Stealing a new Fiat 500?

He'll need to ask the dealer who he bought it off what has happened.

I was going to suggest that maybe four blokes just picked it up and put it on a trailer!

'Police believe thieves may be using a vehicle recovery truck to take the cars and advise owners to use a steering lock to deter the criminals.'

Is that really going to make any difference to a thief with a recovery truck?

I would have thought a tracker device would be of more use than something that could be hacksawn off once its in the shop.

I was going to suggest that someone had pocketed it, but then I realised how the victim would feel. :-)

You just need the universal 500 master key. These should be only available at dealerships but are easily copied.

Remindes me of a vintage Ford car key FT101. You could open nearly all Fords with one.

There was a bit of a scandal in the Sixties when it was revealed that Ford UK only used 100 key patterns to cover every vehicle in its range!

Chris

And once they had a bit of wear, 2 or 3 did all.

A mate of mine got half way home from work in an Imp before he noticed that it did not contain the normal amount of rubbish in the footwells.

Then there was the threepenny bit in the fuse box trick for Minis :)

On older Lucas equipped cars, you simply took one of the spare fuses from the fuse holder (two provided) and wedged it between the two fuses. This switched on the ignition. If a separate starter switch - as many had - (rather than a key one) just pull or push that and you're away. I do wonder if it was designed on purpose this way. Spacing the two fuses slightly further apart would have prevented this. You'd have needed a bit of wire and two crock clips instead. ;-)

I detect bullshit.

FIAT have been one of the leaders in security over the last 20 years aor so - their CODE 2 system was virtually unbreakable which meant they had the lowest rates of theft in their sector.

I can't see any reason why they'd undo all this with something so simple as a 'universal key'.

I'd bet this can be tracked back to a dodgy employee somewhere.

That's what I said in the first place.

Like our old neighbours, who had the rims & tyres nicked off their X5 overnight a week after taking delivery...

Mind you, you've got to hand the scrotes some kudos - they didn't make a sound. Not even when they lifted some of the paving bricks from the drive to use as axle-stands...

There was a guy that built Harris Magnum motorcycles to order. You supplied the engine and some running gear, he supplied the frame, fairing and custom paint job. Only trouble was he stole the frame to order from his previous customer and slung the engine. Did it about 5 times before the police found the connection was him. One before the last was my mates but he only stole the frame as the Z1000 engine was out in bits having new valve guides. Tip toed into the garage and lifted the rolling chassis over the striped head. Police took everything else away too as it was part of the "stolen" bike and thus evidence. 1/2 of it somehow got "lost", like the points cover and points plate while in police custody.

I knew a policeman in Birmingham with a Harris Magnum. Any connection?

My experiernce of the last few days might have a pointer:

My better half has a cracked front number plate, no biggie, on-line search brought a few possibilities.

Stupidly, I went for the cheapest. "Designed" the plate with the options we wanted and paid the money.

Got an email back that the 'firm' needed two ORIGINAL documents sent to them to enable confirmation of entitlement of such plates, one confirming the identity of the buyer, and another proving entitlement to plates for that particular car.

OK, adhering to the letter of the law.... but then it occured to me that if someone actually sent their V5C and another document showing name and address. this would be all a scrote needed to walk into a dealer and order a "spare" key....

Cynical, moi ???

David