Careful if you live in Wolverhampton... Attempted theft.

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Are people that stupid enough to think an owner wouldn't lock a car overnight? Or is there something I'm missing
 
Are people that stupid enough to think an owner wouldn't lock a car overnight? Or is there something I'm missing

No ash they use special equipment to get into the car.

That car has comfort access (keyless entry) the newer BMW's have a security update but the older x5 of his neighbours didn't.

They came back an hour after sitting in his neighbours cat a first time to take it with a made up key.

Seems BMW Audi and Mercedes are all being nicked locally.
 
StuartK said:
No ash they use special equipment to get into the car. That car has comfort access (keyless entry) the newer BMW's have a security update but the older x5 of his neighbours didn't. They came back an hour after sitting in his neighbours cat a first time to take it with a made up key. Seems BMW Audi and Mercedes are all being nicked locally.

That's mad, all this technology prone to abuse it seems a good old cemented post at the driveway and a steering wheel lock would hinder them more
 
That's mad, all this technology prone to abuse it seems a good old cemented post at the driveway and a steering wheel lock would hinder them more

Apparently they use a black box which amplifies the signal from the key that's inside the house. This enables them to unlock, start and drive the car off without the key present.

Don't know how they took the X5 as that did not have comfort access.
 
Don't know how they took the X5 as that did not have comfort access.

Probably OBD theft. At one point the X5 was the most stolen car in Britain. Might still be. If not then probably RRS/FFRR.
 
Probably OBD theft. At one point the X5 was the most stolen car in Britain. Might still be. If not then probably RRS/FFRR.

To be fair my m3 had that security update done so had this x5 allegedly. No noise, no broken glass and no stolen keys.

Looking at that video they seem like opportunists not organised criminals given they just "tried" BMW's in the street!
 
Just happened to be that we were in Wolves today - returned bout 22-00hrs.
We went with my brother-in-law and his prized xj - area we visited has many nice/high spec cars, ie Tetenhall

The MB cars, which are most vulnerable to the electronic scam?
I've order the gle/suv and it's not one - i may get a stainless steel footbrake lock - car to be parked on drive but I will be worried first few months. i live in an nice area and one of our neighbours dogs across the road sleeps to the front outside of the house - street is quite as only residents go up and down this but still worrying. Not sure how much tracker costs and don't think i will bother, but again not sure
Thanks
 
Just happened to be that we were in Wolves today - returned bout 22-00hrs.
We went with my brother-in-law and his prized xj - area we visited has many nice/high spec cars, ie Tetenhall

The MB cars, which are most vulnerable to the electronic scam?
I've order the gle/suv and it's not one - i may get a stainless steel footbrake lock - car to be parked on drive but I will be worried first few months. i live in an nice area and one of our neighbours dogs across the road sleeps to the front outside of the house - street is quite as only residents go up and down this but still worrying. Not sure how much tracker costs and don't think i will bother, but again not sure
Thanks



I had a tracker fitted (smartrack protector pro) on my RR a few months ago for insurance purposes and it cost me £185 for the tracker with installation & yearly subscription of £149. They do also offer a lifetime subscription at £399.

However i rarely keep my cars longer than 2-3 years so no real benefit to me.

The great thing about this tracker is that you can check the location of the car on the phone app.

At end of the day i wouldn't worry about it, as long as you take out gap insurance you'll be fully covered. Life's too short to be worrying, just go and enjoy the car..:thumb:
 
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I had a tracker fitted (smartrack protector pro) on my RR a few months ago for insurance purposes and it cost me £185 for the tracker with installation & yearly subscription of £149. They do also offer a lifetime subscription at £399.

However i rarely keep my cars longer than 2-3 years so no real benefit to me.

The great thing about this tracker is that you can check the location of the car on the phone app.

At end of the day i wouldn't worry about it, as long as you take out gap insurance you'll be fully covered. Life's too short to be worrying, just go and enjoy the car..:thumb:

Yep had this fitted to my SQ5 and they are great.

Company in Stafford did mine :)
 
Why not just put the car in the garage if you have one. Insurance costs will be lower too. There is a guy near me that leaves a £150,000 soft top out on the drive because he turned his double garage into a play room/store room. That seems to be asking for trouble. Perhaps he spent too much on the car and not enough on the house.
when I'm looking at houses the size of the garage is a always a very high priority.
 
The ridiculous thing of course is that your premium can actually increase if you keep your car in a garage. Strange but true.
 
A simple kill switch well hidden will beat the techno thieves.
 
If they want "that" car? They will eventually get "that" car. As has been said on here many times before. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO HIDE THE KEYS IN YOUR BEDROOM. You do not want these people coming upstairs.

Key theft still remains the easiest way to steal cars, with key/software cloning rapidly catching that up. Certain parts of London, you will now find that you cannot insure Range Rovers or BMW's due to the huge amount of theft of these cars, most of which are stolen with days of delivery????
 
The ridiculous thing of course is that your premium can actually increase if you keep your car in a garage. Strange but true.

Really !

What would the logic be ? Perhaps a lock up garage remote from the house is less safe than having the car outside on public view.

I must try both with and without garage next time I'm doing an on line insurance quote.


To prevent the scam that amplifies the signal from the key inside the house surely all you have to do is pop the key inside a metal box or safe which would act as a Faraday cage. A bit of a pain but better than losing the car.
 
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I've just had exactly this. JSWMBO VW Beetle 2.0 petrol. Admiral advised if we took me and SWMBO off the policy and kept the car on the drive instead of the garage (part of the house) it would be £190 cheaper.

I just can't figure the logic particularly as we are all on a multi car policy

For it to be stolen they would have to get past the house alarm and move two cars off the drive so to me it is less secure on the drive than in the garage
 
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I understand that it's to do with the thieves being allowed more privacy to do the stealing inside a garage.
 

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