Stolen…. Kings Red CS45

[JoeGTI]

Very sorry to read this Carl, I can totally empathise that its a very upsetting and unsettling experience.

I'm amazed that they disabled the We-Connect stuff within minutes of taking the car! This surely suggests these guys had done their homework and knew exactly what they were doing... especially when you consider the average owner (and many dealers!) struggle to fathom the operations of the infotainment in these cars...

[Foxy367]

I’ve learnt a lot recently about security and especially how easily the cheaper door locks can be broken but also how cheaply that can be replaced yourself to much better ones, so, I’ll write a long detailed post with my advice and learnings in a few days time. We (or at least I thought we did) live in a relatively nice area, yet the way it’s happened has thought me this could happen anywhere to anyone. I thought we were quite security conscious, but the way these people brazenly operate really has shocked me.

Problem is I think the criminals are travelling further and further to steal the cars they are after. Its quite possible they watched the house for a couple of days and noticed there was no movement, this doesn't sound like a typical opportunist more likley someone who knew what they were doing.

Hopefully you get some justice, you never know, I had a brand new Merc C class a few years ago my wife caught a lad in the house who had walked in through the front door and was clearly looking for keys, he was part of a car stealing gang and although it appeared there was no evidence we received a letter to say that the gang had been prosecuted for our break in too.

[fredgroves]

Very sorry to read this Carl, I can totally empathise that its a very upsetting and unsettling experience.

I'm amazed that they disabled the We-Connect stuff within minutes of taking the car! This surely suggests these guys had done their homework and knew exactly what they were doing... especially when you consider the average owner (and many dealers!) struggle to fathom the operations of the infotainment in these cars...

I think they just used a jammer... tbh if you are hunting expensive vehicles to order then a full set of portable jamming equipment would be top of your kit list for the job...  kill gps, celluar and lojack. Boom. Done.

Not difficult to find either.

[phope]

Keep an eye on eBay for Clubsport 45 body parts, wheels and seats/trim being offered for sale/cars being broken up, etc

[simonwhite2000]

We had an S5 and a Polo GTI stolen in 2017. Best thing we did was plaster pictures all over LinkedIn, Insta, Facebook and Twitter and tagging in stolen car sites, car journos, police pages and asking for retweets. We had loads of shares and got the Polo back within 48 hours. The S5 was recovered 4 months later by which time I had a replacement car but the exposure we gave helped. Police specials were even looking out for them as they had seen them on Twitter!

[Carl_45]

Well after all the comments about me being level headed.

I may have purchased a M2 competition!!

I’ve put a deposit on it, need to go see it, drive it and obviously it all depends on my 45 not being recovered. I’ve explained everything to BMW and they’re happy with the circumstances, conditions of the deposit and the fact it might be a while for the insurance money.

I will say, finance rates on used cars are pitiful compared to new cars but hey ho. There’s not a single new car (that I can afford) that I’d want to order to be honest, I did consider a clubsport but I’m pretty low about what’s happened so didn’t fancy another, plus the 2 year wait!! We were lucky the 45’s were prioritised in that aspect.

I’ll keep you all posted…. Btw, burnt orange colour.

[PareshV]

I suppose VW don't market the We Connect as an insurance approved tracking system, and instead more as a convenience tool for remembering where you parked the car

For something insurance approved, you'd need to step up to a Ghost type immobilising system and/or a full blown remote tracking & immobilisation service like this https://www.vehicletrackingtech.co.uk/vodafone-protect-connect-s5-vts.html and https://www.vehicletrackingtech.co.uk/vodafone-protect-connect-6.html

Ghost is not insurance approved but you can add it as a extra measure. Metatrak has tracking and immobiliser. It's also S5 insurance approved and a lot of the signal blockers don't work on meta as they use multiple ways of sending signals. Don't forget Meta also supply the alarms for most of VW group. Their tracking is monitored 24/7 too. Report the car stolen and they take over and liase with police to recover the car within hours most of the time. It was the 1st thing done to my car when it arrived.

[king monkey]

Well after all the comments about me being level headed.

I may have purchased a M2 competition!!

I’ve put a deposit on it, need to go see it, drive it and obviously it all depends on my 45 not being recovered. I’ve explained everything to BMW and they’re happy with the circumstances, conditions of the deposit and the fact it might be a while for the insurance money.

I will say, finance rates on used cars are pitiful compared to new cars but hey ho. There’s not a single new car (that I can afford) that I’d want to order to be honest, I did consider a clubsport but I’m pretty low about what’s happened so didn’t fancy another, plus the 2 year wait!! We were lucky the 45’s were prioritised in that aspect.

I’ll keep you all posted…. Btw, burnt orange colour.

Good to hear that you’re not letting the buggers win.

FYI when my gti was stolen approximately 5 years ago, my insurance paid out in 3 weeks or so.

[Tallpaul]

What rate have BMW quoted you for the M2 finance?


You can access Alphera finance (aka BMW finance) via a broker and get better rates than the dealer offers with otherwise like for like terms.

[Carl_45]

What rate have BMW quoted you for the M2 finance?


You can access Alphera finance (aka BMW finance) via a broker and get better rates than the dealer offers with otherwise like for like terms.

They wouldn’t budge on the car price, in the end I got £500 deposit contribution and 10.9%. I’ll look in to that, tbf I’ve found a brilliant M2 comp that’s for sale private but I need finance and didn’t fancy a bank loan. I haven’t considered using a broker for finance, think I’m a bit naive with stuff like that.