[bmwusa]

I was wondering how easy it for our cars to be stolen? The recent thread the other day about how it was impossible to use a slim jim and unlock our doors if you were to accidently lock your keys in your car made me wonder if its that hard to even get into our cars, how easy would it be to steal, can a theif simply hot wire our cars? our would it take alot of technical expertise to steal a M5, just wondering, maybe there is some criminal masterminds on this board that could enlighten me, Josh

 

[Ag Surfer]

I was wondering how easy it for our cars to be stolen? The recent thread the other day about how it was impossible to use a slim jim and unlock our doors if you were to accidently lock your keys in your car made me wonder if its that hard to even get into our cars, how easy would it be to steal, can a theif simply hot wire our cars? our would it take alot of technical expertise to steal a M5, just wondering, maybe there is some criminal masterminds on this board that could enlighten me, Josh

You looking to supplement your income? :1:

 

[stuart]

Its not very difficult to steal a car.

It is very difficult to drive one off without the keys (hotwiring or modern equivs.)

Basically you either;

a) wait for guy to come back to car, mug him for keys

b) trailer it away, making yourself look like a traffic cop, get it to a garage and disable alarm and go from there.

I probably sound like a right dodgy Joe after my comments in the last thread on a similar subject, but this knowledge stems from paranoia gleemed from running expensive car stereo gear. Some theives follow cars home to break in and get keys during the night/next week!

Basically, if they want your car, they'll get your car. Make sure you don't make it too tempting to them, and make sure its insured, so if someone does ask you for the keys with a bat in a dark carpark, you just give them the goddam keys - these things are just lumps of metal at the end of the day!!!

Luckily M5's aren't what most theiving gits are after, they'd much rather have a tricked out skyline or the like, I know one guy who can only get insurance on his skyline if he places two metal poles into the ground padlocked outside his garage, to stop guys pulling it out and trailering away at night hmmm

Be careful guys.

Stu

 

[bmwusa]

Its not very difficult to steal a car.

It is very difficult to drive one off without the keys (hotwiring or modern equivs.)

Basically you either;

a) wait for guy to come back to car, mug him for keys

b) trailer it away, making yourself look like a traffic cop, get it to a garage and disable alarm and go from there.

I probably sound like a right dodgy Joe after my comments in the last thread on a similar subject, but this knowledge stems from paranoia gleemed from running expensive car stereo gear. Some theives follow cars home to break in and get keys during the night/next week!

Basically, if they want your car, they'll get your car. Make sure you don't make it too tempting to them, and make sure its insured, so if someone does ask you for the keys with a bat in a dark carpark, you just give them the goddam keys - these things are just lumps of metal at the end of the day!!!

Luckily M5's aren't what most theiving gits are after, they'd much rather have a tricked out skyline or the like, I know one guy who can only get insurance on his skyline if he places two metal poles into the ground padlocked outside his garage, to stop guys pulling it out and trailering away at night hmmm

Be careful guys.

Stu

Many good points and I toatally agree that if there is awill there is a way, I guess I am just more wondering like thescenerio you see on old tv shows where the theif breaks the window and then uses a screw driver to jimmie the ignition and then twists some wires and off he goes, just curious thats all

 

[Ashok Arora]

If you want any chance of getting it back, make sure you have a good tracking system fitted to it.

 

[ard]

If you want any chance of getting it back, make sure you have a good tracking system fitted to it.

It's been asked before, but would you really want it back?

Maybe a system that disables the engine within a minute or so and tells the police to pick it up... but otherwise that can trash the engine/tran/ etc pretty quick.

A

 

[BmwNut]

Jumping in and putting off with an E39 would take some doing; it's not an old Chevy Impala. With modern cars you dont just slim jim the door, break the steering colum and then you are on your way.
However Stuart aka dodgey Joe (sorry, great term, and I couldnt help myself from using it :haha: ) is 100% correct. The best way to steal an E39 would be roll it onto a trailer, take it to a garage and then you have all the time in the world to deal with it.
Doesnt BMW have master keys that will open the car?
:cheers:

 

[Ingenere]

I don't think that M5s are real theft targets....except maybe for parts. In the US its pick up trucks, Nissan Altimas, Toyota Camrys, etc that are targets. In the EU high line cars that are stolen find their way to Russia and resold. My Fcar friends are so neurotic about their car getting stolen.....Ferraris just aren't top on the list. First off....where are you going to cruse around with a Ferrari? Second, there isn't that big a parts market and everything has a number.

I'm not advocating foolishly leaving an opening for a thief, but I just don't think (and this is supported stastically) that our cars are real targets. And face it..........if someone wants your stuff.........they are going to take it.

 

[Mspeeding]

I was wondering how easy it for our cars to be stolen? The recent thread the other day about how it was impossible to use a slim jim and unlock our doors if you were to accidently lock your keys in your car made me wonder if its that hard to even get into our cars, how easy would it be to steal, can a theif simply hot wire our cars? our would it take alot of technical expertise to steal a M5, just wondering, maybe there is some criminal masterminds on this board that could enlighten me, Josh

Nearly impossible to break into without doing damage (not that a theif cares), but there are easier targets around (and that is something they do care about).

Frankly, you're more likly to have some jerk at a dealership joyride you car. Turns out that there have been a number of stories like that related on this site. Always note your milage before you leave the dealership!

 

[Beamer_usa]

Unfortunetly, no car in the world is theft proof. That is why we pay those huge insurance premiums. :grrrrr:
My view is if my car ever got stolen, I would not want it back. Somehow, in my eyes it would always be tainted

 

[SA-M5]

Stuart, good advice..... :thumbsup:

How much ur making man..? :hihihi: ..just kiddinnnnn.

 

[stuart]

Incidentally, I did forget a third way, but I am not sure if it is relevant to the E39.

Some professional thieves have RF/IR scanning devices and sit in car parks. If you activate your locks VIA your remote on your Key, they can catch the info, and use that to open the car and disarm the alarm with no hassle. This only works on systems that do not use a rotating code though (unless they know what the rotation is)

As I say though, the E39 may not have a problem with this kind of skulduggery.

On a side note, if anyone ever needs any E39 parts, just let me know, 2 weeks delivery, 30% OEM cost *

Stu


*JOKE - Dodgy Joe INC is a fictional company. Any similarity to any real world stolen car parts reseller is purely coincidental.

 

[twells]

E46 M3's were easy to get into

A little off topic but I don't know too many New Jersey e46 M3 owners that didn't have their lock core pulled at some point. It was so bad that I didn't even bother replacing it when mine got pulled. Supposedly theives would break in and hope that the owner was foolish enough to leave the valet key in the car.

When mine was broken into, there was evidence that they went through the glove box but they didn't take a thing... left cash, escort, cds, etc. I assume that the M5 doesn't have the same weakness?

 

[DrewT]

Re: E46 M3's were easy to get into

From a service advisor at a CT dealer:

Basically it is impossible to START the car without a key. Seriously they are electronically coded to the ECU and the factory only produces x numbers of keys and if you loose them all it is a huge expense to redo the locking system. flat bed is the only way they are "taking" the car for parts.

 

[kwalls]

Many good points and I toatally agree that if there is awill there is a way, I guess I am just more wondering like thescenerio you see on old tv shows where the theif breaks the window and then uses a screw driver to jimmie the ignition and then twists some wires and off he goes, just curious thats all

A few years ago when I lived in the US, I had a Suburban stolen from a parking lot in the middle of the day. Police showed me how nobody takes a screw driver to the ignition or twists a bunch of wires to drive away.

The majority of GM / Chrysler Products at the time had plastic housings to enclose the steering columns. Most good car thieves knew this, would gain entry from the passenger side by breaking a window, break the top of the steering column allowing them access to the mechanical parts of the ignition switch and would then simply rotate the switch internally to start the car. A good thief could walk up to your car, be in it and away in less time than you or I could do so with ignition keys.

Times may have changed and it may be harder to steal today but the basics are still the same.

The majority of cars stolen have already been identified in advance; most become a source of parts / components available for distribution that are difficult to obtain through normal sources. If ‘professionals’ are involved, (ones who do this routinely)
they know where you park and when it is best to take possession. While new high-end cars get stolen, it is the two or three year old car that is worth more as a source of parts than as a completely operational vehicle for someone else to drive.

Live near the border to another country or close by to another country/state that has easier registration requirements and the opposite may be true. Someone is already looking to become the new owner; someone is already on ‘contract’ to find them ‘new’ wheels.

As many Europeans can tell you, it isn’t even safe to take a rental to these regions and most rental agencies won’t rent you one if they know you are going there.

Every car can be stolen, some easier than others. The key to succeeding over crime is to make your car more difficult than another and to never give a thief a break. Rest assured that given the right break anyone with plans to take your car will do so when you offer them that chance.

Ken

 

[chrisj]

Re: E46 M3's were easy to get into

From a service advisor at a CT dealer:

Basically it is impossible to START the car without a key. Seriously they are electronically coded to the ECU and the factory only produces x numbers of keys and if you loose them all it is a huge expense to redo the locking system. flat bed is the only way they are "taking" the car for parts.

That is the key, so to speak. <br>The car won't start without the key. Only a dealer, through BMW, can get either, and they ask for a drivers license and registration before they will order them for you (I went through this on my e36 when the ignition switch wore out). <br><br>
Doesn't stop them from trailering it, but it's pretty much only good for parts. Thefts of e36s dropped after this was introduced (I think in '94, but not sure).<br>

 

[Mrs_Struth]

Dodgy Joe INC is a fictional company. Any similarity to any real world stolen car parts reseller is purely coincidental.

Sir, "Dodgy Joe Inc" is currently in use by one of my clients, and is not available as a trade name. However, I can arrange for the use of "Right Dodgy Joe Ltd" for a nominal fee. . . .:haha2:

 

[ray540inyc]

last year my 540 broke down on the brooklyn bridge at 2am, i had to have it towed into my neighborhood and have it retowed the next morning cause i couldnt get the car dropped off after business hours and i didnt trust the tow company to hold it.
when the guy came to get my car in the morning the police totally gave him a hard time , they called me and made me walk down to the car and show them my license and registration (this is after i already handed him my keys).
they told me that they had a rash of highline cars getting stolen by flatbeds in my hood. i rarely take mine out of my indoor lot now.

 

[Gorilla Beast]

That is why thieves started (invented) car jacking and it was their way to steal high end cars due to the fact they cannot simply be hot wired like it were a A team episode. Car jacking slowed down in the States when the US Government made it a federal offense (basically your doing a lot of jail time) and its no longer a simple GTA felony.

Here in LA carjacking still happens but not as much before the law changed.

Most thieves now will just perform an identity theft on some victim, go to a car dealership and get a brand new car, take to the docks for export and make a few thousand real fast. Some use it to make drug runs down to Mexico back and forth for a few weeks and dump the vehicle somewhere. Usually its the SUV's like Navi's, Escalades, etc.. for this type of crime. Its amazing how bold they are, they will put bling big wheels & big subwoofers on them and still do their dirt. Go figure.

The other way which is rare that i see is the thieves will get a flat bed tow truck and just snatch it up in broad daylight.

IMO, I think if we drove Honda Accords or Toyota Camrys we should be more paranoid.
:wroom: carefully.

 

[coff]

I'm sure this is going to sound naive, but don't the 5's have a mercury switch, which would set off the alarm getting it onto a flatbed? Unless they go to the effort of lifting it up flat with a crane!!?? Not to mention the motion detector etc.