Found my 2006 VRS had been broken into last night whilst i was asleep, the car being parked on the drive right below my bedroom window on a suburban housing estate, with street lighting etc. As I approached the car, I noticed the drivers door slightly ajar, on part latch; and then spotted the telltale signs of the contents of the glovebox contents strewn across the passenger seat. There are no signs of any forced entry, which is extremely worrying. Firstly I am pretty sure I locked the car, I do this out of habit - I am not one for leaving it unlocked at petrol stations for example, and even lock the doors when driving in built up city centres to prevent an opportunist thief from opening the passenger door at traffic lights etc. However, even if I had left it unlocked, I thought that the alarm and immobiliser would activate, even if the doors did not automatically lock..??

So am a satnav and two blue tooth earpieces missing, and extremely P*****d off right now.

pricks :(

Sorry to hear about this, hateful bar stewards...

The alarm would not have gone off if you forgot to lock the car. The auto arm is only when you turn the alarm off and then don't open any doors for 30 seconds... I suspect the immobiliser would be active, but not the alarm if you get out of the car and forget to lock it

Scant consolation I'm sure, but it could've been worse. At least you have no bodywork that requires repairing as a result.

could they have used one of those scanners that copies your fob so they can unlock it themselves? A friend had his Vectra broken into like this. Like said it could have been worse, but probably doesn't feel like it.

Scant consolation I'm sure, but it could've been worse. At least you have no bodywork that requires repairing as a result.

+ 1

or those trillions of pieces of glass when the ******* smash a window.

Hope your insurance will cover the losses.

As the car is parked close to your house, have you tested to see if the car can be unlocked from inside - perhaps you unlocked it by accident? I managed this at work, keys in my pocket as I walked down a corridor - a colleague asked me if I meant to leave all my windows half open!!

As the car is parked close to your house, have you tested to see if the car can be unlocked from inside - perhaps you unlocked it by accident? I managed this at work, keys in my pocket as I walked down a corridor - a colleague asked me if I meant to leave all my windows half open!!

Can't be that - if you don't open a door within 30secs(?) of unlocking then it relocks itself.

Can't be that - if you don't open a door within 30secs(?) of unlocking then it relocks itself.

Is AutoArm something that can be turned off? I think it's on on mine, but having the windows open is as bad as unlocked

Id be surprised if someone had gone to that effort just to take a £50 tom tom. Thankful there is no body damage, insurance excess means not worth pursuing claim.

With regards the car locking itself after 30 seconds once I heard my alarm going off, went outside to find my boot open. Turned out i had too many things in my pocket and it knocked the boot release button which popped the boot. Fortunately I went outside to investigate the alarm rather than just ignoring it. However this has had a positive outcome as whenever I go outside I check the cars are locked and one night putting the bins out I found SWMBO had left her car unlocked.

Sorry to hear about this.

This is one of the reasons I have the audible 'chirp' enabled for locking. Gives you an additional level of confirmation, as there have been cases of thieves using signal jammers, which would interrupt the signal from the remote and you don't always notice if the indicators have flashed or not.

Obviously if the signal has been interrupted, thieves can return later, in the knowledge the car will be unlocked.

Just a thought in this case, as it does sound very odd that it's been opened with no damage, if indeed it has been left in a locked state.

Sorry to hear about this.

This is one of the reasons I have the audible 'chirp' enabled for locking. Gives you an additional level of confirmation, as there have been cases of thieves using signal jammers, which would interrupt the signal from the remote and you don't always notice if the indicators have flashed or not.

Obviously if the signal has been interrupted, thieves can return later, in the knowledge the car will be unlocked.

Just a thought in this case, as it does sound very odd that it's been opened with no damage, if indeed it has been left in a locked state.

Signal jammers, are you serious?

Thieves are getting sophisticated! (Though I suppose they have to in order to be able to nick stuff these days...)

I am guessing the audible bleep is via vag com

Sorry to hear about this.

This is one of the reasons I have the audible 'chirp' enabled for locking. Gives you an additional level of confirmation, as there have been cases of thieves using signal jammers, which would interrupt the signal from the remote and you don't always notice if the indicators have flashed or not.

Obviously if the signal has been interrupted, thieves can return later, in the knowledge the car will be unlocked.

Just a thought in this case, as it does sound very odd that it's been opened with no damage, if indeed it has been left in a locked state.

How do you do this. Makes good sense. That and accidentally leaving a live cable touching the body....

Was actually speaking our local policing bloke by chance the other week and he mentioned that in this area there had been reported thefts a bit like this one, and signal jamming was one of the methods that was being suspected. Think it was also covered on TV not that long ago - Crimewatch springs to mind?

And yes, alarm confirmation chirp is enabled via VCDS. Or the dealer can do it for you too.

Signal jammers, are you serious?

Thieves are getting sophisticated! (Though I suppose they have to in order to be able to nick stuff these days...)

It's not actually as sophisticated as it sounds, although I'm sure a ready-made device is probably available via the usual online means these days.

Otherwise, a local Maplins probably has all you'd require....

The audible chirp can be enabled in maxidot too if you have it. ATA Confirm is the option, can't remember which menu it's under though

TBH there is almost an argument for not locking your car as long as you empty it.

The f**kers cause so much damage getting in it's usually much more costly than replacing what they take.

I doubt the ins will cover you if it looks like the car was open and it would cost you more in increased premiums anyway.

The audible chirp can be enabled in maxidot too if you have it. ATA Confirm is the option, can't remember which menu it's under though

It's worth noting for general information that this is only possible on the FL models. The OP has a 2006 model, and this is therefore not possible to enable under Maxidot.

TBH there is almost an argument for not locking your car as long as you empty it.

The f**kers cause so much damage getting in it's usually much more costly than replacing what they take.

I doubt the ins will cover you if it looks like the car was open and it would cost you more in increased premiums anyway.

Very true. Almost a blessing in disguise, because perhaps if they had their mind set on emptying anything useful from the car, they wouldn't have minded cause as much damage as that required. At least this way getting that fixed up and sorted is avoided....

Wouldn't be surprised if some insurance companies require signs of forcible entry before paying out on a claim.:wonder:

Thats the jail mate...sorry to hear that :( Theres some thieving feckers about!!...I have sometimes forgotten to lock the door or thought i have but havent so the "chirp" set up would be good...does anyone know what menu it is in on maxidot?

Cheers

Kit

So how do these signal jammers work, how would you know if someone was using one ? Do they simply stop the signal from the remote Gib licking the doors, so would that mean someone having to be within sight ic the Target vehicle? What are the tell tale signs of criminals using them is what I'm after so it don't happen again...

Bump

OK so no one knows then...

There are two kinds of these things: a signal jammer that transmits a wide beam of frequency band within 400MHz disabling the signal from your keyfob arming the car, and second one is a interceptor, intercepting the unique frequency of 400 something MHz that keyfobs work.

I've read a test on some car magazine of these things and they both worked on a few top selling cars, BMW, Merc, Opel, but the person holding the device had to be quiet near the car, i.e a few cars apart like in a supermarket park.

There also a picture of a multi million euro Lab of Audi with a Q7 on the picture, made purposely for testing security features of the car.

The end result was, lock/unlock your car only in it's vicinity and make sure you hear the alarm chirp arming.