@Denwand  I'm even more cynical to be honest.  I see most of the developments as methods to charge more (for little benefit), and tie you into the manufacturer and their dealers for servicing.  We are in an age of "computer says no" when it comes to servicing.  Hardly any of the dealerships have mechanics as we know it, simply fitters following instructions from the CPU.  If you need problem solving you can forget it especially dealing with Toyota at Battersea.  Somewhere between hopeless and useless.

It's hardly surprising Nappy Valley is targeted for these sort of crimes.

For a villain based in SW London and south of the river it's an obvious "sweet shop" for new or nearly new Mbenz, Audi, Range Rover and BMW 4x4s ( the ones that are in big demand overseas - no questions asked).

All you have to do is drive around and take your pick - come back at 3 in the morning and Bingo! you're driving away in £65,000 worth of motor car - easy!

My beef is with the manufacturers who all hoisted these "keyless" electronic entry systems on us as long as five years ago - there was no customer demand for it as far as I can see - and despite a mountain of evidence that this was a retrograde step for vehicle security - continue to do so!

As for steering locks, they are a deterrent only from a time point of view.  As previously posted by another member on a similar post, a thief with a hand held angle grinder will get through them in a couple of minutes.  It's the time and noise which acts as a deterrent not that they're impossible to break.

Previously, when I was single and (a little!) cash rich, I had a series of sports cars and I bought a separate immobiliser for it.  They are cheap and effective and easy to fit by a garage.  I chose one with a manual switch hidden in the dashboard which overcame the cloning issue.  If you are going to leave your car say whilst away on holiday, simply disconnect the battery (assuming you have manual access).  Again it's all about frustrating the determined thief.  Good luck.

[quote="Annabel (admin)" post_id=232592 time=1548163496 user_id=2]
For the thief it was almost a perfect crime - they had all the time in the world to clone a key and they also had your home address. They had to spend quite a bit of cash up front on the technology to enable them to clone the key but once they'd done that they had a quick and relatively risk free source of high end cars. [/quote]

It's ironic that I lost a key to my (Older) MBenz Estate a while back and need a new "spare"

MBenz garages want a fortune to do it ( £680 in one case :o ) - and I have phoned two internet advertised "MBenz and BMW key copying experts" and they never bothered phoning back!

These villains could make a fortune providing a key copying service as a legal business instead of stealing other peoples hard-earned possessions  

@Annabel - you did know I used to be a Met Officer for over 8 years?   :)  I'm aware of the service you mention, very local, if we are on the same lines.

Julian you are so so right.

Someone I know very well is a policeman and they broke up a car theft ring using one of the services you've mentioned (I'm being vague as I'm not sure how much was in the public domain.)

For the thief it was almost a perfect crime - they had all the time in the world to clone a key and they also had your home address. They had to spend quite a bit of cash up front on the technology to enable them to clone the key but once they'd done that they had a quick and relatively risk free source of high end cars. 

To the OP.  Have you left your car with a valet service?  Perhaps car wash, hotel or airport parking?  It provides the ideal opportunity to clone the keys and in most cars there's some correspondence with your address.

As 'the Parsley song' recommends, these products are the only way to stop keyless car theft

 We had BMW stolen too, also one road away from ellerton. It was a keyless entry theft was well.

The police got our car back, 20 mins after it being reported stolen and caught a Lithuanian red handed - what did they do, let him go as he had a good story that he wasn't guilty. They still haven't finished getting the evidence together to make a case for charging, 7 months later.

The Met police are utterly utterly useless (unless its Hate crimes of course and then they are all over it)

I have had this one for a year and it works perfectly (apparently not all of them do).
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076KZF645/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

At £7.99 for 2 with free Prime delivery it's the bargain of the century. I've also got a disklock for when I park on the road or carparks. It's heavy and a pain to put on and off but very difficult for thieves to remove.

[attachment=0]Screen Shot 2019-01-15 at 13.27.38.png[/attachment]This is only one data point but the map below is car crime in November.

 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/103187/best-faraday-bag-car-key-signal-blockers-2018

hope that helps!

Hi Soph,

Are you able to let me know what a pouch is and where I can get one from?  Interested to know for my car, thanks!

Unsure what the Police meant by "secured" Soph...This report came from Wandsworth MPS (Metropolitan Poice Service).

I had a friend who had her brand new Audi Q7 stolen in Battersea a few months ago under similar circumstances... she now uses a wheel clamp on the front wheel 

When you say secured do you mean With a steering wheel lock? We had ours stolen too, one road away from ellerton. It was a keyless entry theft. We now have a pouch that stops the transmission to allow keyless entry and also a steering wheel lock. Interested to hear if you had this too as I’m hearing of more thefts where they get these locks off!

[attachment=0]1aaa3.jpg[/attachment]