Burglary Urgent help required

[BarryG]

Well I had the front door forced about an hour or so ago, about 5 am!
The German Shepherd heard the noise so we both dashed out.
Two guys in their early twenties, legging it, in different directions, down the street.
Daft dog didn't know which one to chase so just came back and stood by me
The thieving gits have took my car keys which I left in the hallway. (Yes I know stupid! No I don't normally leave them there.)
Police have now left, so to the crux of my problem.
I only had the two keyfobs, the immobiliser and the alarm. The spare keys are on the desk next to me including the key to lock the alarm on or off.
I can enter the car by the passenger door with the spare key, but of course can't start the car as they have the immobiliser fob.
1/ Is there any way to totally disable the car without actually taking the wheels off ? (I managed to get into the boot and disconnected the battery. Will this stop the central locking from working too?)
2/ What am I looking at to remedy this situation? I assume just replacing the fob will be no good as the thieves have one too. Does this mean replacing the whole immobilising system and alarm?
3/ Any help on whom to claim from ie. house insurance or car insurance (As I have never been in this situation before) Or any information that could be helpful, would be greatfully recieved.
Barry

 

[Dave's E55 AMG]

Sorry to here this bad news Barry. Not sure myself this had not happened to either.

Dave.

 

[100%Bitch]

Well I had the front door forced about an hour or so ago, about 5 am!
The German Shepherd heard the noise so we both dashed out.
Two guys in their early twenties, legging it, in different directions, down the street.
Daft dog didn't know which one to chase so just came back and stood by me
The thieving gits have took my car keys which I left in the hallway. (Yes I know stupid! No I don't normally leave them there.)
Police have now left, so to the crux of my problem.
I only had the two keyfobs, the immobiliser and the alarm. The spare keys are on the desk next to me including the key to lock the alarm on or off.
I can enter the car by the passenger door with the spare key, but of course can't start the car as they have the immobiliser fob.
1/ Is there any way to totally disable the car without actually taking the wheels off ? (I managed to get into the boot and disconnected the battery. Will this stop the central locking from working too?)
2/ What am I looking at to remedy this situation? I assume just replacing the fob will be no good as the thieves have one too. Does this mean replacing the whole immobilising system and alarm?
3/ Any help on whom to claim from ie. house insurance or car insurance (As I have never been in this situation before) Or any information that could be helpful, would be greatfully recieved.
Barry

Get straight onto your car insurance people as they will cover all replacement keys, bits, etc. It might well be worth calling the dealer if you have a good relationship with them and ask if they could get the car into their garage.

House ins will cover all burglary bits and bobs.

 

[BarryG]

Thanks Dave.
Yeah it's a strange situation, I have had cars stolen and locks damaged before (none with the MB security system) but I'm stumped as to the claiming situation here.
I am assuming the household insurance will only cover me to replace the keys
The days of just replacing the locks barrel are long gone

 

[BarryG]

Get straight onto your car insurance people as they will cover all replacement keys, bits, etc. It might well be worth calling the dealer if you have a good relationship with them and ask if they could get the car into their garage.

House ins will cover all burglary bits and bobs.

The only items taken have been my keys. As I nearly caught the one in my house.The other one was keeping look out on the driveway.

It will only take me about 15 minutes to replace the locks on the house, so thats no problem.
(My son didn't shut the dead bolt )

I've read through the car insurance booklet theres no mention of keys at all And a whole host of get out clauses in the fine print.

 

[100%Bitch]

Still worth trying to get them to sort it out. Even if they don't, they could point you in the right direction.

 

[BarryG]

Still worth trying to get them to sort it out. Even if they don't, they could point you in the right direction.

Thanks for that Helen

Just got off the phone to MB only a young lad so he is going to ring me back when he finds out whats what!
He did say something about just wiping the immobiliser memory and £250 for new keyfobs + there will be the key barrels to be replaced

 

[jberks]

The immobiliser presumably isn't an MB one. They didn't have separate keys and fobs. (Is this a pop the fob to a sensor and then put the key in - type)? You'll still need to replace the locks (which I'd get my indie to do) but the immobiliser can be done by any auto electrician (probably get the indie to arrange that too).
As above, lots of house policies now cover for this.
To immobilise in the mean time, remove an HT lead or a critical fuse - something they can't find easily. - Tht said, I knew of one guy who did this with an astra gte in the 80's. The buggers discovered it, went down the street to another astra, nicked the ht lead and swiped the car! Best bet, park another car behind it and make sure you've removed all your cds from it.

 

[BarryG]

Definitely MB immobiliser fob which works the central locking too.
The other fob is for the scorpion alarm.
Nice one about the fuse (Haynes here I come)

 

[television]

I am doing some thinking for a bit on this, so sorry it should happen to you

post back shortly

 

[BarryG]

Thanks Malcolm

 

[Ethics Gradient]

I experienced something similar a couple of years ago, although unfortunately I didn't have a dog and not only were the keys to my wife's Mazda 2 taken (only one month old) but my 6 month old Jeep Grand Cherokee was nicked, too (along with a laptop, video camera, mobile phones, digital camera, DVDs, whisky etc).

We looked at claiming the Mazda's car insurance for the replacement keys, but it simply wasn't worth the hassle (and loss of NCB). The whole situation is a total PITA - so you have my sympathy.

We never leave any keys or valuables downstairs overnight now.

 

[jberks]

No use to you now I'm sorry to say but to anyone else (and maybe you later) - I'm having my drive re-done at the moment and so have been looking at ways to make your nightmare less likely to strike.
I've just ordered a big telescopic security post to go at the entrance of the drive (concreted in 750mm so it's going nowhere) so that even if they find the car keys, they still can't get the car out. Hopefully they'll take one look and just not bother. You can also get them that just bolt to the ground.

Dog wise, one Collie is deaf (I have to avoid walking up behind him or he gets a fright) and the other completely mad (barks at his own shadow - eats his own feet etc) - so any barking in our house just gets ignored!

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Nothing wrong with leaving your keys in the open. I always leave my keys in an easy to find place. I don't want to be woken by men with baseball bats demanded my keys. I'd rather they just took them.

You could always rig the car to be a honey trap Just wait for the scrotes to return, at which point the doors auto-lock, a 120dB siren goes off inside the car (near their heads), and your dog jumps out of the back seat

 

[BarryG]

Rough quote from MB meaning minimum.
Single Key Fob £100 + Vat
Locks and keys £180 + Vat
Labour £257 dunno whether Vat gets added to that
They didnt mention anything about the alarm.

This will increase substancially, if they need to cut out the steering lock.
So blowing my no-claims seemed to be the way to go.

Rang Saga my car insurer.
I have to say amazed at the friendly helpful staff.
12 minutes going over the details and sorted.
No claim forms, all done on the phone.
Nothing like the nightmare I had when my Integra got stolen.
They are arranging for my car to be picked up tomorrow and a courtesy car to be delivered or picked up, my choice. (Top marks so far )
The car will be going to their own prefered repairer, I explained about the hassle with MB being the only ones that can reset the immobiliser. No problem they said if nescessary the car would be forwarded to MB.


Thank you all for your commiserations and helpful comments.
I will keep you updated.

Barry

 

[Dave's E55 AMG]

Barry, have you had a walk around the area they may have just thrown the keys away - you never know.

 

[television]

I had not forgotten you Barry, at least Saga have come out on top, something good to know.

There was no easy answer to this as the cost could almost be the value of the car, if not more in some cases

 

[Blobcat]

Sorry to hear Barry

Jberks, friend put a security post in, cost him a new bumper when SWMBO reversed into it....

 

[BarryG]

Barry, have you had a walk around the area they may have just thrown the keys away - you never know.

Yes Dave, I and my sons were walking the streets not long after the incident, beautiful warm morning. No signs

I'm pretty sure they would be back, I stuck a notice on the windscreen saying (All Electrics disconnected so the keys are useless "You Ba*****"
Stripped everything removable from the car too, CD player etc.

Also I have set up a remote camera so I can watch out for them.
Just so happens I have just stopped playing baseball with my son in the garden and he happens to have left his baseball bat near the front door.

I had not forgotten you Barry, at least Saga have come out on top, something good to know.

There was no easy answer to this as the cost could almost be the value of the car, if not more in some cases

Yeah that was my worry Malcolm, depending on the eventual cost it could still end up costing more than the car is worth. Then I might have been better off if I had allowed them to take the car instead of chasing them.


As an addendum a neighbour had an attempted break in through an upstairs bathroom window about an hour before they got to mine.
Its been quite a few years since having these sort of problems here.

 

[Dave's E55 AMG]

I had not forgotten you Barry, at least Saga have come out on top, something good to know.

That will be your age Malcolm lol.