indeed, and I imagine many of the guys who do the later pickup or even initial theft are under instruction/are paid to do it.. Many will operate as part of a network.

My Response;

Thank you for your online communication dated April 21, 2012. It is disappointing to learn of your concern that there may be a design failure with the BMW keyless fobs. I am sorry for your disappointment in this instance.



BMW products comply with all global safety and security requirements and so they are not easy to steal. We are always endeavouring to stay ahead of the people behind organised vehicle crime. There are many measures in place that guard against electronic attacks on a BMW and software is updated periodically to ensure our vehicles remain secure. BMW and its partners continue to monitor all methods of vehicle theft to ensure our products always remain in the hands of the rightful owner.



Since the introduction of coded keys and other measures, the highest method of vehicle theft remains cases of keys being stolen from a house or from a person, not through key cloning or other electronic measures of crime. Car crime is not unique to BMW either. All manufacturers of premium products are targeted because there is a market for such vehicles either elsewhere in the world or as parts to a disreputable seller. There is not a problem with BMWs. Car crime involves all makes and models and the information that appears to have been imparted thus far is, unhelpful and misguided.



I trust that I have restored your faith in the BMW Marque and that you will decide to go ahead with your future purchase. However, should you require further assistance, please be assured of my full attention.

I should add that we are in Hounslow in West London.

its been steadily on the rise since last year and bmw aren't acknowledging it as a problem at the moment.. I imagine until they have a solution - but even then I they will most likely downplay it.

What about B7 RS4s? I thought they were still targeted.

I currently own a 54 reg BMW and have been looking at nearly new 3 series as a replacement. 3weeks ago i received an insurance quote of 450 for the model of BMW i was after. Last night i did a requote and it is now 706. This coupled with leaving it on the streets of London almost certainly means BMW will not be my next car. BMW really need to take action before their brand is destroyed.

once the keys programmed it is a normal key, it will arm / disarm the alarm

the best thing to do is to make your car more hassle to steal than your neighbours


its the old escape from a bear scenario, you dont need to be able to run faster than a bear, just faster than your friend

I'd do something like that if if the issue was a local problem and my car left out overnight.

Twenty odd years ago, when car thefts were rife locally several neighbours had their cars disappear overnight and a week later, my fairly new car disappeared to. It ended up on someone's drive twenty miles away and theirs had been stolen, a different make to mine. Serial joyriding! This spate followed a TV programme on the subject with a very brief showing of how the thieves stole the car. The apprehended schoolboy still behind the wheel. No doubt that programme was recorded by those who then studied the process at their leisure. I saw that programme. A local member of the BiB I knew then told me that numerous cars went missing for a month or so after that showing. Nationwide 100s. When I recovered my car and took it to the local dealership, their storage compound was full of stolen recovered cars all showing theft damage identical to mine. Others were simply left burnt out to destroy evidence.

For a while thereafter, I arranged things so that I could easily remove the steering wheel complete assembly in a few seconds when leaving the locked and alarmed car unprotected. Inconvenient yes, but not as inconvenient as not having your car. Eventually I found a more effective and convenient method to make my car thief proof.

Meantime, many marques have made their products very difficult to steal without the actual keys and fobs. So effective that criminals would enter a house in the early hours putting a weapon at the sleeping owner's head or throat demanding the keys.

Really? This does seem a bit of a joke system - surely the alarm/immobiliser is still set which, as I stated previously, would require only a simple software fix to prevent key recoding until the alarm/immobiliser is disabled.

What would happen when owners lose the keys to locked cars? The dealer needs to have some way to reprogram keys on an immobilised car else the cars would have to be scrapped.