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Steal a car without a key


dhjgreen
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....unless foreign plates are involved.

Recently in Lincoln, I spotted an RO registered car that is right hand drive, I then realised that some people buy a car in the UK and re-register the same vehicle in their country of origin.

Edited by Welly
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Recently in Lincoln, I spotted an RO registered car that is right hand drive, I then realised that some people buy a car in the UK and re-register the same vehicle in their country of origin.

It's a well-known scam that has also been adopted by BG drivers, plus some H and PL. The car never actually leaves the UK after re-registration, so the owner/driver evades MoT, VED and insurance. Completely illegal.

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Recently in Lincoln, I spotted an RO registered car that is right hand drive, I then realised that some people buy a car in the UK and re-register the same vehicle in their country of origin.

 

wasn't there a thing on Watch Dog years ago where they found it was cheaper to buy a new car over in the Netherlands, even ordering it in right hand drive, and then bringing it back?

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Recently in Lincoln, I spotted an RO registered car that is right hand drive, I then realised that some people buy a car in the UK and re-register the same vehicle in their country of origin.

In our local Tesco car park was a right hand drive RO-registered "white van" with signing (in English) on it for their business (sort of "man with a van" kind of thing), plus a UK website!  

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Here's the law

 

....but if the law is not enforced, what good is it?

 

Also it is silly to sit on the wrong side of the road. Try to overtake...  I came over with my nice 4WD but drove it back to sell it on the continent at the moment my company car arrived. 

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Easy enough to foil relay fob attacks, keep the keys in a metal mesh bag or a metal tin.

Since about the only reason argued for fobs is convenience (not that I see much point in trying to improve something that's hardly inconvenient at all) that would completely defeat the purpose of them and you may as well have a key.

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If someone wants my vehicle bad enough, there really is no way he or she isn't going to be able to make off with it regardless of what technology might be employed.  Why someone would want a 1998 Ford Explorer, however, is beyond me.  :)

 

 

I have a similar theory... buy a Dacia. No one would want to steal one of those. 

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My 1st car was an Austin A30 (wish I still had it). It had an ignition lock on the middle of the parcel shelf, not on the steering column (that technology came later as a legal requirement to help prevent cars being stolen). The lock was basically an on/off switch (it could be shorted across at the back). To start the car, there was a pull switch to operate the starter. The actual switch was under the bonnet, it could be operated there by one finger, and the bonnet was unlockable.

 

Stewart

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My 1st car was an Austin A30 (wish I still had it). It had an ignition lock on the middle of the parcel shelf, not on the steering column (that technology came later as a legal requirement to help prevent cars being stolen). The lock was basically an on/off switch (it could be shorted across at the back). To start the car, there was a pull switch to operate the starter. The actual switch was under the bonnet, it could be operated there by one finger, and the bonnet was unlockable.

 

Reminds me of when my parents ran a 1989 VW Jetta. They installed a hidden toggle switch somewhere behind the dashboard, the purpose of which was to isolate the ignition switch and barrel. In order to start the car, you had to grope around under the dashboard and feel for the switch before turning the ignition key. Why they thought anyone would want to steal a 1989 Jetta is anyone's guess.

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Reminds me of when my parents ran a 1989 VW Jetta. They installed a hidden toggle switch somewhere behind the dashboard, the purpose of which was to isolate the ignition switch and barrel. In order to start the car, you had to grope around under the dashboard and feel for the switch before turning the ignition key. Why they thought anyone would want to steal a 1989 Jetta is anyone's guess.

More desirable (as serious transport) than an Austin A30, the second slowest thing I ever drove after a side-valve Morris Minor. 

 

John

Edited by Dunsignalling
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More desirable (as serious transport) than an Austin A30, the second slowest thing I ever drove after a side-valve Morris Minor. 

 

John

 

250k miles out of it, over 12 years. Taught myself (with help from Grandad initially) how to maintain EVERYTHING (without exception) in that time. I can't say utterly reliable, but rather dependable. If anything went wrong I could fix it (properly at home) or do enough to get me home to enable me to then fix it properly. I would travel anywhere in any weather knowing I would get there when others wouldn't. NEVER got stranded anywhere except on the first weekend of use when a starter motor failed. I learnt from that

It's a shame that new drivers today don't go through the same process of LEARNING about their cars, knowing when a fault is starting to develop, and fully understanding its idiosynchrasies.

 

Stewart

Edited by stewartingram
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.... shame that new drivers today don't go through the same process of LEARNING about their cars, knowing when a fault is starting to develop, and fully understanding its idiosyncrasies.

 

Even if they wanted to, they can't because it's all hidden away under cladding or inside sealed boxes. And in today's "can't be bothered" society.....

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Is it not possible to turn off the keyless fob?

Take the battery out?

I was moaning about the keyless entry on SWMBO's car when we first got it as it didn't always work, especially if I hadn't been driving it previously. I even changed the batteries, to no effect. It turns out that if you lock it on the button with either key fob, the car actually disables the keyless signal acceptance, so a booster device won't have any effect.

 

Its still a big step in a short time from crude jammers used by thieves in public areas that prevented the lock signal getting to the car, which then relied on someone walking away without checking and the car remaining unlocked and its contents suseptable to theft.

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250k miles out of it, over 12 years. Taught myself (with help from Grandad initially) how to maintain EVERYTHING (without exception) in that time. I can't say utterly reliable, but rather dependable. If anything went wrong I could fix it (properly at home) or do enough to get me home to enable me to then fix it properly. I would travel anywhere in any weather knowing I would get there when others wouldn't. NEVER got stranded anywhere except on the fist weekend of use when a starter motor failed. I learnt from that

It's a shame that new drivers today don't go through the same process of LEARNING about their cars, knowing when a fault is starting to develop, and fully understanding its idiosynchrasies.

 

Stewart

No starting handle Stuart?

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Since about the only reason argued for fobs is convenience (not that I see much point in trying to improve something that's hardly inconvenient at all) that would completely defeat the purpose of them and you may as well have a key.

 

That was kind of my point ;) the security used by the fobs isn't all that secure as has been proven on a number of occasions. The manufacturers bury their heads and ignore the 'BlackHat' hackers who test these sorts of things until they break them (they've done similar to contactless cards and Oyster cards in the past showing that the security isn't as secure as people are made to believe).

 

If you have a small bag on a hook though that the fob drops into rather than dropping it onto a side counter it solves most of the problems with this particular 'hack'.

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They don't even make a Haynes manual for my car...  :dontknow:  working on my first two cars (Hyundai Pony/Ford Focus) was a bit more reassuring when I had a book telling me how to put bits back together again...

 

"Refitting is the reverse of removal"....at which point some us discovered that we had bits left over.....

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