Range Rover Vogue stolen last night.

[Perec]

Overnight my 11 plate TDV8 Vogue disappeared off my drive, without either key fob being taken. Access was gained by breaking a side window.

The police tell me that it's now straightforward to nick these cars without keys.

[Perec]

The police have just called to say they found the car parked up in a car park about 20 miles away. As yet it is unclear what damage has been done outside of the broken window. It was on plates that had been stolen from a Land Rover dealership.

[Perec]

jdwoodbury said:

Feel for you there mate, what a pain the @rse....hope the only damage is the side window and the car does not get registered as stolen recovered.

It shouldn't if the insurer doesn't pay out on it, should it?

I've had Plod from a neighbouring county on the phone this evening. He was very reluctant to tell me anything but implied that my incident is not isolated and he's keen to have my car inspected by a LR dealer.

[Perec]

What is most annoying is that I have always disliked the Range Rover keyless fob, it smacks of trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist whilst creating others. I would far rather have a proper key and I imagine that the car would not have been taken if it had one.

[Perec]

NomduJour said:

Is it possible to find out if the alarm went off?

Don't know. I don't think it did because none of us heard a thing.

This lot knew what they were doing and went into the vehicle via an un-alarmed route I think.

[Eleven]

For anyone interested the perpetrators have been caught and are behind bars awaiting trial. So hopefully that's Christmas spoilt for them.

It seems that a number of Range Rovers were taken using the same method. If anyone else has had the same problem please drop me an email.

[Eleven]

NomduJour said:

Eleven said:

It seems that a number of Range Rovers were taken using the same method

Do you know what that method was? Presumably a gap in the alarm sensor coverage and programing a new key?

I cannot comment on a public forum but let's just say that the manufacturer should probably be more careful where security is concerned.

[Eleven]

I've resurrected this thread because this has now come on top for Land Rover.

http://uk.gotnewswire.com/news/insurance-companies...

After mine was stolen last year using this technique a well-spoken chap from Land Rover HQ called me to tell me that Land Rover categorically didn't have a security problem. No problem at all. Any mention of there being a problem was poppycock and nonsense...

I thought he protested too much and that they knew very well they had a problem.

I pointed out to them that they shouldn't have this issue because this sort of vulnerability had been identified in other marques several years before. "Nonsense" came the reply. Except it wasn't of course.

I must say that Land Rover went out their way to not acknowledge the elephant in the room and, it would seem, put some pressure on the dealership to behave in a similar manner. This, unfortunately, is pretty typical of Land Rover.

Fortunately Plod did a good job and brought the criminals to book and a confiscation order ensured that all my costs were met.

[Eleven]

Phil. said:

Anyone else going to take a stand on this specific matter?

How would you propose we do that?

[Eleven]

ZOLLAR said:

Not going to post on the other thread as there seems to be a lot of bickering etc going on.

I work for quite a large insurance company part of my role is to deal with High value Theft claims of which these fall under.
For quite sometime it was mainly BMW's that were targeted, about 5-6 months ago the BMW thefts dropped suddenly only to be replaced by a sharp increase in Land/Range Rover thefts.

Many vehicle systems are similar (Jaguars share similar technology) but haven't seen any of these being taken, the Range rovers etc are being targeted due to their usability in countries where a 4x4 can be quite usefull and where large cars are prestige.

Land rover know there is a problem, I had a case where a number of Range Rovers were recovered from a container in the Port of Tilbury.
JLR were trying to get access to the cars and stop them being returned to us/owner for sometime so that they could carry out their own investigation so for them to say they aren't aware of the matter is somewhat untrue.

This isn't to say they have done something wrong, essentially most modern cars (say in last 6-7 years) can be taken without keys it's just Range rovers are the preferred vehicle of choice.
These claims are becoming extremely costly and it's something that insurance companies won't just accept, problem is that persons who own these cars are quite wealthy so it would take a considerable increase in premiums for them to be deterred from owning prestige 4x4s.

Interesting stuff Zollar.

I can also confirm that the police had a meeting with Land Rover about a year ago on the very subject of why the vehicles were being so easily stolen.

But even if none of this were the case, Land Rover will have been aware of the vulnerability.

[Eleven]

55palfers said:

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic28234.html

See post from ryan@landrover

Which says:

"Hi

Land Rover is aware of a rise in the number of thefts of Land Rover products. The current Land Rover line-up continues to meet the insurance industry requirements as tested and agreed with the relevant insurance bodies, nevertheless the company has taken this issue very seriously and our engineering teams have been working in collaboration with insurance bodies and police forces to fully understand the attack risks facing Land Rover models. It is however important to remember that this is an industry-wide issue and not specific to Land Rover vehicles only.

We have released a number of security updates in the last 12 months and have further updates due this year. We are continually updating and improving our security systems to ensure we stay ahead of the criminals and the industry-wide problem which the motor industry in general is tackling on a daily basis.

Regards

Ryan"

Which is the sort of tone that I got when mine was nicked. It was very, "we don't have a problem, cars get stolen all the time, we are no more susceptible than other marques etc etc".

It seems that the insurance companies feel differently though.

[Eleven]

FastRich said:

As someone else said, a determined thief will usually get what he's after.

But, placing security issues to one side for a second, keyless fobs do make day to day life easier for car owners, they really do. So, I think there is still a case for the keyless fob to remain however technology needs to be built around the key so it is a "safe" option.

I disagree. Keyless just means you don't need to put a key in a hole and twist it. I have my car key on a bunch and they don't live in my pocket. It would be easier if there was a hole in the dash where they could hang, to be honest, and whilst they are there a quick twist left and right to stop and start is FAR easier than having a separate button.

[Eleven]

Wurls said:

CAPP0 said:

I have a great idea which I think I might pitch to these manufacturers to save us owners from having to spend 10 minutes on a memory test before they can drive away. I'm going to call it "akei" and it will look like this - what do you think?

Genius. I think it may catch on.

Can we go into business together? I've got an idea for a great place to store "akei" whilst the car is in motion:



I also had the idea that instead of having a separate start button (like we did back in the 1950s) a clever bit of design should allow for akei to be twisted to the right against a spring to start the car. Turned left to stop it.

What do you think?