Burglary & theft of car

[Manc Rick]

Hi guys, as you may recall, back in July last year I posted my (first of many) thread, after buying my first MB (my pride and joy) This thread. Well 2 weeks ago we were burgled in the dead of night and my car keys taken together with my beloved car.
They entered through a very tiny upper quarter window opening at the front main living room window, without managing to wake even our large dog who was upstairs at the time.

This was a 2016 W212 (E220) (presumably one of the last ones Mb made). It had the Mb connect and I had paid extra for ‘theft assistance’.

Immediately after reporting to the police, I attempted to track the car using the MB Connect app. It would not work, coming up with an error.

Nobody was available at MB until the Monday (this was early hours Saturday) and so neither myself nor the police had any way of tracking.

I eventually spoke to somebody at Mb on Monday morning and he asked me to delete and reinstall etc, together with various other trouble shooting attempts, but it would not work, so he raised a technical support ticket and in the meantime stated that the car contained a Vodafone sim and to ask the police to send a data protection form to him, signed by an inspector, from a police email address, and he would then release the SIM card details to the police, who would in turn be able to contact Vodafone to try and locate the car.

2 weeks later and still the police are being passed around. Now they have been told to contact Vodafone in the Netherlands!

Anyway, day 9 and the app suddenly started to work, allowing me to proceed with reporting the theft which I did. It asked for some details and prompted me to ‘press here to speak with a human’ which I did.

A gentleman answered and explained that he was getting a live signal from the car (day 9 remember) and that he had a location. Great! He would immediately pass this onto police.

Then 20 minutes later he calls back to say that his supervisor has looked, and it appears to be an ‘old location’ but that they were getting a signal so would continue to monitor.

Turns out the old location (I discovered only today) was my home address!

I don’t ever expect to see the car again and have bought a W213 which I’m collecting tomorrow.

Friends think I’m mad for sticking with Mb after the appalling service and futile attempts to track the vehicle, but I don’t like any other car!

So, apologies for the long post, I initially wanted to warn people to take care! I didn’t think theft of modern cars was as common these days. On the contrary, it is more prevalent than ever.

They came into my house for the key, but with the keyless cars they use a simple device which they hold up against your window and it bounces the key signal to an apprentice stood at the car with another device. 10 seconds later, away they go.

It happend to a friend of mine 3 days after my burglary. They threw a brick through his patio window and took the keys to his RS5 and drive off, all caught on cctv.

Police say it happens several times a night in each small town. The thieves are brazen; they know they are unlikely to get caught.

From now onwards, I will be using wheel clamps, steering locks, a separate tracker/immobiliser and I’ve had cctv installed and a burglar alarm is in the pipeline.

Take care.

 

[Paul Garrett]

Hi guys, as you may recall, back in July last year I posted my (first of many) thread, after buying my first MB (my pride and joy) This thread. Well 2 weeks ago we were burgled in the dead of night and my car keys taken together with my beloved car.
They entered through a very tiny upper quarter window opening at the front main living room window, without managing to wake even our large dog who was upstairs at the time.

This was a 2016 W212 (E220) (presumably one of the last ones Mb made). It had the Mb connect and I had paid extra for ‘theft assistance’.

Immediately after reporting to the police, I attempted to track the car using the MB Connect app. It would not work, coming up with an error.

Nobody was available at MB until the Monday (this was early hours Saturday) and so neither myself nor the police had any way of tracking.

I eventually spoke to somebody at Mb on Monday morning and he asked me to delete and reinstall etc, together with various other trouble shooting attempts, but it would not work, so he raised a technical support ticket and in the meantime stated that the car contained a Vodafone sim and to ask the police to send a data protection form to him, signed by an inspector, from a police email address, and he would then release the SIM card details to the police, who would in turn be able to contact Vodafone to try and locate the car.

2 weeks later and still the police are being passed around. Now they have been told to contact Vodafone in the Netherlands!

Anyway, day 9 and the app suddenly started to work, allowing me to proceed with reporting the theft which I did. It asked for some details and prompted me to ‘press here to speak with a human’ which I did.

A gentleman answered and explained that he was getting a live signal from the car (day 9 remember) and that he had a location. Great! He would immediately pass this onto police.

Then 20 minutes later he calls back to say that his supervisor has looked, and it appears to be an ‘old location’ but that they were getting a signal so would continue to monitor.

Turns out the old location (I discovered only today) was my home address!

I don’t ever expect to see the car again and have bought a W213 which I’m collecting tomorrow.

Friends think I’m mad for sticking with Mb after the appalling service and futile attempts to track the vehicle, but I don’t like any other car!

So, apologies for the long post, I initially wanted to warn people to take care! I didn’t think theft of modern cars was as common these days. On the contrary, it is more prevalent than ever.

They came into my house for the key, but with the keyless cars they use a simple device which they hold up against your window and it bounces the key signal to an apprentice stood at the car with another device. 10 seconds later, away they go.

It happend to a friend of mine 3 days after my burglary. They threw a brick through his patio window and took the keys to his RS5 and drive off, all caught on cctv.

Police say it happens several times a night in each small town. The thieves are brazen; they know they are unlikely to get caught.

From now onwards, I will be using wheel clamps, steering locks, a separate tracker/immobiliser and I’ve had cctv installed and a burglar alarm is in the pipeline.

Take care.

Hi guys, as you may recall, back in July last year I posted my (first of many) thread, after buying my first MB (my pride and joy) This thread. Well 2 weeks ago we were burgled in the dead of night and my car keys taken together with my beloved car.
They entered through a very tiny upper quarter window opening at the front main living room window, without managing to wake even our large dog who was upstairs at the time.

This was a 2016 W212 (E220) (presumably one of the last ones Mb made). It had the Mb connect and I had paid extra for ‘theft assistance’.

Immediately after reporting to the police, I attempted to track the car using the MB Connect app. It would not work, coming up with an error.

Nobody was available at MB until the Monday (this was early hours Saturday) and so neither myself nor the police had any way of tracking.

I eventually spoke to somebody at Mb on Monday morning and he asked me to delete and reinstall etc, together with various other trouble shooting attempts, but it would not work, so he raised a technical support ticket and in the meantime stated that the car contained a Vodafone sim and to ask the police to send a data protection form to him, signed by an inspector, from a police email address, and he would then release the SIM card details to the police, who would in turn be able to contact Vodafone to try and locate the car.

2 weeks later and still the police are being passed around. Now they have been told to contact Vodafone in the Netherlands!

Anyway, day 9 and the app suddenly started to work, allowing me to proceed with reporting the theft which I did. It asked for some details and prompted me to ‘press here to speak with a human’ which I did.

A gentleman answered and explained that he was getting a live signal from the car (day 9 remember) and that he had a location. Great! He would immediately pass this onto police.

Then 20 minutes later he calls back to say that his supervisor has looked, and it appears to be an ‘old location’ but that they were getting a signal so would continue to monitor.

Turns out the old location (I discovered only today) was my home address!

I don’t ever expect to see the car again and have bought a W213 which I’m collecting tomorrow.

Friends think I’m mad for sticking with Mb after the appalling service and futile attempts to track the vehicle, but I don’t like any other car!

So, apologies for the long post, I initially wanted to warn people to take care! I didn’t think theft of modern cars was as common these days. On the contrary, it is more prevalent than ever.

They came into my house for the key, but with the keyless cars they use a simple device which they hold up against your window and it bounces the key signal to an apprentice stood at the car with another device. 10 seconds later, away they go.

It happend to a friend of mine 3 days after my burglary. They threw a brick through his patio window and took the keys to his RS5 and drive off, all caught on cctv.

Police say it happens several times a night in each small town. The thieves are brazen; they know they are unlikely to get caught.

From now onwards, I will be using wheel clamps, steering locks, a separate tracker/immobiliser and I’ve had cctv installed and a burglar alarm is in the pipeline.

Take care.

Sorry you had to go through all that nonsense with the tracking service and i have heard many stories about these car thieves.

Luckily for me as my car keyless system is not working due to the previous owner leaving the credit card type key near a magnetic field rendering it useless and i never leave my car keys anywhere near the front door and always in a pocket as i trust no one just in case.

All i know if my pride and joy was stolen id be gutted as getting it back would be nigh on impossible , also on my Sclass i had to have the gear selector replaced and i had to prove i was the owner and provide my licence and log book to verify,as it is a theft related part so if anyone did force there way in and also force the ignition then the transmission would lock up rendering the car impossible to drive away?? Im hoping this is true so im sure someone will correct me if im wrong?

Seems like you are taking every measure to protect your new car and it a pity in todays society we are concerned that scumbags steal what we work hard for and little chance of jail as they laugh at our justice system

 

[sl500amgsport]

I had my CLK stolen in a similar way, burglary and keys taken from shelf near front door. Police caught the thief and he received 3 years inside due to fire arm offences (gulp)!

After this we learnt to double lock the front door and hide the car keys at night.

Since moving cars are now secured in locked garage behind electric gates with CCTV, these days I am more concerned about the sit on mower than the cars as wife wants to evict it from the garage to the flimsy metal shed :-(.

I don't think the mower is covered on insurance...

Mercedes SL500 R231

 

[s5tuart]

Any theft is an ordeal and from hearsay unlikely to be solved.
Car thieves are well armed with knowledge of how to get into a car and drive away and can often carry offensive weapons to aid their thievery.
The thing to take away from any theft is that you are left physically unharmed by it; mentally not so much!
I don't think I'd personally hide keys. I'd rather give the scrotes what they came for than get a severe beating or worse. In my younger days I was fearless but not necessarily sensible or wise....
perhaps a separate tracker is a good thing to consider?

 

[bladecrazy]

we had a ghost imobiliser and tracker fitted to the wife.s m135 just for peace of mind but still worry as if anything happened i know the police would be to slow to help, my son was mugged 2 weeks ago and even though we reported it the same night still no sign of police to take a statement.

 

[Wearsafoxhat]

I shall be looking into “auto watch ghost” when I get my next nice car.
We have good cctv, a good alarm and have three Mercedes car keys in the key box by the door, where you would expect them to be.. all from the bay of fleas so no use. Hoping that this will give me a moment to get my thoughts together..

No deterrent is the problem, chopping their right foot off would limit the choice of vehicles they had, next time they went to work.. but that’s another thread


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Paul Garrett]

I shall be looking into “auto watch ghost” when I get my next nice car.
We have good cctv, a good alarm and have three Mercedes car keys in the key box by the door, where you would expect them to be.. all from the bay of fleas so no use. Hoping that this will give me a moment to get my thoughts together..

No deterrent is the problem, chopping their right foot off would limit the choice of vehicles they had, next time they went to work.. but that’s another thread


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

And chopping a hand off, also a good idea to chop their goolies off as well

 

[flowrider]

If someone wants your car badly enough even auto watch won't stop them taking it. Instead they will break into your house and threaten you and your family into giving them the info to take the car.

 

[MBDevotee]

The fake keys is an ok idea, but I have to be honest, I do not want a raging maniac coming back into the house angry and out to find the keys at any cost.

Sadly a lot of these scrotes are using some form of drugs and have lost all sense of reason. Personally, I'd make entry as hard as possible, but if they get past that, I'd make finding the keys as easy as possible (without making them easy to hook through the letterbox). Cars are insured and replaceable - you, your wife/partner and kids are not - never come into contact with a burglar unless you have the skills to deal safely and effectively with that situation. It simply isn't worth getting hurt or worse over!

 

[eman]

It seems it’s the catalytic converters that’s top of the shopping list now. They say you can buy a guard that fits around it to stop them. But I don’t have that worry now.

 

[KennyN]

IMHO - Best deterrent is to make it difficult for them so they move onto some other "victim" , unfortunately.

Of the cars we have in the household my BM is probably higher up the steal-able list than the other three so that is put in the driveway first with two of the other cars blocking it in. I would rather have the minor inconvenience moving two cars should i want to use the BM but knowing it is not worth the hassle for the crims to break into and move two cars to get to the bimmer.

K

 

[LostKiwi]

We have a number of firearms in the house. Anyone breaking in really needs to think carefully.

 

[mioba]

we had a ghost imobiliser and tracker fitted to the wife.s m135 just for peace of mind but still worry as if anything happened i know the police would be to slow to help, my son was mugged 2 weeks ago and even though we reported it the same night still no sign of police to take a statement.

did you forget to mention to the police that the mugger had a knife with him and what could have been a gun in his pocket

 

[mioba]

what dog have you got OP.....

 

[MihaiLaz]

Unfortunately, MBs are on top of the most "wanted" cars and there is nothing we can do about it. I've personally done everything in my power to prevent my car from being stolen from using Faraday bags to put the keys in, to a second tracker and even steering wheel lock. Now I've even come up with my own "ghost immobilizer" and the only way they're going to take it away, is if they drag it away or lift it up onto a trailer... I reckon they won't go through that much trouble

 

[mioba]

Removing the battery and taking the wheels off, should be secure then.

Thieving scuondrels

 

[sonic]

I am ex job retired 20 years ago, up till then stealing a car from a garage was unheard of. Cars became more secure except keyless, so the easy option now is the steal the keys to the car from the house.

 

[MBDevotee]

Unfortunately, MBs are on top of the most "wanted" cars and there is nothing we can do about it. I've personally done everything in my power to prevent my car from being stolen from using Faraday bags to put the keys in, to a second tracker and even steering wheel lock. Now I've even come up with my own "ghost immobilizer" and the only way they're going to take it away, is if they drag it away or lift it up onto a trailer... I reckon they won't go through that much trouble

No they won’t you are right, they will either

A) break back in and beat you half to death till you tell them how to move it

Or

B) give up

Sadly a) is just as likely....

I remember the guy who thought he was so clever, putting a fingerprint scanner in his car to start it.......

......not sure he thought it was such a great idea when they cut off his finger with the kitchen scissors......

These people are either opportunists, or paid well by very unpleasant people, and they need to take what they came for..... I’d let them have the car.....



Using the same logic, my Mum has all her normal day to day jewellery on her dressing table, in her wardrobe is her safe, where all the “really valuable” stuff is kept..... except it isn’t that valuable, it’s all cheap cr@p but looks nice and would fool the casual look. Her REAL nice stuff is kept elsewhere. Once the burglars have found “the safe” the hope is they stop looking.

Once they breach the “first line” (which should be as hard as possible) make the next line quite easy and such that they don’t need to come upstairs or come into contact with you.... Unless you are like Kiwi - tooled up to the eyeballs, and crucially, prepared to use it.

 

[LostKiwi]

Unless you are like Kiwi - tooled up to the eyeballs, and crucially, prepared to use it.

I doubt we'd ever need to use it.
I think a bloke standing at the top of the stairs/door/window with a .22 rifle would be sufficient for them to think twice whether it was cocked and loaded or not. Depends how lucky they feel.

 

[sl500amgsport]

I doubt we'd ever need to use it.
I think a bloke standing at the top of the stairs/door/window with a .22 rifle would be sufficient for them to think twice whether it was cocked and loaded or not. Depends how lucky they feel.

You forgot "Punk" ;-).

Mercedes SL500 R231