Car stolen and my experience

Car stolen and my experience

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Gavia

Original Poster:

7,627 posts

90 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Along the lines of this thread, I thought I’d add what it’s like when you’re car is actually stolen after a break in. Hopefully, this won’t get hijacked by some gun toting, yeehaw US idiot.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I live in a fairly small village on the border of Lancs / Greater Manchester in what is a very quiet area, with little to no crime. It’s not small enough for everyone to know each other, but there is very much a sense of community spirit and people look out for each other in general.

On the night of 2nd Jan, during Storm Eleanor, my house was broken into and car keys taken to steal my five month old M4 off my drive. Sadly, this doesn’t tell the whole story though and I’ll try to relate this below.

I’d gone to bed around midnight, but was struggling to sleep, due to the noise from the storm and the expected crashes amd bangs. About 2:30am I realised that one chunk of crashing was down to my back gate being left open, as the window cleaner keeps doing this, despite me asking him not to. For the first time in forever, I decided to get up go downstairs and lock it. While I was doing this though I had a feeling that something wasn’t right. No idea what, or why, just my (rather large) gut telling me things weren’t right.

I had a good look round the back garden and then decided to go out front and check that no roof tiles had fallen off onto my car. Nothing untoward there, so I just put things down to being tired but not sleepy.

30 minutes later, I’m lying in bed wide awake and hear another crash, which I just put down to the storm. Then I heard a few noises that didn’t make sense amd was half out of bed when I heard my car start up and start moving off the drive. Lots of swearing and confusion, but then after I noticed that the scum couldn’t get it into gear. I flew downstairs and nearly made it out of the front door and to the car, but too late. It was gone up the street and I haven’t seen or heard from it since.

The police were round very quickly and I can’t fault their attempts on the night to try to find the car.

It turns out that the area I live in and a corridor about 15 miles long has been targeted by several car theft gangs out of Liverpool and around 4-5 German marque top of the range cars have been stolen every night for a fortnight. The area has been flooded with police and it seems to have calmed down a lot now, but maybe they’ll be back in a few months to check out our new cars. A few arrests, but don’t expect the courts to do much more than a slap on the wrists.

Stupidly, I didn’t fit a tracker to the car. I’ve fitted one to every car I’ve owned for the past 20 years, but was assured that it wasn’t needed, as the BMW Connected Drive would track it for me. What a load of bks that was.

Theft reported to my insurers, who’ve been very good. Bit of a debate over value, but that was easily resolved and they’ve processed my payment, so should receive it early next week around a fortnight after the theft happened.

When I look back there are some easy learns from this. I know I might be teaching granny to suck eggs, but thought I’d flag them up below:

  • always put your house alarm on, especially during a storm
  • upgrade any cylinder locks on UPVC doors to anti-snap ones. Ideally upgrade the door handles too.
  • adrenaline is great, but not sure how I’d have fared taking on 2+ thieves, as life isn’t a Hollywood film.
  • make your drive as secure as possible
  • always fit a Cat 5 tracker
  • fit a Ghost system
For my part, I’ve now done the above, had the house alarm extended and serviced, fitted some heavy duty concreted in timber bollards along the drive and two telescopic anti ram raid poles at the end of the drive, CCTV and a set of heavy duty gates halfway down the drive where the house ends. New car will be getting a Cat 5 Tracker and Ghost system fitted.

I’m not going to let it beat me though. New car was ordered last week and I’ll see what happens this time round.

Willy Nilly

12,511 posts

166 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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Has it put you off getting that sort of car again?

Gavia

Original Poster:

7,627 posts

90 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Willy Nilly said:
Has it put you off getting that sort of car again?
Nope, as I said above, I’ve ordered a new one. Exactly the same spec, but with a lot more car and home security in place.

Trevor555

4,404 posts

83 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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What's happening to these cars?

Broken for parts?

Shipped out of the country?

Jonno02

2,246 posts

108 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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fk man. Hope this doesn't have any lasting mental scars.

PositronicRay

26,954 posts

182 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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Gavia said:
Willy Nilly said:
Has it put you off getting that sort of car again?
Nope, as I said above, I’ve ordered a new one. Exactly the same spec, but with a lot more car and home security in place.
Bigger gonads than me, too much stress.

Only crap cars for us.

Jazzy Jag

3,412 posts

90 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
So did they get the keys from inside your house or use a key signal booster?

I just bought a £4 Faraday pouch off eBay to keep my keys in at night.

Works great, you can stand right next to the car and it won't open.

Gavia

Original Poster:

7,627 posts

90 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
The crash that I heard and the strange noises were them breaking into the house and then ransacking downstairs, albeit fairly quietly. They stole the keys. I don’t buy cars with keyless entry for the exact reasons you’ve given.

No idea where the cars go, given the amount they’ve been stolen, my opinion is that they’re all to order and being exported.

No chance of lasting mental scars, I’ve had this st before and got over it. If they want it this time, then they’ll have to escalate beyond what the norm is, even for thieving scrotes.

curlie467

7,650 posts

200 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Sorry to hear that Gav!

Gavia

Original Poster:

7,627 posts

90 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
curlie467 said:
Sorry to hear that Gav!
It’s put a big dent in this year’s racing budget frown

Justin S

3,637 posts

260 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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Read somewhere where someones missus had a knife at her throat until the guy told them the ghost code, so maybe best to take a raincheck on that. I wouldn't want that situation to ever occur to anyone in my family. I hope these scum get found, but they usually expect a payout and that you might get the same type of car again , so may come back a few months down the line to check . I do hope not, but the world for nice cars is just so maddening that is sacred to keep what you own.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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I'm interested to know if the car will ever show up on the connected drive network? Aren't they tracked via VIN (which is of course reprogrammable, but then you'd have an "unknown" car on the network?

ChemicalChaos

10,360 posts

159 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
We actually had a talk at our Land Rover club the other night from a Cheshire Police officer responsible for identifying stolen cars, tracking them, and organising huge operations to round up theft gangs.

A few points:

Most high end stolen cars are indeed shipped out in containers, often stacked on each other or strapped to the container roof to get as many in as possible! Expect to see then turn in in Ghana or similar in a few months time, with dented bonnets and roofs.

A lot of high end cars have a tracker fitted at the factory by default. When the dealer asks you if you'd like to purchase the option, they simply enable it.
I don't know if this is an option post-theft.

With the difficulty in stealing cars outright these days (if someone has a secure drive or house door), they will simply strip it for parts in situ. This happens a lot in airport carparks when cars are left in a quiet corner for 2 weeks.

Similarly, a worrying new trend has started developing. Instead of breaking in for keys, or programming a new blank key, Romanian gangs have developed signal relay boxes. One man stands by a keyless entry car on the drive, with one relay box. Another stands by the house door/window with another. Man by the car tries the door handle, and the car signals for its key. The key that would normally be out of range in the house is now brought in range by the relayed signal. Car opens and can be driven off.

Overall, if a gang is determined enough to steal a car, they will go to any means necessary. This has included hi-ab trucks in the past. All you can do is make your car as unattractive a proposition as possible to more casual thieves - this includes driveway bollards, steering wheel locks, and also making sure that keys are not left in sight of windows or your letterbox.

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Justin S said:
Read somewhere where someones missus had a knife at her throat until the guy told them the ghost code
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1695717&i=966
eatontrifles said:
From a Golf GTI forum today;

Just had word last night that a good friend of mine in West Yorkshire had his 8 month old Golf R stolen last night in what he's described to be as a very violent and harrowing experience.

He's had the car nearly stolen once before, but then had the Autowatch Ghost fitted (as recommended by his insurance company). Well on Tuesday night he was woken by three large men in balaclavas in his bedroom demanding they give him the keys (they had broken in though the patio). He duly gave them the keys without hassle, but whist one of the guys went down to the car, the other two stayed with him and his wife.

Minute later he was back and in a foreign language (he thinks eastern European - maybe Romanian, Serbian etc.) said sometime to his other colleagues and one of them produced a large knife and grabbed his wife Julie, and threatened to cut her if he didn't start the car for them. Obviously he didn't hesitate and went downstairs to the car and entered his pin, and they drove off with his car and another BMW X5 they had waiting.

Police attended and are treating this very seriously as you can imagine, although CID did say they hadn't been made aware of eastern Europeans operating in the area and it's the first time that an aggravated car theft in his area had been so violent.

Needless to say my mate is still very shaken but his wife Julie is in pieces and inconsolable. To make matters worse his two kids (one 5 and one 2 year old) were in the next rooms. What sort of pond life scum does that to a family over a bloody car !!! I don't normally think this, but I hope they loose control at high speed and plough head on into a motorway bridge and all die a most painful death (assuming no one else is involved of course). A horrible thing to wish for, but my friend and his wife are one of the nicest and friendliest couples you could ever wish to meet, and this sort of thing just shouldn't' happen in civilized society.

Needless to say, he doesn't ever want to see the car again and said he will never get a nice new car ever again. Said he can't go though that twice. My heart really goes out to the pair of them, and I doubt the scumbags will ever be caught.


frown

ST Ford

291 posts

81 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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I know there has always car thefts especially in the 80’s etc when cars could be taken with a screwdriver but with the current epidemic over the last few years or so how much longer can insurance companies keep paying out 30k, 50k etc especially with all the keyless entry cars literally getting taken in under a minute with signal boosters. It’s like a free for all at the minute and none of them ever seem to get found. I live in an ok quiet area but between people i work with or those who live near that have anything German, 4x4 or performance oriented worth 20k plus they have nearly all had either attempted thefts or actually had the car taken. I know a guy who has had 2 Gashqui’s taken in 3 years it’s ridiculous.
Op couldn’t you raise an issue with BMW for telling you you didn’t need a tracker?

Chris944

336 posts

229 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
[quote=Gavia]Along the lines of this thread, I thought I’d add what it’s like when you’re car is actually stolen after a break in. Hopefully, this won’t get hijacked by some gun toting, yeehaw US idiot. ... etc

Very sorry to hear this. A horrible thing to happen.

downsman

1,099 posts

155 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Sorry to hear this, sounds like you've taken all possible precautions this time, so let's hope it puts the scum off trying again.

I always think these sort of crimes should get much longer prison sentences, we shouldn't have to live in a country where we either avoid buying desirable cars or have to fit bollards on the driveway!

I've always kept a kukri under my bed, so will always have a bigger knife handy if they come upstairs. Doubt they'd bother with a Cactus on the drive though.

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
As said many times before, the key to stopping home-invasion car-thefts is to have at least 3 strongly-locked doors between the car and the keys (Faraday cage if keyless).

Lock the driveway gates, lock the backdoor, lock the frontdoor, lock the living room, lock the kitchen, lock the hallway, lock the stairs, lock the bedrooms, lock the windows. Have smoke-alarms and an escape plan for fire.

Think like a castle, not a house.

Locking internal doors stops these crimes by 80-100%.

limpsfield

5,871 posts

252 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Yipper said:
Think like a castle, not a house..
#ClassicYip

curlie467

7,650 posts

200 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
quotequote all
Gavia said:
curlie467 said:
Sorry to hear that Gav!
It’s put a big dent in this year’s racing budget frown
Oh no, that's crap, was hoping to catch up with you somewhere!