2CV stolen today, please keep an eye out.

[richardmorris]

[lesapandre]

Can I ask do we know how it was stolen. I ask as an owner of old cars.

I don't mean the specifics but the generality.

Hot-wired and driven? Or towed? Or trailered or hiab'ed?

How do these people get away with something so distinctive? At night or brazen during the day?

So sorry to hear this.

[richardmorris]

No more information yet. A 2cv is not hard to break into though, a fingernail can open the door locks.

[lesapandre]

Thanks for the update. Very sad.

It's not so much the breaking into I suppose - fairly easy with most old cars - it's the getting away with really - it's not joyriders - this is surely done with intent and thus pre-planning ie malice aforethought.

There are some grim folk out there.

[richardmorris]

Found safe!

[lesapandre]

Great news. Do you know - how did they move it?

My experience of having my Landcruiser stolen was that it was either hiab'd or towed. No one had been in it.

My experience was the same - I found it about a mile away in a car park.

My theory was whoever took was going to see it's loss was followed up - and if it sat for a week or so then to come discreetly back for it in a more relaxed way maybe with a flatbed.

Was a funny thing. So moral: if you do lose something go out and look for it.

Popular classics are I suppose worth the parts at least.

The (legitimate) marked in old Landcruisers is international.

[Matty]

Excellent news! And to think I leave mine outside the shop with all the windows down 😳

[richardmorris]

4 hours ago, lesapandre said:

Great news. Do you know - how did they move it?

My experience of having my Landcruiser stolen was that it was either hiab'd or towed. No one had been in it.

My experience was the same - I found it about a mile away in a car park.

My theory was whoever took was going to see it's loss was followed up - and if it sat for a week or so then to come discreetly back for it in a more relaxed way maybe with a flatbed.

Was a funny thing. So moral: if you do lose something go out and look for it.

Popular classics are I suppose worth the parts at least.

The (legitimate) marked in old Landcruisers is international.

No more information, looks like it was hidden nearby to check for a tracker.

[SiC]

6 hours ago, lesapandre said:

My theory was whoever took was going to see it's loss was followed up - and if it sat for a week or so then to come discreetly back for it in a more relaxed way maybe with a flatbed.

That's what I got told by the police when I reported this abandoned car a while a go that was marked as stolen on TotalCarCheck. They leave it in somewhere quiet till it cools off. Indicates it was stolen by professionals rather than joy riders. 

[lisbon_road]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

That's what I got told by the police when I reported this abandoned car a while a go that was marked as stolen on TotalCarCheck. They leave it in somewhere quiet till it cools off. Indicates it was stolen by professionals rather than joy riders. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professionals? Stealing that? I'm lost for words. Why would they steal that?

[SiC]

6 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

Professionals? Stealing that? I'm lost for words. Why would they steal that?

That was back in 2017, so nearly 7 years ago (where the hell has time gone?). Still a 14 year old car then though but worth a bit more. 

However fancy, shiny isn't always what you want when doing crime. I was told that there is often a "community car" that will be used to do low level crime - usually with cloned plates. When it becomes discovered and then a hot car, it gets disposed of. 

If it is an easy steal (e.g. keys left nearby), it'll have a use. They'd come back to a car a week or two later and if it's still there, take it away. 

[Popsicle]

6 hours ago, richardmorris said:

No more information, looks like it was hidden nearby to check for a tracker.

It does seem to be how the thieves work. We were burgled (keys taken) and had some vans removed a few years ago, they were all found parked up on industrial estate side roads around Birmingham, they all had trackers so were easily recovered, just annoying to lose the keys.

Glad to hear the 2CV was safely recovered.

[SunnySouth]

Easy to sound like a preachy tw@t, but it just shows how vital it is to keep vulnerable classics well secured - be it a clamp, crooklock or whatever if not a garage. Lucky this was likely either just opportunist idiots or someone professional enough to wait and see if it had a tracker etc, giving the opportunity to find it and get it back. If it were someone helping themselves to a Granny or a Tina etc it probably would have been sat ready to be stripped and trashed round a banger track within hours, never to be seen again  Keep em safe, folks!

[Pieman]

15 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

Professionals? Stealing that? I'm lost for words. Why would they steal that?

Because some people would nick a bag of dog shit if they had the chance.

[GR8 PL8 M8]

On 04/03/2024 at 11:57, Pieman said:

Because some people would nick a bag of dog shit if they had the chance.

My mum once had her car broken into, the only thing they took was a brown paper bag containing...

A stool sample!

[Jerzy Woking]

Reminded me when I was working in East London where there was a "No parking between 08.00 and 12.00 hours".

At 08.05 we watched a car getting lifted onto a flatbed truck, and away. 10 minutes later, the same truck was back, and lifted another. Away it went, only for it to come back about 15 minutes later to take another.

Odd, because the car pound was a good 50 minute round trip away.

Seems that the contractors lift a car, and move it to a nearby road, then come back for another, and then for as many as they can get. They can then move them to the car pound at their leisure.

So if your car is lifted from being illegally parked, check around a few nearby streets, just in case.

[richardmorris]

https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/24160528.citroen-2cv-stolen-earlham-road-driveway-norwich/

 

[lesapandre]

5 hours ago, GR8 PL8 M8 said:

My mum once had her car broken into, the only thing they took was a brown paper bag containing...

A stool sample!

She liked woodworking?

[egg]

5 hours ago, GR8 PL8 M8 said:

A stool sample!

Did they send her the test results?

[Alan G]

Several years ago my sister-in-law had her car (an Astra of some sort) stolen. What made it all a bit surreal was that in the space where her car had been all that remained were her driving shoes and her cassette tapes. 

[bangernomics]

My mum once had her car broken into, the only thing they took was a brown paper bag containing...
A stool sample!

“No shit” exclaimed the victim.

[Dan29]

It could be worth hiding one or more tiles that you can track from your phone in your car if it's desirable.

Apparently, sometimes "official" trackers can take a while before the company will give you the location of the car, so it may have been moved from the local area before you get chance to find it.

Luckily for me, my car is not desirable to thieves 🙂

[SunnySouth]

18 hours ago, Dan29 said:

It could be worth hiding one or more tiles that you can track from your phone in your car if it's desirable.

Apparently, sometimes "official" trackers can take a while before the company will give you the location of the car, so it may have been moved from the local area before you get chance to find it.

Luckily for me, my car is not desirable to thieves 🙂

An Apple Airtag is what you want, concealed somewhere well out of the way. You can then track the location of the car precisely, as long as you have an iPhone!

[Dan29]

4 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

An Apple Airtag is what you want, concealed somewhere well out of the way. You can then track the location of the car precisely, as long as you have an iPhone!

I don't - but I think there are Samsung and generic equivalents? Are the Apple ones better, somehow? If so I might get an iPhone, primarily for keeping track of my keys, wallet, adult LaserDisc collection etc

[jamescarruthers]

11 minutes ago, Dan29 said:

I don't - but I think there are Samsung and generic equivalents? Are the Apple ones better, somehow? If so I might get an iPhone, primarily for keeping track of my keys, wallet, adult LaserDisc collection etc

I was a fan of Tile a few years ago. They work across all Apple and Android phones.  Would get again if so need. 

[lesapandre]

4 minutes ago, jamescarruthers said:

I was a fan of Tile a few years ago. They work across all Apple and Android phones.  Would get again if so need. 

Thanks. What distance will they detect at? How far before the car is out of range? 

[leafsprung]

As everyone is saying, leaving a nicked car to cool off somewhere out of the way for a few days is the norm. Watch a few of these videos and see which ones get their premises turned over by the polis and which get away to nick again

http://www.youtube.com/@AutomatricsMtrack

[jamescarruthers]

2 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

Thanks. What distance will they detect at? How far before the car is out of range? 

I used to travel a lot for work and it could detect directly between cargo bay and my seat to know if my luggage was on board. 
 

Remember they don’t work by it connecting the Tile/AirTag to your phone; the Tile/AirTag connects to ANY phone with Tile app/iPhone and reports its location. That is the beauty of it really. 

[Shite Ron]

Has anyone tried these? they sound a good option at a sensible price.

https://sheertrends.com/products/best-magnetic-mini-worldwide-gps-tracker?currency=GBP&variant=48236358500687&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=348320a9b4a8&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIterittbihAMVsZRQBh2xTgXqEAQYAyABEgJ94_D_BwE

[SiC]

11 hours ago, SunnySouth said:

An Apple Airtag is what you want, concealed somewhere well out of the way. You can then track the location of the car precisely, as long as you have an iPhone!

Doesn't work - my neighbour tried it on his M3. 

He registered it on his iPhone but not his wife's. Every time she went out in it, a notification popped up to say there was an airtag nearby following her! Apparently it's to stop people sticking on other peoples vehicles to track them.