BMW Steering Wheel Theft

[NDT]

Apparently this is a thing. A quick Google tells me this has been happening across Kent (and Sweden and Belgium it seems!).

Anyway my car window was smashed and the steering wheel missing when I got up this morning (Elmwood Road, North Dulwich)rendering car immobile.

I think I'll be buying a disk lock or something similar once I get the car back from the repair shop.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-accessories/car-security/disklok-steering-lock-silver-large

Beware.

[Townleygreen]

why are they doing this?

[rendelharris]

Portable, untraceable, sell on eBay for up to ?1500.

[DulwichFox]

My neighbour had their BMW steering wheel stolen 2-3 weeks back.

[NDT]

If I'm lucky then the one I buy on eBay will be mine and so it will all be compatible.

It's a terrific business model, the more they nick the more demand there is second hand.

[Calsug]

Didn?t think I could be more surprised than people being able to steal bmw?s without keys but now they are just taking the steering wheel!?

[Jules-and-Boo]

Mototrbike theft is also lucrative. The bikes in parts before you know it and it's worth more that way. I don't think Insurance companies even bother trying to trace them anymore.

[kford]

Intact airbag, so valuable. Your X3 wheel is ?700 on eBay.

[tomdhu]

There's a few YouTube vids out there that show exactly how it is done. It can be done under 2 minutes but this is dependent on the villains getting to the battery first and removing the negative terminal. If they don't remove the terminal then the air bag goes off when they tamper with it.

The simplest solution therefor is to make your battery terminals inaccessible. A simple shield with a secure lock is the way to go.

A supplementary alarm triggered by the breaking glass that initiates a smoke cloud is the other way to go. You mighr also consider a proprietary warning sticker that is clearly visible. Villains dont like the unknown

[flocker spotter]

I think- but not sure- that individual explosive mechanism in airbags are numbered .obviously you will not know the details of this unless you lose one

[Melbournemember]

a lot of insurance companies wouldn't cover this