Car Stolen

[prt57]

Hi,
This is not related to an A3 8P Audi but as I have been on here for years, I thought I would share!

My son is even more of a car nut than me and earlier this year he bought a new Golf 7 R with manual transmission. After about 5 months and 7500 miles a rattling noise developed on what we think is the turbo. VW fobbed him off with the sound is normal but no other cars he went out in did the same noise. About the same time, the clutch started slipping when on max boost in 4th gear and above. Once again VW did not want to know unless he paid about £650 up front for then to remove the gear box so they could inspect. If a fault was found the full bill would be covered. If not he would have to pay for the parts and labour on a car that is only 5 months old.
So the car was doomed from my son's point of view and so it was only a matter of time before a new car arrives on the drive. I would have persevered with the repairs and / or warranty claim but not him.
So whilst I was at work last Saturday a Ford Focus RS mk 2 arrived to take the place of the R. Fair play the car was on 18,000 miles with a full Ford history and it had been wrapped with clear anti chip clear vinyl on the important bits from new.
A totally different drive to the R, hard as nails on the suspension and a bit of a handful when giving it the beans. However, he seemed to like it and so spent £400 on a pair of front tyres. Yesterday morning, he took it for an oil change, bought new rubber mats. At the garage, the mechanic said that it was one of the best he had seen. He even spent a couple of hours giving it a polish ready for a Pistonheads meet today.
In the afternoon he went into town leaving it in a secure car park and then treated it to a full tank of V Power on the long way home rather than just round the corner.
10 minutes after getting home at 4.30 pm, he noticed 3 thugs coming onto our drive going past the front window. He stood up to see one of them coming to the front door to hold the handle up to prevent anyone getting out whilst one of the others smashing the drivers window. My wife rang 999 and was able to relay events directly to the police as the theft unfolded. Apparently as these cars have keyless entry, they attach something to the OBD port that allows the car to be started by pushing the start button.
So one thug got into the car and the other 2 ran to the get away car. The RS reversed off the drive and sped off down the road. My younger son caught most of it on camera which the police were very pleased about. Total time from start to finish was about 2 minutes. As I was at work, I was totally unaware of what had happened until my wife called me being very distraught.
No body was physically injured but the shock in their faces was obvious when I came home.

So the car was owned for 7 days, we are not on a main thoroughfare so how did they know the car was here? The police think he may have been followed and so they are checking all cameras. However these thugs had scarves over their faces, had something to break the window and the OBD key to get the car started. This may have been planned as a result of a tip off. 3 establishments knew the car lived here. We will probably never know and we hope that the car has gone forever as if it returns the thugs will be back for a repeat performance.
The policeman said that they found another one a few months ago only 2 hours after the theft and it was already partially stripped.

You will say the that car can be replaced but realistically it will not as we do not want another experience like this. It could have been much worse with a car jacking or breaking into the house or garage. He was due to buy a disc lock today and transfer Gap insurance from old to new car.
The financial repercussions will be large. It appears that he has not been paying for bonus protection on the insurance and so the 5 years he has built up have just disappeared. That is his fault but as he is 23 you expect a degree of common sense. He got a quote to drive a 23 year old Metro and his insurance company wanted to charge over £1000. As the car has a strong following, prices to buy are high. He is worried that the insurance will not cough up the full amount although he only had it a week.
Apparently the new RS has a similar system with keyless entry and he has heard of brand new examples being stolen from Ford garages using the same technique.
The policeman said that over 100 keyless entry cars have been stolen in their area in the past month. Why are the manufacturers allowing this to happen as we are now very disillusioned.
Sorry that this has been so long but as my son said this morning, you never think it will happen to you!
Cheers,
Peter

 

[leshkin]

Oh man, so sorry to hear this. It's hocking how brazen the lowlifes are getting these days! I hope they get what they deserve.

As far as keyless systems go, I've been following a few Russian youtube video channels on car crime and they go into a lot of detail as far as how this stuff is done and how to protect your car from it. 2 minutes is actually quite slow time to do this! It is amazing how easy it is to steal a keyless car if the security system has not been upgraded from the OEM one and whats more interesting is how little car manufacturers do to stop this. They actually go to great lengths to restrict the amount of media coverage this stuff gets too!

I'm surprised that there isn't a big push from car security companies to advertise on the forums - there are really good solutions to this type of attack too. Granted, they won't stop a persistent thief, but 2 minutes vs 30 is a huge difference and 99% of the scumbags would give up very quickly.

Anyway, I hope your son's family recovers from this as quickly as possible

 

[downtothebone]

As everything moves into the digital world they ALL become hackable ... just look at the recent reports of the various (thousands) connected devices that were used to bring down various websites across the global internet - my guess as someone in IT is that was a test. A Landrover was recently hacked via its Canbus system whilst on the move to 'demonstrate' how it could be controlled remotely ...

 

[DJ_26]

This is quite sad to hear, I'm sure your son is pretty devastated. At least he is ok and so is your family. Let's hope that the police can actually find these people. It's a real shame, because it puts me off from owning a Mk2 RS! But to be fair, if the thieves knew about the Golf R, they may have targeted that one easily too. It does seem quite stressful trying to own a special car like that, constantly having to hide it and secure it from these thieves. I've heard stories about thieves sticking trackers underneath cars when they see them parked up and then locate the vehicle later, could be a possibility here but we won't know for sure. Perhaps that OBD portector product advertised on here may have helped in this situation?

 

[@udi A3]

They dont use an obd key. they use an obd key programmer. they carry a blank key and program it to the vehicle. i can program these keys in approx 2 minutes myself including opening the door without smashing a window.

Rs4/5/6 are another thiefs faverite. same principle.

Until the industry i am in is regulated any tom **** and thief can buy these tools.

Dissabling or relocating the obd plug is the most obvious way to slow down the criminal, but i can only see the tools combating this by tapping direct to specific parts of the wiring loom later ... maybe under the bonnet.

 

[kash_v]

Man thats bad, scum that do this!

A friend just bought a M140i and got a obd protector on it straight away as it also has the same issue.

If you have the cash maybe invest in a high def CCTV cam for your drive? For your S3 & what ever your son ends up in next.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

This is why my car always has a Disklok on , sorry to hear this Peter, absolute scum .

 

[prt57]

Thanks for all your comments. Whilst I can be smart after the event, I told my son to get a disc lock straight away. Normally it goes straight in the garage but as we are having work done here the garage is full of kitchen appliances. In the evening I would block it in with my old GTI 1.8T. Maybe they had been watching and that is why they struck at 4.30pm when my car was not on the drive.
However, if it had been in the garage it would have been worse as they would have needed keys.

 

[THQuattro]

Hi mate i feel sorry for your son having his car nicked but this seems to be getting worse and worse nowadays. If the car has a S or RS on the back it seems fair game for skum bags to nick but i blame keyless entry but this is the car makers fault and it should be sorted by them. Its just another car sale for them not a car loss from us, and they nicked it in daylight as well.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

check out Secure My Car .

 

[s5joe]

I know how you feel I have owned a focus Rs and had my door took off three times for it but everytime they were looking into my German Shepards teeth as I had a disk lock and a coded alarm on it so they had to have the keys and code to get it.

 

[Raiden]

Hope they catch them. But it doesn't matter what car you own if they want it they will take it.

The garage that do my MOT one of the owners had a Escort Cosworth and a few years that that got nicked. He was glad no got hurt as much as it pained him it was gone

 

[Hookmonster]

Mate, thats bad news.. i was actually driving on stratford rd about 5 o clock the same day.. but didnt see the car as id have noticed it..
Catching um isnt enough....

 

[Stormx]

I absolutely feel your sons pain. This happened to me when I was 22, & I had a 335i full specced out. It was absolutely immaculate, & without a doubt it was targeted for a while.

I was out working that night, & three men all dressed in black took 90 seconds - In & out. The scary part was; two of them were waiting outside my front door incase somebody came out. All caught on CCTV.
The car was then used as a get away car in 3 other robberies that night. It was then found on Lithuanian number plates 2 weeks later.

4 years on, I still feel the repercussion from the insurance claim.