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Parking on a drive

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Ewazix
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Location: Somerset

Parking on a drive

Post by Ewazix » Sun Aug 16, 2020 8:48 am

According to the UK Insurance industry, the UK's top ten most stolen cars are basically the things you would expect see an East European gangster driving, with room in the back for girls/minders and a boot big enough for a body ......

1. Range Rover Sport
2. BMW X5
3. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
4. Range Rover Vogue
5. Land Rover Discovery
6. BMW X6
7. Range Rover Evoque
8. BMW 3 Series
9. Range Rover Autobiography
10. Mercedes-Benz E-Class

92% of high-end cars were stolen without keys with keyless entry being a big problem, most went abroad.
2003 2.5 SE, low miles, Sterling Grey, 108's & Eagles, no stubby here! Unmolested.
2018 Cooper S Countryman
Fiesta Ecoboost

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groovy_hippy
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Location: Derby

Parking on a drive

Post by groovy_hippy » Sun Aug 16, 2020 7:32 pm

Ultimately if someone wants to nick something or break in, then they will find a way...it’s all about making your stuff harder to nick or simply less noticeable, or just not worth the risk/reward trade off...or something that’s too hard to move on after it’s been pinched. Would you pinch an anonymous rep-mobile that you could put on fake plates and export, or something noticeable, rare and challenging to drive? ;-)
Current ... 2007 Z4 Coupe 3.0si Sport | Manual | Alpine White | Black leather | Piano black dash
Intro to Zeds, now sold... 2007 Z4 2.5i SE Roadster | Manual | Stratus Grey | Red Leather | CDV delete | DLV backbox

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Dark Diggler
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Location: Yarkshire

Parking on a drive

Post by Dark Diggler » Sat Sep 05, 2020 3:43 pm

I used to have a 335D touring, std msport with 18’s in grey, nothing flash about it really. I used to park it on my drive nose in badge facing out.
Got woken in the night last year to 2 chaps in balaclava’s making their way into my house. We had a run round the garden for a bit and a bit of a wrestle at the side gate, they kept shouting for the keys and tried to screwdriver me through the gate as I was bolting it for good measure. I thought they’d go after that but then went round to the front and tried kicking my front door in, they smashed the glass and asked for the keys again and reminded me they would stab me for them. When they worked out that they definitely weren’t getting the key they did 1.5k of damage to the rear of the car and left, leaving me in my hallway surrounded by glass in my undies and my wife and son very distressed upstairs Apparently they did another house a few miles away straight after mine and had already done one before mine.

I would imagine that they cruise around estates late evening scouting and select the easiest pickings.
Visible deterrents are better than none, posts and steering locks are good as it complicates the job, 3 keys to find is more time and risk. Cameras in my opinion would not deter the team that visited me, stealth would have probably been preferable but they really weren’t bothered about the noise and hung around long after it got rowdy, they were keen.

The car was leased but I couldn’t wait to get rid, It’s taken a long time to get over it in all honesty and it still lingers. I now have a 3 year old Caddy on the drive that hopefully isn’t attractive to the organised groups breaking into houses for newish fast cars In my area (Now a big problem where I live).
My advice is just my opinion after my event, I would say park it away from your house so they don’t know where to look for the keys.
Insurance covers broken stuff and stolen stuff, the rest of what follows is worth avoiding if you can.
I have heard many stories of worse situations than mine, some were way worse.

Better to not be selected for the crime in the first place is my last comment :thumbsup:

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Armscarf
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Parking on a drive

Post by Armscarf » Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:15 pm

Dark Diggler, Horrific, we shouldn't have to live in a fearful society but yet here we are. I wish I had the answer.

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