Ebay is full of stolen RNS510, Columbus, Merc COMAND etc, predominatly sold direct by or sourced via Eastern European (especially Lithuanian) criminal gangs.

 

These are extremely tempting due to the extortionate list prices of the units when ordering with a car or as a replacement / upgrade from a dealer. People who turn a blind eye to the provenance of the units like to try and believe some nonsense about factory refurbs or whatever else helps their conscience.

 

What I would like to see is a freely viewable database of serial numbers from stolen units so that end buyers who are picking these things up from Ebay can see that they are in receipt of stolen goods. They can then choose to accept that situation, return the unit, report the seller to the police, etc.

 

I think this would cause a rise in the numbers of units with ground off serial numbers, although plenty of suppliers already do this. But that's ok I guess - what more proof do you need than that of it being stolen?

I doubt this would ever be supported by the manufacturers because the existence of such a web site admits there is a problem and that the units do not have sufficient security measures to deter theft and damage to vehicles. However, owners could be encouraged to take a note of their unit's serial number and submit it to such a site themselves if it were ever stolen.

Vag have this information already, but only act on it in a small number of countries so far.

But for that to be effective, the following needs to happen

 

1) The car is taken into a dealership for VAG to retrieve the serial number via VAS

2) All insurers report the thefts of units to VAG

3) VAG / dealerships care and would involve the police when a stolen system is found in another car.

Vag know the serial number of almost every module in your car when it's built.

I think it's Belgium & Latvia where they blacklist stolen units. When connected VAS contacts Germany and the kill command is issued I believe.

But even these units can be brought back to life.

I'm thinking of buying a Columbus unit for my Fabia, but hearing that a lot (?) of the units could be stolen, is there any way to know beforehand? I see on ebay that there are a couple of retail sellers selling them - these ones are unlikely to be stolen aren't they??

Ask them where they get them.

And they'll simply say refurbished units

Yes they will. Ask them how that "refurbishing" supply chain works.