BMW M140i stolen off driveway - Cheltenham
Discussion
speedking31 said:
You are correct, however, I am labouring under the illusion that the stolen car was newer than 2015. If that's wong then I withdraw what I said.
What has you brother being thirsty got to do with number plates?
Must be showing my age but spitting feathers where I am from means angry. I was not aware of the thirsty meaning. What has you brother being thirsty got to do with number plates?
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spitting-feath...
Bullet-Proof_Biscuit said:
My condolences to the OP.
This thread makes me want to install a boiling tar exploder in the steering wheel to replace the airbag cavity, self contained & hardwired into a sealed chassis rail, with a remote trigger. Though I do only drive old Mercedes sleepers...
A pal of mine joined the army in 1986 when we left school.This thread makes me want to install a boiling tar exploder in the steering wheel to replace the airbag cavity, self contained & hardwired into a sealed chassis rail, with a remote trigger. Though I do only drive old Mercedes sleepers...
He got injured & compensated and bought a Mk2 RS Turbo, which living in Swansea made it an obvious target.
He left it unlocked but added two layers of security.
The first was a CS grenade. He fabricated a bracket so it sat behind the centre console, fixed to the seat bolts.
Two thick strings of fishing wire tied to the pin, attached to the door bins with a cup hook.
There was enough slack so he could open the door an unhook it.
The second line of defence was a cut down beyonet under the drivers seat. Measured so it sat just in the foam but not so hard that it could be seen from above.
He was very disciplined about removing both booby traps before getting in & sitting down.
No one went near that car as it stood out & people new him well. That was probably for the best!
Sorry to hear of your bad experience OP.
3 months sounds like a really long time to wait for an insurance payout though. Why did it take so long?
Unfortunately, my wife was carjacked early March and two scumbags stole her m135i. We obviously reported it to police and insurance straight away. The insurance company were very good and said it would be treated as stolen/unrecovered immediately. We had the money in our bank in under 3 weeks, and that included negotiation time to get a better payout.
We had a call about a week ago saying it had been found a few miles from where it had been stolen on a bit of a rough housing estate, but had been set alight and burned out by the time the fire brigade arrived. It too was on false plates, plus they found a baseball bat in the back. As the insurance had paid out we just notified them and they have dealt with it.
A traumatic experience for my wife, so we decided that it wasn't worth the risk having another M135/M140 or other hot hatch, so have gone down a different route for a replacement.
Just hoping the scum get caught, as there is too much of it about at the moment and it is too easy for them to get away with it.
3 months sounds like a really long time to wait for an insurance payout though. Why did it take so long?
Unfortunately, my wife was carjacked early March and two scumbags stole her m135i. We obviously reported it to police and insurance straight away. The insurance company were very good and said it would be treated as stolen/unrecovered immediately. We had the money in our bank in under 3 weeks, and that included negotiation time to get a better payout.
We had a call about a week ago saying it had been found a few miles from where it had been stolen on a bit of a rough housing estate, but had been set alight and burned out by the time the fire brigade arrived. It too was on false plates, plus they found a baseball bat in the back. As the insurance had paid out we just notified them and they have dealt with it.
A traumatic experience for my wife, so we decided that it wasn't worth the risk having another M135/M140 or other hot hatch, so have gone down a different route for a replacement.
Just hoping the scum get caught, as there is too much of it about at the moment and it is too easy for them to get away with it.
Lando said:
Bump!
In case anyone is interested. (And with some details omitted, because the investigation is ongoing).
So; tl;dr - I got the car back this week. It was gone for about three months in total. The insurance company + GAP insurance were ready to pay out, when it turned up. (
).
The car spent a couple of weeks (and 700 miles on the odo) in the hands of criminals; and was linked to a series of crimes. (5 door, fast, unassuming). It discovered in a very PH way..! Basically whichever scumbags stole it had false plates ready, and put them on the car on the driveway. The plates they used (cloned from a grey 118d) were off a 15 plate vehicle. Some excellent car nerd spotted the car and realised that the model was too new for the plates. They phoned it into 101, who arranged to get the false plates on cover.
It had a number of ANPR hits on the new plates, and was eventually found abandoned with shredded tyres and smashed wheels after being crashed whilst attempting to flee from a scene of crime. It was recovered along with a stolen X5 which was used as it's criminal buddy......
The car spent several weeks with the police for forensics, after being recovered to my local garage. Surprisingly there was not a lot of external damage, but the interior was a total s
tstorm. Wrecked seats, flooring, trim, ceiling (!) covered in mud, stones, gouges and generally looking like it was used to ram-raid farms to steal all sorts of stuff. It ended up needing a new exhaust, 2 bumpers, 4 wheels, most of the interior, some mild panel work at the back, and a bunch of electronics in the boot which had been ripped out and destroyed to avoid the car talking back to BMW. (Plus the Harmon Kardon amp and other goodies that were collateral damage from the telematics being ripped out). 11k's worth of damage.
So, the car has now been restored to a perfect condition, and I've taken it back. I've also gone from security level 7 to level 11. I've had to get rid of the Mk1 MX5 I've owned for almost 10 years so that the BMW can fit in my single garage away from prying eyes.
I'm not really sure what the moral of this story is, other than it doesn't matter how much security you have, these stbags will just get in anyway. For me, although the car is mechanically restored, I don't think it can stay living where I do in the middle of a town, and I struggle to wonder if it will be the same again.
AngryHappySad. Etc.
In case anyone is interested. (And with some details omitted, because the investigation is ongoing).
So; tl;dr - I got the car back this week. It was gone for about three months in total. The insurance company + GAP insurance were ready to pay out, when it turned up. (
). The car spent a couple of weeks (and 700 miles on the odo) in the hands of criminals; and was linked to a series of crimes. (5 door, fast, unassuming). It discovered in a very PH way..! Basically whichever scumbags stole it had false plates ready, and put them on the car on the driveway. The plates they used (cloned from a grey 118d) were off a 15 plate vehicle. Some excellent car nerd spotted the car and realised that the model was too new for the plates. They phoned it into 101, who arranged to get the false plates on cover.
It had a number of ANPR hits on the new plates, and was eventually found abandoned with shredded tyres and smashed wheels after being crashed whilst attempting to flee from a scene of crime. It was recovered along with a stolen X5 which was used as it's criminal buddy......
The car spent several weeks with the police for forensics, after being recovered to my local garage. Surprisingly there was not a lot of external damage, but the interior was a total s
tstorm. Wrecked seats, flooring, trim, ceiling (!) covered in mud, stones, gouges and generally looking like it was used to ram-raid farms to steal all sorts of stuff. It ended up needing a new exhaust, 2 bumpers, 4 wheels, most of the interior, some mild panel work at the back, and a bunch of electronics in the boot which had been ripped out and destroyed to avoid the car talking back to BMW. (Plus the Harmon Kardon amp and other goodies that were collateral damage from the telematics being ripped out). 11k's worth of damage.So, the car has now been restored to a perfect condition, and I've taken it back. I've also gone from security level 7 to level 11. I've had to get rid of the Mk1 MX5 I've owned for almost 10 years so that the BMW can fit in my single garage away from prying eyes.
I'm not really sure what the moral of this story is, other than it doesn't matter how much security you have, these s
tbags will just get in anyway. For me, although the car is mechanically restored, I don't think it can stay living where I do in the middle of a town, and I struggle to wonder if it will be the same again.AngryHappySad. Etc.
After reading all of that, I really felt for you mate.
We've had 2 break-ins to my house and got 1 car stolen along with some money and jewellery in the past as well.
While I was reading your story, I relived that evening I came back from a movie with my friend only to find out that my super expensive computer missing, family vault thrashed and missing every valuable item inside and the car stolen too since we took my friend's car.
I felt responsible and guilty yet I knew it wasn't really my fault. The worst part was that I loved our car and I wished every day for at least they could find the car. Of course, they couldn't.
It was a good lesson to remind me and my family to improve our overall security, sort of a wakeup call.
We installed a high-end home alarm system, an expensive one to alert the whole neighbourhood in case of a break-in.
I recently bought a VW TIGUAN R-LINE 2.0 TDI and I am not gonna let some asshole steal it again.
Especially when the keyless crime and stuff like that happened to you is so common these days.
I immediately went and bought myself a GPS tracker, https://www.rewiresecurity.co.uk/db1-gps-tracker-t... (good advice from a friend).
I now have like 5 ways to detect movement, tampering, ignition etc. If there is one thing I can't stand, it is these thieving assholes living large off of our hard earned money.
We've had 2 break-ins to my house and got 1 car stolen along with some money and jewellery in the past as well.
While I was reading your story, I relived that evening I came back from a movie with my friend only to find out that my super expensive computer missing, family vault thrashed and missing every valuable item inside and the car stolen too since we took my friend's car.
I felt responsible and guilty yet I knew it wasn't really my fault. The worst part was that I loved our car and I wished every day for at least they could find the car. Of course, they couldn't.
It was a good lesson to remind me and my family to improve our overall security, sort of a wakeup call.
We installed a high-end home alarm system, an expensive one to alert the whole neighbourhood in case of a break-in.
I recently bought a VW TIGUAN R-LINE 2.0 TDI and I am not gonna let some asshole steal it again.
Especially when the keyless crime and stuff like that happened to you is so common these days.
I immediately went and bought myself a GPS tracker, https://www.rewiresecurity.co.uk/db1-gps-tracker-t... (good advice from a friend).
I now have like 5 ways to detect movement, tampering, ignition etc. If there is one thing I can't stand, it is these thieving assholes living large off of our hard earned money.
Tankrizzo said:
ZOLLAR said:
The OP car will still be recorded on MIAFTR as stolen and recovered, it's just that it won't show on vehicle history.
Only those with full access to MIAFTR will be able to see it.
So the answer to your question,cossy, is "yes" - it will be on a database.Only those with full access to MIAFTR will be able to see it.
Sounds like a load of s
t to me, why would i want to buy a car that some scroat has tore a new ahole. Suppose its what you buy really, 530d is hardly on the hit list.
Edited by cossy400 on Friday 27th April 19:15
TooMany2cvs said:
Idle thought... If these and Golf R, Audi S3 are being nicked because they're low-key and under the radar for other criminal activities, then would hitting the lairier end of the colour chart be useful security...?
My M4 was about as lairy as you could get and that was stolen. 
I am resurrecting an old thread but I just wanted to share my experience too.
Our BMW X5, 65 plate, was stolen almost three weeks ago in the same manner - patio door (double glazed) window smashed, keys taken from a drawer, master bedroom ransacked, a jewellery box and watches, apparently put in a now missing pillowcase, gone. No electronics taken.
We were on holiday for a week, Monday to Monday, but the burglary happened on Friday evening at 5pm. I looked through the short recordings of one of my neighbours' motion activated cctv (no 24/7 cctv in my neighbourhood, unfortunately) and at 17:09 on 16/11 the camera was accidentally activated, probably by the heavy rain that evening, and I could see the car still on our driveway, but with the headlights on and our porch door wide open (they exited the house through the front door). The next cctv recording is at 17:40 and the car is gone...
So when I came back at 6am on Monday, the house had stayed open with the smashed patio door for 3 nights. First thing was to call the police and to open my BMW app, which for some reason wouldn't work and load my vehicle. The BMW connected drive website however was working and I was able to successfully send commands like lock, unlock, flash headlights to the vehicle, so there was still some connection with it, which gave me hope.
The most infuriating part of the whole story is, that after the police had come and gone, after the forensic team had also come and gone (they didn't find anything, the thieves were wearing gloves, of course), the app started working at about 10:30am. And it successfully located the vehicle to an address in North London (I am in Orpington, South East London), which on google maps looks like some sort of garage with a lot of broken down vehicles. I called 101 immediately with the new information and crime number, thinking that if I try to go to the location myself, it would take me over an hour and that they could be there in 10 minutes and catch the thieves red-handed. The attitude of the person on the other end however was quite dismissive - the tracking apps are not really accurate, the police officers are really busy with more serious crimes, etc. I couldn't believe my ears - I thought I was serving them a criminal organisation on a platter and they didn't care!
Long story short, 2 hours and 2 more phone calls later, instead of an update about police attending the suspicious location, I received an email from CMS that the case was closed as no further lines of enquiry were available! There is either some gross miscommunication between the different police units in London or they have simply given up investigating such 'minor' crimes because of the severe funding cuts.
Soon after that, the app stopped updating the location of the car. I did go to the address myself in the end but it was way too late - there were no traces of our car any more.
So I am thinking, that they left it parked somewhere in the area over the weekend and on Monday, reassured that it wasn't tracked, made a move. Had I known how useless the police would be, I would have acted and maybe saved the car. Now, after 3 weeks, I am sure it's either travelling somewhere in a container or broken down for parts.
We didn't have gap insurance (the car was bought outright), and now in a battle with the car insurance about its valuation. Any advise in this respect would be greatly appreciated!
Our BMW X5, 65 plate, was stolen almost three weeks ago in the same manner - patio door (double glazed) window smashed, keys taken from a drawer, master bedroom ransacked, a jewellery box and watches, apparently put in a now missing pillowcase, gone. No electronics taken.
We were on holiday for a week, Monday to Monday, but the burglary happened on Friday evening at 5pm. I looked through the short recordings of one of my neighbours' motion activated cctv (no 24/7 cctv in my neighbourhood, unfortunately) and at 17:09 on 16/11 the camera was accidentally activated, probably by the heavy rain that evening, and I could see the car still on our driveway, but with the headlights on and our porch door wide open (they exited the house through the front door). The next cctv recording is at 17:40 and the car is gone...
So when I came back at 6am on Monday, the house had stayed open with the smashed patio door for 3 nights. First thing was to call the police and to open my BMW app, which for some reason wouldn't work and load my vehicle. The BMW connected drive website however was working and I was able to successfully send commands like lock, unlock, flash headlights to the vehicle, so there was still some connection with it, which gave me hope.
The most infuriating part of the whole story is, that after the police had come and gone, after the forensic team had also come and gone (they didn't find anything, the thieves were wearing gloves, of course), the app started working at about 10:30am. And it successfully located the vehicle to an address in North London (I am in Orpington, South East London), which on google maps looks like some sort of garage with a lot of broken down vehicles. I called 101 immediately with the new information and crime number, thinking that if I try to go to the location myself, it would take me over an hour and that they could be there in 10 minutes and catch the thieves red-handed. The attitude of the person on the other end however was quite dismissive - the tracking apps are not really accurate, the police officers are really busy with more serious crimes, etc. I couldn't believe my ears - I thought I was serving them a criminal organisation on a platter and they didn't care!
Long story short, 2 hours and 2 more phone calls later, instead of an update about police attending the suspicious location, I received an email from CMS that the case was closed as no further lines of enquiry were available! There is either some gross miscommunication between the different police units in London or they have simply given up investigating such 'minor' crimes because of the severe funding cuts.
Soon after that, the app stopped updating the location of the car. I did go to the address myself in the end but it was way too late - there were no traces of our car any more.
So I am thinking, that they left it parked somewhere in the area over the weekend and on Monday, reassured that it wasn't tracked, made a move. Had I known how useless the police would be, I would have acted and maybe saved the car. Now, after 3 weeks, I am sure it's either travelling somewhere in a container or broken down for parts.
We didn't have gap insurance (the car was bought outright), and now in a battle with the car insurance about its valuation. Any advise in this respect would be greatly appreciated!
Edited by BVP on Saturday 8th December 15:44
BVP said:
I did go to the address myself in the end but it was way too late - there were no traces of our car any more.
So I am thinking, that they left it parked somewhere in the area over the weekend and on Monday, reassured that it wasn't tracked, made a move. Had I known how useless the police would be, I would have acted and maybe saved the car.
so sorry about your loss OP but good thing you didnt go there yourself (unless with a load of mates) as these scum will go to any length to harm others end of the day do remember its metal and can be replaced but your life cannot be replacedSo I am thinking, that they left it parked somewhere in the area over the weekend and on Monday, reassured that it wasn't tracked, made a move. Had I known how useless the police would be, I would have acted and maybe saved the car.
BVP said:
I called 101 immediately with the new information and crime number, thinking that if I try to go to the location myself, it would take me over an hour and that they could be there in 10 minutes and catch the thieves red-handed. The attitude of the person on the other end however was quite dismissive - the tracking apps are not really accurate, the police officers are really busy with more serious crimes, etc. I couldn't believe my ears - I thought I was serving them a criminal organisation on a platter and they didn't care!
Long story short, 2 hours and 2 more phone calls later, instead of an update about police attending the suspicious location, I received an email from CMS that the case was closed as no further lines of enquiry were available!
I'd ask the police for that conversation (iirc you can use a subject access request under GDPR) as that's not on.Long story short, 2 hours and 2 more phone calls later, instead of an update about police attending the suspicious location, I received an email from CMS that the case was closed as no further lines of enquiry were available!
I ive in Bromley as well and phoned 999 when I saw a two youths using a moped to wheel a sportsbike bike with a disclock on via shortlands park and as it wasn't emergency they didn't carry on with the call and me feel like I was wasting police time
untakenname said:
I'd ask the police for that conversation (iirc you can use a subject access request under GDPR) as that's not on.
Thanks for the reply, but what will I achieve? I received a call in the evening with an update that the police did go there eventually at 3:30pm, 5 hours after my first call, and didn't find the vehicle. The people who answer the calls have instructions how to prioritise them and obviously catching a gang of car thieves was not a priority.The only thing people can do is to secure their homes and cars and make them really unattractive for thieves. A bit late, but now our house has all available smart alarms and cameras installed. We'll definitely be buying a steering wheel lock and a tracker for our next car too.
BVP said:
untakenname said:
I'd ask the police for that conversation (iirc you can use a subject access request under GDPR) as that's not on.
Thanks for the reply, but what will I achieve? I received a call in the evening with an update that the police did go there eventually at 3:30pm, 5 hours after my first call, and didn't find the vehicle. The people who answer the calls have instructions how to prioritise them and obviously catching a gang of car thieves was not a priority.It's been known for years that trackers are a PR stunt at best, the Police don't go after them because most of the time they don't get to catch the crims, and THAT screws up the crime stats.
lyonspride said:
Car thieves leave car and wait to see if it has a tracker, at what point are they likely to get caught?
It's been known for years that trackers are a PR stunt at best, the Police don't go after them because most of the time they don't get to catch the crims, and THAT screws up the crime stats.
How does it screw up the crime stats? It's been known for years that trackers are a PR stunt at best, the Police don't go after them because most of the time they don't get to catch the crims, and THAT screws up the crime stats.
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