Tracker Monitor - Whats the point if key jacked?

That's funny, all four of my 7 series have / had that feature...

You had to set it.

Have they stopped doing it recently?

Hmmm OK I don't know about the 7 Series, I presume it is full of lots of fancy computer gizmos.

But I am poor sole struggling to pay for a new 3 series, which I am not aware of as having any PIN to start feature.

Have a Happy New Year and Great driving in 2006

Jules

It is built into the computer, if set it displays "code" and won't start even if you have a key. Three cranks and it sounds the / an alarm.

That sounds a real bore.

usually you would notice if you were key jacked... or do you leave your keys all over unattended for hours? My keys are in my pocket or in my house... so it is not likely they will get the key.

Well...Many, it seems, leave their car keys on a hook just inside the front door. So a thief uses a bit of wire through the letter box to hook them out.

many it seems are very dumb!

I onece had a Citreon Xantia (yeah, I know .. you get what you deserve) that needed a 4-digit code entered every time you wanted to start it. What a pain in the posterior that was!

Well thats where I leave my keys now, but my current car is a 18 year old BMW 320, I guess worth about =A3800. So obvisously have to be more careful with my keys at work (in my desk) and in kitchen drwaer, or somewhere at home, when i decide to get my new car.

But Tracker, it seems still does not answer the fundamental point, that if someone managed to get my keys whilst I was asleep, or busy in meetings, then it would be several hours before I noticed the theft and hence activate Tracker.

A four digit entry would be a real pain to use every day, but would be useful on the odd occasion I decided to leave it parked in Nottingham or Liverpool ! - I am pretty sure it is not an option in the 3 series.

Jules

Happened to a neighbour mine. The thief must have used a fishing rod to get his keys off the hall table some distance from the door and drive off the car (a BMW 5 - very relevant!).

(Mine standing adjacent was 'just' burgled.)

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

FWIW I about two years ago investigated retrofitting a tracker device in my car on the basis that the insurance company would give me a suitable discount (in UK).

However, it turned out that the discount was insufficient to pay for the device or the annual subscription to the monitoring and alarm-raising service. So I did not bother.

It seems that this type of outright theft is statistically not so financially important.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

My 1994 E36 320i SE has this - just press the Code button on the OBC, enter the code you want to use, remove key. When you come back you can't start the car without that same code. I use it when I leave my car parked in the centre of Birmingham.

Dan

get a tracker for your keys?

I once had my car taken on a low-loader and it was a good 30 minutes/15 miles before I got a call from the tracker company. In a real theft it would be better than nothing but hardly an instantaneous response. Also I'm not sure whether they alert the police until after they've contacted you. i.e. if you're in a meeting then they won't get onto plod until you can call them back.

Trackers are pretty much a requirement, for insurance purposes, on the higher end of the value/performance/luxury market. I can't get insurance without it.

Well, that depends on what you mean by "higher end".

For my 40 000-pound car a tracking device was not mandatory and wasn't even worthwhile financially. This is Norwich Union. See my other post 2 Jan 19.46 UK time.

DAS

Cool, so maybe I will get this on my new car. :)