A couple of mornings ago, I was sitting on the computer and I heard a van pull up outside my house, I looked outside and saw a scruffy looking bloke by himself jump out his unmarked white van and come onto my driveway and started looking round my car.

I decided instead of shouting at him, I would try and wake my dog(Big German Shepard) who was in the other room to start barking, which I thought might scare him if he did decide to break into my house and steal the car keys, but unfortunately the dog looked at me and went back to sleep.

After a few mins of looking round my car, he jumps back in his van, and drives off, Which got me worrying a bit, he might just wanted to look round my scoob, but I wouldn’t dream of going onto someone else’s property to look at someone’s car doesn’t matter how nice a car it was, or he was looking at my car to see what kind of security devices i have in place, for future reference.

Has anyone else had this sort of thing happen, I can probably expect kids to do this sort of thing, but a grown man in a unmarked van with scruffy clothes on, gets me worrying a bit especially as I live 10mins from Birmingham, Also there’s been a few cars being stolen the past few weeks, where they have been picked up and stolen on flat bed lorries. (My mates Evo 6 was stolen this way 6 months ago)

 

did you not get the reg of his van...?

Raf.

 

does sound worrying. if it was me i'd take the keys to bed with me every night. get yourself to halfords and buy one of those seciruity posts to mount behind your car. i know if they're going to pic it up on a flat bed it won't do much but if they were hoping to drive it away they've got something else to get round. plus they're only about £40 now.

fingers crossed he was just admiring it rather than thinking about nicking it.

 

Call the police, I would have done so at the time in the hopes that they could apprehended the van driver and asked him what the hell he was doing. Also as above at least report the reg. number, the van might be stolen as well.

 

In the Lothians in Scotland due to the high number of thefts involving prestige/high performance cars where people have broken in to the houses to get the keys first, police are sending letters to the owners with information, who to contact etc.

Call your local cops and ask if there have been any other incidents.

ewan

 

[QUOTE=mneame]does sound worrying. if it was me i'd take the keys to bed with me every night./QUOTE]



If someone is mad enough to come into my house looking for my keys I want him to find them. I dont want him to have to come upstairs looking for them. I would suggest leaving your keys on the kitchen side in clear view IF someone breaks in

Gary


ps ...... you may be big but your not so big when you've just woken up and a couple of guys are standing over you and your wife with a lump of 4 x 2.

 

Could only see the side of the van, as it was parked up, and couldnt make the reg number out as it drove off, Had a pen and paper ready for it.

Had a Unmarked police car pull me over about a month ago, and told me to be careful where I left my car keys, and said that there had been a few robberies of high performance cars in the area.

 

[QUOTE=Gutmann pug]never thought of it like that. always take mine and leave them on the beside cabinet next to my metal baseball bat. could be a problem if they find the keys and the bat!!!

i've got cctv on my scooby. got it after someone tried to break into / nick one of my previous cars.

 

I had the same thing happen to me the other week. Was upstairs at home and heard a car pull up outside my house, i look out the window and see a scruffy looking guy get out of a Mercedes sprinter van and have a good look at my car. Not a scoob but a 320 Ci sport coupe BMW. I thought it was weird so wrote down the number plate and the van name etc etc. As they turned at the end of the cul-de-sac and came back the guy in the passenger seat was having a good look too. Am i best notifying the police too??

Gav..

 

Just one of those things which is worth thinking about I think.

 

SCOOBYGAV555 - definitly imo!!!

GUTMANN PUG - will do.

 

[QUOTE=Gutmann pug]Bloke across the road from my uncle had a brand new blobeye Impreza WRX when they first come out, had his front door kicked down by 4 men at about 11pm at night and the 1st thing they did was to cut the telephone wire, so that they couldn’t phone the police as they left in his 2 week old Impreza WRX they threatened him with a gun, and while all this was going on his kids where asleep in there beds, They eventually found the car a few hours later, but when forensics where finished with his car, he said that he didn’t want it anywhere near his house while his kids where there.

 

I agree with the above posts..... if someone is going to break in to get my car keys then i want them to find them pretty quickly & get out! No way i want some bloke coming upstairs to get them.

Get a CCTV camera set up, you can buy a wireless one that will send pics/video to a nearby computer for under £100 nowadays.

 

I think if I had the reg number, I would have defiantly passed it on to the police, at the end of day that is what they are paid for, to serve and protect.

 

You could put your keys on the dogs collar of course

Simon

 

Report it to the BiB, and ask for the incident number. Did he touch the car out of interest? Did you get a good look at him?

I suspect the call taker wont be much interested but once you have the incident number put this near the phone. If you see him in the area again dial 999 and give them the incident number and you should get a fairly good response (one hopes!)

 

He put his hands on the side windows and looked inside the car, but I know most people on here if they saw a Ferrari Enzo wouldnt go onto someones property to look at the car or pull up to do so.

 

my mate had his v8 sti and transit stolen not so long ago from his drive.they turned the house upside down looking for the keys found them then went.they didnt touch the house at all.funny thing was they found them in a pub carpark 20 miles away 2 days later.

so be careful!!!

 

Doen't sound like a very bright crook if he parked his van outside your house and walked up the drive in broad daylight..

 

[QUOTE=Gutmann pug]Totally agree, about six months ago 2 prestige cars were stolen from a house about 3 streets away from us. The owners were forced to give up their keys at gunpoint. I would sooner let them find them before this happens. We,ve got 2 German Sheperds but have more faith in the cats than these.
The 2 cars were fitted with trackers and were later recovered in Salford undamaged. Could have been a lot worse.

More worrying than this is the amount of car hi-jackings that are being reported. Can't really fight back with a seatbelt on. Good precaution to keep doors locked when inside especially at traffic lights and junctions. I'm 6 foot 3 and weigh 18 and a half stone. I'd give armed people the keys then let the police and insurance co. sort it out.

 

sorry to say this but why didnt you go out a question the guy? I understand some people dont like confrontation but, he's on your drive looking around your car?

At least walk out and get reg numbers...

 

My thoughts exactly.
No need to be aggressive, a simple "can I help you" is normally sufficient.
May have just been genuinely curious - but cheekier than most!

 

could be he has had his scoob nicked or bits off it and was just checkin ... i would still of gone out and asked wtf... taken reg no of van.. keep ypur eyes open just in case

 

I had a white minbus of blokes delivering Great Ormond Street Charity bags turn up the other morning and one took a photo of my car with his phone and then they all left... Admiring looks or casing the car..?

 

Sounds very odd to me?
Get some extra security mate.
Flood light with internal warning chime/beep.
Cctv, maplins do a good little cam, saves you looking out everytime you suspect someone on the drive.

Blackjacks if you dont want tracker.
decent cat 1 alarm
steering lock
& block your car in with another car if you have one?

 

cuda been a paddi lookin round to do your driveway, am i been stupid.?. its just a thought

 

I am suprised more people do not fit disklock or drive posts when they have performance cars.

People spend 10-20k on a car and fail to spend a few hundred on security to help keep it on the drive.

OK, so I have driven into the post a few times when I have forgotten to drop it down - but I was testing it - Honestly.

 

If he was a thief, they should be ****ing shot / mamed and tortured on national TV. Yes thats a bit right wing but this sort of thing really annoys me.

*******s.

I often wonder how many of them lurk on here looking for prey...

MB

 

Personally I'd have decided it was time to take the dog for a walk, opened the door and acted a little surprised to see him there. Ask if anything was wrong and guage the intent from the reaction. Could have got a better look at the van reg. plate too.

But ideas are always better after the event.

Hope it was just curiosity