2022 RAV4 stolen

[JimRoyle]

11 minutes ago, moggio53 said:

Wouldn't just an Apple air-tag hidden under the seat do the job just as well??

Thieves would never think of looking for that, would they? 😅

[DAF XF]

Coming at this from C-HR ownership but I had read online - so not sure if it is correct or not - that the owner can't track the car, it is the company.  I can understand this from a security point of view a bit in terms of better the police going to a location - however if you're away for a fortnight you then wouldn't be able to dip in and out to check it is where it should be?

[chilaspt]

1 hour ago, moggio53 said:

Wouldn't just an Apple air-tag hidden under the seat do the job just as well??

I've got an airtag hidden in the car, and an eufy tag hidden inside the roof bars, & eufy doesn't have uwb so it's harder to find. It also doesn't have a speaker anymore...  I'm waiting on an android equivalent of the airtag to have both ecosystems

[Cyker]

Hmm, what we need is a device that, when activated, deadlocks the doors, locks the radio controls and just blares the chorus from Mmm Bop by Hanson (Other suggestions for Most Annoying Song In The World also taken) at maximum volume through all the internal Speakers, and blares a suitable message through the external AVAS Speakers, e.g. "Call the police! Thieving ***** inside!" repeatedly.

This should cause major psychological damage and PTSD to any lucky thieves who get to experience this, then everyone else could put stickers saying Protected by Hanson on their cars which would trigger their PTSD and discourage them from approaching such vehicles. The nervous tick would also give police something to look out for!

[moggio53]

3 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Hmm, what we need is a device that, when activated, deadlocks the doors, locks the radio controls and just blares the chorus from Mmm Bop by Hanson (Other suggestions for Most Annoying Song In The World also taken) at maximum volume through all the internal speakers, and blares a suitable message through the external AVAS speakers, e.g. "Call the police! Thieving ***** inside!" repeatedly.

This should cause major psychological damage and PTSD to any lucky thieves who get to experience this, then everyone else could put stickers saying Protected by Hanson on their cars which would trigger their PTSD and discourage them from approaching such vehicles. The nervous tick would also give police something to look out for!

You forgot the "Smoke Bomb"

[Corolly Poly]

31 minutes ago, chilaspt said:

I've got an airtag hidden in the car, and an eufy tag hidden inside the roof bars, & eufy doesn't have uwb so it's harder to find. It also doesn't have a speaker anymore...  I'm waiting on an android equivalent of the airtag to have both ecosystems

Samsung smartTag 2 pretty good but needs a Samsung phone.

[nlee]

For those that are not entitled to a free tracker, or are looking for something different, I was wondering about this. It’s called a Monimoto. It’s designed for motorbikes but seems a similar principle to what Toyota are fitting and Battery operated. The benefit seems to be that it’s more usable by the owner and it comes with a key fob and when the car is moved without the fob being present, it alerts the users phone and the location can be tracked. The downside is it’s not free. They do one at £109 and a newer version at £149. It’s only got 2 months free subscription but the subscription is much less at £39 a year. I can’t see it’s Thatcham approved but it doesn’t look like the approval is helping insurance premiums in any case. 

[Nick72]

On 10/26/2024 at 2:11 PM, Cyker said:

Hmm, what we need is a device that, when activated, deadlocks the doors, locks the radio controls and just blares the chorus from Mmm Bop by Hanson (Other suggestions for Most Annoying Song In The World also taken) at maximum volume through all the internal speakers, and blares a suitable message through the external AVAS speakers, e.g. "Call the police! Thieving ***** inside!" repeatedly.

This should cause major psychological damage and PTSD to any lucky thieves who get to experience this, then everyone else could put stickers saying Protected by Hanson on their cars which would trigger their PTSD and discourage them from approaching such vehicles. The nervous tick would also give police something to look out for!

I think this is the correct train of thought. I wondered if it was worth buying a large snake and putting that in the car? Or something else that was angry? Possibly an ex-partner? If that's not possible, perhaps a claymore on the driver's seat with the pull pin wire attached to the door? One could detachable the wire by opening the door just a few inches, reach in and disconnect. But thieves wouldn't know this. 

This sounds like a readily solvable problem with explosives, snakes, and exs?

[Rav Rob]

I fitted a tracker in my daughters car at the weekend as it will be kept away from home soon. A Trutrak device.  I bought it a couple of years ago but only just decided to fit it. Just 2 wires to a constant 12V.

Very easy, I did a 'low security' fit for now so its just hooked on the Battery but I did wrap and hide the wiring, its a small black box so does blend in in the bay. I might move it to a different location another time. It only costs £33 but about £60 a year subscription. You do get unlimited live tracking. You get 14 days use before subscribing to test it.

I am tempted to stick one on the RAV4 now too.  I am really impressed at how well it works, the app is great, the device has movement sensors so when its parked it goes into sleep mode until disturbed and the power consumption is miniscule, not enough to make any impact on the 12V Battery even though its quite a small one. You can even remote read the 12V Battery voltage through it!

It has gyros so even logs journeys and marks harsh cornering. Today I got an (unsolicited) call from their technical support to check I was OK with it and answer any questions.

What interests me is you can geofence the car at night so you get a notification instantly if your car moves. The Toyota fitted one depends on you noticing the car is gone, then you must report it to the police, get a crime number, then they will activate the tracker, it could be hours after its gone.

The option of jumping in one of our other cars and tracking it before they get a chance to rip it apart has appeal.

Would 3 trackers (built in, Tracker, Trutrak) be overkill? haha

[forkingabout]

14 minutes ago, Rav Rob said:

The Toyota fitted one depends on you noticing the car is gone, then you must report it to the police, get a crime number, then they will activate the tracker, it could be hours after its gone.

Toyota / Lexus seem to have gone with the cheapest / easiest to fit Thatcham approved tracking device that in turn won't gain them angry customers now complaining about flat 12 volt batteries.

 

[Cyker]

Still, it's worth it if it's approved by insurers as it will at least bring the premium down. Might even change the mind of companies that currently won't insure them...?

It's all a checkbox exercise at the end of the day so not much point in spending too much on it...

I do find the locating process quite interesting - There's a company that has a youtube channel showing some of their recovery ops and always thought it would make good TV inbetween e.g. Motorway Cops and Police Camera Action  

https://www.youtube.com/c/AutomatricsMtrack/videos

 

[forkingabout]

5 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Still, it's worth it if it's approved by insurers as it will at least bring the premium down. Might even change the mind of companies that currently won't insure them...?

Well Toyota insurance don't reduce my premium for having more then one aftermarket Thatcham approved device fitted to my C-HR. 

 

[JimRoyle]

15 hours ago, forkingabout said:

Well Toyota insurance don't reduce my premium for having more then one aftermarket Thatcham approved device fitted to my C-HR. 

Toyota insurance wouldn't even give me a quote on our 2023 PHEV. And that's not even one of the models with canbus vulnerability. 

[ernieb]

I'm getting to that age when getting insurance is going to become a real problem. There are so many factors that come into play and I understand that the current insurance groups is going to change and a new system introduced. This will be based on a lot of the old factors but specifically include repairability and the impact of accidents or the likely need to right the car off. So for example BYD with little UK infrastructure, spares and being pure EV is likely to struggle. 

[Hayzee]

6 hours ago, JimRoyle said:

Toyota insurance wouldn't even give me a quote on our 2023 PHEV. And that's not even one of the models with canbus vulnerability. 

Toyota and Lexus Insurance are just trading names of Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co., Ltd who are incorporated in Japan. It's just a trading arrangement and as such the underwriters wouldn't have any particular bias to Toyota or Lexus vehicles.

[Hayzee]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

I'm getting to that age when getting insurance is going to become a real problem. There are so many factors that come into play and I understand that the current insurance groups is going to change and a new system introduced. This will be based on a lot of the old factors but specifically include repairability and the impact of accidents or the likely need to right the car off. So for example BYD with little UK infrastructure, spares and being pure EV is likely to struggle. 

Ernie.....the insurance companies certainly heavily load premiums as we hit certain (older) age brackets. My premium almost doubled within the space of 12 months for the same car.

[Cyker]

1 hour ago, Hayzee said:

Toyota and Lexus Insurance are just trading names of Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co., Ltd who are incorporated in Japan. It's just a trading arrangement and as such the underwriters wouldn't have any particular bias to Toyota or Lexus vehicles.

If anything they have a bias AGAINST them if the quotes I've had from them are anything to go by!  (Usually 2-3x my renewal!!  )

[ernieb]

4 hours ago, Hayzee said:

Ernie.....the insurance companies certainly heavily load premiums as we hit certain (older) age brackets. My premium almost doubled within the space of 12 months for the same car.

Agreed

[Nick72]

7 hours ago, Hayzee said:

Ernie.....the insurance companies certainly heavily load premiums as we hit certain (older) age brackets. My premium almost doubled within the space of 12 months for the same car.

Whoa, what age bracket is that?

I'm in my 50s and currently I don't pay insurance as we got a company blanket policy. But in a few years I may decide to retire and either buy my current company car off them or buy a new one. 

[ernieb]

I have a 3 year insurance deal with SAGA but at the end of that I’ll have tipped into my 80’s. I believe at this age I’d not be able to get a test drive with my local Toyota dealer or have a loan car during a service. (Not true everywhere)

[Hayzee]

11 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Whoa, what age bracket is that?

I'm in my 50s and currently I don't pay insurance as we got a company blanket policy. But in a few years I may decide to retire and either buy my current company car off them or buy a new one. 

You've got a good few years to go yet Nick

[Hayzee]

4 hours ago, ernieb said:

I have a 3 year insurance deal with SAGA but at the end of that I’ll have tipped into my 80’s. I believe at this age I’d not be able to get a test drive with my local Toyota dealer or have a loan car during a service. (Not true everywhere)

You have to realise Ernie....you've suddenly become a bad driver at that point 😞

[Cyker]

22 hours ago, Hayzee said:

Ernie.....the insurance companies certainly heavily load premiums as we hit certain (older) age brackets. My premium almost doubled within the space of 12 months for the same car.

That may have been a coincidence - Mine doubled too (THANKS FCA) and I'm nowhere near 80!  

3 hours ago, Hayzee said:

You have to realise Ernie....you've suddenly become a bad driver at that point 😞

It's all the waving the walking stick out the window at other drivers and telling them to get off your lawn at 70mph  

[Terry10]

Warning,, I just rang my dealer to ask where the tracker is located that was installed 3 weeks ago. Guess what? They don't know and don't keep a record of that information! Told me they will ask the technician who last worked on the car where he put it. I may be lucky but am not counting on it. Try asking that question 6 months down the road and you will definitely get a negative answer. I am now kicking myself for not insisting on being told at the time. I feel it's important to know in the case of a fault or if you sell the car in the future. 
Terry

[forkingabout]

The owner doesn't need to know the location the device is fitted & it's also a potential security risk seeing as it's a Thatcham approved device.