With all the security on modern vehicles, it's quite amazing that it still seems so easy to steal them. Security is getting ever more complex, particularly on luxury vehicles, and trackers, anti-theft devices and armour plating are becoming popular. BMW are leaders when it comes to vehicle security so how come so many of them still get stolen?
Maybe it's something to do with the more high profile owners and it then becomes a challenge. There are also many gangs operating throughout the world that steal luxury cars to order and for every device that is invented, there will be another technological whizz that can overcome it.
One man from the West Midlands put his BMW X5 up for sale and was pleased to secure a deal for 28,000. pounds The buyer came on a Friday evening and paid with a bankers draft. This turned out to be a forgery and the seller notified the police as soon as he realised. He also notified Tracker - the UK's leading stolen vehicle recovery (SVR) system operator.
When the thief was pulled over at customs under suspicion, he was able to show that he had just purchased the car because he had the paperwork for it. He was then allowed on his way but within thirty hours Tracker had traced the BMW to a small side street in Warsaw, Poland where police picked it up, along with the thief. Having bought the car on a Friday evening, he believed this would give him a head start in defying the Tracker as they wouldn't normally have been notified until the Monday so it was the astute actions on behalf of the original owner that saved the car.
As far afield as Zimbabwe, the BMW is still making the headlines. There have been accusations that the ruling party have stolen a BMW belonging to the opposition leader. It was impounded last week under some alleged registration irregularities and has since been seen ferrying other government officials between election points. The BMW was specially ordered after death threats were received by Morgan Tsvangirai as it was armour plated. He now faces a bit of a fight to get it back.
Top footballer, David Beckham, has also been the victim of car thieves. A gang of luxury car thieves stole his armour plated BMW X5 from Madrid over a year ago. The car was worth 70,000 pounds so it seems that, even though he is rolling in money, that he didn't have a tracker fitted to it! Photos have been published in the press of a BMW being driven by Macedonian politician Gordana Jankulovska that some say is the same vehicle stolen from David Beckham.
If it can be proved to be his, the minister says she will return the car to the rightful owner even though she bought it in good faith. Proving the fact will be difficult as the car would have changed hands twenty times in Spain. Still, he doesn't have a great deal to complain about as he was given a brand new Audi Q7 as a gift to replace it! One of the few people in the world that can afford to buy one of these luxury cars outright and he gets them as gifts!
