Best mate just had both cars stolen.

Mrmoofo what a tosser!

I wouldn’t be too sure about older cars being less attractive; they’re also easier to steal (keys notwithstanding).

My first car was a 1977 1.1L Fiesta, which was thirteen years old when I acquired it. That was stolen one day from the road outside my house. After searching far and wide, I discovered it abandoned on a side street a few blocks away. They’d gained access by smashing a window (which was annoying cos you could’ve unlocked the door with a broken biscuit), and had started it with a screwdriver in the ignition barrel. IIRC, the stereo had been appropriated as well.

I don’t want to appear unsympathetic to the op because I am and hope the incident doesn’t have any lasting consequences but if I lived in the sort of place people broke into your house to steal a car I would move. That may mean compromising on the work options or lifestyle but having lived in lots of areas of high crime and somewhere that a tipped wheely bin makes the newspaper I wish I’d got out earlier.

Mrmoofo what a tosser!

How mature 😆

Shit happens – load of shit has many to many of my friends. But fortunately I don’t feel a need to post about on social media.
I trust the friend of the OP has insurance – so it’s just one of those things

The passport – stolen in Oz. Proved to be a real PITA. Fortunately I had taken a note of my passport number. It still took 2 days at the UK consulate to get and emergency one to get back.
Without the number it would have been worse. Always have a photocopy of you passport!

It gave me hassle for the next 10 years traveling – esp to the US

Mrmoofo
The passport – stolen in Oz. Proved to be a real PITA. Fortunately I had taken a note of my passport number. It still took 2 days at the UK consulate to get and emergency one to get back.
Without the number it would have been worse. Always have a photocopy of you passport!

It gave me hassle for the next 10 years traveling – esp to the US
[Without being totally heartless, and ….

It happens all the time , to loads of people. So how is this of interest to STW

mrmoofo – Member
Shit happens – load of shit has many to many of my friends. But fortunately I don’t feel a need to post about on social media.
I trust the friend of the OP has insurance – so it’s just one of those things

Sure it happens to loads of people, but STW is hardly social media & of the 200+ people I know through work only 1 has been broken into to have their car stolen. I don’t think people breaking into your house is “Just on of those things”
I can fully appreciate how it would make you feel vulnerable in your own house & change your feelings about where you live.

What amazes me is the number of BMWs which are stolen round here (Surrey)while the keys are in the house. At one point three were stolen from the same street in one night.

Just said as i saw, your were being a complete tosser with that comment, simple as, if it is of no interest to you then stfu!

I bet they are stolen to be sold on to those in the eastern block or African states. They like German cars there.

Nobody wants the German and European cars in the far east so you can rule that out.

By the way can I kill armed intruders threatening my family? Seriously. 🙂

Of no consolation obviously, but it seems the new Range Rover Sports have a security flaw which allows them to be nicked, about ten stolen from one street near to my parents house in North London 😐

Just said as i saw, your were being a complete tosser with that comment, simple as, if it is of no interest to you then stfu!

That’s not a very Christian attitude is it !!
I’m sure the OP is big enough to fight his own battles without asking his harder mates to get involved.

Lets – agree. You don’t reply with something personal again, and then I won’t bother posting either

It happens all the time , to loads of people. So how is this of interest to STW

Dunno – someone up there asked, so I just replied. And yes it does happen all the time. And it actually happened to me, not a mate !!
And I didn’t post about it until asked.
And yes, it is no interest to anyone 🙄 that was sort of the point

My mate’s coming round to watch the football, but he’s running a bit late so he’s missed kick off.

Thats nothing, I went out for a ride today & saw a female bullfinch.

I find it reassuring to know that a simple improvised immobiliser makes my 24 year old Land Rover harder to steal than a brand new £30000 BMW.

Yeah, I once home-brewed an immobiliser on a car, by cutting the ignition circuit behind the dash and adding a hidden toggle switch. Even with the key, you weren’t going to start it unless you knew where it was. Never had cause to test it, fortunately.

I’ve just been for a run.

I think, our Skoda and Rover are safe!!

I know where you live and the neighbours you have. Get trackers on them and 24hr security 😀

That’s not a very Christian attitude is it !!
I’m sure the OP is big enough to fight his own battles without asking his harder mates to get involved.

FWIW, I think your attitude shows you to be a bit of a tosser, and as I’m not a Christian, I don’t have to have a Christian attitude either.
As regards Trackers, if I had a car that was worth stealing, and a very mucky Octavia isn’t, I think I’d get hold of an old iPhone 4/4S, fix up a USB connection to it so that its permanently on and hidden inside the dash, with Find My iPhone enabled.
Cost, about the same as a year’s Tracker with no ongoing fees.
Just a thought.

FWIW, I think your attitude shows you to be a bit of a tosser, and as I’m not a Christian, I don’t have to have a Christian attitude either.

You never meet me, so big words …
Let keep it mutual … 🙄

Though you’d presumably need a valid SIM card which involves some ongoing cost (or can you keep a PAYG one live by phoning it every now and then even if it doesn’t pick up?) In which case even cheaper is any cheap old Android phone – hadn’t thought about this before, but surprised to find how easy it is without enabling anything, went to https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager and it shows where my phone is.

Article on you and yours , monday last week and watchdog last thursday about security faults failures on bmws audis and range rovers, making them easy to steal without the keys.

But to the op always intresting to know somebody has had stuff nicked and how it was done, so we may all take better precautions and try and protect our property.

By all accounts they have drilled 5 or 6 holes into the framework of his back window and then fed something through to undo the latch.

Everything that was on the kitchen windowsill was lined up on the lawn as it came out the window

The bmw was spotted at 04:00 this morning on the m42 setting all the cameras off. Weirdly it was still on it’s private plate.

M sport diesel BMW, private number plates – how vulgar. A great opportunity to replace them with something a bit more sophisticated.

That’s nice of you.

He worked and saved very hard for his car.

crikey this place has become savage.

Problem might be that it wasn’t the OP, but his mate.

So however shitty this is, no one to give sympathy to directly, and probably not much to learn. The keys were out of view. Could have happened to any of us. But loads of cars get nicked every day and not each one deserves its own thread. Just saying

Is there a contest on to find out who can be the most obnoxious? Out of interest would you walk into a pub and gob off like this, no didn’t think so.

Could have happened to any of us

Not to those of us who hide their keys and independently immobilise their vehicle it couldn’t. 😉
I’m not saying my Land Rover will never get stolen, but if you’ve “worked and saved very hard” for a car, surely it makes sense to put a bit of thought in to theft prevention beyond simply locking it up and hanging the key on a hook by the front door.
Maybe this thread will spur that thought for some.

Because the thief threatening you and your family would be better? This doesn’t sound like a simple case of “hooking”.

Tracker or remote disabler ftw here. People saying their stuff won’t get nicked are being smug. Anything can be taken away. Cars get repo’d.

This was a shitty thing to happen. Feeling good because it didn’t happen to us would be smug. Feeling terribly hurt for someone we don’t know when they and their family were ok, and it was two cars nicked, not their entire home trashed and covered in crap, would seem a bit odd too.

There is a middle line here. I’m just saying why this thread hasn’t turned into a formal book of commiseration.

I realise that if a thief has gone to the trouble of breaking in to your house and can’t find the key downstairs, there’s a risk that they will then come upstairs looking for it.
However, if I was a car thief, I would think of simply mugging someone on their drive for their key and phone as they arrive home alone would be an easier option than searching for the master bedroom in a strange house in the dark and hoping there were no other adults in any of the other rooms to raise the alarm.

plyphon – Member
crikey this place has become savage

It’s cuz they dont finish with “just kidding :D”. Innit.

No one knows the rules anymore. Someone somewhere’s having a hard time JUDGE THEM!

The passport – stolen in Oz. Proved to be a real PITA. Fortunately I had taken a note of my passport number. It still took 2 days at the UK consulate to get and emergency one to get back.
Without the number it would have been worse. Always have a photocopy of you passport!

this is boring as batshit and on balance I preferred the OP greatly

Unfortunately some people do appear to get very envious of people who work hard and buy nice cars, like in the stupid comments above. If it had been a Skoda Octavia and Fabia the OP would have got 100% sympathy.

The other comment about living in a crap area is very untrue as well. They probably live in a very nice area, and the scum travel to the nice area for rich pickings.

Awful thing to happen regardless.

I have a new BMW, and I did think about being at a higher risk of this aggressive type of car crime just from owning one.

It happened to my Mum on Saturday

Both cars gone after a day out

Unfortunately some people do appear to get very envious of people who work hard and buy nice cars

On the other hand, nobody buys a BMW because it’s a cheap and practical form of personal transport.
You’ve got to expect a bit of schadenfreude if you get your status symbol stolen.
That and, well, you know, BMW drivers…

FunkyDunc – Member
The other comment about living in a crap area is very untrue as well. They probably live in a very nice area, and the scum travel to the nice area for rich pickings.

This is absolutely spot on

It is spot on.

He lives on one of the nicer estate in the town.

police told him that two weeks ago another BMW was taken from the the close out the back of my mates.

It happened to my Mum on Saturday

Both cars gone after a day out
Bugger. Nightmare.

He lives on one of the nicer estate in the town.

Sorry, I don’t understand.

Unfortunately some people do appear to get very envious of people who work hard and buy nice cars

Sorry, I don’t understand this either.