Had an attempted theft of my 57 octavia vrs tdi earlyhours of wednesday morning, they have drilled the ignition barrel and knackered all the cowling etc under the steering wheel, the strange thing is that there was no signs of them doing any damage entering the vehicle eg smashing windows etc. Problem is the motor engineer that the insurance sent out to look at the car is saying that i left it open, and very unlikely that insurance will pay out! thing is iam nearly 100% sure i locked the car! was just wondering if any of you guys on here knew if its possible to gain entry without key and damage??

Cheers Mark

Did the alarm go off? If your not sure a dealer can check when the last activation was and what triggered it.

Did the alarm go off? If your not sure a dealer can check when the last activation was and what triggered it.

Not sure diddnt hear anything, dont think so.

Sounds like it may have been unlocked then. Round here they go walking up and down trying doors, did you have a "menu" put through your door that day? Could it have been unlocked then?

possibly we get that much crap put through our door! any one know where we stand insurance wise??

if its been unlocked then you've not made reasonable effort to keep your car secure in the eyes of the insurance company. Insurance companies will use any excuse not to pay out! Atleast this is what they will probably say!

Had an attempted theft of my 57 octavia vrs tdi earlyhours of wednesday morning, they have drilled the ignition barrel and knackered all the cowling etc under the steering wheel, the strange thing is that there was no signs of them doing any damage entering the vehicle eg smashing windows etc. Problem is the motor engineer that the insurance sent out to look at the car is saying that i left it open, and very unlikely that insurance will pay out! thing is iam nearly 100% sure i locked the car! was just wondering if any of you guys on here knew if its possible to gain entry without key and damage??

Cheers Mark

Simple answer is YES - the only way thieves can steal most modern cars is with the ignition key, hence breaking into houses overnight for the keys.

However, thieves have now armed themselves with a bit of electronic kit that can 'capture' the radio frequency sent from your key fob to the car when you lock it. Once they have this they wait for you to leave the car then re-transmit the same radio frequency and open your car - bingo!

This is still a rare way of working but it has been done and it is thus not an impossibility!

Old wifes tail, the code is a rolling cryptec type. Hence the need to "code keys". If the key is not paired it will not start!! I'd say some illegal has popped a menu in the door, tried car door which was unlocked and told the rest of the gang who came back. This also applies to houses with piles of unopened letters, etc...

I dont know about your but my Octy auto locks after if left open. Dont know if its got some form of proximity sensor on the key fob!!!!, my Mk1 Octy did the same!!!. Some tech on here may be able to confirm this for you

Ross

If its unlocked and the door is unopened it will lock, don't think it locks itself.

Old wifes tail, the code is a rolling cryptec type. Hence the need to "code keys". If the key is not paired it will not start!! I'd say some illegal has popped a menu in the door, tried car door which was unlocked and told the rest of the gang who came back. This also applies to houses with piles of unopened letters, etc...

They don't have the key to start it do they - the owner has this - that's why they needed to drill the sterring lock. I know it works as people have had their cars nicked.

Seems a bit odd as if they drilled the lock out the immobiliser would still prevent the car being started. The engine immobiliser is seperate from the remote locking system so even if they could capture the remote lock signal it still wouldn't allow them to actually drive the car away.

The fact that they drilled the lock and knackered the column shroud sounds more like it was an opportunist numpty than a master criminal. This would have worked on most cars 20+ years ago but achieves nothing on a modern car with an immobiliser.

Edited 19 February, 201115 yr by nick74

Seems a bit odd as if they drilled the lock out the immobiliser would still prevent the car being started. The engine immobiliser is seperate from the remote locking system so even if they could capture the remote lock signal it still wouldn't allow them to actually drive the car away.

The fact that they drilled the lock and knackered the column shroud sounds more like it was an opportunist numpty than a master criminal. This would have worked on most cars 20+ years ago but achieves nothing on a modern car with an immobiliser.

Think i still try and persue the fact that i am 99%sure i locked it and there is a chance it can be done?

cheers for the replies guys

Mark

Old wifes tail, the code is a rolling cryptec type. Hence the need to "code keys". If the key is not paired it will not start!! I'd say some illegal has popped a menu in the door, tried car door which was unlocked and told the rest of the gang who came back. This also applies to houses with piles of unopened letters, etc...

Actually it's not an old wives tale - there is a device that enables a car thief to block the remote locking. It happens quite frequently on motorway services and enables the said thief access to the car without triggering the alarm.

They do need the key to start the machine as the imobilizer will only work with the chip built into the keys.

Rich

But capturing the "code" to unlock and blocking are two differant things? You'd know if you could'nt lock the car as the lights won't flash or bleep. It sounds more like the OP is trying to work out if the car was unlocked rather than blocked.

The device for blocking is any transceiver that will transmit around 433Mhz, as a radio ham I'm well use to seeing this occur in supermarket car parks!

I dont know about your but my Octy auto locks after if left open. Dont know if its got some form of proximity sensor on the key fob!!!!, my Mk1 Octy did the same!!!. Some tech on here may be able to confirm this for you

Ross

Same on my 08 octy rs.if i leave the doors unlocked and someone approaches the car,the doors lock and the alarm beeps...

Same on my 08 octy rs.if i leave the doors unlocked and someone approaches the car,the doors lock and the alarm beeps...

I think you'll find it only locks itself if you've simply unlocked it & not put the key in ignition. If you arrive home & don't lock the car it won't lock itself.

Ian

Think i still try and persue the fact that i am 99%sure i locked it and there is a chance it can be done?

Well you can certainly try, but I think the assessor's reasoning is probably correct - Why would a thief who was well equipped and clued-up enough to use a device to block the remote locking signal then be clueless enough to try pulling the steering lock and column apart in an hopeless attempt to defeat an electronic immobiliser? I suppose it could be a kid who's somehow got their hands on a device to block the remote locking signal but doesn't really know what they're doing otherwise perhaps?

It sounds like there is something going on at the moment with breaking in to VAG vehicles:

Link 1

Link 2

sounds like what happened to mine maybe, perhaps could use his some kind of proof thsat it is possible.

sounds like what happened to mine maybe, perhaps could use his some kind of proof thsat it is possible.

One thing to consider before you take this any further with your insurers is how much is the theft/attempted theft excess on your policy? It seems fairly commonplace for this to be £250 or more now.

Depending on where you get the car repaired you may find they can replace the column shroud, fit a new lock barrel, code keys etc for not that much more (or possibly less) than £250 anyway. In which case an insurance claim would be pointless, even if they accept that you locked the car. You would also potentially lose/reduce your no claims bonus too.

Edited 20 February, 201115 yr by nick74

Insurance have autherised the repair costs are about £1200, needs new lock set, keys, transponder, cowling under dash, couple of pannels on dash where d##k heads scuffed it with drill, air bag reset, and keys repogramming and 2 doors painting were they opened them onto the wall on my drive, thank god its getting done! i know our premium will gon up next year but dont have a spare £1200 hanging around

Mark

Glad to hear you are getting it sorted Mark

Hopefully the scanning thing doesn't become commonplace!

Insurance have autherised the repair costs are about £1200, needs new lock set, keys, transponder, cowling under dash, couple of pannels on dash where d##k heads scuffed it with drill, air bag reset, and keys repogramming and 2 doors painting were they opened them onto the wall on my drive, thank god its getting done! i know our premium will gon up next year but dont have a spare £1200 hanging around

Mark

Blimey I can understand why you wanted it done on the insurance now! Glad its being sorted.

What the ****s were trying to achieve by doing all of that (other than wrecking your car) I can only imagine.

Not much use to OP but, should it happen to someone else make sure you smash your own window before insurance assessor arrives.

Edit:

Oops, didn't realise there was a second page, result to OP!

Edited 22 February, 201115 yr by Lou_O