me too. decent locks, immobilisers, alarms.. in fact I thought car theft was a thing of the past but then again whos gonna catch you if your a thief there aren't any police and a camera cant ask you if its your vehicle can it.
I suppose the values are significantly higher for a modern bus. when you are talking 20, 30 or even 40K for one of these then I suppose it is inevitable that such an anonymous vehicle with such a high price tag which seems easy to break, clone etc and which is in popular demand will catch the eye of the criminal.
when you realise how expensive these are I think if I had one I'd certainly have a tracker fitted, do any of them come with a service that notifies you if your vehicle is moved? so you know as soon as it has gone?
I believe thats pretty much the form for this type of thievery. I spoke to a real live police officer today after getting a message on our crime tracker thingy saying "Investigation Closed", not even the name of the officer who made the decision. Waste of time phone or sending emails, sometimes you just need to talk to "a person", a proper copper too. Often you end up speaking to a civillian, and they might be a lovely person, sympathetic and all the rest, but I wouldn't really want to speak to a ward clerk about my broken leg, I'd want to speak to a doctor. So I went down to the central nick in Bradford, told him I fully understood they had to prioritise stuff, it was just the cold impersonal "Investigation closed" bit I objected to. Felt a bit better about things when I'd left. Anyway, its all pretty much in the insurance companies hands now. I know I've said already, but thanks for the support, TLB is a great place at times like this (not that it isn't a great place at other times, before I dig myself a hole). Thanks especially those of you, like Rick, Mark and Doug who have circulated the details on social meeja
both i'd imagine - there's a market for everything, don't forget the interiors and beds in these aren't exactly cheap and will swap from vehicle to vehicle easily via ebay etc.... also the engines/parts are mega money when they go so they can sell engines/gearboxes no questions asked.... transporters are not affected by the scandal - caddys are.
how many times would you even think to stop and question someone pulling a vw onto a "rac" type truck? i'd imagine they are lifted not driven.
i had a private message of a chap on twitter this morning who'd followed me when i joined the t5 forum - i don't know him from adam, he has ploughed over £35,000 pounds into his van and is rightfully cacking it about the thought it could be stolen, i'm close to 20k into mine and i worry too but what can you do? just make sure insurance is upto the mark i guess.
Knock on doors around where it was parked, leave notes on windscreens, follow the roads around and see if there are traffic cameras or shops with cameras. Things don't just disappear, you can be pro active.
here's a bit of the convo i've had with my insurers. hi neil i just want to confirm my policy covers me for enough shoud the horrible happen and my van get stolen, my mate had his taken on saturday and i don't want to suddenly find out if mine went i wouldn't get back what i've put into it so far, i'm currently close to 20k with the purchase price and conversion and i still don't have a bed or units etc in it..... what am i insured up to at the moment and do we have an agreed value etc? if not what do i need to do to protect myself against losing out if it did get pinched? thanks rick. Your current estimate of the value is £14665 we can amend your estimate of the vehicle value if required but it needs to be a realistic value. Just to explain how a claim will be handled, in the event of a claim the following occurs. The vehicle will be inspected by an idependent engineer and: 1) If the vehicle is repairable then it will be done with all mods repaired on a like for like basis 2) In the event of a total loss the independent engineer will calculate the market value of the vehicle including modifications. Please note the value the engineer will assess for total loss is a realistic resale value including modifications. It will not be a total build cost as a build cost policy is not something that is available (for example if you bought a Ford Fiesta for £500 and spent £10,000 on modifications that doesn't make the car worth £10,500) The idea of a modified policy is to pay a realistic market value for what the vehicle would be worth to sell with all mods. Ideally the cheque you receive for the total loss should allow you to go out and buy a similar age/spec/mileage vehicle to your current one. Hope this helps explain things. If you want to discuss this further or change the value please call us on 01277 650866 Kind Regards Neil (I then rang and increased the policy to 19,500) it was pointed out my insurers got twitchy around the 20k mark and sometimes referred to a different policy but with existing policies they usually accept until renewal... i then sent a message to confirm the call. thanks neil - just spoke to one of your guys and he's upped the cover and explained that 20k is the potential limit with my insurer so i may have to be aware should more improvements happen, i understand the fiesta analogy yes but just wanted to be sure that a like for like would be something i got should the worst happen and obviously i'm just being "belt and braces" i am keeping all reciepts and suchlike but fingers crossed i never need them! will keep you informed of any modifications going forward and i have no problem if policy price or supplier needs to change to make sure i'm legal and covered well, thanks again rick No worries the underwriters we use are specialist so have a good understanding of the Transporter market and give decent fair valuations....I had one earlier this week that was a total loss the client valued at £6500 but the independent engineer felt this was light and advised the insurer it was worth nearer £11000 so the insurer offered the higher amount despite the customer only insuring for £6500 If the worst occurs we can work with you to make sure you get a fair to enable you to buy a similar van to replace with. Kind Regards neil
eBay, just type in tracker they start at £12, once it arrives get a sim from Giff gaff £10 lasts 6 months
http://www.sbd.co.uk/wp-content/upl...2288-Whitepaper-on-Electronic-Theft-Tools.pdf most of the stuff used is cheap, readily available, and can be purchased online, or in kit form from electronic shops....
probably, but I imagine manufacturers would be quite keen to prevent the public from knowing how easily their systems can be overcome, aside from the fact that the authenticity of manufacturers' official literature is somewhat questionable