right about my lifetime subscription, otherwise that's a waste that I won't be able to re-coup.

@grober,
I'm with you on that one, you would not believe how much shattered glass pieces can spread over the interior and exterior from one little side window. Cleaning up took ages this morning. I guess the emergency services will always want glass that they can break through in order to access crash victims.

@glojo,
Yes John, my Road Angel needs updating periodically for new camera locations, this process is a two way communication over the internet but I am guessing that Blackspot's servers are not set up to get location info of a unit requesting an update. At best they maybe able to find out an IP address if that. All a moot point as I suspect the thieves and whoever buys it will not know about the updating procedure and hence will never bother.

@Richard (and Graham),
Guys I seriously urge you to rethink your strategy with regards leaving Road Angel on open view, I will certainly never do it again. I live in a quiet neighbourhood with low crime and I still got hit. The perpetrator never gave the rest of the car's interior a second glance, he went for the RA and that was all, he could have had a serious bonanza if he had gone through my centre arm rest cubby hole due to my negligence last night, not only my Ray Ban Sunnies but I very foolishly left a credit card in there overnight after paying for petrol, totally slipped my mind, still there this morning PHEW!! I believe if my RA wasn't on display then my car would not have been targeted by these opportunistic pond life. Remember I mentioned my neighbours bird bath? It's quite ornate and on looking at I think they tried to nick it , found it was too heavy for the effort involved so hit on my car instead. It's only a matter of time guys. It looks like the insurance company will be covering the replacement of the RA, at least that's what the bloke on the phone said but I won't believe it until I see it. Damage to the car is covered.

@SmartBrabus,
Thanks Andy so do I mate, so do I.

*EDIT* @fuzzer,
I would think twice mate, unless the B2 is a stealth install, I think thieves are shifting their targets from in car CD players etc to stuff like we have RA/Origin/Snoopers etc. I guess the same is deffo true for sat nav stuff like TomTom etc.

Thanks for all the comments guys and most especially Steve (High-Lo) for the very kind offer, I may well take you up on it, I'll send you a PM a bit later.

S.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Pics for the curious

You'll excuse me for keeping these out of the gallery

New window glass should be in tomorrow and I hope the bodywork repair will be complete by early to middle of next week. Despite the Police being understanding and their best efforts I doubt this pair of vermin will be caught for this particular crime.

S.

 

[Will]

Again Steve, sorry to see that awful mess that they have left you

On a lighter note, where's the shiney gear shift surround?

Will