Gutted :(

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 02:26

Just got home after a night out in Wycombe, went to my car to find the passenger door had been attacked with a screwdriver, and the radio had been stolen. Was an after market Panasonic job that cost me £170 about 3 years ago.

Nothing else missing or damaged, just feel absolutely defeated. Called the police, but no tools or blood etc means no point investigating. The open air car park doesn't have any CCTV so no hope there. I'm staggered at how easy the car is to open with the passenger door lock removed, even with the car dead-bolted (W reg 306)

I'm in two minds about the insurance company, but the damage to the door probably wont get fixed cheap and in the mean time, anyone can easily open the car.

Think I'm still a little in shock, this is the first time in 6 years that I've had a car broken into. I'll be looking into a Clifford/Toad as soon as the car is fixed.

Toekiller · 10 Oct 2009 at 02:32

Christ sorry dude. Horrible thing when people do this but you can't let the ******** ruin things for you.

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 02:37

Its just hard to see any good from this, I think with the excess I have its probably not worth getting the insurance involved, but I don't have enough cash to fix the car or even replace the stereo.

I almost wish the car had been torched or stolen so I would have a fresh start, rather than fixing up a 10 year old car, for what will be in the mid hundreds, and will only get the value back to where I was a few hours ago.

I guess I still have my health!

Lum · 10 Oct 2009 at 03:00

Fit an alarm that has a remote central locking feature, remove all other door locks. Fit one of those cables that lets you jump start the car using a discrete terminal in the front grille (as found in RAC vans) then fill in all the lock holes with fibreglass or something and paint.

That's what I did when the same thing happened to my old Mk4 Escort many years ago, except for the painting the fibreglass stage which I couldn't be bothered with.

The Mad Rapper · 10 Oct 2009 at 06:51

Where was it parked in Wycombe?

miniyazz · 10 Oct 2009 at 07:53

Benihana said:
Its just hard to see any good from this, I think with the excess I have its probably not worth getting the insurance involved, but I don't have enough cash to fix the car or even replace the stereo.

I almost wish the car had been torched or stolen so I would have a fresh start, rather than fixing up a 10 year old car, for what will be in the mid hundreds, and will only get the value back to where I was a few hours ago.

I guess I still have my health!

Sucks

Bodyfiller in the screwdriver-attacked part? I bought my car pre-attacked, £15 of bodyfiller, sandpaper and spray paint and an hour's work and it was as good as new.. well as good as a 15 year old hatchback's gonna be anyway

Lum said:
Fit an alarm that has a remote central locking feature, remove all other door locks. Fit one of those cables that lets you jump start the car using a discrete terminal in the front grille (as found in RAC vans) then fill in all the lock holes with fibreglass or something and paint.

That's what I did when the same thing happened to my old Mk4 Escort many years ago, except for the painting the fibreglass stage which I couldn't be bothered with.

If you do go this route, make sure the alarm isn't gonna fail on you/run out of battery/something stupid like that. My remote locking etc works 95% of the time, but I'd be royally screwed the other 5% when it randomly decides not to work (for no reason I can figure out) if I didn't have my regular key. Admittedly, it was a £30 system

Duke · 10 Oct 2009 at 08:22

Did you leave the head unit attached to the radio? Or they took the radio without the facia?

Dr Who · 10 Oct 2009 at 09:36

Having been a victim of a similar crime this week, I empathise with how you must be feeling.

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:36

The Mad Rapper said:
Where was it parked in Wycombe?

Castle street car park

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:38

Duke said:
Did you leave the head unit attached to the radio? Or they took the radio without the facia?

The front panel was removed, I had put it in the glove box (9 times out of 10 I take it with me, but I only had my jean pockets, which wouldn't hide it) so both parts were taken

sigma · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:38

Harsh

Glove box is a no no, but i guess you won't be doing it again!

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:41

Dr Who said:
Having been a victim of a similar crime this week, I empathise with how you must be feeling.

Thanks, I keep getting that gutted feeling every time I see the car. Can't let the bstards get you down though. Hope you have better luck with your car than i'm currently having with mine.

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:43

silane said:
Harsh Glove box is a no no, but i guess you won't be doing it again!

Yeah, normally when I leave it in the car I hide it in the boot or somewhere it would take some time to find. I think in future I'll be using paid, closed off car parks, that have CCTV/Security.

starfighter · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:44

Benihana said:
Its just hard to see any good from this, I think with the excess I have its probably not worth getting the insurance involved, but I don't have enough cash to fix the car or even replace the stereo.

I almost wish the car had been torched or stolen so I would have a fresh start, rather than fixing up a 10 year old car, for what will be in the mid hundreds, and will only get the value back to where I was a few hours ago.

I guess I still have my health!

You need to rig the door with an explosive device, so when anyone opens it without the key the car gets torched and the justice served. :cool:

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 10:47

Sods law is that i'd forget about that until it blew up in my face! I'm still perplexed by the simplicity that the lock was popped out with a screw driver, and theres a small metal arm you can push up which will unlock the car. Even I saw how it worked within 5 seconds. Do deadlocks do nothing then? I ALWAYS double click the lock button on the remote to engage the deadlocks.

sigma · 10 Oct 2009 at 11:09

Some cars are only dead locked on one side afaik.

Dr Who · 10 Oct 2009 at 11:24

Deadlocks work be stopping them unlocking from the inside, avoids them pulling the top of the door back to open.

If they pop a lock out to access the mechanism, they can still unlock as you discovered.

Only way to stop this is delock or improve the way the lock fits to the point where they will almost destroy the door trying to pop the lock out.

I think mine was broken into looking for the satnav, in future I will just leave the glovebox open, and signs saying all valuables removed from the car.

Benihana · 10 Oct 2009 at 11:33

Would have to find out the hard way I guess, any ideas if its cheaper to fix the door or replace it? I have no idea how you get to the inner door skin to re-attach the lock to the mechanism, i fitted some component speakers a while back and I remember there was no easy access to the lock. Maybe its time to invest more money into a newer bike, failing that a car that is a bit harder to get into.

Benihana · 16 Oct 2009 at 12:54

Quick update, fitted a sandwich plate while i search for a new door. Police called me back saying they were going to look at the car park for CCTV, asked where abouts I was parked etc. I mentioned how I was suprised how easily the car was broken into, the guy said that VW's are popular due to poor alarms, and that a new BMW had been broken into and because they broke the rear passenger side window apparently the alarm didn't go off!

Makes me wonder if its always better to go for a clifford or toad solution!

Lum · 16 Oct 2009 at 23:32

Benihana said:
Makes me wonder if its always better to go for a clifford or toad solution!

Well if you go for a Clifford (especially one with the proximity sensor) you certainly wont have to worry about it going off, that is for certain.