Stolen M4

[fleagal]

Morning all

This is my first posting on here, so firstly hello from Solihull

It's a cautionary post though to everyone - be careful, there are folks out there that want your car - and they don't want to pay you for it!

2 months ago I upgraded my M235i to a fantastic SSII M4 with black leather and have been so pleased with it.

Parked on my drive it always turned my head when I pressed the rondel on the keyfob to lock it and I was a very proud owner.

However on Sunday night at 10.05pm two men dressed in balaclavas smashed their way into my house with bricks and paving slabs grabbed the key and drove off.

Thankfully they didn't resort to physical violence.

The car has a tracker and it was found parked up in a cul de sac in Birmingham by the Police

West Midlands Police have told me it was stolen to order and that a common time to steal cars is 10 pm when there's a change of shift.

I'm due to get the car back after forensics have finished with it, hopefully next week - however I now have the dilemma as to whether to keep it or downgrade to something less attractive to thieves

I'm installing CCTV and looking at getting a garage built though, so hopefully reducing the chances of a return visit.

Jez

[Lups]

Holy shit.

Dude sorry this happened but at least the car was found fast. I do wish you better luck next time.

I think the problem is more that your car is not flashy enough. I dump my ay car anywhere and the paint keeps it safe.

Congrats on the color. SsII is what I'll get when I grow up.

[Axelf]

Pleased to hear it was found fast.... This is probably one of the reasons my ins company insisted on a tracker for mine .

[DaBean]

This is straight out of Gone in 60 Seconds...

Sorry to hear. Any damage to the car?

[Lups]

Originally Posted by Axelf

Pleased to hear it was found fast.... This is probably one of the reasons my ins company insisted on a tracker for mine .

Wait, BMW can track the car anyway, why would you need an extra one?

[antych]

Birmingham seems to be a hot spot for car thieves. You will have some hard time if your house is easy to break into. Especially with so under the radar colour, that doesn't draw attention. They go for low hanging fruit.

[fleagal]

Thanks for your comments guys. My house has 3 very large sliding glass doors with argon gas sealed laminated units. They smashed through them!!!

I haven't got the car back yet, it's been recovered to the local dealer to me, hopefully it's as it was.

Biggest dilemma is do I keep it and don't give in to the thieves and accept I will always be a target OR do I go mainstream and buy something like a Cactus / Focus etc that isn't on any stealing to order list?

Guess I will only know when I get behind the wheel again

Jez

[F83]

A home invasion over your M, Holy Shit! Be glad they didn't go after you or your family. That is some heavy shit. Hope they find the guys.

[antych]

Tracker company can't react if it was stolen with a key. They will if the car is moving but the key isn't present.

Hopefully your car is ok, and nothing like this will happen to you again. Sadly I'm in the same boat location wise, but my flat is harder to break into, and I suspect there are plenty of AYs out there that are an easier target. I hope...

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by Lups

Wait, BMW can track the car anyway, why would you need an extra one?

My understanding is that the tracking service is not available in all countries. I don't believe it offered in North America.

[AM4ZING]

Get yourself a home defence system and keep the M4

[Lups]

Originally Posted by CanAutM3

My understanding is that the tracking service is not available in all countries. I don't believe it offered in North America.

I know for sure it is available here! My son pressed the SOS button ("mom it was an accident!!") and while I was trying to figure out how to stop the call, the operator thought I was in trouble (I was trying to find the bloody manual from the boot!) and called the cops.

Naturally this happened while we were on our way to a school run so it was a close call to a real nice show for all the kids and parents since I didn't have a license with me.

[GeordieMike]

Originally Posted by antych

Tracker company can't react if it was stolen with a key. They will if the car is moving but the key isn't present.

Hopefully your car is ok, and nothing like this will happen to you again. Sadly I'm in the same boat location wise, but my flat is harder to break into, and I suspect there are plenty of AYs out there that are an easier target. I hope...

This isn’t correct.. If you go for a Thatcham Cat5 tracker, the driver is provided with two "identity cards" in which if the vehicle is driven with the keys but does not have an identity car within the vehicle it will flag up as stolen and the relative company with get in touch with the owner.

Very sorry to hear about your car. Glad to hear you and your family were unharmed. It’s a cruel world we live in!

Mike

[Lups]

Originally Posted by Railgun

That's basically an OnStar like service. Yes, it's available in a lot of places as well. But tracking a stolen vehicle is a different animal.

Exactly. They're two little fobs you get...like RFID tags that the main unit needs to see. Had this on my Mini.

At least my screen showed my exact location to a meter while I was driving the vehicle to the school zone.

The best thing about being a parent is that I wanted to strangle the kid at the same time I was really proud of him. Hell yeah I too wanted to know what would happen.

And if i could pay to get that button removed, I would.

[JSBhopal]

Sorry to hear fleagal , I recently had the same thing happen in Birmingham.

We had 3 guys come into my place of work with balaclavas and crow bars for the keys to my M3. Fortunately, they didn't manage to get the keys, but needless to say that my staff were all a bit shook up.

I am in the same dilemma at the moment. Sell Vs Keep. I think Im going to opt for the former. Id rather get rid of what I consider my baby, than have that sort of stress in my life.

Its just frustrating that we all work hard so we can enjoy the little things and some people think that they can just 'take'.

Just to end, I encourage people to be vigilant and stay safe. Speaking to the police, these high performance cars are definitely stolen-to-order and I am also lead to believe that they often end up out of the country by the same day!

Yours observationally,

J

[JOHNBMWM5]

Sorry to here this, were you in the house at the time?.
CCTV and an Alarm Box in clear view will put many off all together, they like "easy", hope you keep the car as why give in to this scum.

[JSBhopal]

JOHNBMWM5 It happened at midday, in broad daylight, at work!

There's CCTV everywhere and the building is alarmed too.
It seems these people have zero conscious! nor fear of getting caught. Im not sure if thats alarming or just plain stupidity.

[ASAP]

Very sad to hear about this! Don't downgrade due to thieves, that would be giving in.

In the US, we shoot to kill in situations like this... or if anyone comes on your property...

[JOHNBMWM5]

Originally Posted by JSBhopal

JOHNBMWM5 It happened at midday, in broad daylight, at work!

There's CCTV everywhere and the building is alarmed too.
It seems these people have zero conscious! nor fear of getting caught. Im not sure if thats alarming or just plain stupidity.

Desperation more like, they want burning if you ask me, at the stake

[///F80M3]

Originally Posted by BlackDragon

Sorry to hear! Really need to get me a dash cam. Not sure if it would help if data isn't transmitted online or if data card can be taken out if cameras are found. Anyway, glad it was found. Not sure I would trust the car anymore.

Blackvue has free cloud service now. Just connect the camera to mobile hotspot and u can view from anywhere.