Car break-ins

[Mottie]

My looking system and alarm no longer work but they don't know that.

So all we’ve got to do is wait in the car park of Tim Hortons…..

On a serious note, there have been a few trades vans broken into in Supermarket car parks near me and they either cut around the lock or just peel the side door back like a tin of sardines..

 

[Brigade77]

I think some of you might be guilty of 'sensationalising' the ability to key scan. It's the easiest thing in the world to gain access to the car but it's a different thing when it comes to starting it & driving off.

Recovery & garage tech's can gain access to most modern locked cars within minutes. The AA (at least) maintain a database of the methods that each make & model uses & some of them are incredibly easy. If you can imagine the scenario of a baby locked in a car & then imagine if that car was virtually impenetrable without breaking glass ! In the early days of the bizzniss even I came across this at least 1x a month & the modern cars are a lot easier than the air bag & piano wire loop method I was first taught. My recovery co' now often uses the services of professional vehicle locksmiths who can get into ANY vehicle within minutes & can even cut & programme you a new key for a fraction of the main dealer £cost.

There was a certain make/era of van popular with many tradesman & many of them will fondly remember losing all their tools & oddly the nearside mirror glass. This was because if you removed the mirror glass & shorted 2x wires in the connection block to the mirrors position adjusting motor it unlocked the central locking. Then there was the popular Mercedes coupe' that you could get into without the key but not release the handbrake, this could be done by pressing a well hidden microswitch.

It's usually druggies or low level scrotes who blitz a neighbourhood or car park to steal belongings & most of 'em are too thick or stoned to be lugging laptops and operating primitive scanning software. It's far more common to find all your wheels gone because that can be very, very lucrative !

Again, I don't have the answer to vehicle security. It seems to me that whenever they improve security on a new generation, the theives are only a few weeks behind finding a way around it.

 

[Brigade77]

Dork.

I know you say it's not joyriding, but you don't normally get your motor back after someone takes it, let alone find more kangaroo juice in the tank!

I swear that's a true story & I don't think they ever caught 'em. They'd smashed the trim off the steering column & just connected up a black box whenever they used the car. The old dear was resigned to it & reluctant to upgrade the car for fear of the damage to a new one.

 

[johnny2007]

An empty tin doesn't block the signal, at least not on mine.
I have a square tea tin which I have lined with lead.
Once closed, the signal doesn't pass even if I'm next to the car.
I used those signal blocking cases, but to my horror, i found that after a while they don't work anymore.
So, lead lined tin it is.

 

[Brigade77]

Towards the end of my days on the tools I was called out to a local Travelodge one Sunday am where 2x cars had their wheels stolen overnight.

Later we were shown the cctv footage of the MO the thieves used. One was sat in a car off the car park, his mate was lying on his back under the border hedgerow near to the car. First he rolled out & broke all the wheelnuts, then he rolled out & jacked them up. Then the bricks were positioned & only when they were ready & sure they'd not been rumbled were the wheels removed, chucked in the waiting car & off.

I remember it well 'cos one was a Police sargeant's personal car & the other was his illicit affair he'd been having a night off with in the hotel

Those wheels would've sold for approx £4k on eBay, not bad for a nights work !

 

[Captain Nemesis]

It's far more common to find all your wheels gone

Or your catalytic converter.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

I remember one old lady's '90's Vx Nova that the scrotes drove more than she did, they'd take it as much as 3x a week & return it roughly to the same spot in the morning. Sometimes with more fuel in it ! Your gutter press called this "joyriding", I never saw any joy from the victims.

This used to happen years ago. A friend used to live in a council tower block in the early 70s. Her Triumph Herald used to magically move to a different parking space in the block's car park. On one or two occasions she went down to use her car to find it wasn't there, but it would magically reappear later. As she was so high up in the sky she could never catch them in the act. They never damaged the car.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

. My looking system and alarm no longer work but they don't know that.

My van has an expensive Toad alarm/immobiliser system fitted. Well, that's what the stickers on the windows say anyway.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292049475275?epid=8002510892&hash=item43ff8156cb:g:o5EAAOSwWMhahv5x

 

[Doug99]

Why does my keyfob need to be permanently active (ie able to be detected by a scanner) when at home? Surely it would be easy to design a keyfob which goes inert when not in use, and when leaving the house to use the car, just push a button on the keyfob to wake it up......simples

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Why does my keyfob need to be permanently active (ie able to be detected by a scanner) when at home? Surely it would be easy to design a keyfob which goes inert when not in use, and when leaving the house to use the car, just push a button on the keyfob to wake it up......simples

There you go.

They've recently started rolling out "Active Keys" where if fob hasn't moved for 5 minutes or so it shuts down.

Should have done that from the start!.

 

[Keithmac]

At one stage on Kuga Owners club there were 5+ a week getting nicked by relay theft.

You are in the car, pushbutton start, electronic steering lock has already deactivated and away in 20 seconds..

Once running, a keyless car will keep going until the ignition is shut down, no need for the key until it comes to restarting (safety feature). You could run it for months..

 

[Bodd]

So all we’ve got to do is wait in the car park of Tim Hortons…..

On a serious note, there have been a few trades vans broken into in Supermarket car parks near me and they either cut around the lock or just peel the side door back like a tin of sardines..

It's becoming impossible. We can only do what we can do...

 

[Bodd]

At one stage on Kuga Owners club there were 5+ a week getting nicked by relay theft.

You are in the car, pushbutton start, electronic steering lock has already deactivated and away in 20 seconds..

Once running, a keyless car will keep going until the ignition is shut down, no need for the key until it comes to restarting (safety feature). You could run it for months..

I had my Italian friend pick me up from Hospital to go back to Hers for some dinner. It wasn't until she went to start the car that she realised that she had left the key at home..... her husband had to come and bring the key out.....

 

[Ihavenojob]

Once running, a keyless car will keep going until the ignition is shut down, no need for the key until it comes to restarting (safety feature).

Would it restart if using the stop/start function without the fob ?

 

[transam]

My escort vans I used to pull the ht lead off from the coil every night

for hot what I had done one morning as van would not start

on my cobra I had cut off switches

main battery with removable key

and a switch on the fuel pump

you could have a quick release steering wheel as well

cobra being a convertible/ open top of course