Keyless Cars

JohnC6

JohnC6

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My wife was talking to a local lady this morning who told her that a few weeks ago she parked her car in Morrisons car park and went into the store. She returned to find the car door open and a man with an open laptop standing by it . Next to the car, with another man in it, was a low-loader. She realised they were about to steal her car and started taking photos with her phone. A few choice words were exchanged but, fortunately, no violence from the two men who drove off..She reported it to the police. There's CCTV there so that might have captured something, too. Strangely enough, on that very night ,four cars in her road were broken into.

I've heard of thieves being able to read a code from car keys in a hallway of a house near the door but the same goes for electric doors on garages. I think if you buy a keyless car you can ask that it be disabled. About 65% of car thefts involve keyless cars. Owners are urged to keep the keys in a Faraday purse and thge olod steering lock. he most popular cars stolen by this method are Ford Fiesta (top target) VW Golf..BMW 3-Series Ford Focus Toyota RAV4. Here are most recent stats re car theft. France has the highest rate. https://www.zego.com/car-insurance/car-theft-statistics/

You can input your vehicle details and find out the theft risk level . It's by Confused .com. the price-comparison platform with what I think is amongst the most stupid adverts onYoutube/TV involving inflatable bodies drifting around in a living room. https://www.confused.com/compare-car-insurance/car-theft-calculator
 
JohnC6 said:
My wife was talking to a local lady this morning who told her that a few weeks ago she parked her car in Morrisons car park and went into the store. She returned to find the car door open and a man with an open laptop standing by it . Next to the car, with another man in it, was a low-loader. She realised they were about to steal her car and started taking photos with her phone. A few choice words were exchanged but, fortunately, no violence from the two men who drove off..She reported it to the police. There's CCTV there so that might have captured something, too. Strangely enough, on that very night ,four cars in her road were broken into.

I've heard of thieves being able to read a code from car keys in a hallway of a house near the door but the same goes for electric doors on garages. I think if you buy a keyless car you can ask that it be disabled. About 65% of car thefts involve keyless cars. Owners are urged to keep the keys in a Faraday purse and thge olod steering lock. he most popular cars stolen by this method are Ford Fiesta (top target) VW Golf..BMW 3-Series Ford Focus Toyota RAV4. Here are most recent stats re car theft. France has the highest rate. https://www.zego.com/car-insurance/car-theft-statistics/

You can input your vehicle details and find out the theft risk level . It's by Confused .com. the price-comparison platform with what I think is amongst the most stupid adverts onYoutube/TV involving inflatable bodies drifting around in a living room. https://www.confused.com/compare-car-insurance/car-theft-calculator
Click to expand...

If the had stolen it then she would have had a carless key.
 
Why wouldn't they just drive it away, instead of drawing attention to themselves with a low-loader?
 
Sorry for the long reply.

I have an Evoque with keyless and this did worry me so I bought one of those Faraday bags and my keys always go inside. AFAIK this makes keyless cars the same hassle as non keyless or perhaps even more difficult to steal depending on the specific make/model etc. I also fit one of those steering locks that go over the steering wheel whenever I park anywhere including supermarket car parks and up the drive at home.

A bloke over the road bought a very similar Evoque to mine but I don't know if it was keyless. His was stolen and our CCTV caught it all. From start to finish they took over half an hour to steal it and whilst this is obviously not perfect I think it could be a deterrent as I hope some car thieves wont want to spend that long stealing a car. As we had very similar cars why did they steal his and not mine? Possibly because mine was parked up the drive with a sensor and security light above it and a hatch back parked behind it. His was parked on the road.

Remember that no system is probably theft proof, for eg. Thatcham certification requires a mere 5 minute minimum resistance to attack so the above over half an hour to pinch an Evoque looks pretty good unless the thieves were just particularly bad at it.

Decades ago I bough a Lotus Elan SE and I took it to a specialist alarm /immobiliser fitter and once they'd fitted it all they told me the car could only now be stolen if it went on a low loader. I never believed them. Later I had an electrical problem on the car and whilst solving that I saw what they'd done and worked out how to disable it all. I couldn't get into the car once it was locked but if I could get in I could disable this supposedly state of the art anti theft alarm and immobiliser in less than a minute. I went on to buy several mechanical locking devises and I worked out how to quickly defeat them all. Not everyone will have my electrical background and urge to investigate and fiddle but some car thieves will definitely know how to get past anti theft systems even if they don't know exactly what they're doing, they'll just follow their instructions.

After I'd done my fiddling and decided that both the electronic and mechanical devices I'd tried were useless if the thief had a working brain I designed my own anti theft system but later realised that it was never going to be financially viable so I gave up. Few things are going to stop a determined thief who knows what they're doing although I think a Ghost will stop the majority of thieves but maybe not those with a low loader and the ability to get the car on it. I think all you can do is make it more likely that they'll target someone else's car rather than yours. I'd advise anyone with a keyless car to get a Faraday bag and use it religiously and I'd also recommend a good alarm/immobiliser if there isn't one fitted already and some form of mechanical locking thing too.

There's another problem. If thieves can't steal your car they might just trash it. Years ago that's what thieves did to one of mine. I'd fitted something to it myself and it wasn't stolen but the damage cost me.

Oh and a PS.
These days you can fit things to you car which'll send a notification to your phone. Might be worth researching and getting one.
 
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Doesn't even need to be keyless to be stolen. There is something nicknamed the Gameboy and just works out the entry codes for many cars so you don't need a key. Then you get in the car and plug in a laptop and program a blank key.

Nothing stops a determined thief. If they want it they'll just drag it or winch it onto a low loader regardless.
 
FWIW

My Kuga has "keyless entry" and I saw it as a novelty & a security risk from the beginning.

I found the setting in the car to disable that function i.e. the key behaves like the older style clicker.

You would have thought that whether clicker or keyless that the key & the car system coding could be based on a different code handshake code for each time used......sort of akin to a 2FA action. Not undefeatable but anything that makes the scroats efforts harder the better!
 
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Hmmmm yes it sounds iffy to me to .. no point having a faraday bag in this case as they had already opened the door and I presume plugged in obd reader to transmit to the laptop .. .. and using a low loader in a supermarket car park when most are ringed with cameras to charge you if you stay to long .. .. faraday bags are only useful in your own house or caravan no point if your out of range of your car anyway if your close enough to use your key then your in visual range of your car
 
Pound Coin said:
Why wouldn't they just drive it away, instead of drawing attention to themselves with a low-loader?
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Fair point. I can only think that they were going to drive it up onto the low-loader but I can't think why they would do that. Maybe they intended to cover it with a large tarpaulin so they didn't risk being stopped by police if they drove it away.
 
the black fox said:
Hmmmm yes it sounds iffy to me to .. no point having a faraday bag in this case as they had already opened the door and I presume plugged in obd reader to transmit to the laptop .. .. and using a low loader in a supermarket car park when most are ringed with cameras to charge you if you stay to long .. .. faraday bags are only useful in your own house or caravan no point if your out of range of your car anyway if your close enough to use your key then your in visual range of your car
Click to expand...
It's a mystery,Jeff.I have no idea what the laptop would be used for.Maybe the low-loader was on false plates.

My wife just told me that the couple were worried in case the men had placed a tracking device in it. They still have it and have been to Manchester and back. She's just told me it was a top of the range Range Rover.
 
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Newer LR cars should be pretty much leading the pack as they've done a lot of work to up security and cudos to them as they've upgraded older cars too. I don't know if they'll get to mine as it's coming up to 11 years old now. I hope they do.

Just looked it up and newer Range Rovers reportedly have a theft rate of 0.07%. That's pretty much a miracle as I remember a few years ago half of the ones stolen weren't locked. I always double click when locking my Evoque.
 
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JohnC6 said:
My wife was talking to a local lady this morning who told her that a few weeks ago she parked her car in Morrisons car park and went into the store. She returned to find the car door open and a man with an open laptop standing by it . Next to the car, with another man in it, was a low-loader. She realised they were about to steal her car and started taking photos with her phone. A few choice words were exchanged but, fortunately, no violence from the two men who drove off..She reported it to the police. There's CCTV there so that might have captured something, too. Strangely enough, on that very night ,four cars in her road were broken into.

I've heard of thieves being able to read a code from car keys in a hallway of a house near the door but the same goes for electric doors on garages. I think if you buy a keyless car you can ask that it be disabled. About 65% of car thefts involve keyless cars. Owners are urged to keep the keys in a Faraday purse and thge olod steering lock. he most popular cars stolen by this method are Ford Fiesta (top target) VW Golf..BMW 3-Series Ford Focus Toyota RAV4. Here are most recent stats re car theft. France has the highest rate. https://www.zego.com/car-insurance/car-theft-statistics/

You can input your vehicle details and find out the theft risk level . It's by Confused .com. the price-comparison platform with what I think is amongst the most stupid adverts onYoutube/TV involving inflatable bodies drifting around in a living room. https://www.confused.com/compare-car-insurance/car-theft-calculator
Click to expand...

The checker is out of date with models, which is weird considering it's confused. com I have 2 MGs in my drive (both will work keyless if you have them set up on the app) the one that is on the list is a 'low' risk the other one which is a year old now isn't there. I keep all my car keys in a metal key box when in the house so safe enough there, out and about I have no idea but they are MGs so probably not high risk make.
 
JohnC6 said:
Fair point. I can only think that they were going to drive it up onto the low-loader but I can't think why they would do that. Maybe they intended to cover it with a large tarpaulin so they didn't risk being stopped by police if they drove it away.
Click to expand...

It may be that the car would only drive a short distance if the cracked the code?
JohnC6 said:
It's a mystery,Jeff.I have no idea what the laptop would be used for.Maybe the low-loader was on false plates.

My wife just told me that the couple were worried in case the men had placed a tracking device in it. They still have it and have been to Manchester and back. She's just told me it was a top of the range Range Rover.
Click to expand...

The laptop has the software that clones the key/finds the code for the car I expect.
 
About 10 years ago it was commonplace for thieves to turn up with a lorry with a crane on it to just lift premium cars onto the back, take them to Essex to put them in a container for a while, before putting the container on a ship bound for africa.
 
Brazo said:
It does seem a real step backwards in car security. Hard to beat a regular key.
Click to expand...

No it isn't.

Cars are generally getting harder to steal. You could argue that the main problem now is careless owners as cars are stolen with the engine running or whilst unlocked.
 
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I'm not sure the technology is the problem.

Most of these thieves will already have been caught, found guilty, sentenced and released. Perhaps, if we made the criminal justice system a bit less pleasant for the guilty, fewer cars would be stolen. Just a thought.
 
Yep, perhaps a big fella with a cleaver removing a hand would work? Or less harsh tattooing their forehead car thief might work?
 
JohnC6 said:
Fair point. I can only think that they were going to drive it up onto the low-loader but I can't think why they would do that. Maybe they intended to cover it with a large tarpaulin so they didn't risk being stopped by police if they drove it away.
Click to expand...
There's a small chance that it never happened.

In a previous life I've been categorically told that an event happened. When it didn't.

I tend to be careful with third party stories.
 
I think a lot of thefts are possibly down to lack of care by owners , one of my granddaughters who drives a 2026 car often leaves the keys inside her car , as she doesn’t have clothes with suitable pockets . The younger generation are just to blase about things it’s easy come easy go these days
 
i think on mosts keyless car systems you can disable it and just revert to using the buttons on the fob ?
 
the black fox said:
Hmmmm yes it sounds iffy to me to .. no point having a faraday bag in this case as they had already opened the door and I presume plugged in obd reader to transmit to the laptop .. .. and using a low loader in a supermarket car park when most are ringed with cameras to charge you if you stay to long .. .. faraday bags are only useful in your own house or caravan no point if your out of range of your car anyway if your close enough to use your key then your in visual range of your car
Click to expand...
Catalytic converter thieves steal them from cars in supermarket car parks, in streets with CCTV and regular car parks which have cameras. That low-loader would,no doubt, have been on false plates.

Cat Con theft in daylight. They don't even cover their faces.

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WbvFUgxsAYs
 
Mr Bump said:
i think on mosts keyless car systems you can disable it and just revert to using the buttons on the fob ?
Click to expand...
When buying a new car you can ask that it be disabled. I read that in my Which? magazine.As you say.. I assume it can be done at anytime.
 
woof woof said:
No it isn't.

Cars are generally getting harder to steal. You could argue that the main problem now is careless owners as cars are stolen with the engine running or whilst unlocked.
Click to expand...

Im not convinced personally.

Nor are the insurers

buckinghaminsurance.co.uk

Keyless Car Theft Surge: Is Your Vehicle at Risk and What Can You Do About It? - General Insurance Brokers UK | Buckingham Insurance

Over the past couple of years, keyless car theft has reached record levels across the UK, turning driveways and street parking spaces into prime hunting grounds for tech-savvy criminals. With vehicle makes such as Ford, Range Rover, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz appearing most frequently on stolen car...
buckinghaminsurance.co.uk buckinghaminsurance.co.uk

Nor are the police

news.npcc.police.uk

Putting the brakes on keyless car theft

Police chiefs and Government considering law changes to crack down on keyless vehicle thefts
news.npcc.police.uk news.npcc.police.uk

To quote the police in the above link.

“The widespread use of keyless technology has unfortunately led to the development of devices which are easily accessible and make stealing vehicles all too straightforward for criminals.
 
When I was learning to dive in the mid-80s my diving instructor always left her keys in the ignition of her car, unlocked, in the middle of Peterborough city.....

She was desperate to get rid of her Lada.

As for keyless cars, my opinion is that if you park your car, which has the feature, on the driveway it should be disabled or the keys kept well out of the range of the car (or in a Faraday device). If you live on a street of houses that have no garages and but on-street parking then the sensible option is to park the car some distance away along the road/street..
 
When visiting Venice and staying in lido de jesolo a good few years ago I noticed lots of expensive cars left with keys in the ignition , when I asked a local if any get stolen the answer was do it and end up with concrete boots and a swim in the lagoon .mafia style
 
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