TomTom Car Theft

[Tonymaddocks]

A week or so ago I foolishly left my PDA loaded with TT2 + paraphernalia in my car whilst parked. I came back to find I had been robbed of the PDA, Car Mount & Antennae. I was so impressed with TT that I immediately organised a replacement, even though my insurance did not cover the loss, and took the opportunity of upgrading to TT3 Bluetooth.

I am now a little bit paranoid about this type of thing. I.e If I leave the PDA in the car obviously I am asking for trouble. If I only leave the antennae in view again I am giving the message I’ve got a PDA in the glove box or under my seat. Ditto the car mount although I would hope that this could be mistaken for a mobile phone holder.

I don’t wish to be careless and suffer further damages and loss but I also don’t relish the idea of having to put away and dismantle everything every time I leave my car parked in public.

Has any one got any good suggestions as to how to disguise the Bluetooth Antennae? Might it be mistaken for a car alarm indicator with its flashing LED’s? Or could the antennae be mounted in a not easily seen position (will it still get a fix if it was under a light garment…would the LED still be visible?

As far as my situation goes I reckon I should for the next six months, at least remove the car mount or the same robbers will return and immediately assume I have a new device.

One good tip if you do wish to leave the mount, for example on show is to completely empty your glove box and leave it open when your car is parked up.

Any comments appreciated.

[alix776]

always remove or hid the pda everytime you get out of the car or put it in the glove box the same with the receiver it only takes a couple of seconds the disconect it amd hind it

sorry but thats the best advice i can give
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currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

[Berisford]

The BT device is more powerful than you might imagine.

I carry the device in the rear top-box of my motorcycle. It's often buried with my waterproofs and gloves etc. but still transmits enough signal to maintain a connection. I've even found it upside down a few times. The box is quite a thick construction (plastic) with a rack on the top.

So I would say you could quite easily cover it with anything not metal.

[tom9851]

Tony,
Sorry to hear some scumbag has robbed you like this. You must be well off! This is a lesson to be taken really seriously. I have to admit to occasionally leaving mine in full view and dashing into a petrol kiosk or shop - stupid thing to do I know. Fact is that PDA's are becoming more popular as is the rising interest in SatNav systems for these PDA's. With top range models costing upto 500 quid it's not difficult to work out that a top of the range PDA loaded with TTN or whatever system is a lucrative haul and a damn sight quicker and easier to remove from a car than a stereo/cd player. Most car theft is opportunistic i.e. if there is anything visible in your car that is reasonably easy to remove and sell then you are a target! I normally take my PDA with me and sometimes put the GPS receiver out of sight (glovebox or even under the seat). I suppose to be really smart you should also hide the mount because there is always the possibility that a thief could see the mount and realise it is for a PDA and break-in just to check you haven't hidden it in the glovebox!
It's a pain in the ass, it's , and it's safer to stay in bed

Tom

P.S. Some tossers recently broke into my Son's Saxo while he was in a restaurant with his girlfriend. Not only did they nick his beloved stereo, they twisted his door to get in (been quoted at least £500 for a replacement) - best bit is they wrote on the windows "life sucks". 8O
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IPAQ2210/ROM-1.10/LEXAR 32X 256MB SD/Kingston ElitePro 1GB CF
TTN3-V3.03/Wired GPS-V3.03/Globalsat BT-338

[DavidW]

I've had my car broken into twice.

The last time was in 2001, around 200 yards from Waterloo Station, when the thief whacked the rear side window in my Zafira that had the alarm sensor wires running through it. That time, the thief got away with nothing, as he couldn't get into the car - though it left me with a load of broken glass in my boot, several nasty scratches and an awkward drive home with a very unstable car (the AA were absolutely useless - I could have done the same job myself with the bin bag and black tape I had in the boot - which is what I remember we finished up using anyway).


The time before was with my then year old Corsa - in Manchester in 1996. That time the thief again broke a side window at the back and stole both my overnight bag and a file of confidential paperwork. The file was dumped in a nearby street, and was handed in to the police, who found a letter in it addressed to me (the file was deliberately unmarked), referenced that to the crime report and returned it to me.

The overnight bag was never recovered. That time, my insurance company insisted that the car was recovered to a body shop for examination - it was cold, snowing, the visibility where it was parked was poor (I tried, but there was nothing I could do). They were worried most about the tyres being checked, as we had to run the car over the broken glass to get it out of the road, but they also wanted a cursory examination of the car just to check it hadn't finished up bent (apparently they'd had one car that was hit so hard on the side when it was broken in to that it had suffered some kind of structural damage, presumably to the roof area which is structural on a monocoque body).


Both times my car was parked displaying a disabled badge, as it was necessary in both cases. The Greater Manchester Police told me that thieves often deliberately break into disabled people's cars looking for drugs. Apparently they often take the disabled badge as well, as they can have considerable street value, especially if there's a long time until expiry (they last three years). In both of my break-ins, my badge was left, probably because they didn't get into the front of the car.

I felt especially sad for whoever broke into my Zafira in Waterloo - I think that person must have been especially desperate, probably for drugs. You've got to be pretty desperate to break a pane of glass that has ALARM written on it!


In the Manchester break-in, some drugs were taken, but fortunately nothing that dangerous. Even so, it left me with the inconvenience of having to make an appointment with a GP away from home as an emergency the next morning to get a prescription (under some circumstances, a pharmacist can let you have an emergency supply of prescribed medication, but it will often be very short term).

I'm very careful where I store controlled drugs when travelling, and I never leave them unattended in a car. The police would be rather unamused if I was responsible for the loss of any Schedule 2 substances (Schedule 2 are the most controlled of the drugs that are legally prescribable).


I certainly don't understand those disabled people who have their car very prominently marked as being a disabled person's car. That seems to be a deliberate invitation for someone to compromise their safety. Often it seems to be the elderly badge holders who seem to want to proclaim to everyone their right to hold a badge - they often have disabled stickers all over the car, and their disabled badge permanently fixed somewhere (often jammed into the corner of their windscreen or on the sun visor - which, in both cases, can leave it partially obscured and can lead to a ticket).


There's nothing on my car that marks it out as a disabled person's car. If I don't have to display my badge, it's tucked in by the side of my fire extinguisher, out of sight. Even when using the badge, I don't display the blue time clock unless it's legally required, which is when there's a time limit on how long I can park. Why give any clue as to when the vehicle was parked and when I may return?

I don't even have one of those "please leave room for my wheelchair" car stickers (I don't like any car stickers in my back window), though I am going to knock together a very prominent A3 laminated placard this afternoon that I can display when necessary, as I have had idiots illegally park behind me and block my wheelchair access (unfortunately I need a lot of space, as my chair loads via ramps).


If I carry a laptop in car, it's Kensington locked to one of the luggage tie down points, and doesn't get left in the car anyway. When I'm carrying a laptop in public, it's Kensington locked through my wheelchair frame.

Some Pocket PCs can be Kensington locked - if so, it's worth thinking about. A Kensington lock cable is only about 25 pounds, and whilst it's not a guarantee against theft, it is certainly a deterrent, especially to the casual thief. Indeed, my main Dell workstation is Kensington locked to the desk, and both the workstation and the laptop have Stoptrack plates on them as well (again, they can be removed, but probably only with case damage and not without some struggle - it also means if they're found somewhere with the markings intact, I should get them back again).


My Pocket PC goes in a Roadwired Podzilla which is strapped by two separate straps to my chair when I'm in public.



The important thing is to remove temptation, and not leave things on display. If there's nothing in your boot worth taking, and you drive an estate car or people carrier with one of those luggage area "blinds", leave the blind open, so that a thief can see there's no point breaking in. There's a similar argument for leaving your glovebox open if there's nothing worth taking in it.

I still see people leaving keys in their ignition at petrol stations!



David

[sparrow]

[Tomo]

Cant comment about the BT receiver but my TT Wired GPS is wegded in between the intrument panel and the dashboard (ie under the plastic of the dash) and with hardly no loss in signal!!!! So just hide it somewhere but make sure you test it before it becomes a permanant fixture!

Steve

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