Stolen from SE1, London. Cream W123 Mercedes estate 230TE. Stolen between Sunday 6pm and this morning 9.30am.
I presume I have been a victim of the gang of Balkan thieves mentioned in the Telegraph
tinyurl.com/yu7nv
There\'s a healthy reward waiting for anybody who finds this (some chance). Identifying characteristics: green interior, badly worn patch by drivers right arm - horsehair showing through; no front mats; some rust over wheelarches as usual.
Why they have to steal these cars to break them, when you can buy them for almost nothing on eBay is anybody\'s guess.
www.mercseller.com is maintaining a register of these thefts - as mentioned in the Telegraph article. As he has been so kind & sympathetic to me this morning in my hour of desperate fury I hope you mods don\'t mind his getting a mention.
If I work out how, I might even manage to post a picture.
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Has anybody done some research into this? (needless to say, if you look above, I shall be installing one of these in my replacement car).
I have been recommended www.carbug.co.uk which gives you a tracking device that you can follow over the internet. £586 for software & kit; £144 per annum.
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Has anybody done some research into this? (needless to say, if you look above, I shall be installing one of these in my replacement car). I have been recommended www.carbug.co.uk which gives you a tracking device that you can follow over the internet. £586 for software & kit; £144 per annum.
I am not a fan of the carbug user interface software, don\'t get me wrong it does what it says on the tin, but the version I saw was not very \'friendly\', and car bug is not internet enabled, your computer dials the unit direct via a modem attached to yout computer and a GSM modem in the carbug unit. It is Thatcham Q approved which is a big plus providing your insurance company give you a sizable discount.
www.directions.ltd.uk/products.php do a vechile tracker NOT thatcham approved that has a better user interface. However do not believe all the claims on the website, as far as I am aware their 5 hour battery backup is not currently available. This system works in a similar way to carbug but it does not have an annual charge.
The carbug unit is a better mechanical package. The directions VT unit feels like it was made in someones potting shed.
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A couple of previous threads on the subject:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18348
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=14785
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Thanks, obviously I didn't do a good enough search!
I'd wondered about a DIY tracker myself. But I believe that the carbug version uses GPS, so it's possible to track it down rather more closely. (reading that thread made me wonder whether it would be possible to find my telephone every time I lose it in the house...)
Now my 'new' car is going to be another W123, and these are disappearing from the streets of London at a rate of knots. I'd love it for it to be my car that caught the pink fluffers, so I think I'm going to have to spend the cost of the car again on a tracker...
At least one can be certain that it won't have been trashed if they are stealing it for the parts. For goodness sake, what joyrider pinches a heavy automatic 20 year old mercedes with a 2.3 litre engine? Only one reason why it has gone!
And to think that I am a keen proponent of Bangernomics motoring; the annual fee for carbug is greater than my anual maintenance bill...
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I've heard that RAC Trackstar is the best one about at the mo, certainly better than Tracker which relies on the pursuing Police Car having a Tracker device installed, and not all do by a *long* way.
Blue
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I've decided to go for RAC Trackstar as one of the requirements of the insurance was that it was a monitored service. However, I did come across a thing called Trackm8 which sounded interesting.
It combines GPS and mobile phone technology and if the car goes off without you it sends you a text message and tells you where it is, which direction and how fast. It seems to do lots of other things too like tell you your best 0-60 time (hmmm..), distance travelled, whether you have gone outside of a 'curfew zone' etc etc.
It can also be linked to a PDA for Sat Nav and can act as a camera detector.
They seem to be about £400 with no ongoing charges other than the cost of the text messages.
PST
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SmartNav have an optional extra to track your car if it's nicked. Direct Line wouldn't give me a discount so I don't use it, but I know for sure that they know exactly where I am.
For about £625 installation + £10 pm you get sat nav with the benefit of being guided round congestion (uses Trafficmaster info). I have the bolt-on speed camera lcoator (?£70 pa I think).
They can also tell you where your nearest bank/petrol station/hotel/restaurant is, and order flowers when you are late home...
Mail me if you are interested, as I get a £25 M&S voucher for successful intros!!!
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Smokie
The camera locator - is that Safe Speed? If so how do you get on with it?
Paul
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Yes, it's called Safe Speed and is active even when you have not downloaded a route.
Regardless of your speed, it beeps three times at (probably) 500m from a camera, then 5 beeps at (probably again!) 250m. If you are over the speed limit for that piece of road, the beeping continues rapidly until your speed drops below the limit for the road (obviously where there are variable limits you need to be aware of that yourself!) or until you are out of range of the camera. If the camera is one of those that can be turned either way, it doesn't know which way the camera is facing, and it can't tell you whether a camera is "live": you just get warnings for ALL locations.
In nearly a year of ownership I found two cameras very early on which weren't on it, but none since so I think their data is improved. (I got rid of a Snooper Neo just before getting SmartNav, and that also didn't have them on either , so I imagine they use the same data source). They also don't bother including all the SPECS cameras, even when they are semi permanent, although the ones at M6 Thelwell were on it IIRC.
Just checked the costs - SafeSpeed is £72 pa, and SmartNav is £120 pa. All in all, a good service at a reasonable price.
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Ha Ha!
Having looked at the DVLA website, no help. So rang them: 'you need a V33 form which is not available on the website, nor at post offices. We will post it to you which will arrive within 7 days.'
'but 7 days is next month, that will cost me £loads.'
[amazingly helpful offer then follows] 'i'll post it to you straight away so it should be with you by tomorrow.'
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you did well to find a way through their automated phone system and reach a human!
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As related, my car \'disappeared\' earlier this week. On the suggestion of the police, I went to see if there were any security cameras along the street. There were and I told the Boys, who didn\'t seem very interested. Before I go to persuade the camera owners that I should be allowed to see the film, what is the legal position. Particularly with regard to the Data Protection Act?
Many thanks
{As it\'s all related, I\'ve combined all your posts together into the one thread. DD}
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I could be talking complete rubbish, but I would just approach the company involved and ask them nicely, giving your reasons. I’m sure they would have a sympathetic ear.
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The police should have a procedure for accessing the footage. You will need to tell them the date and time of the incident and they do have a right to charge you an admin fee of up to £10 for accessing the frames you require. Loads of information at www.informationcommissioner.co.uk.
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There is no right under the Data Protection Act to see the footage. The Act covers individuals, not inanimate objects such as vehicles.
Your best bet, as already suggested, is to approach the operator of the cameras and see what assistance they can give you.
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Thanks.
I was thinking more along the lines of prohibition _against_ seeing the film under DPA. So the extent to which it might be necessary to chat up the girl on the desk and dissuade her from checking with her boss.
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Errrrrr, excuse me for maybe sounding totally [expletive deleted, but i'm sure you know what I mean] stupid, but if the security cameras aren't there for precisely this kind of thing what in the name of God are they there for?????
Or are there 'Civil Liberties' issues that non-PC me doesn't know about, ie "M'Lud, my clients cannot be convicted of nicking this car, because the video which shows them breaking in and driving it away was filmed without their consent"?
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And having seen the film your car will magically appear outside your house again? What is this going to achieve? You need to go back and make the old bill interested so THEY go and look at the film.
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Too busy emptying the film from speed cameras, obviously.
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GRowler may be closer ot the truth than you think.
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Boys in blue have agreed to go to look at film... wonders will never cease; car was 20 years old!
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mapmaker,
Sorry to hear about the car going. If you have to replace it do you particularly want a W123 estate auto? Just happens a contact has died and his car will be for sale very soon. It's a Nov'90 190E 1.8 manual with genuine 99K and full records. I've looked after it for the past 3yrs plus for two retired owners.
It is so genuine would be nice to see it go to someone who appreciates the simplicty and solidity of these older models.
It will be going into the Classifieds soon.
M.M
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Don't know if this helps in any way.
Local paper has classified ad for '123 Mercedes, one owner, low mileage, £450'. No other detail given except mob phone no. which I will retrieve if requested.
(SE Essex)
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PS I'm not suggesting it's yours as, IIRC the advert would have had to be placed by Friday 20th - unless they were confident of nicking it, of course!
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I have just been down to Walworth Road police station to make a statement. Very nice PC laboriously (v. hard) wrote it out for me, and I signed it. He'd watched the video footage, and apparently got some good pictures of the 'tow-rag what nicked it'. Ordinary car thieves, apparently. This whole 'shipping them to the Balkans' thing appears to be a myth - although he would cheerfully have done that to the 'tow-rag'. Hopefully this means that the next one will be safer - perhaps removing the rotor arm is the way forward for on-street London parking!
Needless to say, I am now parked directly under the CCTV camera, rather than 200 yards away! And (see other threads) I shall be guarding my patch jealously, and have acquired 2 milk crates (do they seriously exist in London?) to mark it out.
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