wheel theft

[JCP]

I have always wondered how much wheel theft there is. I have only ever heard reports of wheels being taken in the worlsd of aftermarket bling. I'm sure it must have happened but the questions are designed to asess whether the hassles of locking nuts have any value.

[Jock]

A friend had all four alloy wheels stolen off his Corsa while parked outside our house - he didn't have locking wheel nuts.

[devonutopia]

Not heard of wheels being nicked off anything for a long time now to be honest.  People just nick whole cars generally....

[The Plumber]

Not for many years but my supervisor when I was an apprentice in the early eighties, was late for work having woken up to find his XR3 on bricks. Also in 1991 my late mother had her XR2 stolen for the wheels and the also torched it; such a shame it was a real nice low mileage example and her favourite car.

 

 

TP

[Guest]

Heard of wheels being stolen never had any taken from mine thou.

A guy in work had his entire front end taken from outside his house. It was a clean job to. No nuts/bolts left behind. Alarm disabled too. Car was fiesta st

[JCP]

Xr wheels were sought after for owners of lesser small fords who wished to look as if they had the sporty models-and both XRs were 30 years ago. The Corsa wasn't usually, if at all, sold with alloys so not O/E i think.

[ejstubbs]

It was certainly pretty common in the 80s and 90s, and was the main reason why security wheel bolts became so common.

 

I can think of a couple of reasons why it's less common these days, though I'm sure there will be others:

1) A lot of modern cars, like the Yeti, have cosmetic wheel bolt covers, which make it difficult to check quickly whether the wheels can be easily stolen;

2) The widespread adoption of security wheel bolts means that we've reached a level of "herd immunity" which means that it's now sufficiently difficult to find a car without secured wheels that the criminals have moved on something else that's easier to steal.  (Bear in mind most of them never wanted the wheels for themselves, they just wanted something that they could readily sell on.)  By that reasoning, people who actively choose to dispense with security wheel bolts are essentially "freeloading" ie benefiting from the extra effort/inconvenience which the majority accept in order to give themselves genuine immunity (this terminology is actually used in studies and models of vaccine effectiveness, it's not my choice of words!)

[CFB]

The guy opposite had the OE spare nicked from under his range rover last year.

That's about the only one I have heard about for a few years

[ejstubbs]

The guy opposite had the OE spare nicked from under his range rover last year.

 

I suspect that the theft of spare wheels from insecure locations, especially underneath, began after people started using security bolts on their running wheels.  Certainly it seemed to start being reported in the media a few years subsequent to the general recognition of wheel theft as a significant problem.

 

Before that, of course, it was petrol being syphoned out because locking fuel filler caps weren't fitted as standard.  I doubt anyone would willingly leave £60+ worth of fuel sitting around unprotected these days.

[bilun777]

My brother had his XR2 wheels and interior nicked.

Then while it was in the Garage being repaired ,had it all nicked again + Doors ,Bonnett ,Engine,etc.

He then bought a Punto...never happened again.

[Llanigraham]

No wheels, but I know someone who had their Tdi engine stolen out of their Range Rover!

[Lowen]

 

Before that, of course, it was petrol being syphoned out because locking fuel filler caps weren't fitted as standard.  I doubt anyone would willingly leave £60+ worth of fuel sitting around unprotected these days.

 

You can't get a syphon tube down into the tank these days  :wonder:

[ejstubbs]

You can't get a syphon tube down into the tank these days  :wonder:

 

Good point.  I now recall a friend of mine whose old banger was written off in a fairly minor bump, and she was upset to find that she couldn't syphon out the almost full tank of fuel that she'd just put in it (it was probably worth more than the car even before the bump!)  She eventually hit on the idea of jacking the car up and drilling in to the fuel tank to get it out 

[freedie]

You can't get a syphon tube down into the tank these days  :wonder:

 

Erm... how do you know?

[Hairball]

A few years ago my old Ford Mondeo was in a garage for a new wheel bearing replacement, unfortunately I had the flu at the time and had to wait a week to pick the car up. 3/4 of a tank of diesel was removed even with a locking cap. Garage owner just said cars are left at owners own risk and that I had no proof. Odd that whoever took the fuel locked the filler cap after. 

 

So

 

Now I Always take a photo of the mileage and the fuel gauge when taking any car in to anywhere for some work or a service with a camera phone (time and date stamp EXIF data embedded in the photo file). Even better get a copy of a daily paper headline in the photo with it as well. Also consider taking pictures around the car just in case and unexpected body modification happens whilst work is being done.

[mozart]

Does the Yeti alarm not have a tilt sensor?  Would this trigger the alarm if the car was jacked up?

[JCP]

Three quarters of responses are from people who haven't had a wheel stolen or even heard a reliable account of one being stolen. So whether or not the alarm would alert us to an attempt at wheel theft is neither here nor there. I say locking wheel nuts unless you have an xr ford is really reacting to an historical myth.

[ejstubbs]

I say locking wheel nuts unless you have an xr ford is really reacting to an historical myth.

 

Sorry, but if by "myth" you mean to imply that wheel theft has never happened then you are simply wrong.  And by your own admission, 25% of responses to this thread provide evidence to demonstrate that.

[Llanigraham]

Sorry, but if by "myth" you mean to imply that wheel theft has never happened then you are simply wrong.  And by your own admission, 25% of responses to this thread provide evidence to demonstrate that.

 

Actually if you check the figures from the poll it is 3.45% and 1 of those was a spare, so not protected by a locking wheel nut!

So I think that points it very much to being a rare crime nowdays.

[JCP]

Sorry, but if by "myth" you mean to imply that wheel theft has never happened then you are simply wrong.  And by your own admission, 25% of responses to this thread provide evidence to demonstrate that.

I'm afraid I don't think your analysis supports your view. When did you last even see an XR2? Or a corsa on O/E Alloys? My sense is that in daily life this century it is not a significant risk. Three quarters of responders haven't even hearsay to offer. If you react to such low risks in going about your daily life you wouldn't get out much or even sit near someone eating a rare steak!

[Jock]

So, does this mean that if I come out one morning and the Yeti is up on bricks, with all four wheels gone and I didn't have locking wheel nuts, my insurance will still pay up?

[JCP]

So, does this mean that if I come out one morning and the Yeti is up on bricks, with all four wheels gone and I didn't have locking wheel nuts, my insurance will still pay up?

Ask them-or read your policy. For most a combination of excess and likely higher premiums mean that such a claim would be at best marginal.

[mannyo]

If your Yeti came with locking wheel nuts, and you decide to remove a security feature then that is your risk.

 

Your insurance premium is based on the standard security, so alarm, immobiliser and locking wheel nuts, etc.

 

The risk is mitigated by telling the insurance company that you have removed the locking nuts, then may well then increase your premium because you have increased the chances of your wheels being stolen and making a claim.

[JCP]

Probably right although how the insurer would ever know there are locking nuts as new I rather wonder since SUK don't seem to know what equipment any particular Yeti comes with!

[Brijo]

........SUK don't seem to know what equipment any particular Yeti comes with!

End of discussion?!