[Hooded]

Originally Posted by BIFCAIDS

I'd personally not want mine back if it's stolen, as sad as that sounds. I love my car too much, but having known its been stolen and trashed to an inch of it's life, means the cars then tainted to me. I'd rather it disappear.

Agree. My Dads E36 was stolen and recovered back in the 90s and he didn’t want it afterwards so traded it in.

[BIFCAIDS]

Originally Posted by Hooded

Agree. My Dads E36 was stolen and recovered back in the 90s and he didn’t want it afterwards so traded it in.

Not to mention the state you could find it in, my friend found his Civic Type R... torched. With the amount of trick and fancy bits on it, all they did was joy ride it and torch it.

[strongs_uk]

Thanks everyone for your input and best wishes. Thanks to you the police have provided the form to us and we are filling it out today for ‘operation cundall’ but in all honesty like others have mentioned as much as I love that car I’m thinking now that I’d rather not have it back.

I’ll definitely be revising our home security and the way we think about security when I get a replacement vehicle.

[doncarlyon]

From your last post, they took the keys... educated guess.

[Watsey]

Dare I say it ?

Autowatch Ghost : https://autowatch.co.uk/veh-sec/ghost-2-menu

[gelogelo]

out of curiosity how much miles does it have? i know it can be edited but atleast it can help search if for some reason a white 2016 white bmw 335d msport shows up in the market

[James-335dx]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Dare I say it ?

Autowatch Ghost : https://autowatch.co.uk/veh-sec/ghost-2-menu

Out of interest have you had one of these fitted and if so, how much do they cost? I would be interested. I bet it makes a dealer service fun when they can't start the car

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by James-335dx

Out of interest have you had one of these fitted and if so, how much do they cost? I would be interested. I bet it makes a dealer service fun when they can't start the car

Yes, I've had one in my car for 2 1/2 years and it's been faultless. £400 inc fitting and VAT.

In simple terms it is disarmed by a user-selected series of button pushes, or via Bluetooth and an App (but I choose not to use that just in case my 'phone is in range of the car when it's in the house).

It kills the engine if it's running and D or R is selected but the Ghost hasn't been disarmed.

It can be installed anywhere in the CanBus network, so can be very hard to find.

There's a valet mode which is easy to activate and I make a point of telling the service desk about it. Driving the car at >31mph for more than 10 minutes disables valet mode and means that the car won't be able to driven after it's next been switched off.

I also let the service desk know that they'll need a low loader and hydraulic crane to recover the car if it goes into 'lock down' mode. Apparently some of the mechanics have been drooling over my suspension and brakes so that's one way of making sure that the car isn't 'road tested' a.k.a taken out for a thrash.

[Steve_M_Sport]

Originally Posted by James-335dx

Yep, seems to be happening everywhere at the moment, I'm Rothley and I hear regular reports all over our area. Weekends, Daytime, it doesn't seem to matter to them now.

Got my ring chime on and cameras all around. Baseball bat is also at the ready

I’m in Quorn and generally put my car in the garage overnight if it’s not raining

[James-335dx]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Yes, I've had one in my car for 2 1/2 years and it's been faultless. £400 inc fitting and VAT.

In simple terms it is disarmed by a user-selected series of button pushes, or via Bluetooth and an App (but I choose not to use that just in case my 'phone is in range of the car when it's in the house).

It kills the engine if it's running and D or R is selected but the Ghost hasn't been disarmed.

It can be installed anywhere in the CanBus network, so can be very hard to find.

There's a valet mode which is easy to activate and I make a point of telling the service desk about it. Driving the car at >31mph for more than 10 minutes disables valet mode and means that the car won't be able to driven after it's next been switched off.

I also let the service desk know that they'll need a low loader and hydraulic crane to recover the car if it goes into 'lock down' mode. Apparently some of the mechanics have been drooling over my suspension and brakes so that's one way of making sure that the car isn't 'road tested' a.k.a taken out for a thrash.

Thanks, I think I'll look into that then and see if I can find an installer locally to Leicester. I was pondering a tracker for a while but that only helps get the car back, it doesn't stop it disappearing in the first place.

I always do the 90 mins "while you wait" service so I can see exactly where my car is at all times My Dad once had his E46 330d serviced at BMW Sutton Coalfield and in the 3 and a bit hours it was there it'd done an additional 134 miles!!!! To say he wasn't happy is a bit of an understatement and to add insult they'd billed him for 3 hours labor!!!

[James-335dx]

Originally Posted by Steve_M_Sport

I’m in Quorn and generally put my car in the garage overnight if it’s not raining

Oh wow, just up the road from me then. We've probably raced up the A6 at some point?

Have you had many scrotes around Quorn? We've had 3 lots round inside of 6 months. Last time it was 5 with masked faces in a silver Golf at 3:30am

[Assassin]

A mate of mine had his 2007 Audi RS4 stolen but was able to tell the police exactly where it was as.......

He had put together a cheap 'n' cheerful tracker system! It was simply the cheapest small android phone he could buy, fitted with a pay-as-you-go sim with a couple of quid on it that did not need monthly top ups or expire if not used [3 network if I recall]. Its was setup not to sleep and logged into a Google account to sync something or other every few mins.

That was coupled with a dashcam hardwire kit with low voltage protection to charge the phone and piggybacked on a fuse somewhere the phone could be hidden.

When he saw the car was gone he used Google Device Manager to look at the Google account for the phone and located it on Google Maps!

Made me laugh when he described it all but it apparently did the trick and his car was located by the police very quickly after he called it in.

When I asked him if it flattened the battery he said that he had been on holiday for over 3 weeks and the phone was still active when he got back and the car started ...............................made me think!

[Panchoa]

Originally Posted by James-335dx

Oh wow, just up the road from me then. We've probably raced up the A6 at some point?

Have you had many scrotes around Quorn? We've had 3 lots round inside of 6 months. Last time it was 5 with masked faces in a silver Golf at 3:30am

I’m in Syston and there have been various incidents over the last couple of months, attempted car thefts, burglaries, attempted break ins etc......it’s likely they will be the same gangs operating in these area’s

[DriveS]

Really feel for you. cant imagine how bad it must feel.

Looking at the pic made me think that your car was on constant advertisement to thieves driving past. Stronger security measures needed.

I hope you find your car soon

[strongs_uk]

Originally Posted by DriveS

Really feel for you. cant imagine how bad it must feel.

Looking at the pic made me think that your car was on constant advertisement to thieves driving past. Stronger security measures needed.

I hope you find your car soon

Appreciate the well wishes but not sure what you mean about advertising the car to thieves. It’s parked on my driveway just like any other car. The only reason it stood out was because it was a nice car, not a lot I could do about that.

We are however revising certain security around the house prior to buying another.

[RustyBitz]

Originally Posted by Watsey

Yes, I've had one in my car for 2 1/2 years and it's been faultless. £400 inc fitting and VAT.

In simple terms it is disarmed by a user-selected series of button pushes, or via Bluetooth and an App (but I choose not to use that just in case my 'phone is in range of the car when it's in the house).

It kills the engine if it's running and D or R is selected but the Ghost hasn't been disarmed.

It can be installed anywhere in the CanBus network, so can be very hard to find.

There's a valet mode which is easy to activate and I make a point of telling the service desk about it. Driving the car at >31mph for more than 10 minutes disables valet mode and means that the car won't be able to driven after it's next been switched off.

I also let the service desk know that they'll need a low loader and hydraulic crane to recover the car if it goes into 'lock down' mode. Apparently some of the mechanics have been drooling over my suspension and brakes so that's one way of making sure that the car isn't 'road tested' a.k.a taken out for a thrash.

Also has the ghost on mine, great bit of kit. Dealerships when they said they couldn't get the car started, basically went over 30mph when in valet mode haha.

[Abzynthe]

Originally Posted by RustyBitz

Also has the ghost on mine, great bit of kit. Dealerships when they said they couldn't get the car started, basically went over 30mph when in valet mode haha.

The dealer wouldnt drive mine further than out of the bay and back into the customer carpark when I told them haha.

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by Abzynthe

The dealer wouldnt drive mine further than out of the bay and back into the customer carpark when I told them haha.

Perfect !

[Hooded]

I’ll be getting the ghost fitted on mine once the back to invoice gap insurance runs out.

[APJ]

Originally Posted by BIFCAIDS

I'd personally not want mine back if it's stolen, as sad as that sounds. I love my car too much, but having known its been stolen and trashed to an inch of it's life, means the cars then tainted to me. I'd rather it disappear.

Hiya BIFCAIDS, wouldn't have thought a little bit of thrashing would worry you, lets face it, the way you have your car specced, isn't to have it tootle around Warrington after all, i'm sure it never breaks the speed limit

[t5pilot]

Originally Posted by Assassin

A mate of mine had his 2007 Audi RS4 stolen but was able to tell the police exactly where it was as.......

He had put together a cheap 'n' cheerful tracker system! It was simply the cheapest small android phone he could buy, fitted with a pay-as-you-go sim with a couple of quid on it that did not need monthly top ups or expire if not used [3 network if I recall]. Its was setup not to sleep and logged into a Google account to sync something or other every few mins.

That was coupled with a dashcam hardwire kit with low voltage protection to charge the phone and piggybacked on a fuse somewhere the phone could be hidden.

When he saw the car was gone he used Google Device Manager to look at the Google account for the phone and located it on Google Maps!

Made me laugh when he described it all but it apparently did the trick and his car was located by the police very quickly after he called it in.

When I asked him if it flattened the battery he said that he had been on holiday for over 3 weeks and the phone was still active when he got back and the car started ...............................made me think!

I've a similar setup. Gives you that personal choice of the golden question "do you want it back or not"
After initial theft, 99% of the time (on cars like these) it'll get parked up within a few minutes & left a day, just to see if it has a tracker.
Quite common for the shitbags to leave the key behind or on top of one of the wheels too, so they don't have to account for the key if they're stop searched...

[Panchoa]

I guess a sticker in the window to say it’s got a tracker would help with the deterrent too I would have thought..?!?