Author Topic: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car  (Read 6868 times)

Offline TopsGTI

  • Just got here
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #10 on: 14 June 2022, 15:53 »
Are you considering fitting a Ghost or Pandora to your new car?

Offline king monkey

  • I live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,769
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #11 on: 14 June 2022, 18:53 »
Well, when I had my mk7 stolen, the police said that an alarm and cctv will do nothing to deter these ‘people’. They recommended a disclock and to keep the car in the garage. That’s what I’ve done since.

I did have one near miss with my R which o think I posted on the Mk7 forum, but that felt very opportunistic. As the lad came into my garage for the car I think I ran over his foot. Shame.
Current: Clubsport45, white, DCC.

Past: Mk5 gti blue graphite, mk6 gti carbon grey, mk6 gti edition 35 candy white, Mk7 pp gti tornado red, 2016 Audi S3 sportback, 2019 7.5 Golf R.

Offline mcmaddy

  • Forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 5,244
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #12 on: 14 June 2022, 19:02 »
Some insurance companies actually charge you more for keeping your car in a garage believe it or not.
TCR, Pure Grey, DCC, Dynaudio and Climate Screen.

Offline Carl_45

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 196
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #13 on: 14 June 2022, 19:36 »
Well, when I had my mk7 stolen, the police said that an alarm and cctv will do nothing to deter these ‘people’. They recommended a disclock and to keep the car in the garage. That’s what I’ve done since.

I did have one near miss with my R which o think I posted on the Mk7 forum, but that felt very opportunistic. As the lad came into my garage for the car I think I ran over his foot. Shame.

No, I don’t think alarms do much by themselves, especially if the keys are hanging by the door, but my thinking is an alarm going off should make them do a runner before they find the keys if put in a safe place.
Current: Clubsport 45, Kings Red, DCC, HK, Winter Pack

Offline Boothy1979

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 119
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #14 on: 14 June 2022, 20:50 »
Some great advice going on here.


Here’s my opinion, not that is worth much.


Snap safe locks: brilliant and really do work. They are so easy to fit yourself, please don’t get someone else to do it and pay a fortune. Simply take out the lock barrel in your door, normally removed by removing one screw after taking the handle off and measure it. Loads of YT vids on how it do this. If not sure, do the above when someone else is in the house and just take the barrel to your local hardware store and ask for snap safe barrels. Usually around £50-£60 for decent ones. My next point is about these locks. There are brilliant but if sh!tbags want to get in, they will get in at all costs! These locks are useful to hold them up a little or make them make more noise if they can’t get through the door but they aren’t full proof. There has been a technique where they blow torch around the locks as most doors are upvc so the heat shrinks it and therefore they have more access to the lock to remove it and in they go.


Door jammers again are useful but aren’t full proof. Again they cost them time and noise to bypass them.


If they think you aren’t in they will make as much noise as they want.


House alarm: I would always say have one. Yes they don’t stop them coming in but a loud alarm going off not all panics them but also alerts other people. This can put them on the back foot as they don’t want to get caught so will do what they have to do quickly and won’t hang about. If they don’t get what they want quickly, they will leave fearing someone coming in or Police turning up.


Security lights: Again worth it for that little bit of distraction and wondering who might see them.


CCTV: as already mentioned doesn’t put them off as normally masked up but believe me, these sh!ts wear the same sh!te clothing all the time and ID is often possible even when masked up.


Lights on timers: if you are going away, use the smart plugs for your lights on a night and early morning. Again can make the difference between your house getting done over if they have been watching. The lights being on and off will make them things someone is actually in. Also there is a really handy little gadget that is an LED light that emits lighting like a TV. Have this on a timer in the living room and makes it look like someone is watching TV. Only issue with that is curtains and I know we all stress about what to do with them when we go on holiday. Personally I leave them open but some windows we have blinds so angle them down slightly so not as easy to look I .


For me combine all the above and it puts you in a better position to protect your property from these absolute pieces of dirt!


You can really go mad on all this, crook locks, disc locks, security posts, all again are a deterrent but most things can be bypassed, the more there is though, the more likely they are to give up trying.


I’m certainly not a fount of all knowledge on this but pick up a few bits along the way so hope it helps a little.


Like I said at the beginning, really good post this for us all to give out experiences and what we think works for us.
Current car: Manual MK8 GTI 245, Deep black pearl.
Ordered: DSG MK8 Clubsport, DCC, Pure white.

Online Guzzle

  • I live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,046
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #15 on: 14 June 2022, 21:53 »
I would always recommend a burglar alarm if you're concerned about visitors entering your property uninvited.

While they won't completely stop a determined thief, they will startle those that haven't done their homework.
7.5 GTD

Offline Dave1rs

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 180
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #16 on: 14 June 2022, 22:38 »
For French doors get a patlock they come with snapsafe spindles to go through the handles.

Offline Exonian

  • Serious forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 8,837
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #17 on: 14 June 2022, 22:59 »
A very useful thread :afro: with good solid practical advice from real people with real experiences.
‘23 8R
Serial white Golf owner


Offline joe6

  • I live here
  • *****
  • Posts: 828
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #18 on: 14 June 2022, 23:31 »
All very useful tips and strategies for reducing risk. Alarms need to be in a separate fuse box from the rest of the house fuses as it is easy to short circuit the main house circuit breaker (eg by shorting the security lights) and render the alarm ineffective. As said in this thread all of the security devices can be overcome given time but time is often the thing these people do not have if they don't want to be caught.
Mk6 GTI Carbon Grey, 2010 Bluetooth and voice fitted, a few VCDS mods still a comfortable family car. Red Scirocco 2011 twin charger stage 1 - enjoyable drive now gone.  White 2016 Polo GTI (roller skate on steroids) replaced with an Indium Grey 2019 7.5 GTI PP.

Offline Carl_45

  • GTI forum regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 196
Re: Lessons learnt and my advice after stolen car
« Reply #19 on: 15 June 2022, 07:21 »
Anybody considering a new alarm, I strongly recommend you check out Ring, every device has battery backup and if you pay the £80 a year optional subscription the main box even has data backup incase your WiFi is lost so you still get phone notifications even if they pull the phone cord.

I did compare Ring with the Yale wireless system from screwfix, but went with Ring, £390 for the large indoor kit and outdoor sensors. Even has a indoor WiFi camera. Once the 30 days free trail is over I’m paying the £80 subscription as you get 10% off future purchases and I’ll look at either an outdoor camera for the front/drive or a door bell camera.
Current: Clubsport 45, Kings Red, DCC, HK, Winter Pack