Something to be worried about?

[n1k85]

morning Guys,

As many of you know i'm on the lookout for an E53 X5D

I have noticed that many for sale have something along the lines of "Tracker Fitted, This is a must" or "These are hard to insure without a tracker".

Then starting a convo at the weekend with my girlfriends uncle (who also drives a 2005 X5D) he confirmed that he found it hard to get someone to insure the car without a tracker fitted, he ended up having one fitted!

Then last week I read a thread on here that someone had their Mirrors stolen and discovered the horrific price of replacements. (There is one used mirror going on eBay for over £400 just for one side).

then in the last week alone I came across 2 cars, both pretty close to me that have been stripped:

This one was stripped of its engine parts/front end/Sat Nav:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-BMW-X5-3 ... 27c06168d4





This one was stripped (while sat on the dealer forecourt) of its Interior/Mirrors/Nav/Clocks/Steering Wheel etc:





This is 2 i've seen stripped in as many weeks. Is this a common occurance?

Do most of you guys have Trackers fitted?

Thanks

[n1k85]

Just read this too:

BUSINESSMAN Bradley Maybin was devastated when thieves struck overnight and stripped £10,000 worth of parts from his luxury BMW X5. Crooks left the £30,000 motor sitting on bricks after swiping four wheels, a satellite navigation system, a six-deck CD player and even its air conditioning unit. But the company boss thought he had cracked the case for police when a traveller offered to reunite him with the car parts for £450 – and left his telephone number to arrange a handover.

Yet Mr Maybin, from Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire, claims that when he rang cops they told him they were ‘too busy’ to go to the meeting with him to arrest the suspect.

The furious luxury car dealership owner said: ‘‘I couldn’t believe what I was told, it’s a disgrace. What on earth do we pay our taxes for? I should have rung a few criminals and told them it was a good time to commit a crime.”

The BMW had been parked at the Bidford-upon-Avon home of an employee of Mr Maybin, boss of B and M Vehicle Sourcing in Henley-in-Arden. Thieves struck on Wednesday morning and left the stripped-down car sitting on 3ft-high bricks.

Mr Maybin, 36, called police who sent a scenes of crime unit to the scene but they warned crooks had used latex gloves, making tracing them much harder.
The father-of-two was determined to bring those responsible to justice, so began to make his owner enquiries.



He said: “I was very angry. You work hard to earn a living but these scumbags are out there robbing from hard working families.

“I rang some people who said there was a traveller camp near Bidford and that they might know something. My thought process was that I am £10,000 out of pocket and they are not going to frighten me.”

Fearless Mr Maybin approached the travellers’ camp to ask if they knew what had happened to his car parts.

“There was one person at the gate who stopped me driving in,” he said. “I told him my car had been stripped and I wanted my belongings back. “I thought I’d give them the opportunity to give me my stuff back if they had it.”

The businessman was told the travellers knew nothing about what had happened and that he should leave.

Four hours later he received a phone call from his employee who said a traveller had appeared at their house offering to sell Mr Maybin his goods back for £450.

The suspect had claimed he had not taken the property – but knew who had and would act as a ‘go-between’.

Mr Maybin arranged to meet the man later that evening before phoning cops to ask them to accompany him. But he claims officers told him they did not have the manpower or time to send anyone along.

Undeterred, Mr Maybin attended the shadowy meeting and handed over the cash to the man – but his goods have still not been returned.

He said: ‘‘I know I’m being held to ransom, but I’d rather pay £450 than a £10,000 repair bill.’’

[X5Sport]

[quote=""n1k85""]Do most of you guys have Trackers fitted?[/quote]

Probably a lot of owners do as I think the majority of insurance companies ask for them - but by no means all.

A tracker won't help as the car needs to move from it's last position to anywhere outside a pre-determined circle - say 250m - before the systems activate. The alarm system should trigger, but my guess is these guys are BMW experts (and may even have been mechanics etc) and know how to disable that too.

I can understand why that guy was pi$$ed at the Police. We had the same issue when our E46 front bumper was stolen in November 2008. No one was interested until we told the we had the front numberplate and it had been found in a bush 100yds away and had fingerprints on it - SOCO were round in a flash. Funny that. Nothing ever heard back though. The thieves knew not to touch the bonnet as that would trigger the alarm. They left us all the bolts though - but cut the wiring!! Happened less than three feet from our front door an we never heard a thing. Dealer said it was very common and due to BMW refusing to supply non-M Sport cars with M-Sport parts. That and the cost of course. It was more than £700 to fix and we got the blame as there was no one else to claim off, and tother half's insurance went up as a result and we still have to report it when looking for insurance. Mind you looking at your pics it could have been a lot worse!! Ours was limited to.....




but should have been this..............

[AW8]

Obviously we only have one side & 3rd person media report of the story but if the facts are correct then this owner has seemingly been failed by his local constabulary.......I would not be happy.

There is a significant issue with parts prices for the E53. To all intents & purposes earlies examples can be boughtr for £5k, however, parts prices new & salvage have not reduced & thus many owners with smaller budgets cant afford to buy repacelement parts for a price more relative to the actual used values of the their cars..........hence the demand for cheaper parts being met by thieves.

The demand of course is only there if cowardly buyers are happy to fuel that demaqnd by buying stolen parts.

Sadly many in life are happy to accquire stolen items no questions asked but would not dream of stealling items themselves.

I dont hink the problem is unique to the X5 & I can think of other older cars that cost a lot to repair/fix relative to the cars market value today.

As for tracker - having one fitted may open up more options when it comes to chasing the best premiums.....but not always.


Personally if mine were stolen by a "do what I likey" I wouldnt want to see it again unless recovered quickly & without damage.

[pvr]

You sure this is not Raj just upgrading his HIFI?

[dirtymonkey29]

[quote=""pvr""]You sure this is not Raj just upgrading his HIFI?

[/quote]

Quality pmsl

[Goonerdad]

I could not get 'drive away' insurance from Aviva as mine did not have a tracker - got a great deal from Admiral though without one.

[bonerp]

Im with admiral cost about £340, 40 yr old full NC.

Previous was £900 tho with Adrian Flux!

[Kerryx5]

I've done my x5 with admiral aswell. I'm 26 with 3 years ncb and it's cost me £950. They seem really reasonable on price but you have to pay the full amount in one go.

[IanP]

I am with Admiral without a tracker and the insurance was reasonable even though the truck had been stolen from my drive previously. Mind you it was towed away as it had no engine...
I went and took it back, and after visiting the miscreants address found his girlfriend had a poverty spec diesel X5 so guess mine was taken for bodykit and interior. That plan didnt work out

[pvr]

Can he walk again?

[Mrgee]

I'm also on a two car policy with Admiral, with no tracker fitted to the X5

[IanP]

[quote=""pvr""]Can he walk again? [/quote]

Yes, but him and his pal only got a knuckle rapping from the courts

[X5Sport]

We can do knuckle wrapping too......in cement..

[Turks]

[quote=""Kerryx5""]I've done my x5 with admiral aswell. I'm 26 with 3 years ncb and it's cost me £950. They seem really reasonable on price but you have to pay the full amount in one go.[/quote]

I'm with Bell which are basically Admiral... 27 and cost me just over £600. No need for a tracker.


Turks.