New BMW's getting stolen using blank BMW keys

[don'tbesilly]

Mr Bimmer said:

TheEnd said:

Yep, remember people, it's YOUR car, YOUR responsibility.

It's no good bleating about how they are a premium brand and a lot of money when you won't pay £200-300 quid on another immobiliser.

Absolutely spot on

So you spend 40k+ on a BMW and you're routinely expected to then pay out an extra £200-£300 quid to ensure it can't be stolen because the factory fitted security systems are flawed?

How many people would spend that amount of cash on a car were they aware prior to the purchase of the above?

Unbelievable!

[Pferdestarke]

Can anyone tell me if this 7 that I'm thinking of buying is affected?

[Fatboy]

Pferdestarke said:

Can anyone tell me if this 7 that I'm thinking of buying is affected?

Unlikely, it's simply too cool to concern itself with keys.
Want.

[Cheib]

MercScot said:

Apparently, all you need to do is to put your fingers into the left kidney grill! I would elaborate, but I don't want another poorly worded, grammatically incorrect e-mail from the PH moderators telling me off for re-posting info in the public domain. If you would like to know more, google MB UK forums and dig a bit.

I wish they'd do that to me.....it's a same they can't spend that energy on doing something positive for all the people that make Pistonheads viable as a business (i.e. the people the advertisers pay to get access to) and cover this issue with an editorial.

MASSIVE black mark in my book

A mod will probably now run off and tell

[Mr Bimmer]

don'tbesilly said:

Mr Bimmer said:

TheEnd said:

Yep, remember people, it's YOUR car, YOUR responsibility.

It's no good bleating about how they are a premium brand and a lot of money when you won't pay £200-300 quid on another immobiliser.

Absolutely spot on

So you spend 40k+ on a BMW and you're routinely expected to then pay out an extra £200-£300 quid to ensure it can't be stolen because the factory fitted security systems are flawed?

How many people would spend that amount of cash on a car were they aware prior to the purchase of the above?

Unbelievable!

Urm... yes. Most people will buy a Tracker or Trackstar device on a new BMW for around £600. That's been the case for many Years now. Another £200 or so for a security device is hardly going to break the bank is it. A local garage can fit a hidden kill switch for £100 if you aren't too flush after paying £40k for the car.

Mine has the latest software, Tracker, kill switch and another device. I also park it in a locked garage.

I call it 'doing my bit'.

[va1o]

Pferdestarke said:

Can anyone tell me if this 7 that I'm thinking of buying is affected?

[Billyray911]

Mr Bimmer said:

Urm... yes. Most people will buy a Tracker or Trackstar device on a new BMW for around £600. That's been the case for many Years now. Another £200 or so for a security device is hardly going to break the bank is it. A local garage can fit a hidden kill switch for £100 if you aren't too flush after paying £40k for the car.

Mine has the latest software, Tracker, kill switch and another device. I also park it in a locked garage.

I call it 'doing my bit'.

Makes perfect sense to me.I want to be the person enjoying my car!

[Sticks.]

JimmyTheHand said:

So what else would you be happy to buy after market alternatives for new car if BMW are incapable of providing something fit for purpose? -Wheels? Seats? Engines?

Edited by JimmyTheHand on Monday 25th June 06:52

Tyres

[Mr-B]

Mr Bimmer said:

Urm... yes. Most people will buy a Tracker or Trackstar device on a new BMW for around £600. That's been the case for many Years now. Another £200 or so for a security device is hardly going to break the bank is it. A local garage can fit a hidden kill switch for £100 if you aren't too flush after paying £40k for the car.

Mine has the latest software, Tracker, kill switch and another device. I also park it in a locked garage.

I call it 'doing my bit'.

Maybe anyone in the market for a used BM from a dealer should ask for a kill switch to be fitted as a condition of the sale? Win/win for both parties, they get a sale that may fall through without it and the owner gets peace of mind.

[sinizter]

Mr-B said:

Maybe anyone in the market for a used BM from a dealer should ask for a kill switch to be fitted as a condition of the sale? Win/win for both parties, they get a sale that may fall through without it and the owner gets peace of mind.

I would guess that VERY FEW sales are being lost through concern for the above problem. Some dealer may play ball, many won't.

[JABB]

Pferdestarke said:

Can anyone tell me if this 7 that I'm thinking of buying is affected?

Absolutely!!! One of the worst cars affected. It makes them worthless.... Tell the owner immediately and ask them to factor this in when asking the price!

[JimmyTheHand]

Mr Bimmer said:

Urm... yes. Most people will buy a Tracker or Trackstar device on a new BMW for around £600. That's been the case for many Years now.

Most of us who put things like trackers on don't put them to mitigate what appears a fundamental security design flaw - we put them on because we know the best security only buys time against the bad guys the tracker adds extra time on our side.

Mr Bimmer said:

Another £200 or so for a security device is hardly going to break the bank is it. A local garage can fit a hidden kill switch for £100 if you aren't too flush after paying £40k for the car.

If the car wasn't provided with what is meant to be a state of the art alarm security system no, but why should anyone pay extra to over come such a fundamental flaw, especially since the bad guys are liable to break the window/lock before they find out it wasn't worth their effort?

If all customers were as willing to pay for extras already meant to be on the car as you - will BMW fix anything, I think not.

[aryastark]

Random story, a friend randomly brought up the conversation of cars, specifically bmw's getting stolen and he told me a story went around a month or so ago of 30 cars getting stolen in and around Birmingham in the space of 1 night, he made reference to the movie 'gone in 60 seconds', which did make me snigger alittle, but worrying for any owners nonetheless.

[Steffan]

JimmyTheHand said:

Mr Bimmer said:

Urm... yes. Most people will buy a Tracker or Trackstar device on a new BMW for around £600. That's been the case for many Years now.

Most of us who put things like trackers on don't put them to mitigate what appears a fundamental security design flaw - we put them on because we know the best security only buys time against the bad guys the tracker adds extra time on our side.

Mr Bimmer said:

Another £200 or so for a security device is hardly going to break the bank is it. A local garage can fit a hidden kill switch for £100 if you aren't too flush after paying £40k for the car.

If the car wasn't provided with what is meant to be a state of the art alarm security system no, but why should anyone pay extra to over come such a fundamental flaw, especially since the bad guys are liable to break the window/lock before they find out it wasn't worth their effort?

If all customers were as willing to pay for extras already meant to be on the car as you - will BMW fix anything, I think not.

That is, I think the real problem. Unless the owners can push BMW into standing up to their failings I see no solution at all. There are emollients that can be applied by owners but the fundamental security on the car is dreadful. By design.

[r999]

Well, here's another way to ratchet up the publicity. A FOI request:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/keyless_bmw_...

No point in making one where I live - the answer would be counter-productive - but in the big centres of population it should produce another stick or two to beat BMW with.

[bulldog5046]

r999 said:

Well, here's another way to ratchet up the publicity. A FOI request:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/keyless_bmw_...

No point in making one where I live - the answer would be counter-productive - but in the big centres of population it should produce another stick or two to beat BMW with.

That looks good.

Maybe we should send one to each constabulry?

I'd kick in a few quick if they do want to charge to release the info...

[Cheib]

I like the idea of Twitter or Facebook as someone suggested earlier. Anyone an expert at this stuff?

[bulldog5046]

We could do something similar to this:

http://uksnowmap.com/#/

people can tweet a hashtag and have the postcode of where the car was stolen from added to the map. But i'm not so sure people will use it as much as we would like.

[neil-c]

I know the question was asked around page 30 but has there been any confirmation if new model 1 series has this weakness?

[AndyM31]

neil-c said:

I know the question was asked around page 30 but has there been any confirmation if new model 1 series has this weakness?

Yes it does so I was told by the Local Police that has been patrolling the streets where I live. They are even testing that the doors are locked.

Edited by AndyM31 on Tuesday 26th June 21:35

Edited by AndyM31 on Tuesday 26th June 21:35