I love my car, but worth dying for.....?

[Digby]

Cold said:

...getting yourself killed trying to prevent the theft of a car affects more than just you.

But sometimes you don't die and it also allows you to keep your car, anything inside it and will cause a great deal less aggravation.

[DUMBO100]

Speaking my insurance company today, who suggested car keys should be kept away from the doors to the house and in a safe upstairs if possible. Condolences to the family

[spodrod]

DUMBO100 said:

Speaking my insurance company today, who suggested car keys should be kept away from the doors to the house and in a safe upstairs if possible. Condolences to the family

I bet they would. However, I couldnt care less what they'd prefer. My keys are downstairs in a fairly obvious location and thats where they'll stay.

In the event of someone being determined enough to break in, Id rather they were on their way as quickly as possible rather than having them come upstairs and persuade me and my family to open the safe.

fk that.

[aspecto]

DUMBO100 said:

Speaking my insurance company today, who suggested car keys should be kept away from the doors to the house and in a safe upstairs if possible. Condolences to the family

I always thought the general rule was to not hide the keys away upstairs. If someone breaks in to your house, they are clearly determined to find the keys. I know that i would want them in my house as little time as possible, so the quicker they find the keys the better. The last thing you want is someone coming upstairs where you and your family are sleeping searching for car keys.

If you don't own a garage or a gated driveway, surely the best option to prevent your pride and joy being stolen is to invest in a disklok and OBD disabling software / hardware. It might just be enough to make them think twice about stealing your car.
I have had this done on my car, so the OBD port no longer works without a connector as it has been re-wired internally. Stops them from programming a new key in less than 30 seconds.

[JD]

I hate reading about these things, and knew it would be an S3 before I even opened the topic.

The first thing I did when I got mine was to replace the 5 bar gates with 6 feet high solid ones so hopefully no-one can see it.

[Hungrymc]

DUMBO100 said:

Speaking my insurance company today, who suggested car keys should be kept away from the doors to the house and in a safe upstairs if possible. Condolences to the family

I honestly think that is terrible advice. It's fine if you are not in, but is terrible advice when they are stood around your bed, threatening your missus. If they get in (by far your best defense is keeping them out of your house), I wouldn't encourage 3 or 4 balaclava'd thugs with weapons (from knives, crowbars, lump hammers, petrol grinders) upstairs to where my loved ones are.

I'll try and keep them out, if they get in I want them to find the keys before going anywhere near my kids, if they're coming upstairs the likely hood of a st storm increases drastically, and the odds for you or I are bad.

I worry that people expect a fair fight. It won't be, these fkers have no respect for anything or anyone. They will literally try and cave your head in with their weapons, it's not two blokes sorting their difference by throwing a few kicks and punches. If it gets violent, you have to be prepared to maim and kill as they are (more so as it will be 3 or 4 vs 1) else you will come off second best.

ETA. It's keeping them in a safe upstairs I disagree with. Downstairs, behind secure doors, away from doors and windows is what I do

Edited by Hungrymc on Monday 24th April 22:38

[Ahbefive]

Samurai sword under the bed is also a deterrant.

[hman]

Ahbefive said:

Samurai sword under the bed is also a deterrant.

Yes dear.

[wibblebrain]

CoolHands said:

brianashley said:

I also have a friend who "in his day" was "known" . If you Lived in Hendon 20 years ago you may have heard of him, "Alan"Boatsy (Huge spelling alert !) I would imagine if a member here does /did know him.They wont "step forward" . This man would RUN away from any form of issue/argument /conflict . Alan was either on the side of the law or right on the other side :-) He was the real Deal .Most people though of him as a Government MOT inspector .As this was his "day 2 day " job. He learned the hard way . And it stuck with him. Unless its a "Instant on the spot life or death" it was "run run run" .If he didnt run , it was going to be murder .

I've read that twice and still don't have a fking clue what you're saying

Me too

[Yipper]

aspecto said:

DUMBO100 said:

Speaking my insurance company today, who suggested car keys should be kept away from the doors to the house and in a safe upstairs if possible. Condolences to the family

I always thought the general rule was to not hide the keys away upstairs. If someone breaks in to your house, they are clearly determined to find the keys. I know that i would want them in my house as little time as possible, so the quicker they find the keys the better. The last thing you want is someone coming upstairs where you and your family are sleeping searching for car keys.

If you don't own a garage or a gated driveway, surely the best option to prevent your pride and joy being stolen is to invest in a disklok and OBD disabling software / hardware. It might just be enough to make them think twice about stealing your car.
I have had this done on my car, so the OBD port no longer works without a connector as it has been re-wired internally. Stops them from programming a new key in less than 30 seconds.

The trick (beyond better in-car security and CCTV) is to have at least 4 locked doors in the home between the thieves and your keys.

Know someone who owns a garage and got burgled (for his car keys) ~3 times in ~18 months. He always has a decent car on the driveway. He fitted stronger locks outside, stronger locks on all upstair and downstair windows, a strong lock on the interior kitchen door, a strong lock on the living room door, a strong lock on the hallway door, a strong lock on the bedroom door, and motion alarms and lights in each of those 4 rooms. They tried to get the keys twice more in a year, failing both times (ransacked the kitchen and failed to get to the living room), and have since not returned in ~3 years.

[Digby]

Hungrymc said:

I worry that people expect a fair fight. It won't be, these fkers have no respect for anything or anyone. They will literally try and cave your head in with their weapons, it's not two blokes sorting their difference by throwing a few kicks and punches. If it gets violent, you have to be prepared to maim and kill as they are (more so as it will be 3 or 4 vs 1) else you will come off second best.

But most (notice I said most) car theft attempts are not like that, just as with any type of theft. They try, they get discovered, a bit of shouting and they leg it.

That is undoubtedly what this poor chap assumed would happen (although it says he went outside to investigate a noise, so perhaps he didn't expect his car to go zooming off?).

[Hungrymc]

Digby said:

But most (notice I said most) car theft attempts are not like that, just as with any type of theft. They try, they get discovered, a bit of shouting and they leg it.

That is undoubtedly what this poor chap assumed would happen (although it says he went outside to investigate a noise, so perhaps he didn't expect his car to go zooming off?).

I don't have the stats so I can't say which type is most common although I think it's stolen with keys (either from the house or car jacking). And I'm sure you're right that many will move on with the lights going on and some shouting. I'd do this after calling the police.

But I know of far too many horror stories when despite the car not being that exotic, they have been seriously equipped and brutal in behavior. The poor chap who got ran over is a great example of expecting reasonable behavior and being met with brutality that you'd just never imagine.

All I'm saying is be well informed about how these gangs operate and how they behave. Anyone reading this thread has no reason to be caught out or surprised. Have a plan (keeping them out is number 1). And try to avoid putting yourself in situation where you can't win.

My plan is 1) I'm keeping them out 2) if they get in the keys won't be too hard to find downstairs 3) I'll try to avoid a violent altercation unless they are coming upstairs,

[funkyrobot]

wibblebrain said:

CoolHands said:

brianashley said:

I also have a friend who "in his day" was "known" . If you Lived in Hendon 20 years ago you may have heard of him, "Alan"Boatsy (Huge spelling alert !) I would imagine if a member here does /did know him.They wont "step forward" . This man would RUN away from any form of issue/argument /conflict . Alan was either on the side of the law or right on the other side :-) He was the real Deal .Most people though of him as a Government MOT inspector .As this was his "day 2 day " job. He learned the hard way . And it stuck with him. Unless its a "Instant on the spot life or death" it was "run run run" .If he didnt run , it was going to be murder .

I've read that twice and still don't have a fking clue what you're saying

Me too

I read it as this:

I used to know someone called 'Alan' Boatsy. He would run away from any argument. He was either with the police, or against them (depending on the day, the time and how much he had drunk). He was quite the fellow.

Most people thought he was a MOT tester. He learned how to MOT cars the hard way using old Haynes manuals (as there was no Youtube in them days). Thing is though, Alan wasn't just an MOT tester, he was someone who possessed a special set of skills. Skills that could cause untold damage to people when needed.

His daughter was kidnapped by some Russians once when she was on holiday. I'm not sure if you know about this story, but it was covered in the famous 2008 documentary entitled 'Taken', starring Liam Neeson as Alan. Anyhow, Alan used his skills to track the kidnappers down and rescue his daughter. The documentary is quite fascinating and I'd urge everyone to take a look.

Alan was a lovely fellow. However, if you backed him into a corner he would kill without remorse.

Unfortunately, Alan's MOT testing station was later closed down as officials found irregularities with the books. He had been putting his travel expenses (for chasing across the globe and helping people) down as multiple MOT's and got caught out.

[vsonix]

HannsG said:

These pieces of st are becoming desperate. Society as a whole is just going down the pan

Country is going to the dogs. Was in the park with my family today and there were 5 teenagers smoking weed shirtless. Do these lads not have life or place to do this st it private?

Growing up and doing drugs was not a public thing to do and I'm 36!

Shirtless? Sweet Jesus!

[durbster]

funkyrobot said:

I read it as this:

[ClockworkDog]

funkyrobot said:

I read it as this:

I used to know someone called 'Alan' Boatsy. He would run away from any argument. He was either with the police, or against them (depending on the day, the time and how much he had drunk). He was quite the fellow.

Most people thought he was a MOT tester. He learned how to MOT cars the hard way using old Haynes manuals (as there was no Youtube in them days). Thing is though, Alan wasn't just an MOT tester, he was someone who possessed a special set of skills. Skills that could cause untold damage to people when needed.

His daughter was kidnapped by some Russians once when she was on holiday. I'm not sure if you know about this story, but it was covered in the famous 2008 documentary entitled 'Taken', starring Liam Neeson as Alan. Anyhow, Alan used his skills to track the kidnappers down and rescue his daughter. The documentary is quite fascinating and I'd urge everyone to take a look.

Alan was a lovely fellow. However, if you backed him into a corner he would kill without remorse.

Unfortunately, Alan's MOT testing station was later closed down as officials found irregularities with the books. He had been putting his travel expenses (for chasing across the globe and helping people) down as multiple MOT's and got caught out.

Haha. That's EXACTLY the story. Good old "Boatsy". Where is he now...

[chris285]

Awful story

Raises question as to how much you value your car, the advice if taking keys with you upstairs seems a bit shortsighted as if they really want the car let them take it rather than risk your family's safety.

I would also guess a lot of people don't have the ability to put in loads of security to deter theives beyond the basics of making sure everything is locked, i would say most people are not flush with extra cash if they have cars like this to spend loads on home security but i could be very wrong.

Does make me think about the risk of owning a car such as the r or s3 which seems to be a favourite to be taken now

[J4CKO]

Let them have the car, then sit on the drive like Greyfriars Bobby where it used to be parked, all mournful and sad, go a bit withdrawn and be found sobbing occasionally clutching the V5, then, when the insurance pays out, put a bit to, via the power of man maths and your significant other now desperate to shake you out of it and go and get something much better, newer, faster etc ! S3 becomes RS4 or perhaps somethign a little less likely to get a repeat performance.

Chaps, in these situations use your Ninja Man Maths skills, let the scrotes take your car, THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER, BETTER ONE !!!!!

Every situation can provide opportunities, avoid the one that end up with you getting hurt or killed, think of that new car, you were bored of the old one anyway, probably.

[23rdian]

Easily avoided by not buying "flash" audis?

[_dobbo_]

23rdian said:

Easily avoided by not buying "flash" audis?

well sure, but also don't have a nice house, or a nice watch, or a nice phone, or nice clothes, or nice anything really. Then you won't be a target.

Basically I'm saying being a tramp is the answer. And really there is no downside.