2021/22 A3 theft prevention general

[Plopper]

Hi all, will be receiving my 22 plate A3 Sportback S-line in a couple of weeks which I'm pretty excited about, but some bad experiences of friends of mine has me a little worried about the possibility of theft.

It doesn't seem like a thread of this sort has been started for the current gereation A3 so I was just wondering if anyone had any advice, stories to share, or lessons they've learnt regarding theft prevention and/or vehicle recovery.

Some personal context in case anyone asks, my A3 will be parked on a residential street that is a couple of blocks over from my flat (not ideal but unavoidable) as I live in a central location in a small town in Oxfordshire where no one has drives. I'll probably be turning off keyless entry as I've heard this system is a vulnerability that thieves can exploit (although less of a risk for me as my vehicle and keys are not kept at the same location as mentioned). I've thought about a steering lock but understand they are pretty useless against a serious thief and would only be an inconvenience of my end. A fake one perhaps as a bluff? Haven't properly looked into fitting a professional tracker but I don't want to spent too much, and anyway prevention is better than cure.

 

[John Pilkington]

Hi all, will be receiving my 22 plate A3 Sportback S-line in a couple of weeks which I'm pretty excited about, but some bad experiences of friends of mine has me a little worried about the possibility of theft.

It doesn't seem like a thread of this sort has been started for the current gereation A3 so I was just wondering if anyone had any advice, stories to share, or lessons they've learnt regarding theft prevention and/or vehicle recovery.

Some personal context in case anyone asks, my A3 will be parked on a residential street that is a couple of blocks over from my flat (not ideal but unavoidable) as I live in a central location in a small town in Oxfordshire where no one has drives. I'll probably be turning off keyless entry as I've heard this system is a vulnerability that thieves can exploit (although less of a risk for me as my vehicle and keys are not kept at the same location as mentioned). I've thought about a steering lock but understand they are pretty useless against a serious thief and would only be an inconvenience of my end. A fake one perhaps as a bluff? Haven't properly looked into fitting a professional tracker but I don't want to spent too much, and anyway prevention is better than cure.

Have autowatch ghost,tracker and steering lock on mine.you can only do so much but without the code on the ghost the car cannot be started.steering locks are pretty hard to get past unless the low life resort to sawing the steering wheel off

 

[JohnM100]

Firstly, congrats on the car.

This thread should be moved to the 8Y chassis section - I’ll ask a mod to move it.

Autowatch Ghost is a stealth immobiliser and does work on the 8Y. It won’t stop someone breaking into the car to try to steal it unless you put the stickers in the window - only downside to that is that the miscreant then knows in advance to look for the Ghost and rip it out.

Steering wheel locks are a good visual deterrent. DiskLok covers the whole steering wheel so precludes someone sawing through the wheel. It is a pain to store in the car though as it is bulky.

Whatever you decide, do get GAP insurance but not from the dealer. Places like ALA are much more competitive.

 

[Plopper]

Firstly, congrats on the car.

This thread should be moved to the 8Y chassis section - I’ll ask a mod to move it.

Autowatch Ghost is a stealth immobiliser and does work on the 8Y. It won’t stop someone breaking into the car to try to steal it unless you put the stickers in the window - only downside to that is that the miscreant then knows in advance to look for the Ghost and rip it out.

Steering wheel locks are a good visual deterrent. DiskLok covers the whole steering wheel so precludes someone sawing through the wheel. It is a pain to store in the car though as it is bulky.

Whatever you decide, do get GAP insurance but not from the dealer. Places like ALA are much more competitive.

Apologies, must've misunderstood the forum sections.

Thanks for the advice though!

 

[AdamInKent]

Hi all, will be receiving my 22 plate A3 Sportback S-line in a couple of weeks [..] I'll probably be turning off keyless entry

Some good news is that, unless the spec of the car has changed since my 21 plate A3 S-Line, keyless entry is not a standard feature.

The car has a tracker built in, via an onboard SIM. Someone posted recently on another thread that you could prevent a thief from disabling this by putting a pin code on your A3 user account. But I have never looked into how effective this would be were the car to be stolen.

 

[abmat]

Firstly, congrats on the car.

This thread should be moved to the 8Y chassis section - I’ll ask a mod to move it.

Autowatch Ghost is a stealth immobiliser and does work on the 8Y. It won’t stop someone breaking into the car to try to steal it unless you put the stickers in the window - only downside to that is that the miscreant then knows in advance to look for the Ghost and rip it out.

Steering wheel locks are a good visual deterrent. DiskLok covers the whole steering wheel so precludes someone sawing through the wheel. It is a pain to store in the car though as it is bulky.

Whatever you decide, do get GAP insurance but not from the dealer. Places like ALA are much more competitive.

Good luck trying to find a ghost. They’re about 30x10mm in size. Can be hidden anywhere.

 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.
If you need any additional security advice then we recommend these. They might be able to help.
Regards,
Dan.

 

[Plopper]

Good luck trying to find a ghost. They’re about 30x10mm in size. Can be hidden anywhere.

Thanks for the advice, will look into an Autowatch Ghost for sure. Not sure GAP insurance would help me though as my A3 is a lease vehicle.

 

[MA3RC]

I used to own a fiesta ST which were stolen on a daily basis. A good recommendation we used was to swap out the obd port with a fake one. Routing the real one inside the dash.

 

[Sparks43]

Thanks for the advice, will look into an Autowatch Ghost for sure. Not sure GAP insurance would help me though as my A3 is a lease vehicle.

If it's a lease I would definitely get GAP as you're usually responsible for the full lease so you could be left with a large balance after insurers have paid out

 

[Plopper]

If it's a lease I would definitely get GAP as you're usually responsible for the full lease so you could be left with a large balance after insurers have paid out

Possible, but it's a £30k vehicle and the lease is ony £14k over the 4 years and I can't imagine the insurance payout being less than that.

 

[Sparks43]

Possible, but it's a £30k vehicle and the lease is ony £14k over the 4 years and I can't imagine the insurance payout being less than that.

That's the lease cost over 4 years, but if the vehicle was written off today, you'd be responsible for any shortfall in replacing the vehicle - Our works pool car is leased and it has to insured for the full replacement value - it's in the terms and conditions - Remember at the end of the 4 years they get the vehicle back and sell it on which is the difference between the lease

 

[SteveF1]

It's swings and roundabouts with gap insurance.

I've had leases for 10 years now and never paid for gap. I had a Golf GTD stolen a few years back when it was 6 months old, won't lie I was worried about a shortfall. However, the insurance company valued the car more than the finance company so it ended up clearing the car and my excess so it didn't cost me anything other than inconvenience.

Suppose it all depends on how much the gap insurance costs.