Warning! stolen-recovered.

[mbedford]

Last night my car was stolen in the early hours of the morning. I had to go in to work at 02:15 so used my wifes car, I returned about an hour and a half later to find my car gone. I activated the tracker at 04:00 and the car was found by 05:00, fantastic service. The car had been ragged to death, the brake pads had set on fire and burnt all the paint off the front wheels, the interior partly stripped in the search for the tracker unit. It was found 50 miles away abandoned in leeds.
The car was stolen by using the keys which the theives had burgled from my house whilst the wife and kids were asleep upstairs!
The warning is that the police believe this was done by a professional gang who are stealing specific cars. They have failed to keep mine, they may be after yours next if you live within a 60 mile radius of leeds.
Always, always,always keep your keys with you at night and don't let your guard down for an instant. I always kept my keys with me at night apart from the last couple of nights. Please don't let what has just happened to me happen to you.

[Virdee Autos]

Really really sorry to hear what you've gone through

Can't imagine what you must feel like now

There's always a compromise with keeping the keys with you at night. It could get very nasty, and in the worst case, you could be injured, badly, even, just for the sake of a car. Depends on the situation

The stealing of keys by coming into the house, seems to be a very regular occurence, as the newer cars are virtually un-knickable without the keys

Best of luck for the future

[andyt]

Don't let your wife and kids sleep on their own without a burglar alarm on. Really, that's perhaps the most horrible bit about the story, that people were wandering your house without your wife and kid ever knowing about it. Bad <beep> about the RS6 though. I had mine taken when three balaclava'd guys demanded my keys. In that instance Tracker found it within about 30 minutes. It wasn't so far away and was in fine condition. I believe mine was stolen by thieves rather than joyriders so they won't have driven it in any way as to attract to much attention.

[mattysupra]

i dont have kids but if i did i think i would leave the keys downstairs on the table! I do take my keys to bed with me at the moment and my problem is that i would fight to the death before i give them up! Must be why the mrs wants kids! At least nobody got hurt let alone children that cant defend themselves.

Sorry to here that yet another RS6 has been taken this way. I have had a couple attemps at mine over the last year and lucky for me that i have came out on top and the car has remained on the drive.

Like i said before tho, at least your family are safe. End of the day its a piece of metal that can be replaced, or at least thats what the mrs keeps telling me!

[mbelle]

As mentioned, at least your family are OK, but am really sorry to hear this.

You're all right about taking keys to bed with you at night, although I don't currently, I'm with mattysupra as well in the fact that I would fight until death to keep my RS, however, (something I do always do, and what I think mbedford may have been suggesting(?)) is taking the keys with me whenever I leave my house without the RS.

That way, if either of myself or the missus (or both) are out of the house and someone breaks in, they aren't going to find my keys to simply drive off with it...

End of the day its a piece of metal that can be replaced, or at least thats what the mrs keeps telling me!

That's what people keep telling me - my RS (and cars) are more than that to me though...

[orinoco]

Having only recently purchased my Rs I too faced this conundrum, initially I started blocking my Rs in with another car and taking the keys to bed with me, however I recently decided against this, my Rs is no longer blocked in and the keys are left downstairs in a bowl in the kitchen, I would rather some tw*t nick the car than traumatise my wife and children, I love my Rs and it has taken me a long time and hard work to have the pennies to afford one, but ultimately for me there is no choice

[Blue_Thunder]

Sorry to hear that.

How on earth did they manage to set the brake pads on fire? Never even heard of that happening to an RS6 on a track.

[andyt]

I put mine in the garage. And I don't mean overnight either, I mean even if I'm nipping home for 30 minutes, it'll be in the garage for that time. Ours isn't a bad area, but when car gangs look for cars to steal in that way, they don't drive around poor areas. It spends most of its time hidden away for that reason. We got one of those remote garage openers for that reason, it was only a few hundred pounds. It means hiding the car away isn't any more hassle than leaving it on the drive/street in full display.

[mattysupra]

your best bet is to get anti hijack fitted. There is a hidden button in the car that you have to press when starting or every time you open the door. If the keys get stolen or you get pulled out of the car, if you dont press the button the car will drive for 2 minutes and then shut the engine down along with the horn stuck on with all lights flashing like mad. The keys will no longer work until reset.

[MalcolmSu]

The car was stolen by using the keys which the theives had burgled from my house whilst the wife and kids were asleep upstairs!

What's the insurance situation in this instance? I know my policy states that I wouldn't be covered if the car is stolen using the keys - but I think it says through leaving the keys in the car... Presumably the car insurance will cough up for the repairs in this instance? (and I guess there may well be a house contents insurance claim too?)

I too sleep with my keys (all three!) and I suspect it would be rare (but not unknown) for a burglar to enter a room knowing there's people sleeping inside? Much as I value my car I value my life far greater so maybe it's safer to leave the keys out somewhere (alway from the letter box) downstairs...

[SteveG]

I had a car stolen earlier this year. I had it up for sale, the guy pretended he wanted to buy it and turned up to view. Some how managed to swap my spare key with one he bought with him. Stole the car that night. I told the whole story to the insurance, I didn't even realise what had happened with the key until I sent all the cars paperwork and all keys to the insurance company. They called me up and said that if I hadn't explained exactly what happened when I first spoke to them that they wouldn't of paid out at the end. Moral is, as long as they have no reason to suspect you haven't done an insurance fraud, then you should be ok

Steve G

[MoRS6+]

Sorry to hear of your ordeal.

With regard to security, as well as the Tracker you already have, if you have your car remapped by Revo, they can install the SPS unit (I think with either Revo stage 2 or 3) and has additional security such as anti-theft immobiliser and valet-mode (which sets a low rev-limit and no boost to stop anyone ragging the car during valeting or servicing etc.). Having the extra power from the remap itself is obviously a plus as well, but these security features are very handy. The Revo map is not to everyones taste however (some say too aggressive, too soon), so I'd advise the free trial first, both to evaluate the power delivery and the security features.

Best of luck in the future!

[andyt]

your best bet is to get anti hijack fitted. There is a hidden button in the car that you have to press when starting or every time you open the door. If the keys get stolen or you get pulled out of the car, if you dont press the button the car will drive for 2 minutes and then shut the engine down along with the horn stuck on with all lights flashing like mad. The keys will no longer work until reset.

I'm not sure about that setup. In 2 minutes the car would be a reasonable distance away and in a direction you couldn't be sure of. I'm just not convinced that the thieves would leave the car in a nice position when they left it. I think you might find your car parked sideways across a junction with all the doors open. A bloody minded car thief, upon realising that you'd thwarted them may well choose to react by stacking your car into a lampost before legging it.

[mattysupra]

i would much prefer them to only have the car for 2 minutes maximum than getting ragged to death for an hour or so, hitting kerbs etc, and then been stuck in a container while they rip it to bits looking for a tracker. Or even the fact your car has to be missing for 10 weeks before the insurance pay out.

The 2 minutes bit is the maximum time it takes for the car to be stopped, after 45 seconds it starts cutting the power down and is flashing its hazards lights to bring attention to the car. The 2 minutes is when it is completly dead. Someone who is stealing these cars is not going to bring even more attenstion to themselves looking for a lampost to stick into to P1ss you off. Stat's on this system show that the theif normally dumps the car within the first minute of it starting to play up.

[ricks]

what sort of tracker did you have???