Powerful Audis still being targeted by scum
Discussion
SkrrSkrr said:
Crikey, wasn't expecting that! I wonder if they were specifically targeted?Glad the mother and baby are ok.
Jonmx said:
You make some pretty big assumptions. Ignorance is not a defence in the eyes of the law, but you have to be some kind of special 
to say that to a victim of a carjacking. I can assure you there are many owners of RS, AMG and M model cars that will be completely oblivious to the fact that their vehicles are desirable to thieves. Does that make them naïve, possibly, does it justify them being held up at knifepoint, absolutely not.
The woman in this photo hasn't even noticed the guy taking her picture. A prime spot for taking a car as she's out of the vehicle and the keys are to hand.
Do you really think that there are "many" owners of RS, AMG and M cars that are oblivious to the fact that they are desirable to thieves? Be honest. They are desirable cars full stop, so why would they not be desirable to thieves? to say that to a victim of a carjacking. I can assure you there are many owners of RS, AMG and M model cars that will be completely oblivious to the fact that their vehicles are desirable to thieves. Does that make them naïve, possibly, does it justify them being held up at knifepoint, absolutely not.The woman in this photo hasn't even noticed the guy taking her picture. A prime spot for taking a car as she's out of the vehicle and the keys are to hand.
You make an example of justifying being held up at knifepoint, which of course It doesn't and equally I've never said that it does. I think we all need to be realistic here. Most know, and if they don't there is a lot of information online and freely available, that such cars can be targets for carjacking/theft etc. This is nothing new.
I'm all for personal choice, and i don't think it should prevent someone from owning a desirable car but I think owners need to consider and accept an increased risk of such attacks. I'm not defending it, and it's clearly wrong, but it does happen.
You've made an assumption as to the context of the picture. I understand the point you are making though. Let me ask you this, would the example be as strong if the car was a Nissan Micra? Of course not.
f1nn said:
Do you really think that there are "many" owners of RS, AMG and M cars that are oblivious to the fact that they are desirable to thieves? Be honest. They are desirable cars full stop, so why would they not be desirable to thieves?
You make an example of justifying being held up at knifepoint, which of course It doesn't and equally I've never said that it does. I think we all need to be realistic here. Most know, and if they don't there is a lot of information online and freely available, that such cars can be targets for carjacking/theft etc. This is nothing new.
I'm all for personal choice, and i don't think it should prevent someone from owning a desirable car but I think owners need to consider and accept an increased risk of such attacks. I'm not defending it, and it's clearly wrong, but it does happen.
You've made an assumption as to the context of the picture. I understand the point you are making though. Let me ask you this, would the example be as strong if the car was a Nissan Micra? Of course not.
I think we're coming at this from different ends. I full agree that these cars are desirable, I just think that a lot of people aren't really aware that their vehicle is necessarily desirable and have an 'it will never happen to me' mentality. To them it's just the latest car in a string of vehicles that are replaced every 12 months. My parent's neighbours are massively guilty of this, leaving their XKR/RRS running at the gate to the driveway while they nip back to the house to grab something. I live in a rural area, and there are people who have £1M plus houses with no alarms, who leave the keys in their Range Rovers and £100k tractors because they don't believe they'll ever get nicked. You make an example of justifying being held up at knifepoint, which of course It doesn't and equally I've never said that it does. I think we all need to be realistic here. Most know, and if they don't there is a lot of information online and freely available, that such cars can be targets for carjacking/theft etc. This is nothing new.
I'm all for personal choice, and i don't think it should prevent someone from owning a desirable car but I think owners need to consider and accept an increased risk of such attacks. I'm not defending it, and it's clearly wrong, but it does happen.
You've made an assumption as to the context of the picture. I understand the point you are making though. Let me ask you this, would the example be as strong if the car was a Nissan Micra? Of course not.
When I was in the Police I used to go around trying to give crime prevention advice to these guys and I'd get laughed at. One guy told me he didn't care if his Land Rover got nicked because the NFU would give him a new one. I suppose given the violence being used to obtain keys, maybe leaving them in the vehicle overnight isn't such a bad idea!
I agree with you, drivers should be more aware, but unfortunately a mother with a 3 month old in the back of a car isn't going to be in Jason Bourne mode at the lights. To her stopping at the lights is a chance to turn around and check little one is ok. I'm surprised insurance companies aren't highlighting the issue more, it's almost a duty of care issue to inform their customers of the heightened theft risk around their vehicle. Like you say, ignorance is no defence, but insurance companies and the Police could do more to raise awareness.
Jonmx said:
Not always the case. I remember this peckerhead and his cronies took selfies with every car they stole. A real bunch of Einsteins and definitely Caucasian.
Fair point... However most of these oxygen thieves aren't the brightest. Problem is, it will never change as our police are useless / scared of offending any groups!
Audis are still targeted by robbers in the birmingham area. A stolen rs6 was in a police chase recently on aston expressway. my own audi was stolen last year from my office car park in birmingham in broad daylight..it had been targeted and then used for another robbery. I was informed that a lot of fast audi cars are getting stolen
Leemcd said:
Fair point... However most of these oxygen thieves aren't the brightest. Problem is, it will never change as our police are useless / scared of offending any groups!
From what I understand from a friend who works up there, the community is very tight and trying to get any information out of them is challenging to say the least. That said, I'd imagine if Mr Hartley offered a suitable reward someone might have an attack of conscience and dob them in. And yes, these people should have their oxygen licences revoked.K321 said:
Audis are still targeted by robbers in the birmingham area. A stolen rs6 was in a police chase recently on aston expressway. my own audi was stolen last year from my office car park in birmingham in broad daylight..it had been targeted and then used for another robbery. I was informed that a lot of fast audi cars are getting stolen
Out of interest was yours recovered? If not, did you replace it with a similar car or did the experience put you off? I've only ever had a car stereo nicked but that really made me angry, so I can't imagine what it feels like to have a car nicked.K321 said:
Audis are still targeted by robbers in the birmingham area. A stolen rs6 was in a police chase recently on aston expressway. my own audi was stolen last year from my office car park in birmingham in broad daylight..it had been targeted and then used for another robbery. I was informed that a lot of fast audi cars are getting stolen
It seems to be a big problem in the Midlands yes. I had an S3, an RS5 and then an RS4, the RS's were dirt cheap to insure (RS4 was ~£300 at 27 years old) down here in the south so clearly my insurance company weren't too worried about theft. It's very rare to hear of a high end car theft around here. I can't recall anyone at work ever having had a car taken and most have high end German stuff, F Types etcIt's certainly a worrying trend though. Time to come down hard on these people.
Personally I don't see the RS6 as a wise choice for thieves, they're pretty uncommon and stand out like a sore thumb to anyone remotely clued up about cars. I completely understand Golf R's and S3's going missing, they're so common that they just blend in but are very capable machines.
Jonmx said:
Out of interest was yours recovered? If not, did you replace it with a similar car or did the experience put you off? I've only ever had a car stereo nicked but that really made me angry, so I can't imagine what it feels like to have a car nicked.
Yes. I had the entire footage on cctv and i could see a vx zafira drive into the car park about 5 minutes after i had locked the car. Two white guys get out the zafira and spend 30mins with passerbys walking past nicking the car. They were so brazen. They then changed the plates on my audi and their zafira and sped off. I thought i would never see it again.
Then police found it a week later in solihull with all windows smashed and £7k worth of damage.
2 sledgehammers in boot and concrete slabs and dust .
Car spent time at police compound for forensics then at repair centre. Got the car back after 3 months.
Its one big stressball when yr car is stolen. I had only had the car 2 weeks before it was nicked too!
Jonmx said:
I think we're coming at this from different ends. I full agree that these cars are desirable, I just think that a lot of people aren't really aware that their vehicle is necessarily desirable and have an 'it will never happen to me' mentality.
I agree with you, drivers should be more aware, but unfortunately a mother with a 3 month old in the back of a car isn't going to be in Jason Bourne mode at the lights. To her stopping at the lights is a chance to turn around and check little one is ok.
No I get that and agree with you, but in the examples you gave, and especially the latter, the choice of vehicle could largely negate any risk of this happening.I agree with you, drivers should be more aware, but unfortunately a mother with a 3 month old in the back of a car isn't going to be in Jason Bourne mode at the lights. To her stopping at the lights is a chance to turn around and check little one is ok.
Let's just say, for example, you live in Birmingham, London, Manchester or similar and have to buy tomorrow a vehicle for your wife to ferry the kids about daily.
Would you be perfectly satisfied that an RS4/6 is not increasing the risk of this sort of theft, say when compared to say, a Mini Countryman?
I think if we are both being honest we both know the answer, and there is enough online for anyone considering purchasing a similar vehicle to be well informed.
f1nn said:
No I get that and agree with you, but in the examples you gave, and especially the latter, the choice of vehicle could largely negate any risk of this happening.
Let's just say, for example, you live in Birmingham, London, Manchester or similar and have to buy tomorrow a vehicle for your wife to ferry the kids about daily.
Would you be perfectly satisfied that an RS4/6 is not increasing the risk of this sort of theft, say when compared to say, a Mini Countryman?
I think if we are both being honest we both know the answer, and there is enough online for anyone considering purchasing a similar vehicle to be well informed.
Agreed, and as a matter of fact my wife drives a Mini Clubman. But, the sheer number of these thefts is proof enough that people are naïve to the risk posed by the cars they own. That so many are taken whilst the driver is still with the vehicles show there is a lack of understanding around risk avoidance. Personally, I'm too far the other way, I'll even pull into a bus stop and let vehicles pass if I think they've been following me too long. Unlikely I'll be targeted for a £200 Mondeo LX but I still risk assess all the time. Let's just say, for example, you live in Birmingham, London, Manchester or similar and have to buy tomorrow a vehicle for your wife to ferry the kids about daily.
Would you be perfectly satisfied that an RS4/6 is not increasing the risk of this sort of theft, say when compared to say, a Mini Countryman?
I think if we are both being honest we both know the answer, and there is enough online for anyone considering purchasing a similar vehicle to be well informed.
I think I said it on the S3 thread back along, but when I was in Birmingham a few years ago in my 123D Coupe I got followed by a group of lads in a car. I took the tactical option of booting it when I hit the motorway. It may well have been some young lads wanting to get a look at what was at the time quite a flash car, but I wasn't going to take that risk.
As others have said though, it's surprising that someone in the Hartley family was the victim. I'd imagine there's a lot of risk awareness training that whilst not necessarily available to his wife, would definitely have been passed onto Hartley Jr.
Jonmx said:
From what I understand from a friend who works up there, the community is very tight and trying to get any information out of them is challenging to say the least. That said, I'd imagine if Mr Hartley offered a suitable reward someone might have an attack of conscience and dob them in.
Dob them in? This is what happens when you nick the wrong person's watch: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news...Note they drove to the job in a Q5 - stolen a year before.
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