Interesting bit on "RIP OFF BRITAIN" ,but sadly that Skoda was not mentioned as looking at a fix. Ford seem to stolen a march  on other makers( from the broadcast ) in making the fob motion sensitive. i.e. Fob stops broadcasting after a short period of no movement. Or have they. The code still gets broadcast, so spot a "juicy" motor and either get the code away from home , follow it to find where it lives or follow it home and in the short period before fob shuts off ,read the code.

I'm afraid it will always be the case that crims' will find away, whatever manufacturers do to get ahead the twockers will almost always catch up with the latest security tech'. 😡

If you own a desirable high risk for theft car, then really you should be taking measures over and above the manufacturers standard set up anyway. Like a tracker, or a secure alarmed garage or at the very least a lockable gated driveway, every little helps to deter. 

4 hours ago, Gmac983 said:

Like a tracker, or a secure alarmed garage or at the very least a lockable gated driveway, every little helps to deter. 

But does fitting a tracker improve the chances of getting your car back or reduce the chance of it being stolen?

 

I used to own a high risk car (Audi RS4) and didn't find any insurer who offered a discount for fitting a tracker - so their risk assessment says no.

 

Plus Tracker et al quote figures for stolen recovered but no figures for stolen not recovered so IMHO it's impossible to assess if there is any increase in the recovery rate from fitting a tracker.

1 hour ago, PetrolDave said:

But does fitting a tracker improve the chances of getting your car back or reduce the chance of it being stolen?

 

I used to own a high risk car (Audi RS4) and didn't find any insurer who offered a discount for fitting a tracker - so their risk assessment says no.

 

Plus Tracker et al quote figures for stolen recovered but no figures for stolen not recovered so IMHO it's impossible to assess if there is any increase in the recovery rate from fitting a tracker.

 

I couldn't comment on insurance savings with or without a tracker but garaged or a secure driveway typically do offer savings in most situations. A tracker would just be another additional layer of protection/piece of mind to that, surely even the most cynically minded person would see that you would have a better chance of getting your stolen car back with a tracker than without.

At the end of the day though whatever level of security you do have, it only keeps honest folk at bay, any determined enough crims' will have your car away regardless. 

1 hour ago, Gmac983 said:

At the end of the day though whatever level of security you do have, it only keeps honest folk at bay, any determined enough crims' will have your car away regardless. 

Which IMHO makes any tracker a waste of money - as desirable cars will be targeted by professional criminals.

 

Plus ... would you want your desirable car back after it's been ragged to within an inch of it's life?

Edited 14 October, 20196 yr by PetrolDave

I don't particularly have a need for a tracker myself so I don't have one.

But I dare say that everyone who has fitted a tracker and had their car stolen and then recovered would probably disagree with you. 

As an additional point, with skoda connect (there are of course other brands with their own apps) I can check if my car is locked and where I left it etc (obviously subject to coverage) and no doubt the Skoda app is not immune to hacking either but none the less a means to check on your vehicle plus its free 👍

3 hours ago, Gmac983 said:

But I dare say that everyone who has fitted a tracker and had their car stolen and then recovered would probably disagree with you. 

And those who had a tracker fitted and didn't get their car recovered after being stolen will feel that they were mis-sold the tracker.

I have absolutely no idea on tracker statistics, but do you know many people who have had their car taken (with a tracker) and then not recovered? 

Also I would imagine tracker offer no guarantees on recovery. 

Edited 16 October, 20196 yr by Gmac983

13 hours ago, Gmac983 said:

I have absolutely no idea on tracker statistics, but do you know many people who have had their car taken (with a tracker) and then not recovered? 

I don't know anyone who has a tracker fitted!

 

More generally, since tracker refuse to publish that data it's a case of (as they say on the BBC2 program QI) Nobody Knows...

 

Publishing only the stolen and recovered figure makes it impossible to determine if the likelihood of your car being recovered is improved by having a tracker fitted, which makes it impossible to determine if the cost of a tracker has any benefit.

 

That's my key point - if you can't see a benefit for the cost then the cost is IMHO money thrown away.

 

 

On 16/10/2019 at 07:39, Gmac983 said:

I have absolutely no idea on tracker statistics, but do you know many people who have had their car taken (with a tracker) and then not recovered? 

Also I would imagine tracker offer no guarantees on recovery. 

 

Insurance discount maybe makes it worthwhile. Or maybe if your car is exotic enough; no insurance without a tracker.

16 hours ago, Aspman said:

 

Insurance discount maybe makes it worthwhile. Or maybe if your car is exotic enough; no insurance without a tracker.

My experience of owning a very high insurance group vehicle is that most insurers don't offer a discount and very few won't offer insurance without one (and with one their quotes were much more expensive that others), so my experience is that there is no financial incentive to fit a tracker.

Thread bump...

Aldi Ireland (so i imaginr Uk within the next couple of weeks) have rf shielded key fob wallets on offer tomorrow...

 

*other wallets/shops etc are available

 

 

For UK mainland owners- Neighbourhood watch offer a contactless card/car key pouch for circa £3. Personally ,If I had a contactless cat I'd just use an old hand rolling tobacco tin. Or make one out of tinfoil.

 

This is another (quite expensive) way of doing it.

 

 

From this firm: https://keylessprotector.com/

 

However, far cheaper and easer way is to use RIF protected wallets as mentioned above.