car stolen. security recommendations for next car

[HC1]

Might not be driven away but could be towed away, although not sure how many cars get towed away. I do know someone who thought their car was towed away, years ago, whilst they were on holiday, I can't remember why they came to this conclusion but they did.

It's unlikely robbers will tow your car off your driveway or from the front of your house but if you've got other basic security measures in place too like a proximity/movement sensor linked to your phone, alarm and immob, wheel clamp and steering lock, CCTV and security lights, bollard or a gate/garage, your vehicle should be fairly safe. Car thieves come equipped just to drive vehicles away quickly. I've never heard of a tow truck arriving and spending 20 minutes to load and steal a vehicle outside someones' home while the residents were inside

I recall as a child we had either a car stolen or damaged so we installed a gate, only for someone/them to nick the gate, lol

That sounds like a nice neighbourhood lol

 

[Iamzod]

Further to my post further up, i've gotvan ST220 that I only use in Summer so it gets tucked up down the side of the house over winter. To stop scrotes rummaging, i've got a tripwire attached to a blank 12 gauge shotgun cartridge in a mine attached to the fence post out of view.

That makes people turn around.

In the last couple of years though it's only caught the odd family member out & an amazon driver.

 

[Jelly4mybelly]

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

Half the battle is making sure that they do not earmark your particular car for removal in the first place. Alarms and trackers will not do this.

Ask a neighbour to block you in?
Ask the landlord about allowing you to install a bollard?
Potato in the exhaust each night?

 

[Gilbert89]

Recently a good find by SYP - Shows the extent of the business these criminals are operating within.

South Yorkshire Police - Discovered Doncaster Chop Shop (September)

 

[HC1]

Ask a neighbour to block you in?

Bit cheeky that unless you'd lived side-by-side for a long time and had become mates. I wouldn't be too happy if a neighbour bothered me with their b/s and personal issues over their high theft risk vehicle and they wanted me to make the effort to use my "less attractive" vehicle as their shield.

"Jog on" would be my instant response followed by a quick slamming of my front door in their face

 

[sigma]

Half the battle is making sure that they do not earmark your particular car for removal in the first place. Alarms and trackers will not do this.

Ask a neighbour to block you in?
Ask the landlord about allowing you to install a bollard?
Potato in the exhaust each night?

@Housey even had a tracker put ON his car by theives!

 

[hurfdurf]

Do you know how many seconds it takes to remove steering wheel locks... And noticed I said seconds not minutes

How does it one get into the car without the alarm going off?

 

[ShiWarrior]

How does it one get into the car without the alarm going off?

Doesn't matter if its going off or not, they aint worried

 

[DRZ]

There is absolutely nothing I would do to increase the chances of someone deciding that I was the easiest path to getting the car and waking me/my partner up in the middle of the night.

My cars are insured and I'd rather deal with a claim than waste my money making me less safe to protect something that could be replaced in a day or less with relatively minimal inconvenience...

That said, there's plenty of passive deterrence you can do - visible CCTV, PIR floodlights, gates so your car can't be seen by someone canvassing for vulnerable cars. This might be enough to deter some but the organised gangs won't care too much either way.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Move the house closer to the car.

 

[MissChief]

gates so your car can't be seen by someone canvassing for vulnerable cars

This is probably the most obvious. Make sure your car can't be seen from the road. Or if you can't, hidden by bushes or a solid gate/fence.

In the M3 Steering Wheel theft above it's almost as if they clocked it as they drove past and made a snap decision.

 

[hurfdurf]

Doesn't matter if its going off or not, they aint worried

I think we are talking about 2 very different classes of criminal

 

[Rroff]

I think we are talking about 2 very different classes of criminal

There are several distinctly different groups carrying out this kind of and related activity who employ different methods, different levels of capability and willingness to get involved in violent crime.

Not to put too fine a point on it but there was a rise in late 2021 onwards of mostly foreign national groups doing this and similar crimes in an extremely organised fashion, they tend to avoid contact and only home invasions were to steal ultra rare/expensive stuff, but some of them have a history of violent crimes and won't hesitate to resort to it and then leave the country if it comes to it.

 

[HC1]

There is absolutely nothing I would do to increase the chances of someone deciding that I was the easiest path to getting the car and waking me/my partner up in the middle of the night.

So if you heard your car alarm go off or your phone sent you an alert saying there was movement in your driveway you would do nothing to try and stop your precious car getting stolen? You wouldn't even go outside carrying a baseball bat?

 

[DRZ]

So if you heard your car alarm go off or your phone sent you an alert saying there was movement in your driveway you would do nothing to try and stop your precious car getting stolen? You wouldn't even go outside carrying a baseball bat?

Go outside with a baseball bat? Are you crazy? What do you expect to happen in that scenario? You'll emerge from the house wearing little to nothing against an unknown number of criminals. Sure, they're likely going to run away if they see you in time and can easily escape, but if you surprise them or get to them, what then? You're going to maybe get one decent swing in and if that doesn't incapacitate them you're unlikely to get another go. If there's two of them, you're now in a 2:1 fight against people who are odds-on to be better at fighting than you are given their 'profession'. If somehow you win this fight against the odds - congratulations on your impending aggravated GBH/"assault with intent to cause serious harm" conviction, loss of your job and all the associated consequences stemming from that. Contrary to popular belief, it is not legal to keep anything (weapon or not) lying around "just in case" there's a burglary. You're going to have to introduce some legitimate reason why you happened to have a baseball bat immediately to hand to have a hope of dropping the "aggravated" part of the charge. It isn't legal to carry anything sold or marketed for the purposes of "self defence" in public in the UK either.

Just do the sensible thing - turn on as many lights as you can, shout from a window to maybe scare them off and CALL THE POLICE. That's it. No heroics, no risking your own life for something completely replaceable, no being an internet hard man.

 

[HC1]

Go outside with a baseball bat? Are you crazy? What do you expect to happen in that scenario? You'll emerge from the house wearing little to nothing against an unknown number of criminals. Sure, they're likely going to run away if they see you in time and can easily escape, but if you surprise them or get to them, what then? You're going to maybe get one decent swing in and if that doesn't incapacitate them you're unlikely to get another go. If there's two of them, you're now in a 2:1 fight against people who are odds-on to be better at fighting than you are given their 'profession'. If somehow you win this fight against the odds - congratulations on your impending aggravated GBH/"assault with intent to cause serious harm" conviction, loss of your job and all the associated consequences stemming from that. Contrary to popular belief, it is not legal to keep anything (weapon or not) lying around "just in case" there's a burglary. You're going to have to introduce some legitimate reason why you happened to have a baseball bat immediately to hand to have a hope of dropping the "aggravated" part of the charge. It isn't legal to carry anything sold or marketed for the purposes of "self defence" in public in the UK either.

Just do the sensible thing - turn on as many lights as you can, shout from a window to maybe scare them off and CALL THE POLICE. That's it. No heroics, no risking your own life for something completely replaceable, no being an internet hard man.

I respect your opinion but I'm not the type of man to belittle other men for actions/comments I personally find a bit limp/pathetic so I hope your approach to car crime works for you if you're ever unlucky enough to be targeted. In your way of thinking I suppose I'll have to admit to being a bit crazy.

 

[DRZ]

I respect your opinion but I'm not the type of man to belittle other men for actions/comments I personally find a bit limp/pathetic so I hope your approach to car crime works for you if you're ever unlucky enough to be targeted. In your way of thinking I suppose I'll have to admit to being a bit crazy.

Sure, getting yourself killed or life ruined over an irrelevant metal box is the way to cover yourself in glory and be a man.

I have guns in the house, look how well using them worked out for Tony Martin. 100% not worth it.

Editing to add:

I have had a car stolen from me before - it was immediately used in an armed robbery and then set on fire. Sure, I could have tried to stop them (had I known it was being stolen) and if I had done so I might well be dead. I was late for work the next morning, I had replaced the car within a few days and that was that.

 

[sigma]

I respect your opinion but I'm not the type of man to belittle other men for actions/comments I personally find a bit limp/pathetic so I hope your approach to car crime works for you if you're ever unlucky enough to be targeted. In your way of thinking I suppose I'll have to admit to being a bit crazy.

Baseball bat fight, En Garde!

 

[DRZ]

Baseball bat fight, En Garde!

Should have just ran straight out into the three of them swinging wildly - the manly thing to do

 

[Tykey]

I respect your opinion but I'm not the type of man to belittle other men for actions/comments I personally find a bit limp/pathetic so I hope your approach to car crime works for you if you're ever unlucky enough to be targeted. In your way of thinking I suppose I'll have to admit to being a bit crazy.

I'd confront them too if i caught someone in the act of stealing my vehicle. Not saying i'd actually fight with them but i think i'd be screaming at them at the top of my voice for them to **** off. Would phone the police 1st though.