Theft

Hi All
Thought its about time i joined this forum to share my recent experience! I have a 2020 Kingham which was stolen from my driveway at 2.50 am Sunday morning. We noticed it missing at aprox 6.am as had grandchildren staying so up early. It was fitted with a Melenco wheel clamp which they successfully crowbarred off! they also managed to deactivate the immobiliser and gain entry, also unlock steering lock start and drive away!! The steering wheel lock was not forced so somehow they must have used a key.Thankfully we have a tracker so i fired up my laptop and we located it only about 10 miles away!! My two sons drove over to the location while i liaised with the police and kept watch over it until they arrived. They were unable to find the tracker so apparently left it parked up to see if it gets picked up then they know it has one fitted. Anyway damaged to the interior mainly plastic mouldings ,"where i guess they were looking for the tracker"! and the front wing where they forced the wheel clamp off, but at least we have it back. I think the moral to this is not to rely on the vehicles locks, and immobiliser and certain wheel clamps for security, and also if it wasn't for the tracker we would not have got it back!! Hope this helps as wouldn't want any one else to think that they have enough security devises like i did and get it nicked!!

Regards Tom

Read this on FB. Was the cover removed that gives access to the OBD socket? That would tell how they started it without a key. Was the tracker not a monitored one ?

Hi yes the tracker is monitored regarding the starting they would surely have had to have a key to release the steering lock?

You didn't answer if they got access to the diagnostic odb port. Also how did they gain access to the van, in other words how did they open the door?
You located it on your laptop, not the monitoring company?
Sorry for all the questions but this is information that can help us protect our vans.

Sorry ok yes they would have been able to access the odp port as all the lower covers were pulled off the dash and fuse box so all was exposed. There was no forced entry to the van and no force on the steering wheel all still works fine,so they either had a cloned key or electronically hacked into the vans immobiliser? As i have access to the tracker by logging on to AS Monitor i could track on my lap top as it was quicker as i could not find the 24/7 number for the monitoring station " which i have now" and inform the police of its location.As soon as the police had this information things sped up considerably.The monitoring station will only supply all the location details to the police. The great thing about being able to track yourself is it did save time as we had the van back home within a couple of hours of it being stolen although we were lucky that it hadn't gone far. Hope this helps.

would be beneficial to know which tracker you have

Sargent

Have you checked under drivers door handle for a puncture hole?

Yep no marks whatsoever its as if they just turned up with a key got in and drove off. What also surprised us is that our van is very close to our bedroom window yet we did not hear anything! bearing in mind they had to rip off the wheel clamp as well.

so this is a good post
is a steering lock any good NO
is a pedal lock any good NO
is a wheel clamp any good NO
I have been out to help when people have lost keys and I have remove these items in a very short time
the tracker is a must as this was what they tried to find. so best not left as to the position A/S fitted it and I have a second tracker so even if they find one I have a good back up

Agreed. I have a a portable tracker that rings my phone if the unit and the tracker key fob/s are geographically separated by a specific distance. The system will then track in real time.

Yes this is something i have been looking into and i believe there are some that you can remotely disable the vehicle?

Wouldn't know about that TomK but I wanted something inexpensive, simple, recommended and moveable so that I could decide where to conceal it as a backup device if nothing else. I am not aware that my 2017 Symbol has a built in tracker (if it does-the dealer didn't say so). I use a steering wheel Disklok as a practical 'thwarter' and a visual deterrent. There is a built-in alarm of course. I suspect from the tale of woe on this thread however, that as with any professional determined theft (or theft to order), the criminal can overcome just about anything.

orac wrote:There is a built-in alarm of course. I suspect from the tale of woe on this thread however, that as with any professional determined theft (or theft to order), the criminal can overcome just about anything.

You say a built-in alarm. Alarm is not standard from build, so if you've  had from new,  and not had alarm installed yourself , there is no alarm.

Yes Paulmold, the alarm was the last (1st) owner's retrofit. The tracker is my 'installation'

It would be an interesting item / good gen. maybe to hear of what security, owners have fitted with what has been successful or thwarted, if anything at all. Ideally, no respondents to the topic (so no bad people out there) but as we are learning here, I doubt it.

I'm glad to say I haven't had an attempt to steal. I have a 4-Tress steering lock, a Pedlock pedal lock, Cobra alarm, Milenco Compact wheel clamp and a driveway alarm (sensor in van and alarm in the house). The wheelclamp and driveway alarm are only used when at home, the pedal lock and steering bar are used EVERY time we leave the van , such as shopping or walking around town and at home. Also have a personal tracker in van.

Belt and braces by the sound of it. I think you are wise. It's too easy to become complacent especially when out and about. A good lesson / wake-up call here from both you and TomK. Glad he got the wagon back.

Thanks very pleased to get it back,i think we all get a bit complacent at times! i definalty did! this certainly was a wake up call i guess we will never stop the professional but we can make it as difficult as possible.

glyne lock wrote:so this is a good post
is a steering lock any good NO
is a pedal lock any good NO
is a wheel clamp any good NO
I have been out to help when people have lost keys and I have remove these items in a very short time
the tracker is a must as this was what they tried to find. so best not left as to the position A/S fitted it and I have a second tracker so even if they find one I have a good back up

 
Fit them all to your van with a decent alarm  I know a thief will get through the locks but with the alarm blaring they wont want to hang about hacking 4 locks (you forgot an OBD lock)

I usually hear that modern immobilisers are so good that thieves will need to come into the house to get the keys.
Seems that is an urban myth.

Fontie wrote:(you forgot an OBD lock)

These thieves seem to get past every other lock so they will probably get past the OBD lock just as swiftly.
What about mixing the wires up on the OBD socket so their gadget will not work?

I only use a disk lock on the steering wheel and set the cobra alarm that’s fitted, nothing else, if the thieves really want it no matter what’s fitted they will take it, it wasn’t long ago I was reading about a van that was stolen, the thieves kept tripping the alarm on the van in the night but not attempting a breakin , they did it so many times until the owner turned it off because of upsetting the neighbours, the next morning the van had gone and he never herd them cutting the wheel clamp off or the post in front of the van

Euro 6 diesel engines refusing to start if you don’t put AdBlue in is a very effective immobiliser. It makes me wonder if pulling a connector somewhere or adding a concealed switch could effectively stop the engine from being started in a way which would make them give up as being too slow to diagnose and fix in the dark. After all, back in the day popping a distributor cap and removing the points was simple but effective.

Like the idea of a second hidden tracker, when my Nephew's van was stolen that had a tracker and it was found on the banks of the River Thames a few miles from his house. The van was never seen again.