General Fiat 500's being stolen in the Sheffield area

[Elaroo]

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you all know that 3 fiat 500's have been stolen in the Sheffield area in the past week (one on the 5th Abbey Lane, ours on the 8th Edmund Rd., and one on the 10th Chesterfield Rd.). I just want to warn everyone here who has one to take extra care of their's. A low loader seems to be operating in the area and just lifting them off the road. There were no signs of broken glass and ours had a steering wheel lock on. I think something should be done about this....if they are so desirable to someone somewhere a lot more are going to go. Perhaps don't park your cars on road wide enough for a trailer to pick them off the street! Has anyone else had theirs stolen anywhere else in the country. Perhaps fiat should do something about this!

So sad we lost our Florence!

 

[Punto_Pete]

fiat can't do anything about it. chances are they are literally being lifted off the road/driveway with a hiab crane.

 

[Elaroo]

perhaps fiat should automatically put trackers on the 500's then....if they are so desirable to be lifted off the street then I think fiat should know about it! car theft isn't taken seriously at all!

 

[IainG GPS]

Sorry to hear your news, unbelivable.

We are in Crospool and Mrs Gs 500 sits on the drive!

If they are lifting them they are going to have a problem getting keys etc made up. If they have your address they may try to swap your registration over.

Have you informed DVLA? Not sure theuy can help.

 

[Spoons]

Sorry to hear about your stolen car, horrible experience.

 

[smokeyjoe03]

Sorry to hear it

Luckily we park off the main road so things like this can't happen but still, surely somebody will have seen it happen, go round and knock all the neighbours doors and ask.

 

[smokeyjoe03]

The 500's not desirable? Why is the waiting list so long?

 

[kirstylhughes]

I feel really sorry for you . I haven't even received my 500 yet but after waiting so long for it, if it got stolen I'd be gutted. Are you going to get another?

 

[IainG GPS]

They are only desirable in that they are in short supply and demand is high.

If a market exists for stolen 500s then some thieving scumbags will try to meet that need.

These cars are being stolen from the affluent SW of the City where there are plenty of 500s knocking about.

 

[RobW]

perhaps you should get off the thread Captain Mike....you're a PUNTO driver so that says it all....

Just trying to warn the nice 500 owners that 3 cars have been taken in Sheffield that's all.

Why you looking to insult people.....it's rather sad....get off and get lost!

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/news/auto-0910/car-crime-hotspots-revealed.asp

indeed car crime hotspot

 

[Hellcat]

The cars are useless to them though without the keys? What would they need to get the cars working? New keys from Fiat? + them to be coded in?

The Fiat imobiliser is pretty damned good, so perhaps Fiat garages should be made aware of requests to replace 'lost keys'. Perhaps they could put a block on providing new keys for certain chassis numbers?

 

[RobW]

The cars are useless to them though without the keys? What would they need to get the cars working? New keys from Fiat? + them to be coded in?

The Fiat imobiliser is pretty damned good, so perhaps Fiat garages should be made aware of requests to replace 'lost keys'. Perhaps they could put a block on providing new keys for certain chassis numbers?

sounds like an organised ring of pro thieves - have you seen 'Gone in 60 Seconds' they bribed a dealer to get keys, fiction i know but...

Cars will probably end up exported

 

[alfatastic]

So sorry to hear this and starting to worry as my 500 has been sitting on my drive most of the last 2 weeks in S17 area of Sheffield. Hopefully the fact that my flats are full of old people who are about all day, every day and the road out side is the worst/steepest bend on Prospect Road will stop a low loader arriving. Mind you I'd be a lot more upset if they broke into the garage and stole my Junior.

 

[dave]

thread now cleaned, please note that it makes a friendlier forum if people report and wait for staff to sort problem posts, replying to them doesn't help at all.

If fiat fitted trackers as standard it could put the price of a car up by £1k an option many wont want to pay for. it would be better if the people that wanted them fitted them them selves

 

[J333EVO]

Really sorry to hear of your plight.

Maybe in your area if you get a replacement car you should consider a Cat1 alarm system as Fiat only fit a Cat2 immobiliser to all the 500 models, even Abarth models. As then if they are lifting your car off the street it will trigger the alarm, though in many cases once a person/group crack one car, it generally means every other car in range is fair game, but still an alarm would trigger if they have found a way of getting into the car and bypassing the immobiliser.

As shown on the Thantcham ABI group guide which of course from this month changes from the old 20 groups (god I remember when there was only 9) to the new system which has 50 groups.

All info on here
http://www.thatcham.org/abigrouprating/index.jsp?page=347 but for example the 500Abarth goes from old group 13 to group 26, SS 14~28, 1.4 Sport 6~12.

 

[Zakt]

Sounds like an unsolvable problem, unless you're going to shell out for a tracker. I wonder how different insurers will view this situation too - I remember a case on "Watchdog" a few years back where a woman had her Rover stolen. Despite the fact that she still had both sets of keys the insurer insisted it would be impossible for the car to be stolen without them, so simply refused to settle.
Perhaps there's CCTV footage somewhere? Have a look around the area for privately operated cameras. You may get lucky.

 

[Elaroo]

no CCTV faces onto that area. Police have reports of a low loader in the area, but you don't find these things out until it happens to you...hence why I have tried to make it public on here etc.

This is happening a lot and is apparently the only way to steal modern cars these days. The person who had their car stolen yesterday had the original stolen before Christmas....that was a replacement with the insurance money! so hopefully insurers will pay out or...?

 

[Captain Mike]

no CCTV faces onto that area. Police have reports of a low loader in the area, but you don't find these things out until it happens to you...hence why I have tried to make it public on here etc.

This is happening a lot and is apparently the only way to steal modern cars these days. The person who had their car stolen yesterday had the original stolen before Christmas....that was a replacement with the insurance money! so hopefully insurers will pay out or...?

That is possibly the worst luck ever!

Can you not think of the main ruote they would of come to your house and trace and see if you see any cameras maybe?

 

[Punto_Pete]

would u all?? still buy your 500 if u had to pay £120+ a year for tracker subscription??

u can buy locksmith tools over the internet to decode locks for cutting new keys, as well as the programming gear. how do u think the locksmiths do it??

as said, watch gone in 60 seconds.... its not all fiction

 

[+1.]

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you all know that 3 fiat 500's have been stolen in the Sheffield area in the past week (one on the 5th Abbey Lane, ours on the 8th Edmund Rd., and one on the 10th Chesterfield Rd.). I just want to warn everyone here who has one to take extra care of their's. A low loader seems to be operating in the area and just lifting them off the road. There were no signs of broken glass and ours had a steering wheel lock on. I think something should be done about this....if they are so desirable to someone somewhere a lot more are going to go. Perhaps don't park your cars on road wide enough for a trailer to pick them off the street! Has anyone else had theirs stolen anywhere else in the country. Perhaps fiat should do something about this!

So sad we lost our Florence!

Sorry to hear about your car, I have been reading about it on Sheffield Forum and have seen your car a few times as it is near my mums house. Ill ask my mum and brother if they have seen anything.

Sorry to hear your news, unbelivable.

We are in Crospool and Mrs Gs 500 sits on the drive!

If they are lifting them they are going to have a problem getting keys etc made up. If they have your address they may try to swap your registration over.

Have you informed DVLA? Not sure theuy can help.

Off Topic slightly, do you own a Red GPS (MM06)?