Please look out for my stolen car!

[RSKiwi]

Result! Though I suspect you probably have a new one or new car by now.

Does the insurance company get to flog this one off now?

[Ian_C]

Yep, will be sold on, recorded on the register as stolen recovered. If the insurers had *just* paid out, they might offer it to the person to buy it back, but that is clearly unlikely here with the car being nicked back in 2008. The thing I find most remarkable is that the car is still on the same plates! If you were going to do a spot of bilking in your own car you'd swap the plates - let alone doing it in a stolen car!

Edited to add maybe worth posting the plate when this has all calmed down Emma. Lord knows how thrashed the car would have been - and that's before you even consider it will not have been serviced

[EmmaH]

I have just had another call with the police and they have now confirmed that the plates were different. (they got it wrong) they said they cant give me anymore information due to data protection.

[Treadmill]

Just read this whole thread. As a man who is still lusting after an RS4 rather than owning one this scenario is a little worrying. I did read something once that said generally theives will go dull colours when pinching something, not something too shouty. On that basis I may get a blue one.

Remarkable story.

[Ian_C]

Treadmill, I would say the exact opposite. You are much less likely to get spotted and followed and your house then recced driving a grey or black coloured car. I had my heart set on Nogaro Blue, but ended up buying the first (and only) car I viewed that wasn't Nogaro. Now I'm actually quite glad: Dolphin grey has grown on me, much more subtle, especially packing a V8 in these reccession times. Grey (and silver) also makes the alu' mirrors blend in a bit.

[Treadmill]

I see what you say Ian, i think the thing I read suggested a thief would rather be in something grey or black than bright blue so not to draw attention to himself...or herself I guess...

My preference would be for the Dolphin grey avant with optics.

[MB2]

I got worried when I bought my R32 due to similar threads & again with the RS4 - I would say try not to worry these threads are the exception rather than the rule & just observe the usual rules about being "sensible". I also ride bikes & if you thought car theft was a concern try bikes !

[irvind]

The RS4's are Daytona Grey, not Dolphin which is/was on the A4's.
Amazing story though!

[HYFR]

post the VIN

[Nobber]

Just read the entire thread too and I'm stunned. 2 years?!?! Just incredible, shocking but incredible.

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It's surprising but fewer than you think go missing and are never found.

As for the tracker:
I don't think it was ripped out. If it was functioning correctly withna half decent battery health it should have kept going. Either the thieves
-jammed it (almost impossible on the VHF based units but gps and gsm are trivial),
-fried it by splicing a cable between the tracker and the fuses connecting it to the car and pumping a high current through it
- hit a nail through it (we had one gang who used a cartridge nail gun. Bang bang bang and one dead tracker)
- simply drove it into a container. Is is still risky as VHF does work pretty well through containers (as the guy above who said his one was found in a lock up)
- or just (which isn't unheard of) the tracker failed. The problem with tracker is that a customer generally can't test the unit unless they either call tracker (and I've heard of them asking for a fee) or subscribe to their fleet management solution with is more expensive. They need to change it so that it periodically runs a test where it sends a test signal that is picked up by tracker (and ignored by the police equipped cars) and logged to a website the customer can log into. Trivial to extend this to fit a timed relay in the tracker that disconnects the external power supply for 10 minutes and then it tries to send a signal using the on board battery.
Any disaster recovery system (which is what this is really) is useless unless tested regularly

The main problem with all trackers is that they rely on not being found to be secure and they are generally always located in the same spots (anybody want to say 'under/behind the glovebox?'). When I did some research into different tracking solution I must have personally tested over ten suppliers and in all cases the unit was fitted in exactly the same spot.

If manufacturers fitted an engine ecu with the tracker built into the unit and it was matched to the immobiliser (so you couldn't just unplug it and put a new one in) then this would pretty much make the system secure for the first few hours at least. If you can't drive the car without the tracker based ecu and you can't jam the VHF system then you know you are on borrowed time. If it's done by the manufacturer as standard and the thieves know this then they have to gamble the owner hasn't activated it. Doesn't have to big either - we have a portable unit that is smaller than a pack of cigarettes that has quad band gps/gsm and can report it's position every 15 minutes for 30 days on a full charge. Scale up to the size of an average house brick and the lifespan is over 5 years. We're also looking at super capacitors as they are lighter and more reliable than conventional batteries.

Personally, I also quite like the solutions in the other thread like a switch mounted online with the clutch switch or a second alarm set to go off a couple minutes after engine start (useful only as long as you keep the fobs separate!). Heh, a really cool one would be a timed recording that if not deactivated sounds something like 'warning! Unauthorised access detected. Tracker system activated and police notified'. You only need it to delay the thief a couple minutes and they'll start to get a little edgy an abandon the attempt.

Sorry - more rambling but this is a pet subject of mine

[EmmaH]

That's interesting about the tracker. It actually did activate and a helicopter was launched but they soon lost it. I get the feeling these people knew what they were doing so I think any of those options could have been possible. The theves had even come to the house beforehand to turn security lights around, one the keys were back in the house they pounced. It is very rare for this sort of thing to happen so I don't think it should put anyone off buying a RS4.

[PetrolDave]

That's interesting about the tracker. It actually did activate and a helicopter was launched but they soon lost it. I get the feeling these people knew what they were doing so I think any of those options could have been possible.

Professional thieves know EXACTLY how to defeat a Tracker, which IMHO makes them completely worthless (As I've posted many times before on here).

[adsgreen]

Persoanlly I'd rather not have the car back after abuse and the feeling it's been nicked.
Instead of a tracker I'd rather have a 1lb of c4. Solves two problems in one.

[adsgreen]

Out of curiosity to the OP - what model of tracker was fitted?