Well still have just under three months of the original four to wait for my new
Ibiza Xcellence Lux. Never had a keyless before and was edgy when I ordered the car due to newspaper articles on 'relay theft'. Edginess increased today after reading article in Mail which says that there are now devices which can be readily bought which can communicate direct with the car and do not rely upon a key being in close proximity or relaying. Are others concerned about the apparant security issues of keyless? Are farady cage pounches and separate steering wheel locks effective and worthwhile? What else can be done to safeguard the car?
Firstly, apologies for the lengthy post but hopefully, you’ll find the content useful.
Is this the article you’re referring to?
Former dirt racer Mark McCann hired a real life car thief to show him how he would steal a £60,000 Range Rover from a Tesco car park in an alarming video that lifts the lid on how the criminals operate.
www.dailymail.co.uk
I think realistically, these good for nothing low-life’s are more likely to be targeting higher end premium vehicles rather than a smaller segment B car such as a
Seat Ibiza so I don’t think you should be overly concerned. Presumably non-keyless cars are also at risk of theft with this latest technology; the heading of the Daily Mail article is ‘Car thief reveals how he can steal
any vehicle in seconds………’, therefore maybe every car owner should be concerned and not just owners of cars with keyless entry. On the subject of keyless entry in general; over on the VW Golf R forum, its worth bearing in mind that only one or two forum members whose cars have keyless entry have had their cars stolen. However, there‘s been quite a few more members on that forum who’ve had non-keyless cars stolen where the perpetrator has broken into the owner’s home and stolen the car keys.
My 2020 VW Polo GTI+ came with keyless entry / keyless start as part of the car’s standard spec. Like you, if it had been an extra cost option I’d never have spec’d it when I ordered my car. Keyless entry / keyless start is one of those features that I could very easily live without as I’m more than capable of pressing a lock / unlock button on a key fob and inserting the key into an ignition key slot to start the car. With my car, I can temporarily disable the keyless functionality - it does have to be done each time I lock the car, but I don’t mind having to do that as the process is very quick and simple. I think on some newer VAG vehicles it’s possible to disable keyless entry permanently in the vehicle setting menus, so maybe this will be possible with your new car.
As for steering locks and faraday pouches - I think anything that would make it more difficult for a would-be car thief is worth considering. Many amateur car thieves will be looking for easy pickings, so a visible theft deterrent may mean they move onto an easier target. Faraday pouches can be a cheap and effective method of blocking the signal transmitted by a keyless key fob. However, as you’ve said, they can fail so it’s important they’re checked every so often to ensure the the key fob signal is still being blocked (put the key fob in the Faraday pouch, take it to the car and try unlocking it; if the door unlocks, the Faraday pouch needs replacing). None of these devices are 100% fail safe though, especially where determined professional car thieves are concerned.
Other considerations to
help safeguard your car;
- Home security; consider upgrading door / window locks and installing exterior security lighting / CCTV monitoring, to make it difficult for a would be perpetrator to break in to your home and steal the car keys. Exterior lighting is also a deterrent as a thief would prefer not to be seen.
- If you have a garage that’s used as a dumping ground for unwanted items, have a clear out so the garage can be used to park the car in. I always garage my car, and I keep items such as lawnmower, cycles etc. in my shed. I never cease to be amazed how many people keep a £100 lawnmower securely locked away in their garage but happily leave a high value, desirable car on their driveway, although I accept many modern cars won’t actually fit in a garage! However, the Ibiza is a small car so should fit into most garages (my Polo GTI+ which is pretty much the same size as the Ibiza fits in a small single 1980’s garage), and out of sight is out of mind of would be perpetrators.
- If you have more than one vehicle, block your new Ibiza in by parking another vehicle behind it.
- Consider getting a dog (); on a serious note, a barking dog can attract attention and deter unwanted ‘visitors’ to your property.
- Get GAP insurance so if the worst does happen, you’re not left out of pocket financially. Don‘t but Seat branded GAP insurance though as it’s very expensive; there are much cheaper GAP providers - e.g. ALA and discount code MSE25 should give a discount off the screen price.
Above all, don’t overthink what might happen as it probably won’t; enjoy your car when you get it and just take a few sensible precautions to protect it.