A victim of car-jacking

[Gio G]

I posted a few nights ago about the theft of my Golf R in the VW/Audi forum, where a masked gang essentially followed me, hide behind my car and stole my keys, while parked in my in-laws driveway in full daylight and in view of many witnesses.

Up until last Wednesday, I have been fortunate to never have had a car stolen. No doubt I was unlucky that a gang probably knew the route I take every day and took the opportunity to threaten me and steal my keys, while I was on my own.

I know I made the right decision to hand over the keys, as the consequences could have put me into hospital or worse. I am also counting my lucky stars that none of my children were with me at the time, as the ordeal would have been terrible for them. The aftermath of this seems more difficult for me. My senses are heightened and I feel very paranoid, even in my own house. I keep replaying the incident in my head and thinking of the what if I did that scenario..

I have gone through the hassle of cancelling all my credit cards, new license, locks changed and dealing with insurance/rental companies. Amazing how these thieves turn your life upside down momentarily, the inconvenience they cause both emotionally and financially is quite significant. I love my cars like many of us on here and now I feel like I just want a sedate car to keep under the radar, something boring that no one will want to steal. Maybe that is the default reaction for many?

Car is still missing....Just a bit p£ssed off really...

G

[Gio G]

CYMR0 said:

Very sorry to hear about that - it's extremely traumatic even to read about!

Is it leased? If so, it'd be interesting to see how you deal with the lease company, as VWFS have some interesting clauses in their lease when the car is written off or stolen.

Yes leased, hoping that GAP insurance I purchased may play it's part if it needs to..

G

[Gio G]

Hol said:

Im interested to hear that it does, if you don't mind keeping us informed.

Do you think it was a just a local gang, or a group in the country stealing for export? What did they look like?
(I just know Ill be branded a little Englander, just for asking).

All I could see was their eyes, as they made a good job of covering themselves up. The whole thing was over in less than 1 minute. I just recently heard of another incident before Easter up by the A10, where someone was bumped from behind, he went out to investigate, they then stole it, with keys in the ignition. Same car as mine, a Golf R. They really appear to be a magnet to thieves at the moment

G

[Gio G]

Jakdaw said:

Purely out of interest - and not in any way intending to suggest that you didn't make the best decision; but what other options did you consider in that brief moment? I find it interesting, that to me, if I wanted to separate someone from their keys (say in some hypothetical road rage situation) I'd instinctively take them and throw them as far as I could - yet in the situation you describe I don't think that throwing my own keys would even cross my mind...

Taking a step back to think of hypothetical situations, there might be a few where throwing your own keys over a wall/onto a roof or [not really] in front of an HGV (hoping for a very emotionally thick-skinned driver) might not be the worst idea?

I suspect the decision I made was because they were on my in-laws driveway and wanted them to leave, as at any time someone from my family could have been embroiled in this incident.