Stolen range rovers

[Pantechnicon]

Every day I seem to come across a post somewhere that another Range Rover has been nicked, last weekend a RR Velar was stolen off a drive a couple of doors down from me. Wtf is going on with keyless entry we seem to be going backwards,I remember in the 70s when crooklocks became all the rage. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £100,000 for a car that could be stolen so easily.

[hman]

Then don't.

Have a read about home invasions to get the keys to high value vehicles - its an (insured) luxury item if it gets nicked you'll get paid out.

The addition of immobilisers to cars is actually what started this not keyless start, and immobilisers were added because of joy riding in powerful (at the time) cars with easily overcome security features.

Having a key didnt stop car theives back then, a vauxhall cavalaier could be opened with a 30cm plastic ruler ffs.

[Pantechnicon]

Yes but home invasions for keys are less common than keyless entry thefts. I know that back in the day you could nick a car with a nail file but surely it shouldn’t be that easy now ?

[SS2.]

I wonder if a lot of people do little to make it harder for their vehicles to be stolen.

Faraday pouch for the keys, steering wheel lock for a visible & physical deterrent, deactivation of the keyless function, etc. None of which are foolproof, but very worthwhile if it encourages potential thieves to move on to another target..

[Jamescrs]

SS2. said:

I wonder if a lot of people do little to make it harder for their vehicles to be stolen.

Faraday pouch for the keys, steering wheel lock for a visible & physical deterrent, deactivation of the keyless function, etc. None of which are foolproof, but very worthwhile if it encourages potential thieves to move on to another target..

People don't want to that's the thing, I douby many who have dropped £100k on a Rangerover want to stick a £60 disclok over the steering wheel whenever they leave it.
I agree with you but people don't want to do it, they view it as they pay a premium for these conveniences and a disclok looks unsightly.

[powerstroke]

SS2. said:

I wonder if a lot of people do little to make it harder for their vehicles to be stolen.

Faraday pouch for the keys, steering wheel lock for a visible & physical deterrent, deactivation of the keyless function, etc. None of which are foolproof, but very worthwhile if it encourages potential thieves to move on to another target..

I blame the insurance companies to a big extent , They now want more for their salvage and damaged vehicles and,selling them as repairable just fuels a market for stolen parts to repair them ....

[DeWar]

Vehicle thefts up 50% in 6 years and 9 out of 10 thefts being due to keyless does rather strongly imply the rise of keyless entry systems is the issue.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/why-ar...

It makes sense. Whilst many criminals are stupid, none want to get caught or go to prison and breaking into a house to steal keys carries more risk of being caught, more chance of being investigated by police and a bigger punishment if caught. It seems unlikely that all these relay thieves would be invading homes if they couldn’t steal in a less risky manner.

Round my way it is almost invariably Range Rovers being nicked at an alarming rate. I believe RR’s figure highly in the national figures for cars stolen. I’m curious if there’s something particularly egregious about their implementation of keyless that makes them vulnerable? Or is it just a function of their popularity amongst punters and criminals?

[Buster73]

Pantechnicon said:

Every day I seem to come across a post somewhere that another Range Rover has been nicked, last weekend a RR Velar was stolen off a drive a couple of doors down from me. Wtf is going on with keyless entry we seem to be going backwards,I remember in the 70s when crooklocks became all the rage. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £100,000 for a car that could be stolen so easily.

I’ve got a RRS and an S3 parked on the drive every night, never even think about they might get stolen.

If they do as long as no one is hurt during the theft would be my only concern.

The cars are insured and can easily be replaced.

You worry too much.

[DonkeyApple]

Pantechnicon said:

Every day I seem to come across a post somewhere that another Range Rover has been nicked, last weekend a RR Velar was stolen off a drive a couple of doors down from me. Wtf is going on with keyless entry we seem to be going backwards,I remember in the 70s when crooklocks became all the rage. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £100,000 for a car that could be stolen so easily.

Remember in the 1970s when people put their expensive possessions away inside and didn't leave them left in the front garden like something waiting to be collected by the rag and bone man?

They still give you an insurance discount if you're willing to be bothered to put a car inside a garage so it clearly holds true to this day.

Don't leave valuables on the front lawn overnight and be surprised when some tea leaf absconds with it. Putting them in the garage only takes a few seconds and works wonders with regards to sending the inevitable scrote to someone else's home to half inch the nice chattels they've left on display.

And if I lived somewhere like London where property prices have skewed that logic then I would sink a heavy duty hydraulic bollard across the drive to again, keep the roaches scuttling down the road.

[trickywoo]

Buster73 said:

I’ve got a RRS and an S3 parked on the drive every night, never even think about they might get stolen.

If they do as long as no one is hurt during the theft would be my only concern.

The cars are insured and can easily be replaced.

You worry too much.

The cost to you with excess and increased premiums would not be insignificant if they were stolen.

[DonkeyApple]

SS2. said:

I wonder if a lot of people do little to make it harder for their vehicles to be stolen.

Faraday pouch for the keys, steering wheel lock for a visible & physical deterrent, deactivation of the keyless function, etc. None of which are foolproof, but very worthwhile if it encourages potential thieves to move on to another target..

That's an awful lot of hard work for people to be expected to do for something that isn't even theirs. Easy come, easy go.

In fairness, there is probably a bit of fear that if you make modest and mainly invisible increases to security then you'll be inviting these people into your home to obtain the key, which is statistically left in the hallway.

A wheel lock is the obvious starting point as it's a second key to place a bet on but people just don't want the hassle. A hydraulic post is going to sow enough confusion as the solution is well outside their basic set of simple criteria that they will move on and take someone else's stuff. They've already decided they are going to steal something so beat their scout never even puts your address on their list.

[BlueEyedBoy]

Buster73 said:

Pantechnicon said:

Every day I seem to come across a post somewhere that another Range Rover has been nicked, last weekend a RR Velar was stolen off a drive a couple of doors down from me. Wtf is going on with keyless entry we seem to be going backwards,I remember in the 70s when crooklocks became all the rage. I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £100,000 for a car that could be stolen so easily.

I’ve got a RRS and an S3 parked on the drive every night, never even think about they might get stolen.

If they do as long as no one is hurt during the theft would be my only concern.

The cars are insured and can easily be replaced.

You worry too much.

Yeah they are... I've had 2 stolen. An extra 3K on car insurance on cars 5 groups down , hassle of not having the car while the insurance companies try and give you 5K less and a house burgled to ger the keys after I put them in the pouch. I would have some concern, it's not a nice thing and you are the one who suffers.

So no, they can't easily be replaced. Too get another M5 the insurance went from 1k to 4K. Not paying that for insurance.

Edited by BlueEyedBoy on Thursday 3rd December 12:19

[PrinceRupert]

Jamescrs said:

SS2. said:

I wonder if a lot of people do little to make it harder for their vehicles to be stolen.

Faraday pouch for the keys, steering wheel lock for a visible & physical deterrent, deactivation of the keyless function, etc. None of which are foolproof, but very worthwhile if it encourages potential thieves to move on to another target..

People don't want to that's the thing, I douby many who have dropped £100k on a Rangerover want to stick a £60 disclok over the steering wheel whenever they leave it.
I agree with you but people don't want to do it, they view it as they pay a premium for these conveniences and a disclok looks unsightly.

I would say half the cars on my street have disclocks. None of them are 100k range rovers kind you.

[bigandclever]

DeWar said:

Vehicle thefts up 50% in 6 years and 9 out of 10 thefts being due to keyless does rather strongly imply the rise of keyless entry systems is the issue.

I know this will feel like pedantry, and it’s a bit early in the day for that, but (from Tracker) it’s “In 2019, 92% of stolen vehicles recovered by Tracker were stolen via Keyless Entry theft methods. Similarly, in 2018, 88% of all vehicles stolen and recovered by Tracker were stolen without using the owner’s keys.” That’s not the same as 9 out of 10 car thefts are by aholes with laptops, it’s a bit press-release-becomes-fact.

Tracker are good enough to post on Twitter some of their monthly stats... in October 2020 they recovered, drumroll, 36 vehicles (2 with keys).

[mike-v2tmf]

I was going to buy a 2008 Range Rover a couple of years ago. Insurance co. with the big red telephone logo refused to cover it for theft without a tracker installed , surprised me as it wasn't an expensive car

[DeWar]

bigandclever said:

I know this will feel like pedantry, and it’s a bit early in the day for that, but (from Tracker) it’s “In 2019, 92% of stolen vehicles recovered by Tracker were stolen via Keyless Entry theft methods. Similarly, in 2018, 88% of all vehicles stolen and recovered by Tracker were stolen without using the owner’s keys.” That’s not the same as 9 out of 10 car thefts are by aholes with laptops, it’s a bit press-release-becomes-fact.

Tracker are good enough to post on Twitter some of their monthly stats... in October 2020 they recovered, drumroll, 36 vehicles (2 with keys).

I approve of pedantry where it corrects inaccuracies, so you are right.

I believe the general point stands though.

[SS2.]

DonkeyApple said:

That's an awful lot of hard work for people to be expected to do for something that isn't even theirs. Easy come, easy go.

We always fit a steering wheel lock to our (owned) 2016 RRS, with one of the keys in a safe and the other in a Faraday pouch.

None of this is any hardship - the lock takes seconds to fit / remove.

Sure, if someone wants the car bad enough, they'll find a way. But it's hardly life changing to undertake a few basic measures in an attempt to deter the less 'motivated' thieves.

[The Mad Monk]

Do you think the reason so many Range Rovers are being stolen is because they keep breaking down, so the thieves have to go out and steal another one to replace the earlier one?

DYSWIM?

[rxe]

DonkeyApple said:

Remember in the 1970s when people put their expensive possessions away inside and didn't leave them left in the front garden like something waiting to be collected by the rag and bone man?

They still give you an insurance discount if you're willing to be bothered to put a car inside a garage so it clearly holds true to this day.

Don't leave valuables on the front lawn overnight and be surprised when some tea leaf absconds with it. Putting them in the garage only takes a few seconds and works wonders with regards to sending the inevitable scrote to someone else's home to half inch the nice chattels they've left on display.

And if I lived somewhere like London where property prices have skewed that logic then I would sink a heavy duty hydraulic bollard across the drive to again, keep the roaches scuttling down the road.

Part of me thinks that we shouldn’t have to hide our possessions, but then the realist kicks in.

I suspect a big aspect is the sheer number of these things kicking around in let’s say “less salubrious” areas. i remember earlier the year having cause to go to a really grotty estate. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the sun was burning down and I thought “thank god I don’t have to live in a st hole like this”. And yet, the street was littered with close to £2 million in cars - high end vehicles from every manufacturer. Of course they’re going to get nicked...

[Ninja59]

It is not just the cars these days but parts getting stolen.

Bmw steering wheels, idrive systems and various trim in some cases - 4 in the last week I know of!
Various Ford parts stolen
Etc. Etc.

The problem for me is a case of property theft means lack of investigation and if they caught a slap on the wrist from the judiciary (and that is a big if it is investigated and the CPS put any effort in).

Combine that with manufacturers only recently say past 2 years integrating motion sensors into keys it leaves a lot of car vulnerable. Bmw, JLR and Ford have for instance.

The problem as well is people's lazy attitude. Some moaned about their cars getting broken into, but ffs they don't even lock them!