What I learnt from this episode:

How quickly a car can be stolen
That dialling 999 might take a while
Why having a Tracker might be pointless
Why security bollards won’t always work
That a Faraday bag doesn’t always work
Why you should consider disarming the easy entry feature
What a Range Rover looks like less than 24 hours after being stolen
When people advise you that your car is vulnerable - listen to them and don’t think that it won’t happen to you - take precautions!

The theft video

My car was stolen at 12:09pm on a Sunday afternoon in broad daylight.

From my neighbour’s security camera you see a blue Audi Estate drive up my road. It turns around at the top of the road then at 40 seconds, it pulls up on the pavement over the road from my car.

At 55 seconds you see a guy in a grey hoodie approach my car. After he goes out of sight he gets into my car and at 1 min 11 seconds you hear it start!. He then manoeuvres (damaging the nearside rear agaist the wall - thanks) around the bollard in front of it and races off.

90 seconds after the blue Audi first drives past it, and 30 seconds after he approaches it, it is gone.

How I discovered the theft and the 999 call

I was sitting in a log cabin in the garden about 20 feet away. I didn’t hear the car start but I heard it race off as my engine has a distinctive sound (supercharged 5 litre V8). If he hadn’t roared off (stupidly) I don’t know how long it would have taken me to discover the theft.

At 12.11pm I dialled 999. It took about 10 minutes until I could speak to someone as they were handling a lot of calls. They were trying to put me through to West Midlands Police, then Staffordshire Police, then back to West Midands, then on the fourth number they tried, a lady answered. The total call time was 11 minutes.

That’s not the fault of the Police but obviously a lack of resources.

The Tracker

The car is fitted with a standard Land Rover tracker.

The LR App reported that they drove 1.1 miles in 3 minutes then parked up (I was still waiting to be put through on the 999 call at that point).

When I saw the address on the App showing where it was parked, I rang 999 again at 12.31pm to tell the police. That called was answered more quickly and took 4 minutes in total.

Virtually at the same time the Police were ringing me to tell me that they had found the contents of the boot of my car and the car’s tracker as a concerned member of the public had reported men acting suspiciously in a small car park next to some maisonettes. They also took down the reg number of the blue Audi (which was not surpringly a cloned plate).

So within about 5 minutes of my car being stolen the tracker had been removed. The traffic cop told me that Land Rover always put them in the same place so the thieves know where to remove them! It is presumably in the boot area and that’s why they chucked everything on the floor to get to it.

So it’s pretty pointless having a manufacturer’s tracker.

I didn’t think I would ever see it again, cue a visit to the pub to drown sorrows.

The security bollard and the keys

We have two cars parked side by side on our drive, both with a security bollard in front of them.

My partner was out in her car when this happened so one bollard was down. We had thought about always making sure both were up even when just one car was on the drive but it was daytime, my bollard was up and my keys were in a Faraday pouch (more on that below) so nothing to worry about! (how much are we kicking ourselves about that now ).

We have two keys to my car, my partner was miles away with one of them and the second was in its Faraday pouch in the house; so how did they start the car?

Faraday pouch

We have two, one for each set of car keys. We always thought that would prevent thieves accessing the signal from the keys to steal our cars.

I have just tested one of them with our other car. With the keys in the pouch near the car I was able to open its door - so the pouch is useless! I have seen comments saying that they wear out!, so I’ve ordered two new ones but will test them regularly.

Found! recovered and why we had to let the tyres down

At 8pm one of the Traffic cops we had met earlier, when recovering the contents of the boot, rang me to say that they had found the car - I couldn’t believe it! He’s a legend! Apparently they had been looking for it all afternoon and on the off chance they drove into this car park, which is hidden from the main road, to take a look and there it was. Thieves will often park a car up for a couple of days while the fuss dies down and to check whether its got another tracker. I would love to see their face when they return for it!

We grabbed a car key and headed straight over in an Uber to find it parked in the car park behind some flats, 2.1 miles from where we live.

There was bodywork damage at the rear where they had banged into our wall and bits of trim off inside where wires were exposed etc. While our key opened the car it wouldn’t start it so the Police sorted a recovery truck to come out.

After a lot of dragging it on a winch they got it on the back of the truck.

But then when they tried to drive out of the car park the height restriction of 2.5 metres was a problem.

The Cops had the great idea of letting air out of the front tyres of my car which decreased the overall height just enough to get it through and out on to the main road!

Many thanks to West Midlands Police who were brilliant and even gave us a lift home!

So what’s next?

When its been repaired I am going to fit an immobiliser which has been recommended by three separate police officers and will consider a steering lock to give visible protection. We will always make sure that both bollards are up even when one car is out and will get new Faraday pouches and test them regularly.

I will look into disabling the easy access feature on the car so that you always have to press a button on your key to unlock it, not just stand next to it. Hopefully this will mean that a thief would always have to physically have your key, not just be in range of it with one of their gadgets that boosts the signal.

I will save up for the inevitable increase in my insurance premium!

A final warning

This is what a Range Rover looked like less than 24 hours after being stolen to strip it for parts!

UPDATES

23 June 2022

THe car has been sent to the insurance company’s repairers in Warwick - DLG. They have assessed it and told me that while they will repair the bodywork damage, but they can’t repair the wiring/electronics damage etc., so it will need to go to Land Rover for that. Part of the damage was having the ODB port ripped out - whatever that is.

HOWEVER, Land Rover have already got another Range Rover Sport in a similar position, have had it for 12 weeks and have not been able to repair it so far - they can’t figure out why it won’t start! So I could be in for the long haul.

12 August 2022

A phone call from the insurer’s garage told me it would be ready in 2 weeks. I asked if Land Rover had sorted the electrics then and was put on hold for a few minutes ….. back on the line they said no, it’s actually at Land Rover and will be another 4 months 😞