Cheers for the warning, Rich...

I'm a Worcester-ite (amongst my other sins).

My Impreza is squeezed inside my excuse for a garage (Houses these days... [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] ), then I set the barrier-deadlock, attach the stop-lock, arm various alarms, then lock the garage!

Keys & mobile phone & blunt instrument (not the wife! ) within reach upstairs.

It's getting to the stage now when I'd consider harbouring an illegal firearm - After all, some poor sod was shot in Brum recently for his scoob. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I'm at peace with myself about removing any thieving piece of scum like that from the gene-pool

[Edited by Squizz - 11/7/2002 8:49:22 AM]

 

Owners Be Aware:

3 Scoobs stolen from owner's driveways in around Worcester area this week.

Police are aware of the "problem".

Richard

 

Presumably they got hold of the keys[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Whats this country coming to ?

 

I think the problem is people keep that much crap in their garages, they can't fit cars in 'em !
It's a worrying trend, but I'm sure every scoob owner should know by now to be extra-vigilant.

 

use bubblegum!
chew it then stick it under the handle
it is so sticky it will make them give up
just stick some on your car
use blue gum if it is a blue car
but remember to remove it before selling the car

 

my car is kept on the drive but you have to get past steering wheel locks, multi locks, alarms, immobilsers and a picture of me lass if they get past all that there welcome to it

 

Mine is kept in a double locked and alarmed garage but that didn't stop them breaking into my house at 2am one night last week looking for the garage and car keys. Not a pleasant experience discovering the scum going through all the downstairs drawers looking for the keys. Scared them off (sight of me semi-naked weilding large Maglite did it) with the only loss being my mobile phone.

Tips here boys/girls -

Get your priorities right and empty the cr@p out of your garage then put the car in it. I can't understand anyone who leaves a £20K+ motor on the drive with £50 of junk filling the garage, or being just too lazy to protect their expensive investment. You may as well put up a "Nick Me" neon sign.

Alarm the garage and fit an Autolock "Stoppa" (only £29). Even a B&Q £99 wireless alarm will do the job.

Never, and I mean NEVER leave your keys downstairs, even if you think they can't be found. They will turn out every drawer and cupboard in no time at all.

Alarm (and remember to set it when you go to bed) any outside doors.

It is not just the actual event of the theft / attempted theft, it is the after-effects of hearing every noise in and outside the house for days afterwards. Trust me, I speak from an experience I do not wish repeated.

Ken

 

RAC Trackstar ! Let um take it, then ring the cops, tell them that you thought you saw a gun, and they will be caught in no time !

 

Those of you who know what i do for a living will appreciate that i speak from experience when i say that nothing comes close to Tracker Monitor for getting accurate information very quickly to Police Officers on the ground who then can then lock onto the Tracker signal and track your car very accurately totally independently of any phone links with other companies.
There is a massive problem in Leeds(and nationally) with house burglaries where the car keys are stolen.People are so unbelievably ignorant to the risks.Always take your car keys and the spares to bed with you,have a quality alarm/immobiliser AND a disklok and put it on at all times.Around 40% of the vehicles taken in these types of burglaries are NEVER recovered.Just think what that does to our insurance premiums.
I don't have a garage but i haven't let that prevent me from owning a scoob and because i park it on the street i have to be extra security conscious about getting followed home,watched when i'm washing/checking the car over and i take many different routes home from work.I'm not totally paranoid but i see on a daily basis what can sometimes (not always) happen to uninformed people oblivious to risks in high powered desirable cars so i would say to all,take a minute to re-evaluate your security measures and sleep soundly as a result.
Paul.

 

Hi all, what d ya recon, had just gone to bed Sat night 2am,
just gettin of to sleep around 3.30, when i think hears something at me front door. i listen for a second not sure if im hearing things or not. S**t, somebodys trying to get in, and remembering
i HADNT LOCKED the front door, i instantly went into kill mode!
I gets out of bed, bo***ck naked, grabbed a little present(scoob/self preservation) and went to my door to discover that there were two fingers poking through the ajar door trying to un-hook the chain. I shouted some abuse as you do, the fingers were withdrawn and some schitzo woman started shouting about Me being in
HER house and that i better let her in, then her just a drunk an equally as schizo hubby, realised they come to the WRONG house!!!!!

Hmmm, but did they or were they after me keys and just fronting it??

Think i'll sleep wi them under me pillow now!
and i'll have one eye open

Cheers
B.

 

Imprezive
Story or no story, i wouldnt have shouted at them. I would have made sure that their figures were broken, burned or cut before they were aloud their hand back. Then maybe i would have shouted. Oh yeh then ring the 5.0.

For a minute whilst reading it i thought you were going to say that maybe it was your misses or something, tryiing to get in after a night out.

 

I would suggest not to take your keys to bed with you. A friend of mine is an Audi sales man, not so lond ago a bunch of thieving gits fancied the TT on his drive. They broke into the house via the garage and turned over downstairs, when they couldnt find the keys they went upstairs to the bedroom. One of them stood over my mate with a hefty bit of wood whilst the other woke up his wife quietly. She was scared into stunned silence and pointed out the keys on the dresser. By the time my mate awoke his wife was traumatised and the scum were going out the door.. She still has nightmares to this day. He now brings home A2's and he always leaves the keys downstairs in an obvious place. If someone is prepared to break into your house to nick a car, they will not think twice about harming you or your family. After all, it's only a car and it's insured.

 

Tracker Monitor - Now there is a really good idea! Why let your car get taken by some F_______ thieving scum. Then once they are bored thrashing it half to death, your local friendly speed camera operator can put his latest speedgun away, count the cash he generated for the superintendant's office redecoration and on his way home locate your car for you. You can now obviously take your pride and joy back home and next morning maybe it will blow up on the way to work.

Sorry guy's I would spend more effort stopping your car from going missing in the first place.

 

HI All.

You guys hust need to get a sticker which says
"Support your local Hells Angels".
I am sure that will help!!!!!

 

I keep my keys next to 2 large dogs who make a lot of noise if disturbed. If scum want to get past them, they are welcome to the car. However, just in acse its also worth fitting Blackjac or something similar. In this way even if they do get the keys, they won't get far - just far enough away for you to be safe but not so far that they **** your car.

BTW, Paul, I thought that many forces were stopping carrying the Tracker equipment which is why insurers are now asking for the more advanced systems (which tracker also supply)

 

Fortunately, in the interests of protecting the human rights of all criminals, anyone caught defending their own property with an illegal firearm will get a longer sentence than anyone trying to commit a crime with one.

 

And this is why I will not be owning another Scooby

My Story

Don't get me wrong, the Scoob is a fantastic car and I miss it desperately but I will be getting something like a Golf GT TDI that is a bit more sensible and less likely to attract attention. I will stick a towbar on it so I can trailer my next project car that will be a nice single seater 460kilo F3 car for the track, a pinch at only around £9000 for a serious bit of kit

Sensible economical car for the road
Lunatic mental car for the track and if it blows up or I stuff it into a wall I can tow it home

Muncher

 

Some very sensible comments on here - especially from Ken. The only thing I would change is the fact that I do leave the keys down stairs. As far as I am concerned - it's a car (a nice car, yes, but only a car). Ignoring the fact that the scum would have to get past a particularily loyal and protective staffordshire bull terrier (very effective alarm system), I'm not about to risk Sal's life or mine for a lump of metal. If they are that determined, they can have the car and I'll take the insurance (and yes the car also has a Tracker)!

Chris

 

ChrisL - totally agree.

Car is not worth sacrificing your or your family's security.

My intention was not to scare owners, but as I read the article in the local paper I thought it would be helpful to post.

It may just make us think a bit more in the future - personal security and all that.

Richard

PS Still love my Scoob

 

Agreed Richard - I have always been a little paranoid and I do vary my times and routes to and from work (working in Slough is enough to make anyone paranoid ). It is a shame that we have to be like this, but a few sensible precautions can make the world of difference. I've also got the auto door locking feature enabled on the alarm - there have been too many incidents (especially in Slough) for me to drive around with them unlocked!

Chris

 

On another worrying note I was speaking to a mate who works at a car pound where they store stolen\recovered vehicles and he reckons some professional thieves now know how to find and disable Tracker equipment or at least store the car somewhere like in an underground garage where the signal can't get through. I'm not so secure in the knowledge that my car would be recovered becuase I have a tracker now.

 

buy a wagon..no big spoiler goes just as fast and what scum sucker is gonna nick an estate car

 

uxg there is always someone to say "thats not safe" "that wont work" etc,its the british way ,sadly.We seem to like gloom and doom, i have a mate who can only see obstacles.
No doubt its true but some real pro's will steal anything, to order and there is little anyone can really do apart from plod.but it'll certainly get back a lot of cars.
eg if you really want to nick a car they'll find a way.
my view is b aware always but dont loose sleep over it after all its only a piece of metal...dear to your heart but replacable.

 

Most people buy trackers for the insurance savings, or because they can't get cover at all without one. I had a tracker on my scoob, but frankly, if it got nicked the last thing I'd want is to get it back, having had god knows what done to it...

 

marko same here quite agree.

 

Scrappy, lol, no story- totally true, and yip, the thought of kicking the door shut to remove 2 fingers and cover ma wall with blood did cross ma mind, but ya gota remember, it is quite a scarry thing to happen and its ok to say i'll do this an that but
when it happens you do get a fright,lol.
Totally agree with all posts re this topic but i reckon if they
seriously want your motor, there gona get it somehow, just no point in making it easy for em,

Cheers
B.

 

Its not just break ins they try

Any one who lived in the whickham area may know about this (newcastle). Some fella with a Ferrari (brand new, 3 days old) came out of his house 1 morning, got the car out of the garage. Closed the door, got back in only to discover the wheely bin blocking the drive, reversed up the drive to where it was, got out and guess what happened next.

Robbed at gunpoint for his keys. Needless to say he just handed them over, even after that he was hit with the gun.

Never caught.

Just where does it stop!

 

Hi Ken

Long time no speak/see.

So glad to hear that you and wife are both OK after this. This really brings it all home to you when something like this happens, and makes you wonder, why we bother having desirable cars!!

We should have a chat sometime soon, drop me a mail offline with your tel number and we'll catch up.

Simon

 

Just thought I'd pop this back on top again -

One of the said Scoobs was stolen from Droitwich, so my informed Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator tells me (he lives 2 doors away), and being as it was not too many roads away from me........and we have a fair number of scoobs for a small town.

(mind you, a lot of people can't get outta the rabbit-warren of roads from my house anyway)

Matthew

 

What i cannot understand is why non of you guys has a quality alarm system on your house??


Two settings, one for when you leave the house, upon re-entering through the designated door you get X amount of time to disable it before it goes off, and the second setting thats for night time.*Any* doors opened downstairs or P.I.R.`s go off then the alarm goes off without any time to reset it.Has caught me out a few times when it was first fitted (going into kitchen half asleep in the morning...doh) but you soon remember to disarm it the first time it ever happens

If you garage is separate to your house, get that alarmed separately, on its own system, *aswell* as incorporating it into your house system.

Rich.