Landrover theft threat

[norlander]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...pare-parts-as-car-goes-out-of-production.html

 

[brewdexta]

Its already happened around here over the last few years, very few defenders knocking about, most of 'em nicked and the few that have been found were in bits.

 

[pedrobedro]

A bloke near us parked his up and came back to find it had no doors and someone on another forum had his front bumper and winch stolen a few weeks ago. There are lots of firms making and selling parts for Landies so there should be no reason for panic.

 

[waldershelf]

The thieving scum have been nicking Landrovers for spares for years this is nothing new. I've had two stolen myself. Series Landrovers have been out of production for nearly 30 years and there isn't a spares issue for them, so this is really a bit of a non-story. The real story is police incompetence and lack of political will to sort out car theft in general.

 

[norlander]

The real story is police incompetence and lack of political will to sort out car theft in general.

And the police alerting any criminals that were not aware there might be a rush on Landy Defender thefts to get out there and fill their boots.

Availability of spares are rarely an issue-unless the vehicle was not made in any great numbers.Possibly the real issue is the price of spares bought from a decent breaker/trusted source and the price bought for cash in the hand knowing pretty well some unlucky owner has had the spare thats being sold nicked.

 

[gordonendersby]

When my last defender was stolen police wernt interested.
They told me someone had reported travellers trying to sell bits door to door a few miles away and offering what was left for £300.00.
We had had a lot of scrappies going door to door asking for scrap in the last few weeks with stuff disapearing from peoples drives and gardens.

Once i had got to the vehicle where they found it they lost interest.
They told me it was driveable and could i collect it.
Turned up and there were only 3 nuts on each wheel and no seats. My new wheels were missing inside had been stripped.
I had to pay to get it recovered. Police left and i was there for a couple of hours waiting for recovery wondering if the thieves would turn up again.
No investigation, no forensics, no interest.
This was a vehicle i had paid over 6 grand for and had accessories and new tyres and wheels fitted.
As well as time spent getting it up to scratch.

It was a right off, got it paid for eventually after the insurance tried to claim it wasnt properly secured as i had been working on it on my drive.
They wernt going to honour my insurance cover.
Gotbthem to chang there mind, i got most of the value of the base vehicle. But they deducted the price of the new galvanised cills and under body crossmember as i hadnt fitted them yet. I was in the process of doing this when it was stolen.
They also wanted to deduct the value of the labour for fitting even though i was doing it myself.
I talked them out of that.
New wheels wernt covered, dog guard, cubby box and other stuff taken, not covered.
Had to claim on the personal effects coverage. Once they admitted i had it on my policy.

Totally unhappy event.
The worst bit being losing all the time i had been working on the vehicle.
I have health problems, so the work was done when i was fit enough to do it.
Theres no insurance policy for that.

Gordon

 

[brewdexta]

Costs next to nowt to fill a container with stolen parts, there is a very good overseas spares market for Landie bits. I'm not sure if its an urban myth but a few years ago the story went that you couldn't find a skoda (pre VW) near Hull as they were all nicked and put on ferries on their way back Europe.

 

[norlander]

Costs next to nowt to fill a container with stolen parts, there is a very good overseas spares market for Landie bits. I'm not sure if its an urban myth but a few years ago the story went that you couldn't find a skoda (pre VW) near Hull as they were all nicked and put on ferries on their way back Europe.

thats a good point-thats a big problem with motorcycle theft-and the thing is any security marking/chips you have put in are negated as the destination country cops have not got the kit to check it out-even if they were interested in the first instance.

 

[ronan]

To be fair there was zero security on the old landrovers, you couldn't lock the doors and the ignition lock was a joke. I don't understand the police not being interested in car crime. Its probably down to the courts giving out light sentences, if a copper puts in days of work and other resources like forensics to catch a car thief, and then the judge gives him a suspended sentence or a fine, whats the point.

 

[brewdexta]

To be fair there was zero security on the old landrovers, you couldn't lock the doors and the ignition lock was a joke.

Too true, I put a another stalk on the left hand side of the steering column that disabled the fuel supply. It was OK until a) you operated it by accident b) the switch got an intermittent fault on the way back from Hereford towing a trailer, had to keep wiggling it.

 

[MrFluffy]

I was told Series era landrovers and early RR's had no chassis numbers, just the plate on the bulkhead, which on the RR is removable without disturbing the rivets. Don't know if this still applies, my 90 certainly has cold stamped numbers on the chassis because they check the cold stamping as part of the mot (controle technique) here.
Hasn't locked for five years mind. Parked in the yard at the moment with a trailer hitched to it too, but toerags run a risk of a farmer filling them full of lead and burying them somewhere quiet they wont be disturbed.

 

[waldershelf]

I was told Series era landrovers and early RR's had no chassis numbers, just the plate on the bulkhead, which on the RR is removable without disturbing the rivets. Don't know if this still applies, my 90 certainly has cold stamped numbers on the chassis because they check the cold stamping as part of the mot (controle technique) here.
Hasn't locked for five years mind. Parked in the yard at the moment with a trailer hitched to it too, but toerags run a risk of a farmer filling them full of lead and burying them somewhere quiet they wont be disturbed.

On S111 land rovers the chassis number is stamped on the offside front dumb iron (IIRC) don't know about earlier series though.

 

[penfold]

On S111 land rovers the chassis number is stamped on the offside front dumb iron (IIRC) don't know about earlier series though.

Pretty sure they're all like that.

 

[TAITSIE]

On my sons defender I have an alarm , a pedal lock ,a hidden fuel shut off valve isolator switch and a hidden starter solenoid isolator switch
Anyone with good mechanical knowledge could soon overcome these but the purpose of them is to stop some scrote getting it away quickly

 

[brewdexta]

About a mile from me, friends of mine parked their land rover on the drive way with locked 3 foot gates. The defender had steering lock, alarm etc. It was gone in the morning but the gates were still locked. Only conclusion is the scrotes used a hiab or similar. They are in a rural location where it gets wild and windy so can only assume they never heard the alarm (if it did have a tilt sensor) or the lorry.

 

[clift_d]

Best thing to do is fit a tracker - you can set them up so that they will notify you if your vehicle moves further than a fixed distance from your house. A lot of stolen vehicles apparently get left in back streets within a few miles of being taken. If they're still there a couple of days later then there's no tracker fitted and the thieves take it away for breaking.

 

[TAITSIE]

Best thing to do is fit a tracker - you can set them up so that they will notify you if your vehicle moves further than a fixed distance from your house. A lot of stolen vehicles apparently get left in back streets within a few miles of being taken. If they're still there a couple of days later then there's no tracker fitted and the thieves take it away for breaking.

Will have a look at trackers

 

[Wedg1e]

Costs next to nowt to fill a container with stolen parts, there is a very good overseas spares market for Landie bits. I'm not sure if its an urban myth but a few years ago the story went that you couldn't find a skoda (pre VW) near Hull as they were all nicked and put on ferries on their way back Europe.

Entriely feasible: my ex had an Estelle nicked from a layby on the A19 after it overheated. She walked half a mile to my place, I said have a cuppa, wait till it cools down and we'll go and recover it. By the time we got there all that was left was a pile of broken quarterlight glass.
Went to report it and the WPC on the desk wanted to know where Jeremy Beadle was because surely nobody would nick a Skoda
Never seen again (the car that is...).

 

[fixerupper]

Times change ,30 years ago (god I must be getting old) I lived in a small village in Suffolk .I used to park me series two landrover out side with the keys in the ignition... one morning late as usual ,jumped in and blow me ,someone had nicked the keys . Lucky for me I had a spare in a jam jar ,so I went of to work ... a few days later the local bobby comes round with 'em , some young lad had lifted them and his mum had found them and handed them to him .... jeff...

 

[Robotstar5]

I was told Series era landrovers and early RR's had no chassis numbers, just the plate on the bulkhead, which on the RR is removable without disturbing the rivets. Don't know if this still applies...

Chassis number was stamped on front offside chassis leg on my 1972 Range Rover, had to point it out when police stolen vehicle squad came round to examine it (long story)