What a day! Stolen Beemer... Where are your spare keys?

[Shinobi675]

Hi Guys,

So, today is the wife's birthday. We've been for a really nice roast in town before going to see Jersey Boys. Had a really good day. Was on the train home when I get a call at 20:30 saying the house alarm was going off... Bit strange for a false alarm at that time...

Thankfully I had the C6 at the station so drove home and pulled onto the drive to find the wife's 330 beemer missing! Our hearts sank, but I still had hope that maybe we'd just parked it across the road.

Opened the front door and as we walk in there's no glass left in the back door! Burgled and they've stolen the car... Call the police and they were round pdq. Took statements from neighbours, was very helpful and honest about chances of recovery etc. The wife is in tears, she loves that car and had only had it 6 months. I was gutted, well and truly gutted.

However... it doesn't end there! I'm waiting for the guy to come and board up the backdoor and I start doing some research, is there anything at all I can think of to track the car. It has BMW ConnectDrive, never used it, don't know what it is, I need to find out now! So it appears that if she'd have set it up, we could have traced the car. So I call the police back and they say thanks, they'll get a PC to look into it and call me back.

About half hour later I get a call back from a PC who has no idea what I'm talking about as I babble on about BMW Connect... He cuts me short thankfully and tells me that he's from the Met and they've found the car! It was stopped about an hour ago and they're recovering it! What an amazing result! Appears that there's no damage or anything and the keys were recovered too.

So the moral of this story is that my wife and I are the luckiest b@st@rds around!

So the real moral is that I need to get a safe to store all of the spare keys in. They were just lying around the only thing that appears missing was the car, so they must have come straight in just for that! I've often thought it wasn't a good idea, but never really got around to doing anything about it. I will now be carrying them around with me everywhere looking like a loon with a lot of keys until the safe is fitted! I also need to make sure I know what options come with a car and don't leave it to the wife to sort out. Plus I need to get a tracker for the RS6...

Any tracer recommendations, I've got a biketrac on my motorbike.

Cheers

A very very relieved Alex!

[Rick_RS4]

Sad as it sounds I take ALL keys with me when I go away and leave a vehicle at home even door keys etc.

[mustdash]

First off, hats off to the Police for getting the car back so quickly. They get a bad press (despite most coppers doing the best they can with limited numbers etc), so it's nice to hear a good ending for once!

I had never thought of a safe before - I've always hidden my spare keys - I think I will now look to invest in one!

I have a Tracker on my RS4 - was the first thing I did when I bought it - you can get a lifetime subscription for £400 (this means no having to renew every 12 months). I went with that, although it ends as soon as you sell the car on.

I also think you should put the lottery on this week....... You lucky bastard!

[bam_bam]

So the moral of this story is that my wife and I are the luckiest b@st@rds around!

Your wife is a bsatard? Good result though, buy a lottery ticket.

Sad as it sounds I take ALL keys with me when I go away and leave a vehicle at home even door keys etc.

I have two RS6, I drive the avant to the airport and take the keys to the 'loon on holiday with me. It's a hairy experience, if the holiday joint gets burgled and all of the keys are swiped, how do I drive the family home from the airport!? I can't even go home and get the other one. It's hard to even bear thinking about.

[Nobby]

You could leave the keys with me Bam. I will take care of them

[bam_bam]

I've seen your car, it'd probably come back in better condition than when I left for holidays.

[Graeme4130]

We'll done on the police recovering your car so quickly

I know it's not the aim of your post, but had you considered what would happen if your keys were locked away in a safe and when the fu@kers broke in, your wife and you were in bed ? Not worth thinking of and it's a only car that's insured ?

I leave my keys somewhere that's not visible through a window, but if someone's going to want them enough to break in, they're going to find them before they endanger my kids

Same goes for a tracker. A) they're largely useless and most decent car thieves will know how to disable them straight away, and b) would you want your RS car back after some cutn's ragged it around for 24hrs ? I know I wouldn't

Sorry to be appear all doom and gloom, but what we all have are generally insured and it's always food for thought

[Shinobi675]

It's a fair point and one I've considered too you bloody doom monger it's a really tough decision and I'm going to look to increase security around the house as well. It's bloody horrible.

[W8PMC]

Same as above really, i'm in the i'd rather they found the keys without attacking us camp. Having had my 1st TT (many years ago) stolen via a break in while me & my 2 kids were asleep, i liked the fact it was the thieves driving off in my car that awake me rather than a gun/knife to my kids throats.

[Woly64]

As I have to park the beast on the road I canvassed advice from some friendly plod plus some mates in the car insurance industry and as a result my approach is as follows:- the keys to the Audi are never left/stored on the ground floor during the day or at night. The car is parked facing the 'wrong way' in the cul-de-sac we live in and if the car is being parked up for more than a couple of days it gets a car cover over it. Based on the above thyey reckon I'd have to be the unluckiest bastard in the world to have it nicked but...it doesn't stop me worrying! Obviously the same security arrangements do not apply to the Mrs' Fiesta!

[Yorkshirestoke]

This stuff scares the crap out of me though.

http://www.keyprogtools.com/index.php/2 ... /audi-bcm2

[bam_bam]

This stuff scares the crap out of me though.

http://www.keyprogtools.com/index.php/2 ... /audi-bcm2

Wow, that changes the game!

[RossDagley]

I'd be more worried about the keyless entry hack:

http://www.keyprogtools.com/index.php/touch-keyless

ANY car with keyless entry can be entered (and driven off) with no forced entry or even a key required.
You just have to basically carry this thing, walk past someone whose car is keyless entry/start and it's yours...

Just ... wow.

[bam_bam]

How that keyless entry looking on the option list now?

[Yorkshirestoke]

I'd be more worried about the keyless entry hack:

http://www.keyprogtools.com/index.php/touch-keyless

ANY car with keyless entry can be entered (and driven off) with no forced entry or even a key required.
You just have to basically carry this thing, walk past someone whose car is keyless entry/start and it's yours...

Just ... wow.

Holy S**t.