So SWMBO walks back to the car from work, pops her work bag in the boot and walks up to meet me at our 5yr old sons school for some carols and other festive fun.

Only to return to a smashed rear window, a two by four inch stretch of paint gone from the top of the rear bumper and work bag gone...

So now it looks like I'll be without the car for christmas, a day out of work to cancel everything from bank and store cards to mobile phone and all for about twenty quid in cash.

But what hurts the most is that they've given me a four door 107 as a courtesy car. Courtesy my entire ass.

Trip to Cornwall for the festivities looking doubtful... 2 adults and 1.5 children in a 107... Hmm!

Arse.

Could be worse you could have no courtesy car.....

Could be worse you could have no courtesy car.....

Good point, maybe they should call me Grizzle...

Good point, maybe they should call me Grizzle...

lol

Worst courtesy car i ever had was a Perodua NIppa......

Think yourself lucky lol.

this time of year yoou should never leave bags in car it madness to many vultures and cars are an easy target

this time of year yoou should never leave bags in car it madness to many vultures and cars are an easy target

Agreed.

The thieving oiks watched her put the bag in the car, I reckon.

******s.

You have my sympathy. Hope you get it sorted quickly.

The most unprovable but probably blatant bit of theft that i've witnessed was when I went to see Spinal Tap at Wembley, and it was absolutely ridiculous!!

If you drive round the industrial estates near the arena/stadium, you'll find plenty of off road parking on the estates themselves, indeed some of the companies advertise bookable parking on the internet for after office hours when they're closed cos they have all night security (and this is a MUCH better option thatn what my mate did!). Anyway, my mate parked his golf in one at random which was the usual two asian fellas trying to wave people to park in their office car park (loads of them around there, like lookie-lookie men on the beach), gave them the fiver and we went off. When we came back, his car was okay, but the octy behind had the rear nearside window smashed, the rear seat pushed forward and bags or coats or summat had been taken. After talking to the driver, they'd said that their party of four had got out the car and put the stuff in the boot quite openly as one might when you think you're car's gonna be watched, but the two asian lads were nowhere to be seen (likewise, every other similar knock-off parking 'attendant').

I don't think they actually did it, but I reckon someone was probably watching what drivers do with their stuff, knowing that these blokes just f*ck off after a while and leave your car completely unprotected, and if they've seen you put stuff in the boot, they go for that one car, nice and swift, as it was the only one that had been attacked and they obviously knew where there was something worth taking as the glovebox and other cubby holes were untouched, so hardly a random hit.

I'll never use that sort of parking again for that single reason!

Sorry to hear 2Kittys, really stinks at this time of year and all. PURE SCUM!

The same thing happend to a old friend of mine in a Dunfermline car park, Long story short no cctv at the time, police no help. so he went back 2 days later and watched the car park from a distance, who did he see, some scum bag watching a women put her xmas shopping in the boot and walk off. So said scum bag walks over to the car with metal pole in hand to do it again. But he did not count on my friend at his heels and grabbing him (Best not to say what happend at this point) but he did get his brand new shirt back that was only bought 2 days previous, the idiot was wearing it lol. when the police spoke to him about 3 weeks later they said they had also been watching the car park as there was about 8 reports on it, but never cought any one, funny that.

I never ever leave anything of any value in the car, it's asking for trouble. Ice scraper is the most expensive item left in the car and a chamois.

I never ever leave anything of any value in the car, it's asking for trouble. Ice scraper is the most expensive item left in the car and a chamois.

not even a spare wheel, jack and wheel bolt security key?

Had a similar thing happen about 10 years ago in a beauty spot car park.

Wife puts her handbag in the boot and off we go for a walk. Obviously some toe rag was watching for this sort of thing, and when we came back and opened the boot the bag was gone.

No damage to the car at all, they managed to unlock the car door with a screwdriver or something, fold the back seat down and extract the bag and put the seat back. They even locked the door when they were done. It was a Renault 5 so no deadlocks or alarm.

This kind of modus operandi seems pretty common, yet you don't really hear of it from the crime prevention unit, they just tell you not to leave valuables in the car....not that your car is likely being watched in many car parks as you leave.

Maybe this is to stop people going back themselves with a baseball bat and length of lead pipe and conducting their own stakeout for the s**ts that carry out these crimes.

had my radio stolen out a sierra back in 97

Could be worse, I once had a car broken into, attempted stolen (ripped the ignition casing etc an damaged the immobiliser but didnt get it started) and stereo stolen but THEN, to add insult to injury, a stolen rover 820 was driven into the side if my car amongst others before crashing into a tree. We don't know why, but assume they got disturbed and crashed in the rush to get away....

Even worse, the b#*%#%#s at the insurance company tried to charge two excesses as they claimed I I be two totally unrelated incidents (that just happened to occur within an hour of each other).

Not good. In often forget to take my wallet and iPod out with me leaving it in over night. I've also been know to leave my house keys in the car if this mrs is home before me.

New Years resolution - remove all valuables from car every time :-)

Thought I might share the knowledge gathered over the years of living in different countries and reading about the "local habits" of car thieves.

Well, obviously it is just so ignorant at putting stuff in the boot after parking and I guess everyone here knows that anyway. However, I remember about 10 or so years ago there was many reports from people coming back to their car after shopping just to find that they have a puncture. Now, as we know, you have to remove almost everything from the boot in order to get the spare out. So people usually put their bags on the back seat. And while they are changing the wheel the thieves creep in and take the stuff from the back seat. Sometimes a happy chap will come and chat with you about "oh what a bummer, a puncture" making sure you are distracted.

Using spray foam that expands in the alarm horn - has that ever happened in UK? Thieves just spray some quickly expanding foam into the alarm horn and then break in to the car, the alarm goes off, but no sound fill come out of the horn. That of course is only possible in case of poor alarm installation when the horn is reachable from under the car or via the grille.

And my favorite, that puzzles me - when parking your car the doors wont lock and alarm doesn't go on as if the remote battery had died. So people try and try, then give up and still leave the car parked (that the part that puzzles me!). Turns out there's been some friendly people sitting in a car close to you and using a radio jammer.

And then of course you have the tow-truck scam - you park your car, a tow-truck shows up, everything looks correct, people are dressed as parking enforcers etc. Car gets put on the truck and the truck takes off. Never to be seen again. This of course only happens to really rare or expensive cars as it takes a lot of planning and effort. But it has happened

Then the classing "on paper everything looks correct" case - a specific car goes missing, and it is seen on the video footage at border crossings. However, carrying another cars registration plates. That "donor car" is usually same make and model, color and equipment level, but scrapped or crashed some time before. Thieves go to scrapyards and buy the wreck, getting documents, registration plates etc. As it takes a while before a car gets unregistered.

My first car went missing, almost that is. The thief had got into the car and pulled the wires from under the dash in attempt to start it. However, he pulled so hard that the wire going to the starter engine had come loose So I still had my car in the morning. After that incident I had my car fixed for having only the remote to lock/unlock and starting it. No physical keys needed. All wires black, no way to know how to bypass the system. Bear lock on the gearbox and also had fitted controls for functions I did not have in the car (for example ESP off button or similar) that needed to be in a special position for the car to start. Paranoid? Yes!

I've had stuff stolen from cars and yet I still leave stuff in the car, I mean they never check in the glove box do they? ;-)

Sorry to the op for the damage caused. I just wanted to suggest hiring a car for visiting family. A lot of hire outfits have deals on over Christmas; worth a look.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

I've had stuff stolen from cars and yet I still leave stuff in the car, I mean they never check in the glove box do they? ;-)

Sorry to the op for the damage caused. I just wanted to suggest hiring a car for visiting family. A lot of hire outfits have deals on over Christmas; worth a look.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Hmm... I wonder if I could claim the expense back on the insurance?HA HA HA HA HA Yeah right!

Bear lock on the gearbox

Particularly annoyingly, the europeans had (still have??) the option to get a physical lock on the gearbox which stops anyone changing gear unless you 'unlock' the gearstick (there's a little key lock for your ignition key at the back of the gaitor) but after much perserverance i could not get skoda to fit one to mine from factory. They said it's because it's a right hand drive and physically doesn't fit, but I still reckon it was a cop out as it took them ages to give me a reason why I couldn't have it as an option and it was all a bit wooly. SUK didn't even know it existed.

I thought it was a fantastic security device.

What the point in a gear stick lock. Theifs will find a way past it. With things like emobilisers and central locking there few things there to slow em down. Its like all these cruck locks they are a wast if time if a theif is that desprete for your car they know ways round them.

Here you go, it's on the very last page, next to the snowchains, part no. DVC 600 001.

http://www.skoda-auto.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Catalogue/Octavia/Octavia_Accessories_ENG.pdf

It appears it's available on the yeti. How very annoying.

Thought I might share the knowledge gathered over the years of living in different countries and reading about the "local habits" of car thieves.

Well, obviously it is just so ignorant at putting stuff in the boot after parking and I guess everyone here knows that anyway. However, I remember about 10 or so years ago there was many reports from people coming back to their car after shopping just to find that they have a puncture. Now, as we know, you have to remove almost everything from the boot in order to get the spare out. So people usually put their bags on the back seat. And while they are changing the wheel the thieves creep in and take the stuff from the back seat. Sometimes a happy chap will come and chat with you about "oh what a bummer, a puncture" making sure you are distracted.

Using spray foam that expands in the alarm horn - has that ever happened in UK? Thieves just spray some quickly expanding foam into the alarm horn and then break in to the car, the alarm goes off, but no sound fill come out of the horn. That of course is only possible in case of poor alarm installation when the horn is reachable from under the car or via the grille.

And my favorite, that puzzles me - when parking your car the doors wont lock and alarm doesn't go on as if the remote battery had died. So people try and try, then give up and still leave the car parked (that the part that puzzles me!). Turns out there's been some friendly people sitting in a car close to you and using a radio jammer.

And then of course you have the tow-truck scam - you park your car, a tow-truck shows up, everything looks correct, people are dressed as parking enforcers etc. Car gets put on the truck and the truck takes off. Never to be seen again. This of course only happens to really rare or expensive cars as it takes a lot of planning and effort. But it has happened

Then the classing "on paper everything looks correct" case - a specific car goes missing, and it is seen on the video footage at border crossings. However, carrying another cars registration plates. That "donor car" is usually same make and model, color and equipment level, but scrapped or crashed some time before. Thieves go to scrapyards and buy the wreck, getting documents, registration plates etc. As it takes a while before a car gets unregistered.

My first car went missing, almost that is. The thief had got into the car and pulled the wires from under the dash in attempt to start it. However, he pulled so hard that the wire going to the starter engine had come loose So I still had my car in the morning. After that incident I had my car fixed for having only the remote to lock/unlock and starting it. No physical keys needed. All wires black, no way to know how to bypass the system. Bear lock on the gearbox and also had fitted controls for functions I did not have in the car (for example ESP off button or similar) that needed to be in a special position for the car to start. Paranoid? Yes!

Hi Reverse,

At the risk of sounding ungrateful for your input - which I am not, it is always good to understand how these buggers work so you can try and enhance your security, but is it good to go into so much detail as you never know who is looking at the forum - just don't want potential criminals getting ideas that they had not already thought of!

I had my car stolen back in about 1998 and got a call to say that someone had reported it abandend outside their house. Luckily the House was 10 mins walk from where i worked so i legged it down the road only to find a group of youths at the top of the street watching the vehicle obviously to see who came for it one of them was clearly wearing my coat. I had a look in my car and they had taken the stereo and jimmied the boot to get the speakers out. the car was f**ked every panel scratched. However they had left the crook lock in the car which my wife had forgotten to attach so i picked this up and ran after them with it only to be stopped by the police and threatened with arrest for attempted assult. In hindsight im glad the police turned up and stopped me as all 5 of the little ****s would have been hospitalised and i would be behind bars. However at the time i was fuming and the police were incompetent said they knew who had done it he was a regular but had special needs or learning dificulties and his lawyers used this to get the cases thrown out of court so the police just turn a blind eye to him. I think he's dead now so Karma does work. luckily they left me the screw driver they had started the car with on the seat so i was able to drive the car home using the screwdriver in the ignition. Im amazed how easy early cars were to pinch. (Vauxhall Nova).

,,,, However at the time i was fuming and the police were incompetent said they knew who had done it he was a regular but had special needs or learning dificulties and his lawyers used this to get the cases thrown out of court so the police just turn a blind eye to him. I think he's dead now so Karma does work. ,,,

If I was told that by a Police Officer I would immediately threaten to make an official complaint unless action was taken. Ultimately It is the job of the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if a case is worth proceeding with.