New BMW's getting stolen using blank BMW keys
Discussion
Zod said:
Mine, a petrol one will have gone to a far-Eastern country that drives on the left, such as Malaysia (they don't do diesel).
Could be West Africa too. The quality of diesel is pretty bad so a lot of cars over there are petrol....I've seen X5's on the road over there and they really wouldn't care if a car is LHD or RHD. If anyone wants to know what you will need to relocate your OBD:
-The 3 metre cable is £14.95 with free postage from this company.I can vouch for this part from this company.
However,you may find one cheaper via flea bay.
http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_OBD3M.html
-The dummy port is available to order from any BMW dealership and they may have to order it from Germany. If so,It will take 3-4 days to arrive. The part number is 61-13-6-931-908. They are approximately £5.95 and are identical across the E9* range.
I paid £65 to have it moved.
-The 3 metre cable is £14.95 with free postage from this company.I can vouch for this part from this company.
However,you may find one cheaper via flea bay.
http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_OBD3M.html
-The dummy port is available to order from any BMW dealership and they may have to order it from Germany. If so,It will take 3-4 days to arrive. The part number is 61-13-6-931-908. They are approximately £5.95 and are identical across the E9* range.
I paid £65 to have it moved.
Edited by Billyray911 on Saturday 25th August 11:27
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/24/hotel_keyl...
I found the parallels between this article and the BMW situation interesting, particularly in relation to a couple of comments made.
Anyone know if the Register has picked up this story yet?
I found the parallels between this article and the BMW situation interesting, particularly in relation to a couple of comments made.
Anyone know if the Register has picked up this story yet?
I posted a concern about insurance premiums earlier in the thread. My renewal is due. Existing insurer dropped current price by £100 (from £900) after some negotiation, but managed to get a quote from esure for £550 on same terms. I had over 7 quotes under £700 whereas last year £900 was the lowest. Doesn't seem that this issue has affected premiums yet, and certainly not in my case. 335i touring, parked roadside, London - and thankfully still there this morning!
RUSTLE said:
I posted a concern about insurance premiums earlier in the thread. My renewal is due. Existing insurer dropped current price by £100 (from £900) after some negotiation, but managed to get a quote from esure for £550 on same terms. I had over 7 quotes under £700 whereas last year £900 was the lowest. Doesn't seem that this issue has affected premiums yet, and certainly not in my case. 335i touring, parked roadside, London - and thankfully still there this morning!
This is very reassuring and suggests that internet chatter might overstate the issue?Apologies to those unlucky to have been affected.
If it was an issue then the insurance industry would not be shy in sticking up premiums.
Something I have been thinking about ....
If these cars are all going out in containers from say a port in Essex ... then the police in Essex should surely be mounting an operation to find them - or should they ?
If Essex police mount an operation, find loads of BMW's from other force areas .. and restore them on behalf of said forces. Said forces are really happy as their figures for stolen cars are suddenly loads better.
What do Essex police get out of it ... nothing ? Their resources have been used to ease crime figures from other forces ... and the money spent by them has done nothing to help their own crime figures which the Home Office / Government mark them on ... If so, and this is the case, would it not be better to spend their resources on operations that benefit Essex police figures ??
Is this why container ports are not targeted by police ? Just a thought - I use Essex as an example as London seems to be suffering ... but with the police marked on their own figures could this be why the matter is not getting the attention in some areas that perhaps it deserves ??
I have no idea if my theory has any basis at all ... the idea just bothers me ... Maybe someone can advise if the police are targeting container ports generally or specifically ??
If these cars are all going out in containers from say a port in Essex ... then the police in Essex should surely be mounting an operation to find them - or should they ?
If Essex police mount an operation, find loads of BMW's from other force areas .. and restore them on behalf of said forces. Said forces are really happy as their figures for stolen cars are suddenly loads better.
What do Essex police get out of it ... nothing ? Their resources have been used to ease crime figures from other forces ... and the money spent by them has done nothing to help their own crime figures which the Home Office / Government mark them on ... If so, and this is the case, would it not be better to spend their resources on operations that benefit Essex police figures ??
Is this why container ports are not targeted by police ? Just a thought - I use Essex as an example as London seems to be suffering ... but with the police marked on their own figures could this be why the matter is not getting the attention in some areas that perhaps it deserves ??
I have no idea if my theory has any basis at all ... the idea just bothers me ... Maybe someone can advise if the police are targeting container ports generally or specifically ??
It's more to do with resourcing.
The scale of container ports has to be seen to be believed, and it's non trivial 'searching' containers. Even if you do open one and find several hundred BMW engines, it's a major job to link them back to stolen cars. It wll be even harder to link them to the criminals operating the venture.
And what's to say it's essex and not wales, or northumberland?
I could be done, but it requires accurate intelligence, and a big commitment in resources.
The scale of container ports has to be seen to be believed, and it's non trivial 'searching' containers. Even if you do open one and find several hundred BMW engines, it's a major job to link them back to stolen cars. It wll be even harder to link them to the criminals operating the venture.
And what's to say it's essex and not wales, or northumberland?
I could be done, but it requires accurate intelligence, and a big commitment in resources.
Kananga said:
Has anyone had a secondary immobiliser fitted by a main dealer in the south east ?
You can fit one yourself in 10 minutes with a couple of (10mm and 11mm) spanners. Total cost less than £20:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Richbrook-DIS-CAR-NECT-Bat...
WeirdNeville said:
It's more to do with resourcing.
And what's to say it's essex and not wales, or northumberland?
I was just using Essex as an example as it is near me ... not for any other reason ... it could be anywhere there is a container port. I was using it to illustrate a general concern that's all. And what's to say it's essex and not wales, or northumberland?
BMW clearly want to hide behind uk regulations etc but what about gross negligence regarding customer service. Bmw have known about the keys been cloned for some time and have even provided the police with sting cars but have completely failed to inform their existing customers about this issue and only people that read forums like this would know the extent of the problem. Could they be sued over gross negligence?
angrybird said:
BMW clearly want to hide behind uk regulations etc but what about gross negligence regarding customer service. Bmw have known about the keys been cloned for some time and have even provided the police with sting cars but have completely failed to inform their existing customers about this issue and only people that read forums like this would know the extent of the problem. Could they be sued over gross negligence?
I would imagine you could only be sued if you owed a duty of care to the car owner, had been negligent in performing that duty of care and your negligence resulted in quantifiable damages to the car owner.I doubt BMW have a duty of care that extends to informing even all of their customers (let alone the people who buy used cars privately/from a non-BMW garage) that the cars can be stolen as any car can be stolen if the thief is sufficiently motivated.
I'm not legally trained though, so the above may be complete internet BS.
With Audi's they just have a bit more inconvienace ....
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
So with or without keys?... Doesn't seem to matter much if Audi going missing has gone up 3 fold, surely BMW's can't have gone up more?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
So with or without keys?... Doesn't seem to matter much if Audi going missing has gone up 3 fold, surely BMW's can't have gone up more?
TX1 said:
What about the fact that there is an alarm blackspot, I would have thought BMW are responsible for making sure an alarm should detect any sort of intrusion.
I would suspect that BMW are only responsible for making sure that the alarm is up to the standards/claims that they make in their adverts/marketing literature. They don't guarantee their cars against theft, after all.Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff