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Okay folks,
What can we do about stolen parts. Cappacinocruisers fuch's got stolen recently, cars are often stripped for thier component bits which are then sold on.
What can be done to combat this? What parts are traceable? Any ideas?
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you can do what bikers do and use things like smart water or alfa dot to mark the parts and when veiwed under a microscope they have the id number on the chips of plastic in the liquid
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I was gonna say serial numbers are the way forward. At least they can be positively ID'd when the theiving scrote it caught. Someone nicked a set of slot mags off me once, and then I got them offered back to me for sale and I KNEW they were mine because they had Vauxhall Wedgwood Blue paint stains on the backs where I splashed a can of paint down them doing a partial respray on a Victor some time ago. But a smear of faded blue paint is not proof to anyone but me.
The problem is you then have to have a sign up or a sticker saying "Parts marked with ID numbers" or something so the thief knows they are marked. Not always practical.
Stolen vehcile engine numbers being recorded by the DVLA is another one I mentioned before. If the stolen engine then turns up on an engine number change request or at an MOT the DVLA can move in and at least the parts are ID'd. Now the owner may well be innocent of anything but he canat least say where he got them and the trail can work back from there. One or two well publiciesd cases and it will put people off.
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Last Edit: Jul 28, 2006 7:51:51 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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If you put this ID thing on the major parts likely to be stripped and sold.. wheels, removable panels, interior bits engine block, manifold, carbs etc. Then yo ustand a chance of catching whoever stripped the car.
So is this a nationally run ID scheme? Or just something I can go out and buy from Halfords?
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Smartwater and Datatag are freely available in the bike world, any decent bike shop should sell it, comes with Transponders to glue inside bike wheels, frames etc and microdot stuff to paint on everything else Good system, works well as the bits are much harder to sell on
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dp
Posted a lot
DP Race Tech
Posts: 1,044
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hotwire in da house: What can be done to combat this? What parts are traceable? Any ideas?
Don't really know how it works over on your island there but here in Sweden I know of manny car & bike owners with expensive parts fitted have them engraved or etched with the license plate number since it follows the car & bike through it's life. Engraved license plate numbers in semi visible places scares off potentila theives since it's easy to check with the past owners. We also have a national ID registry but more and more go for the license plate thing, VAG engraves all cars with plate no at delivery.....
DP says: If they want to steal your stuff they do, no mather what........
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How much are these ID things?? I'm definatly going to do the Datsun.
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Insurance, and a relaxed attitude are better for you than an ID system. If something gets nicked generally you never see it again. Make sure you're covered, claim on the insurance, move on and don't get bitter about it.
"What can we do about stolen parts?" That's the job of the police. They're specialists, and they're useless. What chance do you think 'we' have?
Charlie
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Last Edit: Jul 28, 2006 9:38:07 GMT by CR500Dom
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Insurance, and a relaxed attitude are better for you than an ID system. If something gets nicked generally you never see it again. Make sure you're covered, claim on the insurance, move on and don't get bitter about it. "What can we do about stolen parts?" That's the job of the police. They're specialists, and they're useless. What chance do you think 'we' have? Charlie Clearly this thread shows there is something we can do about it.. or at least steps can be taken to make sure that things are traceable, which means there is a hope that people can be bought to justice for it.
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Jul 28, 2006 10:02:31 GMT
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Datatag datadots which are the paint on things are £25 for a bottle of datadots and the registration.
One word of warning though, I had a motorbike stolen that was Datatagged and the police didn't know what they were and didn't have a way of scanning them. So I probably wouldn't bother wasting your money on them.
I don't know who has the scanning equipment but it isn't the police so it's not something that happens at the side of the road with suspect vehicles.
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Last Edit: Jul 28, 2006 10:04:13 GMT by Deleted
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Jul 28, 2006 10:06:45 GMT
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That is really cost effective... definatly need to get this more wide spread... that would be good for maybe tracking down some people. Only take a few cases before we give theives pause for thought... or at least parts dealers a reason to check the parts they are getting before accepting them.
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Jul 28, 2006 10:25:07 GMT
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Correct! The police round were I live are NOT interested in bothering with this sort of thing end of! Claim its a waste of time resources/have better things to do!
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Jul 28, 2006 10:32:03 GMT
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Correct! The police round were I live are NOT interested in bothering with this sort of thing end of! Claim its a waste of time resources/have better things to do! This is a sad state of affairs,.. but I'm hoping that we can get to the point where we can go to the police with a strong case that actually its a simple thing for them to do and they should be doing something about it. First step is to make sure we get our parts and vehicles secured and traceable. We then need to get enthusiasts and parts dealers etc. to regularly check things they buy for security marks. What would push this is if people buying parts got the security checked before buying and refused to buy any shady parts.
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Jul 28, 2006 10:54:39 GMT
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Human nature dictates that you don't question shady parts. I want a Nissan SR20DET engine. If I was offered one cheap I certainly wouldn't start scanning it, calling the police or popping onto any forums to check it's history. I'd buy it, keep quiet and fit it. And I'm as honest as the next man.
The idea that we will be able to prevent theft of parts here is akin to the possibility that we will be able to discover the solution to world povery. It just won't happen.
Charlie
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Last Edit: Jul 28, 2006 10:55:25 GMT by charlie
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Jul 28, 2006 11:00:12 GMT
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Human nature dictates that you don't question shady parts. I want a Nissan SR20DET engine. If I was offered one cheap I certainly wouldn't start scanning it, calling the police or popping onto any forums to check it's history. I'd buy it, keep quiet and fit it. And I'm as honest as the next man. If the next man is happy to recieve stolen goods.
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Jul 28, 2006 12:11:16 GMT
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One can receive stolen goods if one doesn't know they're stolen. I may be offered something cheap by someone I know is a little bit dodgy and happily buy it cos it's a bargain. You're naive if you think that people in this situation will start checking out where the bargain came from, or calling the police to check if it's been stolen.
I don't mean to sound negative about this but I am being realistic. It's nice to see that there's the will and the commitment to make a difference but you/we won't be able to make a difference.
And let me ask all of you something. The last time any of you bought something off Ebay or from local classifieds, or from a mate, did you check it for serial numbers or marks, call the police to see if was recorded as stolen, or start a detailed search of its history? No. Because you had no reason to. And when someone sells you something that was stolen they don't tell you it was stolen so you have no reason to check it.
Charlie
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Jul 28, 2006 12:13:36 GMT
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Whilst I am all for ways of stopping theiving scum, stuff like 'SmartWater' and 'Datatags' are only really DETERRENTS and do not serve their purpose well to identify stolen parts that have been broken from vehicles.
Seriously, who is going to win a set of alloys wheels from ebay, or buy a front bumper from the FreeAds, and take a microscope along with them?
Such ID schemes were developed with a view to demonstrate that they work, but are not practical, they are only really applications to try and scare a thief into not stealing your pride and joy in case it is 'tagged'.
The industry would do much better to develop an affordable 'Tracker'-type system to prevent theft in the first place. With GPS systems now being marketed at such low cost prices, surely the same technology should be being used to develop an affordable protection system for your car/bike?
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Jul 28, 2006 12:44:03 GMT
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Lets say my Kona mountainbike had been tagged with a GPS system when it was stolen last month. It's a £1,000 bike.
I report it to the police and the police have to decide if it's worth persuing. They have to consider how much it will cost to track, the manpower involved, and the perceived value of the crime.
It costs a lot to track but I've already paid a subscription so they contact the tracking company and discover that the bike is in a flat in Manchester (for instance). But the investigating office is in London. So he gets on the radio and the Manchester cops are pursuaded that they should go round to get the bike but they're busy with 'real' crime and take a few days. By then it's gone somewhere else so we track again then discover it's in a bike shop in Wales. Welsh police are summonsed and they storm the shop, retrieve my bike and I go and collect it.
Can you imagine the cost of all this? The man hours, the calls, the tracking, etc. By the time the investigation is done you the public have probably spent £3,000. So is it worth investigating? No.
What's the penalty for theft? Well if you got caught for stealing a set of Porsche wheels you probably get a fine unless you are a repeat offender. And that's only if there is enough evidence. Can you imagine the difficulty in gathering enough evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Johnny Burglar nicked your wheels? Impossible. And even more expensive. And even if you could, he wouldn't really get punished.
So you can put electronic devices on your cat, your Porsche wheels, your BMX and your toy helicopter if you want but the law of economics means that they will never be investigated. So get some insurance and stop dreaming.
And even if you pay for tracking and fit a tracking device and successfully track the thing that you tagged, are you going to go running round the country chasing it? In the case of my bike, I have a full time job. I haven't got time to chase my bike all over the country. If I found out it was in Glasgow being used by a snotty teenager I don't have the time to go to Glasgow and get it back cos I'm too busy earning money to pay the insurance to cover all the curse word that I own.
It's just life. Things get nicked and you need to be insured.
Charlie
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Jul 28, 2006 13:11:32 GMT
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Its not just the cost of one bike at £1000 or one set of slot mags at £100 or whatever. Most people who streal stuff steal loads of stuff. At a previous work place we had 6 PCs nicked, when the cops went round the guys house he had something like £200,000 worth of stolen gear rammed in the shed, garage, spare bedroom, etc.
Then theres the stuff he can't nick while he's (hopefully) inside.
Talking to cops about stuff one of the biggest problems they have is the inability to identify stuff. They catch Johny Scumbag with a pile of car radios but none are marked and the people who reported them nicked didn't know (or give) the serial number. So no way to prove they are stolen goods.
Yes, we need to ensure we are insured, we need to take appropriate security measures, but we also need to thik of ways we can discourage theft by other means and aid the recovery of stolen goods when the cops do bust the thieves.
And if nothing else we need to think a little more carefully about where we buy some of our "bargains".
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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