Back in the 80's some scum broke into my house while I was sleeping.  He nicked all my fags, my entire collection of heavy rock, a couple of bottles of expensive whisky, and a jar containing five quid in change.  He chose not to nick my car keys - or my Austin Allegro that was parked on the drive 

When we lived in Southampton a local scrote broke into our house and stole £20 cash from my wife's purse, but made no attempt to get the keys of any of our cars - Audi RS4, Skoda Fabia or Citroen C1. Maybe having to move the C1 to get the RS4 out of the drive put him off?

 

SOCO came out next morning and got a sole print of his trainer from the window he climbed in through - sometime later the Police Sergeant contacted us to say he was a know drug user and was now enjoying Her Majesty's best accommodation 

Theres often the misconception that relay theft is by professionals, to order or by sophisticated criminals.

 

In truth, from what I have read and seen, this kind of setup can be obtained relatvely cheaply and used by those who are after some opportunistic mischeif.

 

I havent looked at the figures for relay theft recently, there must be some available!

Some thoughts on this.

 

Choice of target is going to be driven by the intended end use. Fast Skodas/SEATs could be good parts cars for other brands using the same platform. As someone else pointed out, sleepers are a good choice for a getaway car. Then there's the opportunist thief who's more interested in the contents than the car.

 

A while back I listened to an interesting radio interview with a former thief now working as a security consultant. He pointed out that most thieves avoid the risk of confrontation with owners as the charges they face if caught carry a much bigger penalty on conviction. So standing outside with a relay unit is much safer than breaking in to get keys, etc.

110k vehicles stolen in the last year 65% never recovered. To us normal people that’s 300 a day stolen, of which 200 disappear off the face of the earth.

Most are stolen via house burglary, key relay theft is a  real thing but is not widespread

Most stolen cars will end up in #chopshops and this is the reason for the doubling in car thefts is the last 3 years.

Insurers sell 83% of all there write-off cars as repairable meaning there aren’t enough legit  used parts to fix them with. No one is breaking an under 5 year old undamaged car. So thieves are supplying the market.

400k vehicles were written off last year, using the ABIs own rules most should have been sold as scrap. The X5 in the pic was sold as repairable and I have pics of 100s more like it. Insurers are only interested in making as much as possible. 

Peterstopcrime.  Twitter 

@Peterstopcrime

Welcome to the forum.

Just read your stuff on twitter.  Nail on the head with what you are saying above and elsewhere.

19 hours ago, Robjon said:

Back in the 80's some scum broke into my house while I was sleeping.  He nicked all my fags, my entire collection of heavy rock, a couple of bottles of expensive whisky, and a jar containing five quid in change.  He chose not to nick my car keys - or my Austin Allegro that was parked on the drive 

I’m just surprised he bothered breaking in!

 

I have a Superb on order - just a bit irritated they have removed the heated windscreen from the Elegance I have (which I liked) but apparently included KESSY which I don’t want! I always found that little slot by the wheel a handy place to store my keys while driving...

Do worry they can’t drive a superb..................

with a straight jacket on

On 28/01/2019 at 10:47, wyx087 said:

One idea is to put a simple motion sensor into those keys, if no motion in last 10min, deactivate its radio.

 

I'm all for technology and I love keyless entry system. The keyless entry key for my Leaf is stored in a faraday's-case bag when at home. The signals doesn't get out of the bag, so signal boosters don't work, simple.

 

When key isn't in the car, the car wouldn't shut off while in motion for safety concerns. The thieves probably have a lock up or flatbed waiting nearby.

 

BMW have started to do this with their keys. Simple fix. Although here in Manchester, I suspect the thieves would return most of the BMWs as it's been snowing quite a bit  

Deleted: Weird double post

 

Edited 30 January, 20197 yr by Lady Elanore

16 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

Although here in Manchester, I suspect the thieves would return most of the BMWs as it's been snowing quite a bit

Does it count as "car theft" if you are unable to drive the car more than 2 feet?

TWOC ing would be changed to ATWOC, 

Almost taking without owners consent.    Car thieves might need to fit Snow Socks.  To the drive wheels obviously.

I suppose with a BMW it would probably be classed as Car Displacement rather than Car Theft? Driving over the dry patch under the car you could probably get a good start and travel 30-40feet before sliding across the road on the ice and hitting the neighbors MB C class (also parked up :D) 

 

Vitara on Winters as usual proving excellent, especially on the ice  

 

Sorry OT a bit :( 

 

But back OT, I bet car theft reduces significantly in this sort of weather, even if you don't nick the RWD cars, you would still have to carry a tanker of weapons grade de-icer for the windscreens of your chosen quarry  

On 28/01/2019 at 10:47, Scotty72 said:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47023003

Thats the story link for anyone interested.

 

Massive problem esp in the SE and London in particular. Where I used to live in East London big issues with high end keyless entry stuff esp Range Rovers all going walkies. The vehicles are stored somewhere to see if anyone shows up from tracker companies then stripped for parts or put in shipping containers and sent overseas.

You are right once stopped they won't restart unless the devices they use can pretend to be the key or code a new one from the signal grab? or they can change/recode ECUs

 

Happy mine doesn't have kessy.

Last time I was in Kenya port authorities in Mombassa opened 2 containers to find 4 Range Rovers which had been stolen in Manchester. The President of Kenya is often seen in a Range Rover which has made it very popular second hand/stolen.

10 minutes ago, Lady Elanore said:

I suppose with a BMW it would probably be classed as Car Displacement rather than Car Theft? Driving over the dry patch under the car you could probably get a good start and travel 30-40feet before sliding across the road on the ice and hitting the neighbors MB C class (also parked up :D) 

 

Vitara on Winters as usual proving excellent, especially on the ice  

 

Sorry OT a bit :( 

 

But back OT, I bet car theft reduces significantly in this sort of weather, even if you don't nick the RWD cars, you would still have to carry a tanker of weapons grade de-icer for the windscreens of your chosen quarry  

Not really just wait for a punter to unlock your subject car, they put heater on go back inside the house to boil the kettle and scumbag jumps in and drives off with the keys the owner has kindly left in the ignition. Happens every day people never learn that someone might be watching and waiting. Be aware all the time, takes 5 seconds to lose your car. Wife saw a child left in a car outside local Asda the other day with the engine running.

6 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Not really just wait for a punter to unlock your subject car, they put heater on go back inside the house to boil the kettle and scumbag jumps in and drives off with the keys the owner has kindly left in the ignition. Happens every day people never learn that someone might be watching and waiting. Be aware all the time, takes 5 seconds to lose your car. Wife saw a child left in a car outside local Asda the other day with the engine running.

 

I agree for those incidents yes, they can take the car, but for the huge amount that are taken by breaking into houses, piggybacking RF or breaking into cars and using OBD etc, they probably don't bother. 

If you are breaking into houses for car keys you might as well chose ones with garages where you know the cars are parked in overnight or the weekend.

Easy enough to know which ones when people are telling one and all what they have and where they are on holiday.

 

Or maybe on Social Media they tell you which one is at home while they are away driving the other one.

Take the Vitara or the Merc type of thing...

Edited 31 January, 20197 yr by Skoffski

Maybe thieves are selective enough to browse forums with a plethora of members owning cars with heated screens :-D 

 

 

& ones already clean inside and out, well looked after ones having being recently valeted or serviced by friends...their friends.

Edited 31 January, 20197 yr by Skoffski

I worked with a man who wanted his motorbike stolen as he hated it and it was incredibly unreliable. One day while we were working in a particularity rough bit of Manchester, he decided to leave the keys in the bike and hoped for the best.

 

 

It worked! ......... sort of ............they stole the keys and left the bike. 

I had a similar experience with one company car. I was having problems on he job and went to car, left th keys in th door, and later found the keys ,but not the car missing. Should have sent a message to my boss , that the only folks who'd take the keys were --POLICE.

We suspected they wanted more time to nick the bike or were suspicious that the car park was covered with CCTV and wanted the cover of darkness, but the following day his bike was still there when he turned up with his spare keys  

A new take on 'keyless entry' perhaps?? 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Fin69 said:

A new take on 'keyless entry' perhaps?? 

 

 

Difference being in East London (where I used to Live) it wouldn't have been the police doing this and they would have been stolen, police are pretty much non existent! Quite why anyone would defrost without being there engine running is beyond me.

10 minutes ago, Scotty72 said:

Quite why anyone would defrost without being there engine running

Because it means you're burning fuel in an inefficient mode, which is actually bad for the engine.