car stolen. security recommendations for next car

[magyosha]

hi guys.
last week my pride and joy BMW 730LD G12 was stolen from my house drive. Redditch, Worcestershire. no hope IMHO of recovery as I'd suspect its either in a chop shop or on a boat by now . and police do not seem interested other than dishing out a crime number for insurance.
so now I want to make sure that my replacement that will likely be the same car/model (as I loved it to bits lol) cannot be stolen. or at least make it damn hard to steal.
my parking is my drive so I've got to rely on making it hard to steal and easier to recover if it is stolen.
looked at Pandora which for there elite 2 system starts at a whopping £1999 and about another £700 on top for extras. also looked at ghost 2.
while the costs seem a lot in hindsight that £2700 outlay would have saved me money I think my insurance on 3 vehicles is now going to skyrocket for 5 years which I've worked put is going to cost neatly £10k extra.

I want alarm. tracker(s). immobiliser(s). recovery. bells. whistles. something that works and would make it impossible short of using a towtruck to steal.

what can you guys recommend

 

[magyosha]

You're overlooking the obvious, which is security external to the car. Make sure the front of the house and driveway are well lit. Can you put a gate or collapsible bollard in the driveway? CCTV?

You basically just want to make it very unappealing for someone to attempt to steal it.

not overlooked it. but.
house is a rental with a open drive.
already have cctv which did not deter them. masked with coats with hoods.
bollards are possible but not strong deep ones sadly. and would have to surround the drive with about 15 to stop any exit. so not all that viable. if it was my own house could wall the sides and fit a gate. more cctv has trees in the way. I've looked at lots of options. and keep ending up back on making the car harder to steal being only option.
disconnecting the battery every night would be the cheapest option lol, or jacking it up and taking a wheel off . but I don't think that's a viable option for something to do daily.
more lights are possible but neighbours may be on here complaining about light pollution after that.

 

[magyosha]

I'm surprised a car like that didn't have an alarm and immobiliser as standard. My car is a 72 plate so it's got fairly decent standard security but instead of paying for an expensive tracker system I've got a cheap smart phone stashed in the car linked to my laptop and my everyday phone that will alert me if the vehicle starts moving. I also use a stoplock on the steering wheel and a wheel clamp at night so I'm fairly confident that my car won't get pinched easily and I'd be able to guide the rozzers to it's location quickly if it did start moving. Spending 2 grand on car security seems a bit extreme but do it if you can afford it and it's a high value car. You could also install a decent CCTV cam linked to a mobile app that alerts you when someone goes past a certain point in your driveway but you would have to spend time playing around with camera angles/positions to make that worked properly and didn't turn into a hassle every night that kept waking you up. HTH.

from what I now gather they clone the remote with some sort of relay either in advance or on the night. and it then thinks the key is there bypassing the built in immobiliser and alarm

 

[magyosha]

If I was a homeowner worried about my car in a driveway that's probably the 1st thing I would do and I would have more than 1 bollard.

yup. if I owned the house I'd put a load of strong in the ground bollards

Wheel clamps & steering wheel lock will make them think twice especially if removing the wheel clamp involves cutting the tyre!

looked many times at these however loads if videos showing them being removed in just a few seconds

anyway.
back to my main question
Pandora elite 2. and ghost 2.
anyone know if there worth the money.
do they prevent or just delay drive away theft

 

[magyosha]

thank you all for your replies.
the more i research and read it makes me think a multi protection approach on the car . a good movemnt detection light on the drive and also a bollard if i can find a suitable one that does not look like it could just be kicked down on the drive.
i need to find a alarm fitter or auto electrician i guess who will do a few things for me. move the OBD port, or rarther fit another in a hidden place leaveing the original as a dummy. fit a kill switch somewhere maybee..
a concealed gps/gprs/4g/vhf tracker, with a cheap one on the battery for them to find. an immobiliser and/or alarm . really cannot decide on the alarm immobiliser. pandora claims to be good but 99% of reviews and hype and by them and they have 1000's of fitters everywhere making me think if thye have so many fitters they they could have just as many theives who know how to bypass. so a ghost 2 wiht pin protection for immobiser and possible a seperate keyfob activated alarm

 

[magyosha]

Cars insured with back to invoice GAP insurance..... Come take it.....

it might cover the value upto replacment cost for the stolen car ...
but
what about the increased premiums . i have 2 vans and my replacment car once insurance payout
premiums on last renewal had already more than doubled without a claim . £450 -> £980 for the car. and £350 -> £600 each on my vans.
now with a theft claim under my belt ALL the premiums will jump dramatically again . protected NCB is fine but they still load it as there was a theft even on the ones i have that i've not claimed on. try it on a quote comparison site, put you have 10 years NCB and a theft claim recently and watch the prices tripple eve with NCB on full.
spoke to my broker and they said to expect around a 60% price increase which over the 5 years the claim has to be declared for is going to be in excess of a £10,000 increase !!
if i lived in the countyside a shotgun to protect my stuff and herd of pigs to feed them to to would be the answer

 

[magyosha]

It isn't my opinion. I've quoted CPS guidance, the actual law from the statute books, case law and recent judgements where all of the previous were followed.

For the avoidance of any doubt: It is a FACT, not an opinion, that you cannot legally pick up a baseball bat from the comfort and safety of your home, exit your home (remaining on your property or not) and kill someone who may or may not be stealing your car.

a good reason to keep pigs.. somewhere to dispose of the criminal

 

[magyosha]

The police appear to be rather good at investigations when they want to. Theft doesn't meet that criteria but a missing scumbag would.

Maybe this is a better option.

sad, but true ...
other than 1 email with a crime reference number i've heard nothing from them about my stolen car... heck .. its only worth £25k ... who cares

 

[magyosha]

a good car theif could make good money helping advise how to protect cars me thinks.
My plans so far once indurance cough up.

2 x security cameras on house with motion detected spotlights. they do have sirens however the neighbours would not appreciate any false alarms. not much good at prevention nor a deterant really as hoodies prevent identification. so hope lighting them up might put them off just a little bit.

ghost 2 or similar immobiliser. seems essential although concerned they can be bypassed easily by a pro.
or
pandora elite. not read anything yet saying easy to bypass but being told support is lacking if needed.

a tracker or 2 - ScorpionTrack S5 PLUS seems one of the best. and also a basic tracker like trutrak just on the battery for them to find easily.

a kill switch. lots of cheap £25 kill switchs on amazon with remotes. wired to fuel pump, or something crucial to start the car. wonder if cutting power to auto handbrake once its activated is an option or do these auto handbrakes self disable on drive movement even if power is cut. thought about kill switch to kill all power hence stopping keyless entry but this also kills power to anything else needed. unsure

last resort is a lift up bollard on the drive behind the car . rental house so not ideal digging holes though.

just need to do as much as I can to prevent these lovely people being able to just jump in and start the car to drive away.
wonder if having 2 different systems of immobilisers fitted could confuse them enough to get it left alone.

 

[magyosha]

I'm in wirehill behind the hospital. join the wirehill residents FB group. my car in batsford cls and another in ettingly close both stolen within 10 minutes of each other on 1st September at 3:40am