A colleague at work had their window smashed and the sat nav stolen out of an Octy last week from the office car park.

Today I heard of a similar theft 8 miles away from a Superb, again a works car park.

 

Thats too much of a coincidence.

Keep your eye on ebay.  

This happens a lot on Audi cars in that part of the world too.

I blame the modders and upgraders to be honest for creating

the demand. And also the main stealers for charging 4 figures

for what in reality probably only costs them about £200.

Without these combined factors there wouldn't be a market for them.  

Which is why I confirmed with Skoda UK that the one that I was buying from Ebay wasn't stolen, they confirmed using the serial number.

Which is why I confirmed with Skoda UK that the one that I was buying from Ebay wasn't stolen, they confirmed using the serial number.

 

 

If it was stolen from a vehicle and not a skoda dealer or warehouse i am sure they wouldnt know if a unit was stolen or not. People report thefts to the police anot skoda.

Why is it a coincidence? Cars of all makes get broken into on a daily basis all over the country!

Thinking of upgrading from bolero to columbus unit from ebay.

 

Won`t like to buy stolen unit from fellow briskodian !

 

The thing that concerns me is how easy the Columbus is to remove - simply pull off the trim and then remove 4 screws and your away !!

 

Any thoughts on upgradeing or should I stay with Bolero which will be less desireable ??

Probaly the same gang in a m1 Mondeo that were doing Bradford. 16 in a week from Morrisons HQ and 3 from pace ( mate of mine) takes 25 seconds. Pentagon SupaGlass film on windows is the only way to stop it

As above skoda have no way to tell if a unit is stolen. Most will come from the continent.

They should be able to render stolen units unusable and detect them via diagnostic checks when in for work. I thought that was one of the reasons all cars are connected regardless of the work in for?

They confirmed that the serial number that I had wasn't registered to any vehicle, so I guess it could have been pinched from a warehouse or factory though.

Were they only checking the UK database or can they check globally?

To confirm this is thefts of built in devices and not windscreen ones?

 

I guess buying one, you'd never know if it was duff, I thought they were coded to the car or something clever?

Yes they put your windows through and nick the RNS 510 sat-nav Radios as £2500 with no part ex from a dealer, even the Kenwood VW approved copy is over a grand 

 

Here is the footage of my mates R36 getting done   . end of foreground , they go past 1st then come babk at 4.14  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38vS27c2Qw&feature=youtu.be

 

 

and another the next day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Mqmf6j7Bk

Keep your eye on ebay.  

This happens a lot on Audi cars in that part of the world too.

I blame the modders and upgraders to be honest for creating

the demand. And also the main stealers for charging 4 figures

for what in reality probably only costs them about £200.

Without these combined factors there wouldn't be a market for them.  

 

So I'm to blame for scum going around nicking stuff because I wanted to upgrade to a Columbus? I'll turn myself in at the nick immediately...

So I'm to blame for scum going around nicking stuff because I wanted to upgrade to a Columbus? I'll turn myself in at the nick immediately...

I think thieves are scum too, but they only nick stuff they can shift.

So, to answer your question (and continuing with your sarky tone), yes to some

extent you are. Back in the 80s most cars still had steel wheels and it was

alloys being stolen left right and centre. Cars up on bricks etc.

Everybody wanted a set of RS 4 spokes on thier Mark 2 escort, nobody

wanted to pay what Ford wanted for a set of new ones. So they bought nicked ones for

half the price. No questions asked. Mexico lookey likey, say no more...

 

Nowadays every car has alloys more or less so their theft is rarer than it was  

back in the day, although it still happens if you have nice OEM rare or designer aftermarket ones.

The majority of upgrades on modern cars are electronic convenience items

Sat nav, Bluetooth, drive cams, and so on.   

 

Without people like you wishing to upgrade, there wouldn't be a market for them.

Let me ask you a question. Did you pay full whack for one via Skoda?

If so, fair enough. If you think over a grand is a fair price for one of these

then there's an old saying about a fool and his money being easily parted.  

Not a criticism btw I'd pay full price for a brand new one to replace it if mine  

got nicked. Mostly so I could be sure of it's origin. I have a criminal record 

so I couldn't afford be found to have stolen goods on me.

 

If not then that's probably because they ask too much money for what is

essentially a £200 unit (When you buy them by the thousand like they do.)

Plus the extra money to install and code it at near £100 an hour labour.

So people go looking for a cheaper option, it's human nature.

Once upon a time I would probably have done that too but on this occasion

I hunted for a car that already had factory nav (RNSE in the Audi but same thing really) 

But there have been times in my life where lack of money was the norm,  

(I was up to my 5th car from starting driving and over a period of at least 12 years 

before I ever bought a brand new tyre for example. Never bought anything else but new

since then) 

 

People generally don't bother nicking things they can't either sell or use.

In order to sell something first you need a customer base.

Once you have a demand for something , it's easier to sell it.  

Makes the risk worth the reward.

 

Here's another Audi example.  

The silver mirror covers on the S and RS Audis are very nickable and  

worse still they are on the outside of the car. When I say nickable I mean

people who didn't buy S or RS Audis want their 'ordinary' Audis to be styled

like the performance variants. So when a pair of OEM brushed alloy effect mirror covers

comes upon ebay for lets say £200. (£300 cheaper than a pair of new ones from Audi)  

then they often aren't too fussy about where they came from.

Never mind that some poor sod has had them unceremoniously ripped off his car

somewhere and is now facing a bill of as much as £2000 to replace them which is made up of- 

 

Mirror arms(£70 each),  

Motors(£50 each)

Covers(£250 each)

Glass(upto £200 each)

new wiring looms (£35 each) 

plus fitting and rewiring.

All of these need replaced too as they literally rip the whole mirror off

with a sharp downward motion, usually scratching fook out of the doors.

Then on top have the paint damage on each door rectified which will be a minimum of £100 

per side, Much more if done by Audi.  

But as long as Johnny poverty spec has shiny mirror covers

for under £250 on his pretend S3 that's really a boggo 1.6 then that's ok???

 

I'm not saying it's okay to steal things, I went and bought ordinary colour match mirror covers

for mine and put the desirable shiny ones away in a box to avoid that happening to me.

But one day some little chav will put my window through and have my RNSE.

Then what do I do? Pay £800-£1000 for a brand new one plus have it coded to my car?

Probably yes, but then I'd put it away in a box for when I sold the car and

I'd put a more basic aftermarket stereo in instead. I have 2 sitting around the house from

other cars I've had, so I'd sooner lose a few features than get done again.  

 

It's a sign of the times, dangle shiny valuable trinkets in front of the morally corrupt

or those with addictions to feed or even those who literally steal to feed their family.

And they will attempt to separate you from them with little thought about how that

will effect you. But we often encourage that with no questions asked about the source

of these bargain parts. And the dealers still get to sell a replacement at silly money

to the person who has had theirs removed so they can't lose, even if the insurance

pays for the damage and loss. So they are unlikely to drop prices to closer to

what they are paying, why would they? 

 

If you want to be immune to theft then you can't allow yourself have anything nice,

otherwise you take your chance with the rest of us. But the nicer your stuff is,

the bigger target for the tea leaves you are.

And that my friend is a fact of life.   

Ok we're all feed crime then. Every last one of us who has ever bought something second hand. Mobile phone? Easy to nick and massive market. Roof slates for your new extension? Your builder bought them off the back of a lorry (a week previous they were on the roof of your local church). Ipod off ebay? Nicked in a mugging. Sorry i doubted you!

Ok we're all feed crime then. Every last one of us who has ever bought something second hand. Mobile phone? Easy to nick and massive market. Roof slates for your new extension? Your builder bought them off the back of a lorry (a week previous they were on the roof of your local church). Ipod off ebay? Nicked in a mugging. Sorry i doubted you!

 

 

I'm not sure what 'OK we're all feed crime then' means but I can tell by your  

continued hostility that my posts in this thread have upset you somehow.

Of course people who have the best possible OEM nav and headunit are taking them

out and selling them so they can have something aftermarket in there instead.

I mean, people buy new cars all the time, pay an extra grand for a sat nav upgrade 

and then whip them out and replace them with a £50 Sony job so they can get £300

back.  You just keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.

Never mind the fact that they are merely observations of the world in which we live

and an attempt to answer why these items are targeted by thieves.

In any case you have continued with your sarcastic and mildly aggressive tone so I'm

not going to waste anymore of my time with you. Let's hope someone doesn't pop

your window and nick your poxy columbus and whack that on ebay.  

Still, you may end up buying your old one back again at a bargain price.

May i suggest you enlist in the Police force if the fact that thieves exist outrages 

you so much instead of bleating about it on here. That way you might make a difference.

I think you're missing the point I'm trying to make Mike.

Yes, you are a reponsible purchaser I'm sure and wouldn't

buy one from a man down the pub.

But what do we truly know about stuff we buy on ebay for example?

And for that matter the people selling it?

 

Whether we like it or not, it's full of fake items and items that have been

sourced from less than honest people/places, not to mention faulty stuff too.

And unfortunately while ever there are buyers without conscience  

who are only interested in the price, there will be no end of people  

who continue to satisfy the demand we as consumers create,

no matter who they hurt in the process.

 

Yes there are honest traders too, yes there are genuine items available. 

But it's whether or not the end purchaser has either the wisdom to know  

the difference or the conscience to ask themselves 'Where did they get this'

and the resolve to pay more in the knowledge that it was actually someones

property to sell.

Now I'm sure you, Davey and many others on this forum are stand up guys  

and would never dream of buying something that set your alarm bells ringing.  

What I am trying to say is that for every potential buyer like yourselves  

there are 10 more who couldn't give a toss so long as it's a cheap option.

 

And maybe my point about how the main dealers overcharge for them

contributes to the problem would be better illustrated by using the illegal

tobacco market as an example.

 

Why do people buy cigarettes and tobacco on the black market?  

Because it's the perception of the public that due to the tax on these products

they are far too expensive, so they get their tobacco and fags from their mate 

who can 'get them cheap' thus robbing the government of the duty they would have

paid if they had bought them from somewhere reputable like Tesco.

 

While ever there is a class of consumer who is happy to commit the offence

of failing to pay duty on tobacco products rather than pay full whack.

There will be a constant stream of the illegal duty free and even worse counterfeit

tobacco products flooding into the country, it's basic supply and demand.  

And it pushes the price up for the genuine consumer to cover the economic

shortfall caused by the dodgy stuff.

I can't see what's so difficult for people to understand.

 

If nobody ever upgraded their head units then they wouldn't be getting nicked,

what would be the point? Just the same as if everybody bought their tobacco products

from proper stockists, there would be no black market for these items either...

I'm not saying nobody should upgrade their stereo, but to just acknowledge that the desire to  

do so to some extent propogates the theft of them.  

 

I never said you bought a dodgy sat nav or that you or anybody else here would either,

the main point I have been trying to make throughout is that while ever there are people trying

to upgrade and while ever the main dealers are charging big money for these units.

Yours mine and Daveys will be at risk of being swiped by some little scrote who is after

a quick buck and that for every discerning consumer like yourself, Davey and even me,

there are ten people who couldn't care where theirs came from so long as it's cheap.

And as a discerning buyer, it's very hard to be 100% certain that you are buying something

genuine and proper, and not fueling the black market.

 

I'd add that buying via a forum like this is probably the safest way of paying a fair price for something

genuine without worry of inadvertently buying into the demand for stolen units.

But I guarantee there are people out there who have upgraded like your good self,

but actually have stolen property fitted to their car and either genuinely don't know they've

bought a stolen one or do but don't care one bit. And whilever the naive or dishonest

create the demand, they will for evermore continue to be stolen.

I'm done with this topic, I've made my point.     

There's a thread on PH about a Scirocco that had it's headlights stolen when it was sat in a car park. Bumper ripped off, wings bent and lights removed. Stolen to order or for someone to upgrade to Xenons. My cousins missus has a Mk5 Astra SRI with the "XP" bodykit. A car I don't think is that remarkable but after a night shift at hospital she came back to it to find someone had tried to unclip the whole front bumper including fogs. Pie keys wanting to upgrade a boggo Astra most likely. Police were phoned, prints taken but nothing came of it.

So it does happen and Garry makes a good point about it. If there's a market for it there will be some pie key willing to lie, cheat and steal to capitalise on it. We know it can happen and we'd be pretty dull not to be vigilant about it, even take preventative measures where possible. 

Ok we're all feed crime then. Every last one of us who has ever bought something second hand. Mobile phone? Easy to nick and massive market. Roof slates for your new extension? Your builder bought them off the back of a lorry (a week previous they were on the roof of your local church). Ipod off ebay? Nicked in a mugging. Sorry i doubted you!

 

If the police took handling stolen goods as a serious offense and actually followed it through to court it would help.

£2000 unit for £200... the buyer should be asking questions.

 

At the same time, the companies should be having multiple parts to the system.

Removable face place with a unique code in it anyone? How about a bit of the system that's in a black box under the bonnet or in the ECU.

Without that part, the main unit is useless and it can't be coded to talk to another unit.

 

There are things that should be done on both sides of it to make theft unattractive.