Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Changing Car Crime

Crims seem to be one step ahead or cleverly adapt at changing tack. Back in the 70s crime seemed to be simple , bit of weed, theft, burglary and big bank jobs and some Ford’s nicked.
Up market Car radios and stereos became a status symbol easy to take from cars, pull out and run. Solved by incorporating them into the facia so you needed to take the whole dash ! CD players under the seat became a target and thankfully superseded with new tech . Then we all bought Tom Tom navigation for the car, occasionally left them in overnight by mistake and they got stolen.
Cars obviously get stolen with certain brands prime targets and often are shipped abroad or broken for spares.

A few years back it seemed that wheel theft was rife as I regularly saw cars on bricks with no wheels. Not seen this for a while now.
We locally have ended up going back to steering wheel locks to supplement alarms. Many have kill switches where you have to remember to press lots of buttons in sequence - no good for me as I can only remember one simple PIN number
Recently two vehicles 50 metres away are now being targeted with (god bless improved tech) cordless angle grinders. They have worked out where to cut through to all the electric cables , so they can steal. 3.30 am a couple of weeks ago, woken up to see this happening on a friends new Range Rover. Confronted by the owner in his dressing gown they scarpered but came back later and he then had to move the car to a safe storage location. Two weeks and it has just been returned .
A lady a few houses away went to her car this morning to discover the steering wheel stolen . Last year she had the headlights taken to order no doubt, unless some crim has decided to build a merc usurping all stolen parts.
Another big merc SUV had that big radiator star taken a month back and I think it cost a fortune as it has cameras, laser beams etc etc.
Number plates stolen are anther issue.
Fingers crossed but Volvos locally don’t seem worth stealing. according to the local network group, hope that doesn’t tempt fate.
Been lucky over the years, only had an Escort stolen many years back, unfortunately it was my wife’s dads we had borrowed for some reason !

Anyway hope your pride and joys are safe.
MM

You raise a very interesting question.
The tighter the money supply the more creative the evil people get.

The last few years have seen significant increases in car costs, insurance costs and especially parts costs. Also several brands are in a poor state for parts availability as has been said about MG's on here recently I believe? As the new Chinese brands come to these (RHD) shores they are not really set for after sales services and supply chain if you believe the interweb. (Facebook Jacoo owners group is a laugh, sadly for them)

All signs of an increasing pressure on parts?

New cars.
Frightening electronics cost for all the "smart" stuff that is often driven by legal requirements. So MoT fails if it does not work.
Batteries are going to be a target for BEV at 3-5 years maybe, they do seem to be holding out though.
The Range Rover illustrates an issue. Insurance on these has gone up due to theft. I often see them with big steering wheel krooklocks. How long ago did we last see them? It would also seem that exporting them, the old preference, is apparently now being moved to breaking for parts. Even quite new ones. Lack of spares and cost of spares being shocking I have even heard of lower tier bodyshops making repairs and using questionable parts to inflate profits.

I am guessing many of the new smart features will need to be keyed in using computers but that can be hijacked. Everytime you make it more idiot proof you just find the better idiot. Until you come to sell it with the safety and value risks it brings.

Numberplates are to cover for photoID on a car going through city centres and pay gates like parking. As soon as they are nicked report it and get a crime reference number then put a private plate on your car so you can prove the date when the begging letters all come through to the legal plate owner.

I am going to keep my 2016 AMG Estate as long as I am able. Everything post this seemed to rack up the complexity for little driving gain.

They don't seem to pay much attention to my 2007 KIA Sedona!

Spoke to soon…….must have been a gang stealing last night…..a large 74 plate BMW in the next road , all 4 wheels gone !
Strange thing in the picture the neighbourhood what’s app sent is they used 2 paviours and a piece of wood on each wheel and the paviours are new
from the ongoing pavement replacement in the road. They didn’t even have to bring their own bricks !!

Trackers also seem a bit useless down here in London as a neighbour tracked her car to the docks in Essex(?) and the police said it was too dangerous to go as it was likely a big organised gang ! Hey Starmer forget the odd hurt feeling tweets and tackle some serious crime !

Keep cheerful & positive, , MM

We've seen a swing from joyriders and opportunists (chavs nicking radios to swap for beer-tokens etc) ... to uber-chavs stealing parts for cars they really don't have the money to keep on the road legitimately .(swooping in to have your wheels/tyres or bumpers and headlights)..... and heavy organised gangs stealing to order ... mostly off abroad in containers.

Nasty work ... wouldn't wander out to confront them in my dressing gown ... baseball bat at the least, as there will likely to be a couple of designated hammer-wielders in the crew to keep heroes at bay!

K

Slight detour, but I can’t understand how this country tolerates mainly cyber fraud with its massive life changing affects for those affected (est budget £250mil over three years) while spending est £4600mil (est )pa on counter intelligence services.

Top tip - put a sock over the end of the baseball bat.

Phil ... you should have a YT channel giving properly useful lifestyle advice! .... I'd subscribe! 🙂

K

Why?

A lot easier in this modern age is to buy one of the metal ones and leave the plastic on it, just saying for a friend.....