Motorhome stolen of my drive!

[Grianan]

Probably not best to disclose such info on open forums . ?

I thought that as I typed but how then do you learn where to hide them safely

 

[Brains]

We have a fairly new van, it does have an alarm but no tracker. Insurance have never requested one.

I'd still fit one.
Even if it's only so you can find it in a festival car park!

(My brother had his motorbike stolen, they found and disabled both trackers.
Luckily they did not find the the 3rd tracker! So the police found them)

 

[Sapper520]

Bump

Some very nice people tried to have mine away last Wednesday night……removed the drivers door barrel, but the Growler activated when they opened the door, which caused them to run off.

The Van in the background isn’t there’s.

 

[Dorwyn]

As one post said, what do the do with them when stolen? Where do they put them, how do they sell them? Doesn't the vin number hamper them? There's so many questions running through my head. I try not to dwell on it, but thoughts keep creeping in. It's just ... GONE!

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

They just probably swap the number plates for one that's legit and use it.probably take it abroad. Who is going to check a vin plate.
If it's travellers they will just take the engine and put it in an old clapped out van.
Someone on fun had a replacement engine in France 11,000 euros.

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[bigwood]

When I was doing recovery work we had a Transit Recovery vehicle stolen the night after it came back from full overhaul. Engine,Gearbox ,Back Axle and a full re spray. They ignored two brand new hire cars and the rest of our vehicles in the compound.
It turned up in Malaga on board a ship heading for West Africa. When we got it back it it was painted blue instead of white. All the kit was still in the lockers.

 

[Two Owl Ones]

hi dorwyn,do you have an update ? did you get the motorhome back ? surely the police have numerous cctv and anpr around the area?

 

[Sapper520]

hi dorwyn,do you have an update ? did you get the motorhome back ? surely the police have numerous cctv and anpr around the area?

Wells, Somerset……not overrun with surveillance.

Pick the right route and you won’t see a camera……and the thieves know where they are.

 

[Dorwyn]

hi dorwyn,do you have an update ? did you get the motorhome back ? surely the police have numerous cctv and anpr around the area?

Not as yet. The police did. eventually phone me, with pleasantries but no news. And no hope. They will have come equipped with Fiat Ducato cloned number plates, travelled on country roads towards Bristol, etc. Basically it seems it's not worth looking for it, if lucky it might turn up. Insurance has gone quiet. It could be they are in the due diligence stage. I.e. waiting to see what happens, and can they get out of paying. Perhaps I'm being overly cynical. It's very stressful.

 

[monzer]

Auto thieves certainly seem to have the upper hand right now.

Cloning number plates used to be quite rare. Seems to happen all the the time now.

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[Two Owl Ones]

what a pain, the insurance should be making arrangements to pay out now, yes they must have put number plates on to travel away un noticed,we can imagine its horrible, i go over the top securing ours, it wouldnt stop a break in, but to steal it they would have to lift it onto a truck, then when it moves outside the geo fence i get a txt to my phone from the tracker,

 

[VXman]

Not as yet. The police did. eventually phone me, with pleasantries but no news. And no hope. They will have come equipped with Fiat Ducato cloned number plates, travelled on country roads towards Bristol, etc. Basically it seems it's not worth looking for it, if lucky it might turn up. Insurance has gone quiet. It could be they are in the due diligence stage. I.e. waiting to see what happens, and can they get out of paying. Perhaps I'm being overly cynical. It's very stressful.

Do they not have to wait a period of time before processing a claim to see if it turns up?

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Auto thieves certainly seem to have the upper hand right now.

Cloning number plates used to be quite rare. Seems to happen all the the time now.

It must be easy to do ,I think you can still get them on line from Ireland..or a bent local car accessory shop.

 

[Two Owl Ones]

they do have the upper hand, alls we can do is make it as harder for them to steal,put as many hurdles in their way as you can

 

[Two Owl Ones]

a month to 6 weeks wait i think,

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[Dorwyn]

Since it was our only vehicle, simply getting around, going to social events, shopping, looking at potential vans etc has been quite challenging. For the wedding, my neighbour loned me his Mercedes SLK sports car. I will say it was perkier than the camper van! So something good came of it! But I can't make any plans until I know what the final outcome will be.

 

[Dorwyn]

Do they not have to wait a period of time before processing a claim to see if it turns up?

 

[Dorwyn]

Do they not have to wait a period of time before processing a claim to see if it turns up?

Some feedback would be helpful

 

[Two Owl Ones]

standard is a bout a month to 6 weeks, have a look at your policy to see if they allow a courtesy vehicle,

 

[Sapper520]

Some feedback would be helpful

Think you’ll be chasing them before they contact you I’m afraid.

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[Dorwyn]

standard is a bout a month to 6 weeks, have a look at your policy to see if they allow a courtesy vehicle,

No chance, already explored that. The underwriter Avensis says that Comfort expressly excludes that. Although it may be worth asking them. To add to the problem, since I am turned 80 a few days ago, just hiring a car is difficult, if not impossible.

 

[Two Owl Ones]

you may have to think about getting a cheap little run around for now just to keep mobile, its not ideal but at least you would be able to get out and about, do you have children or grandchildren ?/a friend or neighbour that use the facebook app that would upload photos of your motorhome ?
spread the word type of thing, it could be helpful

 

[westhamman]

Things change but in the past a vehicle is not technically stolen until 28days up until that point the insurers will not payout, if somebody was caught in it they wouldn't be charged with a theft.
I had a ford fiesta stolen, the assessor came to my house, they paid its value on the 29th day.helped I was in the police and assessor was ex police or so I liked go think that's why payout was prompt
When it comes to the actual theft, there is Google earth my van appeared twice one whilst in storage and again on my drive. I will also be polite, if you had woken up and heard them, would you go out and challenge them, your safety is the priority not the van, how often has somebody died hanging onto the vehicle as it's being stolen.

 

[Trout bum]

Sorry to hear this.
Did you have any physical security like a steering lock and pedal lock?

I use those and also have 3 cheap vibration alarms I bought from eBay for £15 each. They are stuck to the inside of each door.
If you touch the door handle you get a warning alarm, if you touch it again the sirens go off. As far as I can tell there is no way to get in without making a lot of noise and the van is under my bedroom window.

Possible consolation: If you are insured for market value, you might well get back more than it cost in 2016!

Some more info on these alarms if possible please every wee bit helps to keep the scum at bay

 

[B-well]

Pc Andrew harper

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[Dorwyn]

Things change but in the past a vehicle is not technically stolen until 28days up until that point the insurers will not payout, if somebody was caught in it they wouldn't be charged with a theft.
I had a ford fiesta stolen, the assessor came to my house, they paid its value on the 29th day.helped I was in the police and assessor was ex police or so I liked go think that's why payout was prompt
When it comes to the actual theft, there is Google earth my van appeared twice one whilst in storage and again on my drive. I will also be polite, if you had woken up and heard them, would you go out and challenge them, your safety is the priority not the van, how often has somebody died hanging onto the vehicle as it's being stolen.

I agree. We use the camper as an extra bedroom when we have a housefull of visitors. These guys came equipped. Can you imagine what could have happened if we were inside?

 

[maison]

I'd still fit one.
Even if it's only so you can find it in a festival car park!

(My brother had his motorbike stolen, they found and disabled both trackers.
Luckily they did not find the the 3rd tracker! So the police found them)

Not a theft story but, several years ago, we parked our scooter in a car park in Florence and marked the location on a street map we had. Once we had finished sight seeing we returned to the marked car park only to find we had marked the wrong one and had no idea which car park we had used.

We had to walk back into Florence and then retrace our steps, “recognise that shop, we turned left there……….etc”. Fortunately we eventually found it.

We now have an Apple Air Tag fixed to the scooter to help us find it again when in a strange city or town.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Not a theft story but, several years ago, we parked our scooter in a car park in Florence and marked the location on a street map we had. Once we had finished sight seeing we returned to the marked car park only to find we had marked the wrong one and had no idea which car park we had used.

We had to walk back into Florence and then retrace our steps, “recognise that shop, we turned left there……….etc”. Fortunately we eventually found it.

We now have an Apple Air Tag fixed to the scooter to help us find it again when in a strange city or town.

What three words, a great marker even in Cribbs car park which can be quite confusing at the M&S end!

 

[Dorwyn]

Your other point about the 28 day theft point is very salient. That would be the 1st of August. It's things like that that is one of the benefits of the shared knowledge on this forum which helps us all. Thanks!

 

[suavecarve]

Not a theft story but, several years ago, we parked our scooter in a car park in Florence and marked the location on a street map we had. Once we had finished sight seeing we returned to the marked car park only to find we had marked the wrong one and had no idea which car park we had used.

We had to walk back into Florence and then retrace our steps, “recognise that shop, we turned left there……….etc”. Fortunately we eventually found it.

We now have an Apple Air Tag fixed to the scooter to help us find it again when in a strange city or town.

Somewhat similar in Strasbourg parking the bikes.
Parked them by the river, river is on our left, job is a good un
Who knew the river split into 2 ?
Luckily I noticed a sex shop near to where we parked.
Wife not impressed when I went into the tourist information asking for locations of all the sex shops in strasbourg !

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