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      04-24-2012, 11:05 PM   #33
clarence
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Drives: F30 328i M-Sport
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Feanor View Post
Fair enough - in that case apologies, I should just have been specific said it's standard in the UK rather than assumed it was also the case for the rest of Europe without checking. It's odd, we seem to get far more things as standard in the UK than elsewhere, and some options are considerably cheaper. I guess it's a question of what people in different markets expect.

It mostly has to do with requirements of local motor insurers. In UK, due to rampant crime involving motor vehicles in the early 90's, Thatcham (which is a research centre founded by British Insurers) tested & categorised a large range of security devices, without which either a quotation will be refused or premium very expensive. This forced car makers to incorporate approved devices as standard fitment.
For example in my local market, a few yrs ago nearly all policies stipulate compulsory fitment of alarm system (again due to rampant theft of prestige vehicles in the early 90's for smuggling to other countries), so BMW fits alarm as standard across the whole range. From abt 3 years ago, local insurers changed the terms & the word "alarm" was changed to "electronic anti-theft device" (a term open to interpretation). Local importers sensing opportunity to make more money so alarm is no longer standard, only the most basic immobiliser remaining as standard.
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