Motoring Discussion > BMW Security Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Zero Replies: 128

 BMW Security - Zero
I think its more or less a given now that hands free opening is a security risk

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/gone-in-60-seconds-police-warning-after-gangs-target-luxury-cars-in-spate-of-keyless-thefts-a3657951.html
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
You'll be ok, they'll not nick a green one, too tough to sell on and not cool enough to razz about in.
 BMW Security - Zero
And too tight to spec the keyless feature as well.
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
...and it'll stink of dog...safe as houses really.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
I specifically didn't want the keyless entry for this reason, it offers little advantage anyway - it only saves a push on the fob as they are keyless start anyway.
 BMW Security - R.P.
Neither of my two recent ones have keyless entry, they have keyless start though, I often wonder what the point of one without the other is. The Mazda has keyless entry, but to open the boot you have to press a button near the rear number plate..hardly convenient.
 BMW Security - Robin O'Reliant
Keyless is a hell of a chunk of electronic trickery to save a second or two at the most.
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
My old Qashqai had keyless entry and start. Now, if you start the car, then remember that you've forgotten your phone, go back into the house, pick up your phone, but absent mindedly put your keys down on the kitchen table, get back in the car and drive off, you're stuffed really. Don't ask me how I know...
 BMW Security - DP
I also didn't spec it for this reason.

Unfortunately it came as part of the Chilli Pack on SWMBO's Mini Clubman, which is the pack that has literally everything else that you DO want, and which everyone specs by default.

Although I doubt a Cooper D is particularly high on the scrotes wish list.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> Neither of my two recent ones have keyless entry, they have keyless start though, I
>> often wonder what the point of one without the other is.>>

Clearly it's keyless start that is the convenience:

Keyless entry only: Walk up to car, open door find keys in pocket, put in ignition, start engine.

Keyless start only: Walk up to car, put hand in pocket and push key fob button to open car, push start button and go.

Keyless entry and start: Walk up to car with keys in pocket open car, push start button and go.

2/ The last one offers so little of an advantage over the second one though is much less secure.

 BMW Security - No FM2R
I disagree.

Security concerns to one side, which I wasn't aware of at the time. I loved it.

My Phaeton would unlock when you touched it and lock as you walked away from it, provided you had the fob about you.

Once in, a button started it, provided the fob was with you. In my jacket on the back seat was not close enough. It pretty much had to be in the driver's seat area.

What a brilliant convenience it was. Not necessary, but fantastically convenient. Loved it, really loved it.

I don't know much about the security risks, were I to buy another similar car I would investigate the risks, but hopefully I'd be able to get similar again.

 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> I disagree.
>>
>> Security concerns to one side, which I wasn't aware of at the time. I loved
>> it.
>>

Security concerns to one side it's fine, I agree. I had it on a Focus ST a Clio III 2.0 and my son also has a Clio III that is keyless. They all worked fine. On the Focus the key could be anywhere in the car including in a bag in the boot, it knew whether it was in or out though.

However bearing in mind the security risks pressing the fob is a minor inconvenience considering the fact that it is the keyless start that is the main benefit.

 BMW Security - rtj70
When I had a Mazda6 as a demo in 2014 it had keyless entry and start. It would detect which door you were near for unlocking and you pressed a rubber button next to the door handle. So if you were stood at the drivers door someone could not unlock from the passenger door or the boot.

So it seemed to triangulate the key fob location. When I was out for a drive I noticed the bonnet was not properly fastened. Stopped the car and got out to close it.... so the car started to tell us the key was no longer in the car.

I've said on here before one reason I didn't go for the Mazda6 Sport was because the manual mentioned pacemakers and the mother in law had a pacemaker. Also compared to the Audi A3 it felt cheap. And to get an auto you had to go for the Sport with the 175PS diesel engine and so list price and BIK was a lot higher. I also thought the infotainment implementation was very poor. In fact all I fed back to Mazda was fixed in the model year refresh and so others felt the same.

Didn't get keyless entry on the Superb.... would have been standard on the Lauren & Klement but that was not available with the 1.4TSI engine. So spec'd up an SE L Executive to have man of the L&K extras plus some others. I ruled out keyless entry and start as an option partly on security. Those cars allow you to close the hatchback with the key when stood at the rear of the car. Think it can be enabled via VCDS.

Talking of the hatchback on a Superb... made a young chap jump when I opened it remotely because it chimes a warning. He wasn't expecting that as he walked past :-)
 BMW Security - Manatee
>>The Mazda has keyless
>> entry, but to open the boot you have to press a button near the rear
>> number plate..hardly convenient.

There is a button on the remote for it too.

Mine doesn't have keyless entry.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>> Mine doesn't have keyless entry.
>>

Is that what was called remote central locking a few years ago?
 BMW Security - Zero
>> >> Mine doesn't have keyless entry.
>> >>
>>
>> Is that what was called remote central locking a few years ago?

No.
 BMW Security - R.P.
Ah, I know, but the whole point of "comfort opening" is, especially the boot is that you can wave a foot at the boot sill and the boot pops, even when your hands are full.
 BMW Security - PeterS
>> I specifically didn't want the keyless entry for this reason, it offers little advantage anyway
>> - it only saves a push on the fob as they are keyless start anyway.
>>

My view differs...though I agree in theory there is little advantage...but... Our A3 has keyless entry and keyless start. Keys in pocket, and you can just walk up to the car, get in, press start and go. Our BMW has keyless start, but not keyless entry. The number of times I’ve walked up to the car, pulled the door handle and then realised it needs unlocking are to numerous to count. It shouldn’t be irritating, but it is. Especially when the key’s in your pocket, your phone and wallet are in one hand and bag in the other...rummaging in your pocket is somewhat tricky. I wish the BMW had keyless entry. I mean, you can keep the key out of your poker to unlock as you walk towards the car, but if your hands are full you can’t put it in your pocket, so it gets dumped in a cup holder or door pocket, where it rattles. I really couldn’t care less if it easier to steal...the reality is for whe I live and how I use it the chances are so remote as to be irrelevant. But the inconvenience is not!

Of course, the biggest issue is that both cars are different I am sure, aif they were both keyless start but not entry I’m sure it’d be less irritating. But they’re not.
 BMW Security - Duncan
>> Especially when the key’s in your pocket, your phone and wallet are
>> in one hand and bag in the other...
>>

Tchah!

Are you a bloke?

Everything should be in your pocket(s)! What's all this holding your phone and wallet in one hand and your bag in the other hand? Eh?

Get a grip of yourself.

We're doomed!
 BMW Security - Manatee

>> Tchah!
>>
>> Are you a bloke?
>>
>> Everything should be in your pocket(s)!

One of my best purchases ever - Paramo traveller jacket. Very light but carries a lot.

goo.gl/dTHkV3

Useful for travel generally and low cost air travel in particular - wallets, phone, headset, power pack, keys, cereal bars, newspaper...12 pockets total so helpful if you can remember where you put things. "Searching one's pockets" is a long job.
 BMW Security - Duncan
>> One of my best purchases ever - Paramo traveller jacket. Very light but carries a
>> lot.
>>
>> goo.gl/dTHkV3
>>
>> Useful for travel generally and low cost air travel

After you have paid for that jacket, you would need some low cost air travel to get your bank balance back in the black!

Whoops! Mustn't be rude!
 BMW Security - Manatee

>> After you have paid for that jacket, you would need some low cost air travel
>> to get your bank balance back in the black!

I think I paid £99. Not cheap but I've had my money's worth:)

As a Yorkshireman I applaud thrift, but I haven't seen anything comparable.

>> Whoops! Mustn't be rude!

None taken!
 BMW Security - PeterS
Usefull, but perhaps a bit over the top for a 10 mike drive to work...
 BMW Security - Zero

>> but it is. Especially when the key’s in your pocket, your phone and wallet are
>> in one hand and bag in the other...rummaging in your pocket is somewhat tricky.

The more normal of us have the wallet in the pocket and the key in the hand.
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.
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And the bag strung over our shoulder.
.
.
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.
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With the phone in it.
 BMW Security - PeterS
Haha...but a wallet in the back pocket is uncomfortable when sitting in the car, and front or back pocket spoils the line of the trousers ;)

There’s no point putting the phone in the bag, because it gets plugged in to the USB socket in the armrest. And yes, it’s possible to use Spotify via Bluetooth, but due to either BMW or Apple, I’m not sure which, when used that way the volume is much lower.

And there’s also no point putting the bag over the shoulder, because it needs dumping on the passenger seat. Getting in the car with a bag over your shoulder is somewhat troublesome, and taking it off in the car even more so. I don’t see the point slinging it over my shoulders to walk 10 meters

I can assure you, my way is the simplest way of leaving the house, getting in the car and driving off in the shortest period of time :p

Edited to add, ideally I’d not leave the heys in my pocket either, but they have an annoying happy of rattling if just left where BMW think you should leave them. They assume you’ll just have the car key by itself, forgetting that when a car key is needed it’s best to have a house key with you as well usually...
Last edited by: PeterS on Sat 14 Oct 17 at 16:25
 BMW Security - sooty123
I can assure you, my way is the simplest way of leaving the house, getting
>> in the car and driving off in the shortest period of time :p
>

It sounds like it! Who knew getting in a car was so complex? :-)
 BMW Security - PeterS
>> I can assure you, my way is the simplest way of leaving the house, getting
>> >> in the car and driving off in the shortest period of time :p
>> >
>>
>> It sounds like it! Who knew getting in a car was so complex? :-)
>>

It’d be easier if the BMW had keyless entry :p
 BMW Security - sooty123
First world problems eh?

:)
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 14 Oct 17 at 16:50
 BMW Security - No FM2R
>>forgetting that when a car key is needed it’s best to have a house key with you as well usually...

In the early days of keyless unlocking and starting,. I forgot the house keys quite often. Equally when driving my wife's car I frequently found myself in office car parks without the car keys and having to traipse all the way back up.

I wonder how many keyless cars are stolen as a percentage of all keyless cars, versus the same statistic for non-keyless cars.

Similarly I'd be prepared to be that more cars with trackers are stolen than without.

I think paranoia and newspaper headlines are influential in this matter.
 BMW Security - Duncan
>>
>> And there’s also no point putting the bag over the shoulder, because it needs dumping
>> on the passenger seat. Getting in the car with a bag over your shoulder is
>> somewhat troublesome, and taking it off in the car even more so. I don’t see
>> the point slinging it over my shoulders to walk 10 meters

What sort of bag is it that you are carrying?
 BMW Security - PeterS
>>
>> What sort of bag is it that you are carrying?
>>

Nothing out of the ordinary...just a leather briefcase type bag :)
tinyurl.com/yd7xtufh
 BMW Security - Duncan

>> Nothing out of the ordinary...just a leather briefcase type bag :)
>> tinyurl.com/yd7xtufh


I had hoped that it might be a manbag. Nearly, but not quite!

You like a bit of expensive gear, don't you?
 BMW Security - PeterS
Not cheap for sure. But it’s used 4 or 5 days a week for at least 40 weeks a year. Documents, ipad, charger and other associated work junk are all TSN used for. I ditched the laptop a couple of years ago, so a smaller one would probably suffice. But with a bit of judicious folding of a shirt it’s also big enough for an overnight trip. Cheap bags end up looking scruffy pretty quickly. These look as good after 3 years as they did when new :)
 BMW Security - Focal Point
I read about this a while back.

The CX-5 is one of those at risk, though it's probably not one of the highly-desirable prestige motors that seem to be targeted.

Keeping the keys in the fridge, or freezer, or microwave has been suggested. How about a steel cashbox? Would that provide the necessary screening?
 BMW Security - Fenlander
I must admit theft from drive or carjacking would be a serious consideration if I were in the position of wanting a desirable £40k+ new car. Statistically it may be a small risk but in the event of it happening I know how bad the intrusion to your property can make folks feel.
 BMW Security - Ted

I had a bit of fun... not keyless.......I sold my next door neighbour my Scenic but for some reason I couldn't find the spare key at the time. When I did find it I saw him come out of his front door and saw the side indicator flash to open the car. I quickly locked it again. Puzzled, he tried again...I locked it again. He looked around but I had hidden behind the curtains. It happened about 3 more times before he twigged it !

How we chuckled.............although it did hurt with a broken jaw !
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
We are so used to remote keys now of course, that we forget that they were once a rarity. I remember the first car I had with one, and keeping the key in my pocket and operating the buttons while pretending to my mother when I visited her, that the car would recognise my voice and unlock or lock itself on my verbal command.

I'd told her that you had to "train" the car to recognise your voice and that it therefore had to know its own name. The registration number happened to end in the letters PUB and I told her that the car's nickname was therefore, "Pubby". I told her that if I introduced her to it that it would obey her too. Got her into the habit of walking down the garden path calling out "Pubby, will you unlock your doors for me please?!"

Kept her going with that for a couple of weeks until she evidently mentioned her son's obedient new car to a more automotively savvy friend...
:-)
 BMW Security - Robin O'Reliant
>> We are so used to remote keys now of course, that we forget that they
>> were once a rarity. I remember the first car I had with one, and keeping
>> the key in my pocket and operating the buttons while pretending to my mother when
>> I visited her, that the car would recognise my voice and unlock or lock itself
>> on my verbal command.
>>
>>
>>
When I got married to Mrs O'Reliant Mk1 we bought a TV with a remote when they were still quite rare. She didn't realise it had one and I left it in the box and didn't bother with it for a few months as all the buttons were duplicated on the set anyway. When I eventually got round to using it I didn't say anything but pretended that you could change channels by snapping your fingers and raise and lower the volume by clapping your hands. This I duly demonstrated and she had a go herself, but either nothing happened in response or the set would turn itself on and off or the picture would fade in response to her commands. I had a couple of hours fun "Training" her to do it properly before she could get it to work most of the time.

On owning up I learned that women and men did not share the same sense of humour, something reinforced over the years by both herself and Mrs O'Reliant Mk2.
 BMW Security - R.P.
I had a laugh with a neighbour(who sadly died earlier this year)...he bought the biggest plasma telly you ever saw linked to a Sky box. Oh what fun hiding behind his wall with a remote...!
 BMW Security - rtj70
102" plasma screens were blooming expensive. And they were only Full HD.

At least 102" screen is the biggest I've seen but there are larger available.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 13 Oct 17 at 23:39
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
>> Oh what fun hiding behind his wall with a remote...!

What finished him off? Stress?

;-)
 BMW Security - tyrednemotional

>> What finished him off? Stress?
>>
>> ;-)
>>

..it's a remote possibility.......
 BMW Security - Boxsterboy
I had fun with my father-in-law when he wanted to get something out of our S-Max a few years ago. It had keyless entry. Being an old duffer he would double-check the car was locked after he had locked it ... whereupon the car would re-open (because he had the fob in his hand). After watching him from a distance for a while we had to put him out of misery and tell him to trust the car to have locked itself.

Oh, how we laughed!
 BMW Security - Manatee
>>How about a steel cashbox? Would that provide the necessary screening?

Absolutely. Or an Oxo tin, biscuit tin etc. Hide in plain sight.
 BMW Security - Focal Point
"'How about a steel cashbox? Would that provide the necessary screening?'

Absolutely. Or an Oxo tin, biscuit tin etc. Hide in plain sight."

Thanks. We keep house and car keys in a box on the hall table - at present a wooden one There's a not very pretty steel cash box upstairs somewhere. I'd better dig it out.

Keeping keys in the microwave, or freezer, is not very practical.
 BMW Security - Rory
For what it's worth I bought a couple of Faraday-type wallets and they really do block the signal.
 BMW Security - Zero
Its ruddy difficult to get the BMW key in your wallet. If you go for the "info" key (the one that drives the car into a parking space) its the size of a large mobile phone.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
That's a good reason not to have a BMW.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4977134/Thieves-make-50-000-BMW-MINUTE.html

You are on every scrotes watch list.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 14 Oct 17 at 21:12
 BMW Security - Zero
>> That's a good reason not to have a BMW.
>>
>> www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4977134/Thieves-make-50-000-BMW-MINUTE.html
>>
>> You are on every scrotes watch list.

Do keep up old boy
 BMW Security - Old Navy
Do you really expect me to read umpteen posts about attention seeker's driveway ornaments?
 BMW Security - Zero
No but I would expect you to read the very first post, you know the one you just duplicated, which after all is what the thread is about.

Pleased to see however that you haven't compromised your bitter twisted miserable jealous standards.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
At least I am not daft enough to set myself up as a target for low life or live where it is more likely to happen. Jealous, in your dreams. I am happy for you to pay for my quality of life.
 BMW Security - PeterS
Does anyone actually know anyone who’s had a car stolen in the last 20 years though? I know I don’t, and so, perhaps foolishly, I’m really not that concerned about it. I’ve never had a tracker on any car, nor have I ever bothered with a burglar alarm at home. Sash window locks is as far as it goes!
 BMW Security - rtj70
>> Does anyone actually know anyone who’s had a car stolen in the last 20 years though?

I know someone - me. It was Feb 2000 and a Golf GTI 1.8T.

Keys taken. And I also wonder if I was followed a few times on a route.

When police finally turned up they asked where the car was parked. I pointed out it was where the replacement hire car was currently parked.
 BMW Security - henry k
>> Does anyone actually know anyone who's had a car stolen in the last 20 years though?
>>
My son had his car stolen last year.
A friend living a few streets had his stolen a couple of years ago.

Any common factors.
Son had is stolen and from outside of his flat. He lives several floors up and the keys were not taken
The friend still had his keys.
Any common factors? Both BMWs. One of the last V8 M3s and a fairly new 7 series.
Both owners would be classed as honest not fraudsters.

Police response ? " No chance of you getting it back so just claim on the insurance"
 BMW Security - CGNorwich
Car theft seems to fall into two categories

1 High end expensive desirable cars which are stolen on demand and shipped abroad.

2 Old cars witht poor security which are stolen for joyriding and which are abandoned, and often torched. These are the ones you see by the side of the road with "police aware" on them.

If you drive a modern bread and butter type vehicle your car is unlikely to be stolen as it is unattractive to either group
 BMW Security - henry k
>>Car theft seems to fall into two categories
I would add to the list
To be dismantled and sold as spares.
I would not expect that my son's M3 was exported.

I guess some are cloned or used for crime.
 BMW Security - Bromptonaut
>> If you drive a modern bread and butter type vehicle your car is unlikely to
>> be stolen as it is unattractive to either group

As related in another thread neighbour over road had his nearly new Audi TT taken from his drive a month or so ago. While that might have been stolen to order* they also took keys to his wife's 62 reg Focus. Nothing else taken in spite of i-pad, phone and wallet being on his study desk along with keys to Audi. Police officer doing door to door inquiries said scrotes will take run of mill stuff to use on a job as it won't trigger ANPR as 'wanted in connection with'.


* Understand from another neighbour that the TT was found abandoned in Northampton a week or two after theft. He's not got it back yet, still slumming it in a Corsa - presumably insurance courtesy car. Same neighbour related fact about keys being on study desk. Given study is a garage conversion with large window at front I wonder whether insurance co might look at voiding claim on basis of lack of care.
 BMW Security - Robin O'Reliant
Does anybody know the historical data on car thefts? It does appear to be something you rarely hear anyone suffering now, yet when I began my motoring career in the seventies I don't think I knew anyone who hadn't had one pinched at some time or other.
 BMW Security - PeterS
This (albeit data up to 2014) seems to indicate that they’re at the lowest since 1968, presumably in absolute terms, and down 70% in a decade.

www.smmt.co.uk/2015/04/stolen-vehicles-down-70-in-a-decade-as-smmt-calls-for-more-detailed-theft-tracking/
 BMW Security - Runfer D'Hills
About 30 years ago I had a flat in central Bath. No option but to park on the street. I had a then new, Golf Gti at the time. In the space of one year, it was broken into twice and stolen once from outside my building.

It was a company car, and after it had been stolen, I got the use of a "pool" Sierra which I ended up keeping for a year, mainly due to my inertia in ordering a new car. The Ford was never touched despite being parked in the same street as the Golf had been.
 BMW Security - BiggerBadderDave
"About 30 years ago I had a flat in central Bath."

Did you pump it up?
 BMW Security - Clk Sec
No. Not having a foot pump left him red faced and rather deflated...
 BMW Security - Old Navy
I suspect the outrage at car theft is proportional to the value of the missing car. Average Joe public has little to worry about. The attention seeking wallet wavers on this site however.............. :-)
 BMW Security - Zero
>> I suspect the outrage at car theft is proportional to the value of the missing
>> car. Average Joe public has little to worry about. The attention seeking wallet wavers on
>> this site however.............. :-)

WAITRESS! Another pint of bitter and twisted for the sour faced old git in the corner
 BMW Security - Robin O'Reliant
>> About 30 years ago I had a flat in central Bath. No option but to
>> park on the street. I had a then new, Golf Gti at the time. In
>> the space of one year, it was broken into twice and stolen once from outside
>> my building.
>>
>>
>>
My Capri was stolen in about 1980, recovered five weeks later with the oil light on and the engine sounding like a bag of nails, needing a recon. It was broken into twice after that but not taken as I'd fitted one of those handbrake locks though a couple of snooker cues were taken during one. In the end I had a couple of deadlocks fitted which cured the problem.
 BMW Security - R.P.
Rhyl - You're more likely to get stabbed than have your car stolen, a fact sadly.
 BMW Security - Bobby
Lack of care when the keys were inside a locked house?
 BMW Security - Bromptonaut
>> Lack of care when the keys were inside a locked house?

IIRC insurers have lost patience with people who leave keys where they're vulnerable to being taken with a rod & hook through letter box. On a table, visible via an external window might be treated similarly?. Got into house via patio doors which seem to be a recognised weak spot locally.
 BMW Security - DP
>> At least I am not daft enough to set myself up as a target for
>> low life or live where it is more likely to happen. Jealous, in your dreams.
>> I am happy for you to pay for my quality of life.
>>

Are you suggesting that you factor desirability to thieves into your purchasing decisions? Not a great way to live, if true.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>> Are you suggesting that you factor desirability to thieves into your purchasing decisions? Not a
>> great way to live, if true.
>>

Not at all, I live in a low crime area, many of my neighbours have £30 to £50K cars on their drives. I am so far down the risk list for the attention of car exporters or borrowers it is not worth worrying about. Unlike many posting in this thread. If my car was stolen I could buy another one tomorrow and let the insurance sort the details.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 15:17
 BMW Security - Bobby
ON what’s that got to dowith anything?
Bit of an arsssy thing to say?
 BMW Security - tyrednemotional
>> ON what’s that got to dowith anything?
>> Bit of an arsssy thing to say?
>>

....it's just a harmless bit of wallet waving......

;-)
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>> ....it's just a harmless bit of wallet waving......
>>
>> ;-)
>>

Exactly, some residents of the south seem to think that anyone who lives north of the Midlands lives in a mud hut and drives an old banger. The weather is often pleasant too! :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 16:37
 BMW Security - sooty123
The weather is
>> often pleasant too! :-)
>>

And the sun can shine in Scotland in any given year, you just need to be there that day.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
It's shining now! Oh sorry you missed it. :-)
 BMW Security - sooty123
Oh well, I suppose you'll have to just imagine what it looks like for the rest of the year.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
I am sure it will be back by sometime next May.
 BMW Security - sooty123
Don't forget your vitamin D til then.
 BMW Security - Zero
>> >> ....it's just a harmless bit of wallet waving......
>> >>
>> >> ;-)
>> >>
>>
>> Exactly, some residents of the south seem to think that anyone who lives north of
>> the Midlands lives in a mud hut and drives an old banger.

Nope you have convinced us that anyone who lives north of the midlands is a miserable old git that needs to get a life.
 BMW Security - No FM2R
>>many of my neighbours have £30 to £50K cars on their drive

I couldn't even tell you what cars my neighbours have on their drives, never mind their value.

Are you just a little bit too concerned about such things? I mean, working out the value of your neighbours cars?

Bit sad.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>> Bit sad.
>>

Most people here are car anoraks of some sort, it is purely an interest in cars, and anything mechanical that moves. Rail station nearby, planes occasionally fly over, there is a small fishing boat on a drive along the road. All are of passing interest. I am not totally oblivious to my surroundings.
 BMW Security - No FM2R
Justify it to yourself as you wish, it still seems sad to me to value the cars of your neighbours as a matter of course.

You didn't say "my neghbours have some cool / awful / fashionable cars" you felt that the most important thing was the value. At least, that's all you did mention.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 17:59
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>> You didn't say "my neghbours have some cool / awful / fashionable cars" you felt
>> that the most important thing was the value. At least, that's all you did mention.
>>

I suggest you RTFM (thread) it is about cars vunerable to theft. They could be a greater risk than my car.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 18:16
 BMW Security - rtj70
>> Unlike many posting in this thread. If my car was stolen I could buy another one tomorrow and let the insurance sort the details.

I think a large majority of people on this thread could purchase another car straight away if theirs was stolen. But you might then be disappointed to find the car is recovered and there is no payout. You then have two cars.

Some on here could probably buy several cars for cash (brand new) if they so desired.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>>Some on here could probably buy several cars for cash (brand new) if they so desired.>>

I totally accept that, I just get hacked off at those who are ignorant enough to think that Scotland is a frozen poverty stricken wilderness. I accept some of it is wilderness (good for skiing) but in general it is a very pleasant place to live.
 BMW Security - rtj70
I don't think anyone on this forum claims Scotland is a poverty stricken wilderness. That's you thinking that???

If someone now says negative things about Scotland it's probably another member winding you up and you seem to let them achieve that on a regular basis.
 BMW Security - CGNorwich
And so is most of the UK. Your determination to constantly tell us how wonderful Scotland is and how awful the South East and other parts of the country are is not to mention your bragging as to your financial circumstances does tend to be rather wearing.

 BMW Security - Robin O'Reliant
The biggest problem with having a car stolen is sheer inconvenience. From the moment you come out to where you'd left it life suddenly becomes extremely complicated. If you are not at home you have to find a way to complete your journey, there are invariably personal items in the car that it is either inconvenient or damaging to loose and you are put in the position of going carless for about six weeks till the insurance pay out, or making an emergency purchase of it's replacement. And unless buying new, that can be a recipe for disaster.

One wouldn't want to become the sort of backward society where thieves have their hands cut off, but it would afford some amusement if we did.
 BMW Security - henry k
>>The biggest problem with having a car stolen is sheer inconvenience.
>>
I have experienced that to both a lesser and greater extent.
Quite a few years on a Bank holiday weekend when visiting the in laws. I left the car locked and was just a few yards away for five minutes and there it was gone.
Bus back to in laws to plan for no car.
Police found it within 12 hours with the inside totally missing so an obvious write off.
I could not afford a 60+mile trip taxi on a Bank holiday so needed a one way car hire.
Buses to nearest Avis, Accept whatever they offered, collect family and drive home then deliver car to Heathrow and two buses for the hour and a half trip home.
Long bus trips to and from the office until I found a local lift.
None to take me to see a S/H replacement etc etc etc.

The plus points ? Lift to work by a work friend, no significant items in the car and the payout was prompt.
Smiling when the family is upset was difficult but I am glad I did not see/ meet the scroat.
 BMW Security - henry k
>>The biggest problem with having a car stolen is sheer inconvenience.
Or even part of it stolen or interfered with.

Son found an offside rear tyre with low pressure so pumped it up and ????
All seemed OK. The wheel was left with me and there was no pressure lost or any signs with a soapy water test over two/three months so ???
A possible clue was a Macan parked nearby to his flat also with an offside rear tyre showing low pressure.
Scroats having a joke :-(

Son just reported a great friend has now got an almost new Golf R estate and parks it in a fairly busy street outside his home.
The seats have gone AWOL :-( Very inconvenient!!!
There is a limit to what you can protect.
I have no idea if the alarm was immobilised.

While of the subject of thieves
www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-sussex-41628541/apples-being-grown-for-food-banks-stolen
70 laden trees PLUS ALL the windfalls!!!
 BMW Security - sooty123
I totally accept that, I just get hacked off at those who are ignorant enough
>> to think that Scotland is a frozen poverty stricken wilderness. I accept some of it
>> is wilderness (good for skiing) but in general it is a very pleasant place to live.

I don't think there's that many, however repeatedly telling everyone how Scotland is heaven on earth and the SE is a hole isn't really helpful.
 BMW Security - No FM2R
>>I totally accept that, I just get hacked off at those who are ignorant enough to think that Scotland is a frozen poverty stricken wilderness

I've worked in Glasgow and Edinburgh quite a lot, though not for many years, but only really lived in Ayr.

I really, really enjoyed my life there. But the weather was oppressively crap most of the time.
 BMW Security - PeterS
I spent three nights a week for the best part of 6 months in Dundee, and never tired of the views driving out and towards the A90. Likewise the coast and scenery to the north was beautiful too. But, when it rained, it rained! And Dundee city centre was certainly lacking. Stunning countryside, and views across the Tay almost made up for it! Meetings Edinburgh were to be avoided though; traffic was a nightmare and, to anyone not local, the way lanes chopped and changed was most disconcerting

Usually I flew into Edinburgh and drove straight up, but occasionally, if flying in during the afternoon, the Glasgow flights were more convenient and not that much further to drive. Lovely drive round Loch Lomund one Sunday afternoon :)
 BMW Security - Zero
When I worked in Greenock, I had a rented place in Largs. Driving to work and back over the hills via Garvock was always a delight and a weather challenge.
 BMW Security - Bobby
Well I live in Scotland and if my car got stolen I wouldn’t e able to run out and buy a replacement.
Does that mean I should join a self help group or entitled to C4P grants??
 BMW Security - henry k
I cannot comment on Scotland from personal experience.
On business, a day or two in hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh plus a few days in Aberdeen with a
half day in Wick. Thats it.
Unfortunately I do not envisage me ever doing the tourist bit much as I wish.
I know I have missed out but I do not roll the dice.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
I visit the London area several times a year, it is an over populated, congested, polluted place, that I would not choose to live in. Have you tasted the water?!
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
Scotland is a beautiful place, one of the most wonderful places on earth, though it is blighted by the minority of Scots who like Sturgeon and Salmond have a chip on their shoulders ...
 BMW Security - Old Navy
As I am English I totally agree. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 21:28
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
Good, I wasn't suggesting that you were in the Sturgeon camp ...
 BMW Security - Bobby
And England is fine as well apart from all the Tory t***s.

But politics isn’t appropriate for this thread.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> But politics isn’t appropriate for this thread.
>>

Perhaps not, though it's only because of the coalition and Tory policies over the last seven years or so that we've been able to afford to continue to let money flow northwards over the border as well as sort out the s***e that those other Scots Brown and Darling left us in ...

 BMW Security - Bromptonaut
>> Perhaps not, though it's only because of the coalition and Tory policies over the last
>> seven years

You mean the policies that in practice, for all Osborne's bluster, look like those advocated by Alistair Darling and then Ed Balls (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 15 Oct 17 at 21:43
 BMW Security - Bobby
Yeah you’re doing such a great job.
How big has the deficit grown since this thread started?
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> How big has the deficit grown since this thread started?
>>

The deficit is reducing ...

... though borrowing is still increasing because the deficit is only the difference between what we borrow and what we repay. All the more reason to keep a very careful focus on public finances and not elect Corbyn, O'Donnell et al who would all simply add to the borrowing and leave our kids in a much greater mess that the last Labour gov left us in ...
 BMW Security - Bobby
I am amazed that anyone can actually think this country of UK is in a good place just now.

It’s totally and utterly feeecckkeedd! What bit of that don’t you see?
 BMW Security - R.P.
Oh Bobby....:-(....you're so right.
 BMW Security - Zero
>> I am amazed that anyone can actually think this country of UK is in a
>> good place just now.
>>
>> It’s totally and utterly feeecckkeedd!

It is. completely. And you cant just lay the blame on the tories.
 BMW Security - R.P.
True enough.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> I am amazed that anyone can actually think this country of UK is in a
>> good place just now.
>>
>> It’s totally and utterly feeecckkeedd! What bit of that don’t you see?
>>

Lets assume you are right, Then it's significantly less feeeeecked than it was in June 2010.

Though of course you are not right.

Things aren't perfect though the deficit is around £43 bio when it was £153 bio in 2010, despite which we are spending £10 bio a year more on the NHS, £1 bio a year more on the police (+ 25%), unemployment is down from over 8% to around 4%, the tax free allowance has gone from £6475 to £11500 so we are all paying less tax, and the lowest earners benefit most, and GDP is up by over 20%.
 BMW Security - R.P.
I know "It's the economy stupid" but social cohesion's outlook is pretty bleak.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> I know "It's the economy stupid" but social cohesion's outlook is pretty bleak.
>>

There are issues, I started the "Our PC androgynous society ..." to discuss just one of them.
 BMW Security - DP
>> I know "It's the economy stupid" but social cohesion's outlook is pretty bleak.

Years of divide and conquer politics (from all sides), and years of the country living beyond its means. Almost a perfect storm.

 BMW Security - Bromptonaut

>> the tax free allowance has gone from £6475 to £11500 so
>> we are all paying less tax, and the lowest earners benefit most,

As I've pointed out before, that's not true.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese

>> As I've pointed out before, that's not true.
>>

Hmm, if you are earning £11500 you would have paid tax on £5000 seven years ago. Now you pay no tax at all.
 BMW Security - Bromptonaut
>> Hmm, if you are earning £11500 you would have paid tax on £5000 seven years
>> ago. Now you pay no tax at all.

And if you're a real low earner, spoke to somebody today on less that £6,500, then most of that £5k is unused. Meanwhile a couple on rates only just below 40% tax threshold between them save tax on whole £10k.
 BMW Security - PeterS
£6.5 k can only be part time though, and I thought working tax credits were there (subject to a minimum number of hours) to help address that. There have to be some monetary benefits to working more hours, after all...
 BMW Security - Bobby
Ok hard cheese. Forget your figures and go out into the streets and see the homeless and see the ones queuing at food banks who are being sanctioned by your Tory govt by third party companies who are Tory party donors. And they are on bonus schemes to make sure folk don’t get money.

I know tories aren’t the only ones to blame but I also do not judge how well a country is doing by its tax allowances.
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> And they are on bonus schemes to make sure folk don’t get money.
>>

Eh, is that some kind of conspiracy theory you believe in?


>> I know tories aren’t the only ones to blame but I also do not judge how well a country is doing by its tax allowances.
>>

It's only one of many measures though it's quite important.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
Odd that an umpteen million quid promenade was built in Brown's constituency, replacing the perfectly adequate one.
 BMW Security - Zero
>> I visit the London area several times a year, it is an over populated, congested,
>> polluted place, that I would not choose to live in. Have you tasted the water?!

Yes, It fantastic, it means we will never see your miserable whinging fizzog down here ever again.
 BMW Security - legacylad
Well, I made it up to the Cairngorm area earlier today. It’s been many years since I travelled up the A9 and I suppose the myriad of average speed cameras helped improve the mpg of my wallet waving exorbitant mobile.
A quick stop at The Chattan Tea Room, in Birnam near Dunkeld, for a bacon roll before further progress North. About 350 miles in a little over 5 hours, some glorious scenery, then a 7 mile walk over the county top of Moray. Somewhere off the Tomintoul road. Back to the car in the dark at 7pm. Saw mountain hares and a small herd of very friendly reindeer up above 2,000’ expecting to be fed. Views across the Moray Firth but looking S to the Cairngorms it looked pretty awful weather
Bus to Aviemore tomorrow AM then 16 miles back in the pouring rain. It’s going to be grim.
 BMW Security - Bobby
You’re u in Gods country and I’m down in Bishop Stortford!!
 BMW Security - Dog
>>back in the pouring rain. It's going to be grim.

Warm & dry on the Refe. bit hazy due to a recent Calima (hot & dusty) over the weekend but, I know where I'd rather be: www.canarylive24.com/webcam-live-playa-las-vistas
 BMW Security - Old Navy
>>Yes, It fantastic, it means we will never see your miserable whinging fizzog down here ever again.>>

Same old, same old. Attack the person, not explain why you think a heavily populated area is so pleasant to live in.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 16 Oct 17 at 12:13
 BMW Security - Zero

>> Same old, same old. Attack the person, not explain why you think a heavily populated
>> area is so pleasant to live in.

No the problem IS the person. I have never said it a wonderful place to live, told you repeatedly its not a wonderful place to live, and also told you that you are right miserable PITA for constantly whining on about a place you dont like, dont live in, never visit and has got FA to do with your life.

It can only be a character flaw. Yours.
 BMW Security - Old Navy
Never visit? I had lunch at the Anchor on Wisley Lane a few weeks ago. Not a million miles from your patch. A pleasant lunch and walk along the canal, busy and the parking not brilliant though
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 16 Oct 17 at 13:22
 BMW Security - Hard Cheese
>> Never visit? I had lunch at the Anchor on Wisley Lane a few weeks ago.
>> Not a million miles from your patch.
>>

I used to live a mile or so from the Anchor and have been there quite a few times over the years. I quite often cut through there to/from the A3 when visiting family. Z also lives only a mile or so from the Anchor IIRC.
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