Thief proofing your BMW?

[WindsorRob]

An interesting albeit worrying read. There's part of the thread that mentions keys taken from the house etc, something that happened to neighbours near to where we used to live. The thieves removed a kitchen Window whilst they were inbred, found the keys and made off with a Mitsubishi Evo. It was tracked on ANPR to north wales and about 6 weeks later appeared on a dealer forecourt where it was recovered. Clearly, these thieves weren't so thorough !

So, I can't help but wonder or ask, if keys are being taken from houses is this saying those who've suffered this, which must be awful and I dread the thought of it, are considering their car security more than the house. I may be overlooking something here, but we have a Grade 4, monitored alarm and as soon as anything is sensed on doors, windows or outbuildings all hell breaks loose with sirens and resulting calls from the monitoring co to which I then say police needed or not. My point being if someone gets in, they're not going to sneak around to find the keys. Now I guess they may act quickly and batter me anyway, but surely this has to make it far riskier for them.

I suppose my overall question being, are those thefts where home entry is the method, having decent home home alarms that have warned them, or not ?

[WindsorRob]

I'll correct part of the above before someone else does ! I'm not absolutely sure, but fairly positive that the neighbours in question weren't 'inbred' , they were in bed though.

[msej449]

Not a lot I can say, really, regarding the increasing size of cars versus garages (and, one might add, parking spaces).

Re whether home security is a deterrent: It's noticeable that after the main details and post code, the next question from insurers is usually whether it's garaged or not. Not whether you have a home alarm system.

Personally, my interpretation is that while it's perfectly natural to want to take precautions, there's a diminishing return. I wouldn't bother with an outdoor surveillance system to protect the car if it wasn't garaged because I think the evidence is that serious professional thieves wouldn't be deterred.

BTW I would still think there's a good case for home internal alarm systems.

[techguyone]

MEames said:

How about a small toggle switch cutting the feed from a key engine sensor - i’ve had this done for a few vehicles (admittedly commercials so much simpler and no keyless entry / start) - won’t fire even with the keys.

A Small toggle switch is hidden somewhere that would take ages to find if you didn’t know. Not foolproof but likely to slow thieves down enough to make them bail and you don’t have to disconnect the battery.

• Edit - take a look at ‘Autowatch Ghost’ aswell for an alternative solution*

Edited by MEames on Monday 16th October 12:47

Back in the 90's when car crime was huge you used to be able to get a small keypad device wired into your car that wouldn't let you start it until you put in your pin, it even had a valet mode.


It seems to me a lot of issues now are caused by laziness, keyless entry seems to be the hot fave. Is it really that arduous to press a key on your remote rather than having something transmitting endlessly for when you come into range.

My new car has keyless entry sadly, I've just ordered a steering lock device for it, if nothing else it might put a few off as it's very visible.

[Philv8s]

This seems to be the modern alternative. Seems a good idea if it works as advertised.
https://www.ghostimmobiliser.co.uk

[dhutch]

DVandrews said:

Stick your keys in the microwave , this will block the signal completely nd foil the listening device.

High risk however, as only one slip and you will nuke your keys! Unless you have a second unplugged microwave for key storage!

[dhutch]

msej449 said:

..The biggest practical thing you can do is to garage your car if possible.

A car parked in your drive is 3x more likely to be stolen than one parked in a secure garage.... .... parking in the drive is the worst option, statistically.

I guess as well as making it harder to trace where the keys are, often the cars in the street are the less desirable ones.

I would love to keep my cars in a garage, but it's so hard to find a house with a large garage, even now with a steel prefab double the kitcar takes half and the rest is storage.

Daniel

[Craikeybaby]

techguyone said:

It seems to me a lot of issues now are caused by laziness, keyless entry seems to be the hot fave. Is it really that arduous to press a key on your remote rather than having something transmitting endlessly for when you come into range.

My new car has keyless entry sadly, I've just ordered a steering lock device for it, if nothing else it might put a few off as it's very visible.

I'm not sure that it is laziness on the part of customers, I think it is more vehicle manufacturer marketing departments/engineers pushing technology for the sake of technology.

[techguyone]

Yes I'm not blaming car users, they're stuck with the choices manufacturers give them, presumably the ever transmitting keyfob is a requirement for the stop/ start button so the car knows you're in the car, should have been done better though.

Hindsight. It's a wonderful thing.

That said, these keyless issues have been raised by various organisations/press for a few years now, are the manufacturers actually taking notice? Is there any evidence they are?

[Toltec]

Philv8s said:

This seems to be the modern alternative. Seems a good idea if it works as advertised.
https://www.ghostimmobiliser.co.uk

It seems to in that I still have the car after 20 months unlike the previous one that was nicked after five. Having said that there has been no sign anyone has tried.

It does take a bit longer to start the car, the instructions say to press the start button without the brake pedal pressed so you just wake the car up without starting the engine, then enter the code and wait a few seconds for the confirmation then you can start it. I found however that you can start the car then enter the code providing you wait a few seconds for the normal start up to finish and the engine light to extinguish.

Being an automatic means you can turn on the car or start it, but no one can drive it off until you put the code in, drop it into drive and it just stops. Handy for demisting/deicing or pumping the tyres up without worrying about anyone being able to jump in and drive off while you are distracted.

Not cheap though and not Thatcham approved yet afaik.

[Philv8s]

Good to hear from someone with experience of one. There is an app available I thought that bypasses the need to enter a code, the alarm sees the app via Bluetooth and turns the immobiliser off which gets around the hassle of code entering?

[YZ10]

DVandrews said:

Stick your keys in the microwave , this will block the signal completely nd foil the listening device.

Dave

The Dave Andrews? Head porting?

[YZ10]

Philv8s said:

Good to hear from someone with experience of one. There is an app available I thought that bypasses the need to enter a code, the alarm sees the app via Bluetooth and turns the immobiliser off which gets around the hassle of code entering?

I use the normal version of ghost, via button combination. The app or RDIF tag version seems to have some issues in that the range of the app via bluetooth is very long and there have been instances of the car being on the drive and the phone being inside and active and car was taken away.

Honestly takes seconds to start once you memorise the button inputs. Well worth the money.

[Toltec]

YZ10 said:

Philv8s said:

Good to hear from someone with experience of one. There is an app available I thought that bypasses the need to enter a code, the alarm sees the app via Bluetooth and turns the immobiliser off which gets around the hassle of code entering?

I use the normal version of ghost, via button combination. The app or RDIF tag version seems to have some issues in that the range of the app via bluetooth is very long and there have been instances of the car being on the drive and the phone being inside and active and car was taken away.

Honestly takes seconds to start once you memorise the button inputs. Well worth the money.

The phone app is trendy and seems less hassle, but really you are just opening up a way to steal the car. If you already have comfort access then having to enter a code is really what gives you the security.

One thing to check is that on a manual car you probably do have to enter the code before trying to start it, you also need to remove the key (older models, not sure about keyless types), wait a few seconds, re-insert the key, switch on, enter the code and then start if you stall it. I would imagine doing that lot could be a bit stressfull if you stall half way out of a junction.

The main advantage is you are not trying to replace or bypass what is probably a perfectly good manufacturer fit alarm and immobiliser system, you are just adding an extra authentication layer to the existing equipment.

[techguyone]

Ghost does seem to have a bad flaw in that you can't for example: if someone takes it for a service, it'll only work for 3 mins at 30 mph before needing to input your code. There doesn't appear to have a valet mode for it. Would you really trust an unknown to your secret pin ?

[Toltec]

techguyone said:

Ghost does seem to have a bad flaw in that you can't for example: if someone takes it for a service, it'll only work for 3 mins at 30 mph before needing to input your code. There doesn't appear to have a valet mode for it. Would you really trust an unknown to your secret pin ?

It does have a valet mode that allows the car to be driven without a code after you have enabled it, however if the car is driven above 35mph, iirc, then it will need the code on the next start. I just make sure the garage know that when I leave it for a service. If it was something that was going to require driving faster then you can just give them the code. It is easy to change so either change it after or set a temporary one and change it back to the normal one after the work.

[YZ10]

techguyone said:

Ghost does seem to have a bad flaw in that you can't for example: if someone takes it for a service, it'll only work for 3 mins at 30 mph before needing to input your code. There doesn't appear to have a valet mode for it. Would you really trust an unknown to your secret pin ?

actually 15 mins @ more than 30mph.

[techguyone]

Yea I like the idea of setting a temp one, that works for me

[YZ10]

Along with a tracker not something to really let eveyone know you have one fitted.

[Toltec]

YZ10 said:

Along with a tracker not something to really let eveyone know you have one fitted.

Then again do you put the stickers on as a deterrent to damaging your car breaking into it to find they cannot steal it? It depends how organised they are, in my case they must have been watching and waiting for me to leave the house as it was taken within minutes of me doing so. My wife came out twenty mintues after me and thought I had just gone to work in the car instead of walking like normal.